Taffy

just thought it would be a good idea for those of us who work on a budget to mention some el cheapo workshop tools that do the job and cost a few bob only.

here are my opening three;

first, is a 5 gallon plastic drum that's opaque and roughly square. i took one side off with a blade and then placed it in the bottom of the can. fill with degreaser and any muck can be splashed and encouraged to fall around the edges and under the 1/4 panel.

secondly, i use an 'S' shaped furniture allen key to under the rocker inspection caps. readily available-as long as you bought swedish furniture i guess!

thirdly, pilot screw adjuster-i had a small electricians screwdriver with a 3mm flat-bladed head on it. cut the handle off, ground the profile to a 'D' and fed it into half a block connector (see my gallery), pinched it up and now i have a £1 PS adjuster. kouba eat yer heart out!

regards

Taffy

nzberg

we get those allen keys with the furniter kit sets from china fly wheel pullers are from buzzeti you should be able to order these from your mc shop these are very cheap but work

Taffy

ok three more from me. feel free to join in lads at any time

1) tyre changer
make a wooden square frame from 3" x 2" wood, and place a couple of pieces of say-ply behind and nail up so that it's square and rigid. the dimensions should be from the middle of the tyre wall to the other side tyre wall centre. rear tyre. i used two strips of ply that are only about 6" wide so it kept the weight down

2) tyre changer lubricant
use hair shampoo for the lubricant in a mixture with water. it doesn't dry out so easily as fairy!

3) engine holder
you can go to a lot further lengths than this but i simply made an oblong/rectangle box of 2" x 1" wood on the sides and 2" x 2" across the ends that fitted the shape of the engine stood upright. due to the various bumps in an engine you then get a jigsaw and take out the bits that will help the engine sit still. to hold it all together i used metal plates bent to 90d at the corners and drilled and screwed.

i'm not saying it's old but they hadn't invented the jigsaw when i made mine!

regards

taffy

Bobzilla

I use a 15 gallon oil drum to change tires on. It puts the tire at waist height and works on the front and rear wheel and I don't have to bend over. You know us old guys hate to do the bending.

I also made a table that is 20" high to put the bike on with a clamp for the front wheel and a jack for the middle to raise the bike up. The table has 4 tiedowns so I can put the bike on the jack and then strip it all front and back with out the frame tipping over.

I am also a cheap bas*ard and a decent welder so I bought some sockets off the bargan basement table and welded them to some 5/16 stainless rod I had laying around and made a set of T handel wrenches.

I bought a Stainless steel sink from a restaurant that was going out of business that has a counter and divided deep sink that I use as a parts washer/ disassembly area.

logjump

I can open a beer with a sparkplug wrench.



Logjump

Bobzilla

With a quarter if my hands are dry and I'm not tired!

fmoffroad

You guys open your own beer?

dadx6

My tire changing stand is a pipe with threaded rod welded in the end, to put the wheel on and a nut to holed it tight and three legs at the bottom.

For valve lash I drilled out a socket ant then welded on a box end wrench for the handle. (got that from Y'all)

Taffy

ok so you want to check for top dead centre?

1) borrow a protractor and photocopy it. miniaturise it until it is exactly the width of the flywheel on your paper. stick it on some cardboard and cut it out. it can now be 'blu-taced to the flywheel

2) get a 3" long M6 bolt and weld a teardrop profiled sliver of metal on the end. put a nut on the rod and screw into the top hole that keeps the ignition cover on. use the nut to screw against the casing and lock the teardrop looking to the middle of the flywheel.

3) get an old plug and rip the centre out-everything. put a rod into the middle. you can weld it there or use a threaded rod and a nut each side. dome the end so as not to cut into the piston. let about 11mm protrude beyond the thread of the plug. screw into the head.

now you can turn the crank too and fro and move the protractor around until it stops the same distance before TDC in either direction. say 15d before topp, spin it the other way and it's 15d before top. now remove the dead stop tool outa the plug hole.

get the tdc to the top using your hand to turn the flywheel. just peer behind the cardboard and see ehre the TDC marks are on the flywheel compared to your protractor!

regards

Taffy

Parsko

As a follow up to Taff's TDC routine:

Use a punch, and mark TDC on the flywheel. Also, using the punch, mark where the plug fires (I think mine is 19 deg BTDC). Then, you never have to do that again. Also, you will need to scribe a mark on the case for your reference to the marks on the flywheel.

If you have those few degrees adjustment in the stator (meaning adjustment from 18-20 deg. BTDC, then you could punch marks for each...)

-Parsko