Gathering new bits

I’ve been gathering bits together from EBay, Marketplace and autojumbles as I spotted them, ready for rebuilding proper to start during winter.

I’ve already got hold of the frame to donate the rear parts that mount the mudguard.

A standard seat came up, with decent original foam, a solid base and a new, but unfitted, cover. That lot was £70 - a bargain, as the covers alone are £50.

Another total bargain from the same source - rear mudguard, light and number plate mount. I needed it all and got it for £50. You can see how much of the original mudguard was cut off in this photo. The combined bits of the two somewhat damaged lights should make one good one.

I wasn’t really looking for this, but couldn’t resist when a NOS speedo came up, with just a couple of small dents on the bezel. I need to fill and spray the rev counter bezel anyway so no big deal to do both and then they’ll match. Everything will look so much better with this, as the replacement speedo that came with the bike was a different size to the rev counter so I was puzzling over how to create a decent looking dash - problem now solved!

In an earlier blog, I was musing about what style the bike should be and I have pretty much settled that I’m going to build it as a middleweight tourer. I do like the California but they are a bit big and in your face for me. Anyway, at the Stafford Show I came across these old fibreglass panniers for £10, which need a lot of work but I'm pretty sure I can do something useful with them. 

I also found a set of old but very useable chrome crash bars, which should fit around these nicely, once I make a couple of custom brackets.

The seat attaches to the chrome grab rail - I found a good condition one from GutziButs, which just needs a good clean up with Solvol. One of the V50 forum members sent me a rusty but restorable seat lock for nowt! 

After having seen the video of the bike running, I decided that I wouldn’t be able to live with the noise from the open megaphone exhausts that came with the bike. They are also way too short for the tourer style I want to create. So I bit the bullet and bought a pair of repro Dunstall silencers. These look similar to original but should give a nice deep burble; plus I can always wrap the baffles if they are too loud for me.

Once I’d decided on the tourer style,  I came across this lovely Mk3 fairing that I think will look great with the panniers. Together with indicators and also a set of original pillion foot pegs / exhaust mounts that I was missing. 

The bike had no handlebar controls with it when I got it, and the Guzzi ones seem to be notoriously unreliable, so I got a set of Kawasaki ER6 switchgear, which has everything I need and nothing I don’t! 

And finally, for now, I was going to repair and modify the beaten up original mudguard that came with the bike, but when I priced up the bits I'd need to make up new mounting brackets and do fibreglass repairs etc, it was cheaper to just get a decent second hand one, so that's what I did! 

In a similar vein, I started to clean up the downpipes, which had been roughly painted matt black. They were chrome underneath but quite badly damaged. I got a price for rechroming which seemed a bit too much to me. However, I do think that the bike will need chrome pipes as the cylinders and downpipes are such a highlight of the design. So I found some second hand ones that I think should clean up nicely and were about half the cost of rechroming. Time will tell if that is a good decision or not!

 

I've been very pleasantly surprised at how cheap the parts have been, relative to what the Crusader parts cost me. Must be a lot to do with the relative scarcity and possibly also needing to remanufacture parts for the Enfield?

 I reckon I have most of what I need now to get moving as and when I have time.

UPDATED 18 Dec: when I said a couple of paragraphs ago “ Time will tell if that is a good decision or not.”, the exhausts arrived and it wasn’t a good decision! The photo of them had been taken from the very most flattering angle and they were generally very tarnished and discoloured. I ended up sending them back for a refund and I have decided to bite the bullet and get my originals rechromed.

These turned out lovely - not perfect, as there were a couple of quite deep gouges that were too deep to polish out, but really nice.

I also found a set of chrome pannier racks that should work nicely with a bit of custom bracketry. The chrome on these definitely will clean up ok!