Project Zeal, Some More Digging

I couldn’t help myself, I had to do some more digging on the bike and see what’s what.

First port of call tonight was to remove the battery and see if it could be charged. Seat off, and out came the battery. Before taking it out though, I had to connect a jump pack and see what happened. The good news is that it didn’t burst into flames, and when the key is turned the dash lights come on. The bad news is the fuel pump is making some ugly noises.

The battery is dead dead though, the charger didn’t even recognise that a battery was connected. Will need to look for a cheap replacement.

Since the seat was off…. it was only another couple of screws to remove the side trims for further digging (battery on the floor is the new one for the Fit, since that packed a sad the other day)

Taking these trims off allowed me access to some critical things.

One of which is the radiator. It wouldn’t be an automobile of mine if it didn’t spill coolant on the ground….

This was great news though, it’s filled with sweet sweet green coolant, not rusty water. Mean.

One of the other things it revealed, was the rust on the frame. Its ugly. Very ugly, but thankfully even with some hard-core digging and scraping with a screwdriver, it’s all solid metal. No holes. It will need to be stripped back, rust killed, prepped and painted though. This bike sat for 4 years, outside, in a suburb near the ocean. Surface rust is to be expected I guess.

I got a good view of the carbs and surrounding area. Its filthy and has some surface rust in various places, but should tidy up. The carb manifold joins are cracking though.

First real view of the sweet four banger

Hard to believe this is an oil filter…..

Some more good news, is that the gear selector has freed up a bit, and I can now drop it down into first gear and pop back into neutral, and the lever now springs back how it should. The stand also springs a bit freer too. Good old WD40, working magic.

I’ll try to remove and drain the fuel tank tomorrow. I want to try get the engine running before I go too much further, but I don’t know what to do with the carbs. They will be full of old stale fuel and varnish. I will need to rebuild them, but I don’t want to go to that effort and cost until I know the engine runs.

I’ll grab some oil and a filter tomorrow and get that gross old scum out of the engine. At least then I know that’s good.