I've seen some pretty fine hotrods gray with pink stripes.

A piece of metal, throw some gray on it, lay a bit of orange on, look at it in the sun.

You might want to go to a painters supply house and look at a color wheel.  Take your test panel or walk out and look at the bike, get the wheel down to the tank, get the closest match you can, then look across the wheel. THAT'S if I remember correctly how to use it.. I'm not talking about auto paint supply, though they might have one. The painters who use oil on canvas,those places have them.


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color wheel

Item number 5,432 that took longer than expected:

I got paint in the threads for mounting the petcock and didn't notice it until after the tank was on the bike and wired up. I had to take it back off again and run a tap through the threads to get everything cleaned up. It was only an additional 10-15 minutes but more time.

I've moved on to mounting the seat padding and pan. The first attempt at using the little rubber grommets was not successful but I remember that being an issue with other people too. I'll try one more time tonight but if it doesn't work I may move to attaching some sort of stud to the padding section instead. The rubber grommets seem like they are a good idea but it seems very difficult to get them started and have them start securing themselves.

Yep, those EMGO shorty cone mufflers are really much too loud.

If you want to be a test mule for some baffle options....I have a few ideas (and a few spare baffles I have picked up).  I can modify the baffles, and you could just pull your existing baffle out and replace it with the modified ones and see how they work and sound.

Your bike will need to be up and running and out on the street before you will be able to do testing.

Dave

I finally got the bike out this weekend. Man did I miss riding.

Overall first impressions:
The bike is surprisingly smooth at 50-60mph.
70mph isn't surprisingly smooth.   It's crazy how much of a difference a couple mph / rpm makes.
The seating position is pretty comfortable for me.
The seat could use just a little support.
The front wheel seems really far forward. It's probably because I'm just used to having a fairing there blocking the view of the actual tire.
I'm going to need to check over all of the nuts and bolts again to get some peace of mind.

I still don't have the nuts on the seat / tank bolts. I noticed with the bikes that use the side covers that the seat pan actually gets notched...which would give access to the bolts. I'm not using those though so I'm struggling with getting those nuts started. I can squeeze a wrench through there to tighten them down after that...but I can't seem to get them started. I'd rather not have to notch the seat or move it back too much just to get access to those. If anyone has any tricks that they know of I'm all ears.

I decided to put the chrome engine shrouds back on the bike because I think it gives it a cleaner look. To get the left side one on I needed to disconnect the decomp lever (foot actuated). I forgot to tighten that all back down and it managed to rattle loose at the foot pedal within about 5 miles. I'm guessing that the e-clip actually worked its way off because I'm not sure how it could have rotated enough for the threads to come undone. Unfortunately the u-joint fell off so I have no decomp right now. Just how much extra wear does this put on the starter? So far it's starting fine and doesn't seem to struggle at all.

Dave - I'll take you up on trying out some different baffles if you want me to. I don't weld myself but I have a couple friends that do. If you just have some ideas that would be easier for me to get fabbed here myself I'd try that out too.

Things I still want / need to do:
Attach the seat and tank. It just seems like the safer thing to do.  
Add a little color. I'll probably start with some orange grips since that seems fairly cheap and easy.
Try out some different exhaust options.
Reattach the decomp lever.
Add some weight to the bars to see if it helps with vibrations.
Upgrade the front brake.
Maybe get a fork brace.
Hide wires







Notch for the decomp lever.


Wires that need to be cleaned up.




My helpers. (proud of the "apples" that they picked up while I was doing the last couple things to the bike)

Looks great!

You might want to add a front fender to your list of things to do.  I rode my first summer without one, as I just ran out of time and wanted to ride.  A few rain storrms, a bit of gravel in the face, and I was ready for a front fender.  At night the headlight lights up all the stuff the front wheel is throwing.....and you realize how functional a front fender is.

For the seat/tank bolts.....I installed 6mm bolts into the threaded inserts from underneath, and the bolts are long enough that the threads extend up and allow you to use a nut to hold the seat/tank down.  I use a small pencil type magnet and a fingertip to install the washers - then I use the magnet to hold the nut on the stud....then use a small flat bladed screwdriver to turn the nut into place - once it has started a couple of threads I can spin it down with my fingertip, then I use an open end wrench to tighten it down......it is a bit fiddly but easier than trying to use the bolts from the top.

I will work on the EMGO Muffler baffles.......

Dave

Gary_in_NJ wrote on 08/08/16 at 10:43:43:




I have absolutely no plans to install the side covers. I didn't even have them send them with the kit. I tried trading them for money off of some of the additional parts like the turn signals, brake line, plate bracket, etc. I honestly don't know if it ever happened because there was a coupon code available at the time that I purchased it. The website had problems figuring out the price with the discount on the kit but not the added parts.

No green. It's actually Subaru Dark Grey Metallic. I had the color on an '08 WRX and I liked it a lot. It seemed easy. Here's a pic of the color on a car.

I'm getting a kind of odd vibrating / rattling sound from the top of the motor area when it's coasting down or at partial throttle at about 2k rpm. Is that a normal sound?

Also, now my friend is asking when I'm going to hide the battery since I'm not using the panels. As I'm looking at the bike I don't really understand why they didn't push the battery box up higher underneath the seat and just not do side panels at all.