If anyone is wondering about the progress then, well, nothing has happened unfortunately. I had to work 3 weekends in a row for my job then i took 3 days holiday and a weekend to make a set of railings for my girlfriends boss.
Driving back from work last weekend, the Consul decided that it didn't like its engine working and conked out in rush hour traffic. I managed to coast it to the side of the road and popped the bonnet. At first i didn't know what it was so i checked the vitals first, fuel and spark. Stupidly i also done it in that order, to check for petrol i disconnected the fuel pipe and pressed the starter solenoid which sprayed fuel all over the engine and still hot exhaust, oops. So the fuel was ok but now i realized that i need to check the spark... with petrol everywhere. I was about to pull a plug out and be brave and find a spot that wasn't covered in petrol to test it when i thought id check if the distributor was functioning. I took the cap off and pressed the solenoid again and the rotor arm wasn't turning. I thought that maybe the bracket had came loose and it popped out. I tried to slacking the bracket off a bit more but the distributor wouldn't come out. The body of it rotates but its totally jammed inside the engine somehow. The only other way to access it is to take the sump off and the oil pump off and see if can identify why its stuck in there. Another thing that will take a day of my weekend up.
I was also getting fed up with sitting in my car at traffic jams doing the daily commute and decided that seeing as the weather is picking up and theres more daylight, now would be the best time to get my motorbike project back on the road. I've had my Honda VFR400 for about 6 years now and 3 of those years its been off the road. I had a crash on it and i wanted to rebuild it to a better spec so i bought a set of Yamaha R1 forks and calipers and came up with a way to put them on the bike. I also used an Aprilla RS250 rear shock to tighten up the rear.
These are all really old photos. I never had much money then so i had to stop for a while. Then i bought the Consul and it took up most of my time. Last weekend i decided to start the engine (first time in over a year) and it gave me a boost to get it finished. I had to re-cap myself as to how far i had gotten and was really surprised by how far i got before i stopped. I repaired all the fairings except the front, i just needed to bleed the brakes properly (i spent days and days on them before, always spongy) buy mirrors, indicators, S/S brake lines and then put it all back together again. I got most of that done over one weekend and all i have to do now is repair the front fairing and make sure everything is ok. I'm hoping to get it finished this Saturday and leave me with Sunday (girlfriend permitting) to get back to the van. I feel really guilty that i haven't done anything to it for 5 weeks already. In a way its been good to have a break because it had been on my mind every day since i bought it about 8 months ago. So i can get back to it with a clear mind and enthusiasm.
