Another windy day still kept me from putting the final coat on the frame . Rain and cold on the way so probably won't get it done for awhile. Started the day off by welding up the cracks on the seat plate as best I could but the results aren't pretty. Lowest setting on my welder , thinnest rods I had and just couldn't lay a bead along the crack without burning through. Ended up tacking on some small patches I made to fit over the cracks. It's ugly but should stop the cracks from spreading. Nope, no pics, you'll have to trust me, it's UGLY.

I have a bad habit of not always putting everything back in it's place when I'm done with it so every so often during a project I have to devote a day to straightening the shop, organizing tools and accounting for parts and today was that day. I also strung a wire across the rafters and hung all the small finished parts that I've cleaned and painted to get them out of my way and also to be able to find them when the time comes to put it all back together.

Still had a little time left so decided to get to work on the rear shocks and springs. Took me awhile to figure out how to compress the spring but after a couple bad ideas I ended up just sticking in my vice (I have a very big vice) and using a piece of 1/4 inch flat stock to stick between a couple coils, all I had to do was crank the vice in a couple turns and easily remove the keeper.

Other than the rough start with the rotten seat plate the rest of the day went good and got quite a bit accomplished. Will probably clean up the other shock and spring tomorrow.

Spring and shock cleaned up pretty good.

Looking for case sealant tonight and realized there are several different types of Yamabond. Reading some reviews it looks like No.4 is best for sealing the cases but wanted to check with you guys before ordering.

Nevermind, searched the site here and found out what I need.

Took the other spring off the shock today and got it and the shock all cleaned up. Haven't decided what I'm going to do with them yet, Probably paint but possibly nickel plate so setting them aside for now. Finally got back to sanding the plastic front fender and finally finished it. Couldn't get the finish I wanted but it'll have to do.

Removed paint and rust from headlight housing, inside and out. came out good but with rain and cold hitting today didn't get it painted. Hoping it dries out and warms up enough tomorrow to get that done, but that's doubtful. Sure wish I had heat in the shop. Had a wood stove in there back in the day but unless you sat on it it didn't help much so took it out to make room for things that I actually used.

Planning to work on the headlight mounting ears if weather isn't too bad in the morning. They shouldn't take long to get ready.

The headlight mounting ears cleaned up pretty good and I started cleaning some other small parts but only got a couple more done before the cold got to me and I gave it up for the day.

My seat on one of my bikes was worse, I brazed what I could and fiberglassed, I also brazed in reinforcement pieces.

Jack...consider investing in a 5 gallon pail of Evaporust. About $90 US. Soak the parts. It works fantastic and you can be inside having a cold one instead of being the cold one!

Evaporust doesn’t hurt chrome or rubber but will blister paint if left long enough.

MD Scott, good idea on the brazing and figerglass on the seat plate . I haven't brazed anything in years and don't even have a brazing rod on the place anymore but I'll check around and see if I can find some place that'll sell me one or two and give it a try.

Pedalcrazy, great idea on investing in the Evaporust. I should have bought a bucket of that stuff before I took the first bolt out but not much point in getting it now. I've only got a handful of metal parts left to clean and should have them finished up in a day or two. Next project for sure though.

Didn't get a whole lot done today but slowly knocking out the remaining small parts. The good news of the day is that got a call from Josh at Bill Bunes this evening and my engine work is finished so it'll soon be on it's way back home. Guess it's time to sit down and, part by part, go through everything I've received the past few weeks and make sure everything is correct and that I haven't forgotten anything. I'm already nervous about putting the engine together and definitely don't need a snag, like a missing snap-ring or some such thing, right in the middle of re-assembly. Still waiting on a couple things that are already past their expected arrival date but hopefully they'll be here soon.

I was going through my parts tonight, making sure I had everything and that everything was going to fit up right when I came across a problem that I'm not sure what to do about so hoping for some insight from you guys. On the end of the drive shaft where the kick idle gear sits there is about a quarter inch gap between the shaft bearing and the kick start gear. To me it looks like the inner race could and probably would slide outwards until it came up against the gear, which would put the whole load on only the outer half of the bearing which I'm pretty sure would make for a very short bearing life. There is a groove on the shaft that looks like the perfect place for a snap ring but I don't have one and the parts diagrams don't show one and show only what they call a plate washer in that spot. A snap ring to hold the inner race in place or a spacer to fill the gap would take care of things but neither are shown on any parts lists that I've looked at. I can maybe find a snap ring to fit the existing groove or even fab a spacer of some kind but not sure either is a good idea. So I'm really hoping someone can give me some insight as to what's supposed to be there.

I took some pictures to maybe help clarify what I'm talking about. I also noticed that the inner race is beveled on one side and flat on the other and I'm not sure which side goes where so any info on that would be much appreciated too.
The middle pic shows the gap between the bearing and gear that I'm talking about.

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