Here is a video of the rear bulbs and the front LED turn signals

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I will be doing the rear turn signals this weekend.

Today I was able to complete the pulley experiment that I had going on.  The stock front pulley is 23 tooth, and it can be replaced with a 25 tooth from a Kawasaki EN454 LTD with some machining and adapting.  It does however move the rear tire forward, and with an 18" wheel I cannot move the wheel any farther forward or the tire will hit the swing arm.

MMRanch had reported that a Kawasaki KZ750 rear pulley had 65 teeth vs. the Savage 68 teeth....so maybe that would work. Well it does work....but takes some adapting.  The center hole size is bigger than the Savage - so you have to make a collar to put on the hub to center the pulley.  Then the bolt holes are on a different bolt circle....so you have to drill new holes, and the offset is different....so you have to cut some off the hub to allow the pulleys to run the belt in alignment.  Also the left shock bolt head interferes with the smaller pulley - so I had to machine about half of the head away to allow clearance and replate the bolt so it didn't rust.  Lastly the rear wheel is moved almost all the way back to tighten the belt properly.....so I have very little adjustment left and I will have to extend the swingarm slots 1/4 inch if I want to keep this change.  I also cut some rubber floor matt and installed it on top of the rubber hub cushions - and this tightened up the wobble on the rear pulley and made it run straighter.

EN454 25 tooth pulley


Machining collar and removing some material to correct offset.


Cutting some shims from rubber floor matt to elimate play in rear hub.


Installed KZ750 rear pulley


The end result is that with my 18" rear tire and the stock pulleys - my engine ran 4,040 rpm at 60 mph.  With the new pullies the engine is turning 3,300 rpm at 60 mph....and it feels much nicer to be cruising along at that speed.  You now "know" when you are in 5th gear......and the jump between 4th and 5th is noticeable now.  I suspect that 4th gear will be used for performance, and 5th will be used for cruising on flat ground.  I only took it for a 10 mile spin today - but I believe it is going to be a worthwhile change.

The KZ440 rear pulley might be the same as the KZ750 - but with 4 hub holes instead of 5.  The only eBay listing I saw for the KZ440 that had a tooth count said it was 65 teeth....same as the KZ750.  There is one weird 60 tooth KZ440 sprocket on eBay - but you could not get a belt for that size pulley.

I went with the KZ750 pulley as the hole spacing allowed me to drill the new holes half way between the existing holes....not sure how the 4 holes on the KZ440 would be converted to 5 holes for the Savage.

Over the weekend I was finally able to work on a front fender.  Last year I was just too busy getting the bike up and running that I did not have time to get the front fender done.  Since I had used a different triple tree yokes and narrowed the front end I was not able to use a stock fender anymore.

I bought a NOS Wassel fender from eBay.  It was an aftermarket fender made for British bikes, and was way too long for what I needed.


I needed to make a flat spot on the fender so it would bolt up to the bottom of the TKAT brace.  I tried to figure out a way I could cut out a piece of metal that would make a flat surface......so I turned the fender upside down and leveled it up against the wall with the mounting point at the bottom.  I then put some water in the bottom of the fender until the level of the water was the size of the mounting point I wanted.  I then spayed a light coat of orange paint in the fender.....the water prevented the paint from sticking to the area that I wanted to cut out.....and made a level surface?  I then let the paint dry, dumped out the water, cut out the part that did not have paint on it, then traced the hole onto a flat piece of steel and cut it out to weld into the fender.



I then mounted the fender to the bottom of the TKAT brace, and made a pair of stainless steel braces for the rear portion of the fender.


Now I am at the point where I can take the bodywork off and start prepping everything for paint!

Water......
That's brilliant... ...

I have never liked the fact that I don't have anywhere to store a tool kit, or my registration and proof of insurance - and this weekend I made a storage place in the seat.

First I cut a sheet of thin aluminum to fit in the bottom of the rear bodywork for the seat.


Then I cut a hole just behind the seat back to use as the access.  When the seat is installed it will not be visible.


Then I laid two layer of fiberglass over the aluminum sheet to give it strength and to mount is securely to the bodywork.  I placed two plastic mounts to zip tie the tail light wiring harness.


Then I epoxied some metal nuts to the seat bottom that are supposed to be used for making metal threads in wood....but I used them as dowels to locate the seat and keep it from moving around.  I will use either some velcro or magnets to hold the seat down.

Strang:

The top of the RM stem and the upper yoke attachment was completely different than the method used for the Savage, and switching stems would have made for more work than fixing the top and bottom bearing mounts.  The RM400 forks used ball bearings and the mounting surface on the stem was much shorter that the Savage Stem that uses roler bearings.

The work on the stem was actually the least amount of work.  Making steering stops that worked on the Savage was tough - but it also would have been possible to weld a stud on the front of the frame to work with the RM yoke.  Also the front hub had to be modified to work with the narrower fork spacing, and then I had to machine a bit of the disc brake caliper away.....and the stock front fender won't fit anymore.

I had initially thought about modifying a Savage bottom yoke with the fork clamp to fit on the top of the yoke.....that way you would have clamps on the top and bottom yokes at the Savage spacing.  This new top yoke would not have places to mount your handlebars - but if you are using clip ons that is not an issue.  I have an extra bottom yoke if you want to try this.....it would however need a spacer made as the top of the stem is not the same diameter as the bottom.  I still have the parts for this change if you are interested.....if you mount the speedo and tach over the yoke.....not sure if you can make the converted bottom yoke look good.

I took a break from the painting for a bit and worked on the rear swing arm.  I wanted to eliminate the passenger peg mounts. So I driled and cut out the tubes that were welded into the swingarm, and made some metal patches with a hole saw.





I also wanted to get a bit more clearance at the front of the 18" tire in case I use the larger Kawasaki front pulley without the smaller back one, and in case I ever get a larger tire.  I first slid the axle all the way forward and marked a pattern using a 3/8" drive socket extension for clearance.


I then cut out the original metal, and made an interior stiffener to be welded inside, and a new plate to cover the part I cut away.b  The stiffener plate is installed about where the green tape is located.


I then welded it all together and made it smooth with my grinder.


I also wanted to get some extra travel in the axle adjustment for the use of the Kawasaki Pulleys.....so I cut the spot welds off the interior plate and removed it.




I then made some plates and welded on an extension of about 3/16".  I still have to lengthen the holes and make new plates to replace the ones I cut off, and make the notches at the rear to hold the adjustment bolts.  I may ultimately have to make longer brackets that hold the adjustment screws - but the original ones will work for the double Kawasaki Pulley set up.  I might be a little soon to post this picture, as there is still work to be done....it is not yet pretty!


DONE!