Fettled Bike 2. 1979 Yamaha DT175MX Restoration.

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Introduction

Following on from the Fettled bike two thread. Stinkwheel has shown an interest in a restoration thread.

I will copy and paste the text of this long restoration thread and dig out the pics to add as I do it. There are many pics.

At times it may seem a bit disjointed because I will be only putting in my own contributions.
Putting other persons responses in from other sites is not fair in my book esp without permission.
Because the thread ran over many months and had many comments in between my contributions, often my last contribution and my next response may seem to be completely odd but made sense on the original thread.

This is the nature of the beast unfortunately.

This is a warts and all thread about how a simple, already restored 1970s two stroke bike almost sent a confident, once senior, mixed marque motorcycle
technician to a spell in the loony bin.

I am aware that people like to read of problems and fuckups better than success,
so I do not hold back on those. It makes for a far more interesting read.

I will add to the thread when I have the time...

I give you the devil bike. Satan himself once owned it and cast it from hell itself in a fit of perplexed rage. Then a clown came along, broke all his own rules, and bought it on the strength of a few pics as a bike fully overhauled and restored by a " motor vehicle professional".
What a twonk.

Devil bike. Nearing the end. Nothing you see is from the original "restoration". Not the paint, not the tyres, nor even the exhaust. It was just lulling me into a false sense of security though. It still had further horrors to reveal.

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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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Start...

This will likely be a long thread, based on one from another forum that ran into over 100 pages. I still have the pics I took of the rebuild and they comprise a good part of my provenance folder.



Like the VFR750 already detailed, I had a brand new DT175mx back in the day, as part of my stable of off road bikes. I loved that little Yam as it got me to work and back during the day, and was suitable for a little light offroading on an evening or weekend when I couldn't be arsed to organise my car driving mate, get my much more capable offroaders onto a trailer and go to the venue. The Dt was light, nimble and was pretty good on and off road.

My older mates at the bike club slowly turned towards weekend camping trips and bike rallies and bought on road bikes. My DT was just two months old when I traded it in for, of all things, a Honda CB250N Superdream. It was better for camping trips and far more comfortable, but insipid to ride. It did teach me to corner well though. When you were trying to keep up with 650s and 750s, you did not have the luxury of slowing down for a bend. It was the only time I could make up a little ground. I did put a deposit down on a Honda CB400/4 but the insurance broker almost broke a rib laughing when I enquired about insuring it. Not just turned 18 sonny boy.



Anyway, I really missed that DT and vowed that one day I would get another. As usual, life got in the way, mortgages, breadsnappers ect. In 2019, I righted my biggest mistake and reaquainted myself with the VFR750. That restored, I decided to get a DT.



I came across an ad for a "fully restored" DT175mx, restored by a college motor vehicle lecturer, and thought that for once I would not have to get my hands dirty. It looked the biz and had provenance proving its origins, life story and its very low original mileage. Being an ex Yamaha techie, I knew some parts would not be up to standard and was prepared to be replacing incorrect bolts and fastenings for the correct ones, but I was not bargaining on a full rebuild. The thing turned out to be an absolute death trap....



Only pic I have from the original ad. It looked the business, even if I did spot one or two "mistakes". I ignored the warning bells....



image.png.c4a869b2ccf262f0c1f90f336d217f27.png





Edited December 18, 2022 by Tinkicker
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So, some background from his letter of provenance.

We have a college motor vehicle lecturer, keen car restorer and fairly newly retired. His latest project completed, he was looking for another project to keep him occupied.

He bumped into an old student and they got talking. Turned out the student's mum was moving house and wanted rid of his Dads old bike from the back of the shed. She was going to take it for scrap.

His Dad came from Hong Kong originally, met his Mum and they got married. He bought the DT brand new to go to work on. All well and good until winter and Dad found it a toil commuting in freezing conditions. He fell off it on a patch of ice and decided to park it up until spring.

Time passed, the wife got pregnant and the marriage failed. Dad went back to Hong Kong, leaving the DT parked and forgotten at the back of a shed under an old tarp and his wife holding the baby.



40 years later, the college lecturer took a look at the bike. Weeds were growing up through the frame and wheels, but it looked complete. The speedo had 1931 miles on the clock. He deemed it worthy of restoring and brought it home, stripped it and "restored" it.



The numberplate was missing, presumably torn off when it was dropped and the logbook had long vanished, so no reg number. However the engine and frame numbers were intact. DVLA were contacted, but were unable to help, the registration was inactive so long that the records were destroyed in a fire in the 80s and there had been no tax ot MOT activity to keep them updated. However, they did confirm that it was not on the stolen vehicle database.



The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club were contacted to assess the bike for registration and official Yamaha records indicated that the DT was assembled at the Iwata plant in Japan during August 1978, intended for the UK 1979 model year. It was number 358 in the production run.

The pictures supplied of the bike pre restoration indicated that the paint colour, country specific parts and styling was correct for that UK model year.

DVLA was contacted with the provenance and an age related number was issued.



The bike was put up for sale and a clown who should have known better bought it at a premium price because he ignored all his own rules. He was an experienced motorcycle techie and confident he could sort out any issues. After all, how bad could it be if it was restored by a motor vehicle lecturer?

2024 edit. I think it was most likely that the bike was missing parts when the lecturer bought it, not the complete but rusty bike he made it out to be. Numberplate, tax disc, V5. I know the indicators were present, but knackered because he fitted cheapo led ones and sent the old ones in a bag.
I know the speedo and actual mileage are consistent because I had the chance to inspect the engine internals, more of which with pics later. Deffo less than 2000 miles.





Hmm
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So. It was noted that the indicators as shown on the advert were not correct, presumably wiped out in the spill. After arranging for delivery, I ordered a set of reproduction ones, to replace the el cheapo modern LED ones that the seller had fitted.



Bike duly arrived and led indicators were removed and the repro ones installed. Odd thing, the led ones were flashing very fast, but the orange turn warning lamp on the tacho would only light up when switched to the left.

Fitted new indicators and they were flashing at a more reasonable pace, but the warning lamp persisted. I came across a missive among the paperwork showing that he knew about it and was unable to fix it. It read that because the indicators could be seen from the riding position, the warning lamp was not a legal requirement. Hmm. Something about any lighting system fitted is required to be functioning in its entirety in the MOT testers handbook. So waffle.



Anyway. Time for a test run. Fuel on, kick it up and take it for a little trip around the village. Got it up into third gear and bwaaaar, bwaaar bluuuurrg. Its cutting out, snicked down into second and it would not go down the box. Stuck in third.

Clutch in, I coasted to a stop. A lot if messing finally got it into neutral. Now why did it cut out? Much consternation ensued, then the penny dropped... Reserve!

I have not had a bike with a fuel tap for many the year and had got out of the habit of reaching down and turning the tap to reserve when the engine suddenly cut.

Reserve selected and the bike fired up. Finished my ride round the village, got up to fourth and could not change down again. Just as I was pulling in the drive, the thing cut again. No fuel. Tank was completely empty. Must have been less than a pint in there. Old skinflint must have siphoned it and left just enough to start it.

Had a think about the gear selection problem. In my yamaha techie days it was quite common and the cause was usually a small selector spring on the shift lever. Not a big or expensive deal. Spring ordered.

Strange though, he stated he had stripped and rebuilt the engine as part of the restoration, so why had he not noticed the selection problem?



The bike did seem a bit down on power from what I can remember, so I decided to take a look at the top end if the engine and this is where the quality of the "full restoration" became apparent.



Removed tank, seat and exhaust and head. I was also confronted with a rear damper in name only. It was toast. Dammit, looks like I am going to get my hands dirty after all....

Not what one expected after buying a fully restored bike from a "motor industry professional".

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Head off, the barrel was also toast. It had been stood for 40 years and corrosion had set in around the ring area. The cylinder, although unworn, was too badly pitted to hone out. It would be past its service limit. On a happier note, the lack of wear did confirm the mileage was genuine.







Corrosion pitting where the piston rings stopped 40 years ago. Otherwise unworn. What a shame. Again, not what one would expect on a "rebuilt" engine. My faith in the seller was starting to slip and I resolved to dig deeper..
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Looks tidy doesn't it? It certainly fooled me. They say you cannot polish a turd, but the previous owner managed it. It is a death trap.

There is not one single system on that bike that did not require a lot of effort to get it in a roadworthy condition.



New indicators fitted, but the rest of the bike is going backwards progress wise.


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Time to pull off the barrel to send it away for a rebore. A quick measure proved it was standard size, so a first oversize piston was ordered, along with the required gaskets. Optimism is still high.

So assembled the tools I would need and looked at the cylinder base nuts to find the correct size socket. I need not have bothered, the base nuts were alloy and one of them had been so badly chewed that it was completely rounded.

Thinking cap on. How would I get the nut off? I could hammer a smaller socket on and hope it would grip enough to loosen it, but my 1\4 drive, 11mm hex socket was in my toolbox at work. I needed another solution. I could not get mole grips on it as the nuts were deep down the four round holes in the barrel and the fins far too close together for moles, pliers ect to get in.

As the pile of empty saturday night beer cans slowly but surely grew higher at the side of the sofa, I had a flash of inspiration, or maybe it was a bit of indigestion, not quite sure.
My memory of that evening is somewhat limited, but I did wake up on the sunday morning with a cunning plan already hand in hand with a banging headache.

I would remove one of the better nuts, see how far up the stud went in the nut and drill a hole above that level, then use a screwdriver as a tommy bar to turn it.

Nut removed, and a sigh of relief. I needed a set of new hold down nuts, not cheap, but at least they were still available to order.

So barrel off and as I suspected, the piston was toast. What I cannot understand is if the engine had been stripped and rebuilt as the seller stated, and those nuts had to come off to do so, why would he refit them in that state?

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Had a look at the little end eye in the rod Looked to have escaped major corrosion, but did have a small black water mark. I figured that a new small end bearing and piston pin should do the trick, it is not as if this bike was going to be doing major mileage. I just gave it a quick rub with 800 grit to erase it and pretended I did not see it.
At work, water marked bearings are cause for rejection, but then my stuff is required to perform without fail for tens of thousands of hours in large wheel loaders ect.

Looked over the big end bearing and it looked OK, no radial play apparent and nothing special about the side play and after all, it was a low mileage bike.

However, when I spun the crank, the mains were grumbling and growling like a pack of hungry dogs. The tracks were obviously corroded, yet they had been deemed to be serviceable by the previous "restorer". Seems that the oil capture channels in the cases had guided condensation down into the bearings and rusted them out.

I was going to have to split the cases too. Just great.

His ad said that all cables were new. Does that oil cable look new to you?


Present thoughts.
This bike is truly cursed.
I have a feeling that the decision not to replace the rod and big end at the time is about to come back and bite me. Not because of bearing play, but because I have a nasty feeling developing that the crank is actually misaligned due to brute force and ignorance by the PO and I never bothered to check.
Strange thing is it spins freely and everything I know said it was OK. Yet there is a vibration through the pegs above 5000 rpm and I am starting to doubt myself. I have professionally rebuilt literally dozens upon dozens of two stroke motorcycle motors over my career and this one is just not playing ball. I think I am losing my mind.
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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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Cylinder sent away for rebore and required gaskets, seals and crank bearings on order, along with the proper JIS screws to rid the bike of the cheap ebay hardware cap head screws he had used.
I spent £100s on genuine yamaha screws, nuts, bolts and small parts over the rehash of this "restoration". A necessary evil if one's goal is to make it as it left the factory.

It was time to pull the rear damper. Another teeth clencher.

To remove the rear damper, one has to remove the swingarm. No big deal, maybe 10 minutes work. Remove wheel, pull the swing arm pivot bolt and pull the lower damper pin.
At least I was not about to be struggling with a seized in pivot bolt. I had come across two badly neglected TY175s in my previous life as a motorcycle techie with seized solid pivot bolts. Took hours with an acetylene torch to get them out.

So with light heart, work commenced. Chain split, wheel out, pivot bolt loose and moving we turn our attention to the damper pin. Sidecutters in hand I prepared to do battle with the split pin.

What the hell....

There was no split pin securing the damper pin in place.

This is stuff that can get someone killed. The pin would have worked its way out in very short order and collapsed the suspension.

I pulled the pin and the remnant was still in the hole. Obviously the split pin had been very stubborn and he had drifted the damper pin out with a drift to shear off the split pin ears.
No problem, I have resorted to that many times in the past, but then I always drill the remnant out of the hole in preparation for a new pin.

Either he forgot to fit a new pin or he found he could not fit a new one because he failed to drill the old one and left it. I hope it is the former.

Either way I resolved that the bike needed to come down right down. I no longer had any faith whatsoever in this " motor industry professionals" workmanship.


Swingarm and damper pulled, I turned my attention to the swingarm pivot inner and outer bushes. Oh my word...

He had not removed the bushes, that was obvious because the were seized solid onto the inner tube bush. The entire slip plane of the pivot was between the outer of the bushes themselves and the swingarm itself. They were loose in the swingarm bush locations.
Not only that, but the bush side thrust flanges were cracked with parts of them missing. Another dangerous fault.

If any of my motorcycle techies in a previous life had shown such gross neglect, I would have shown them the door immediately for gross misconduct.

The pile of bits is growing as like peeling an onion, every level removed reveals more feckwittery underneath.
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Bushes seized solid onto inner tube and rotating on swingarm itself and with sideflanges cracked and parts of them missing. In what level of hell would they ever be considered roadworthy?
Lower damper pin still blocked by old split pin. Not a dab of grease used in the reassembly.
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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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The replacement swingarm outer bushes, inner tube bush, cap seals and cap seals for the the damper pin arrived in the post along with a bag of genuine hardware from CMSNL; and I was able to start putting the back end back together.

Next day the low mileage replacement shock arrived from road salt free California.

​​​​​​Swapped the cap shims over into the new cap seals and started to put it back together without incident and with two more parts than before... A washer and split pin. Maybe four.......
Can I call moly grease and copperslip a part?

Looking much better, the rear shock looked pretty much as new, although I would guess it was the later 1980 model. Double checked the part numbers and the 78/79 style shock part number was superceded by the 1980 style. So all good.


Far safer rear end. At this point I am desperately trying not to see the wiring job.
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So swingarm refitted and all the new brightwork fitted. All the snail cams, levers ect had just been painted previously.
Those Cheapo VRubber tyres will have to go, completely wrong tread pattern. Absolutely hate them. Have crossed paths with those before, horrible to mount, stupid tight beads, hard compound and six ply makes them real finger trappers.

Kenda do some in the correct size and pattern, a far better tyre.
I advertised those horrible 1 mile old v rubs FOC just collect, there were no takers. Cannot say I blame them. They ended up at the tip.

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Other side. That brake rod offends me, it has been painted black and new ones unavailable ( at time photo was taken). The correct finish should be BZP.
The wheel spacer was also unavailable, but after months of inputting the part number into ebay daily, one came up NOS.
Competition was fierce, but I ended getting it for £20 and a few pennies.
The old one had been painted silver and was very very badly pitted.

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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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Engine removed and cases split with a great deal of trepidation. Were all the gears going to be present? Was I about to find the guy was a compulsive liar and the bike had actually spent 40 years getting hammered around a field with no oil in the transmission by a gang of delinquents?

​​​​​​Did not need to worry, everything inside those cases told me that the history of the bike was true. All the bearings apart from the mains were smooth and rust free. Happy to re use them.

Praise the Lord.

Clutch basket. No wear on the fingers.
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clutch boss. No apparent wear on friction surface or inner disc lands.
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Gears and Axles. No wear, one or two slight corrosion pits on some of the gears, but nothing to worry about. Absolutely no wear marks where the gearbox sprocket sits. Very happy that this bike has done less than 2000 miles.
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The gear selector forks have seen very few gearchanges. So why is it not changing down the box?https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51424490574_127e6588d5_b.jpg
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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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Carrying on apace. Waiting for the engine parts to arrive, so turned my attention to the rear end. Some wiring was not routed correctly, and I had noticed that the rear lamp assembly was listing to the right.

Thankfully it was not the rear frame loop that was bent, it was the rear fender stiffening plate. Either got slightly bent in the accident or bent when he had it beadblasted.

Since I have a very long history of unintentionally bending sheet metal in beadblasters at work, I cast my eye over it and formed the opinion that it was accident damage from 1979.
A quick twist here and there soon had it looking much straighter. More worrying was the fact that it was untreated steel. He had not even bothered to paint or clearcoat this rare piece of automotive rocking horse poo.

Four coats of Tough Black sorted it.

The rear light had a definite list going on.
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Engine parts arrived, the left case heated up, crank slipped in, new rear mounting damper fitted twixt the cases, transmission dropped into place and tested, then the right hand case dropped on with the merest smear of threebond 1215 in the joints.

Stator and rotor fitted loosely and we turn our attention to the right side.
Shift shaft in, shift selector arm on shaft with new centering spring and new shift arm assembly spring (the likely culprit for the transmission not downshifting).

A quick adjust of the stopper screw to align the centering marks and lock it down.
With a flourish I fitted the gear lever loosely on the splines and it was time to amaze the world with my transmission repairing prowess.
Smugly spinning the input shaft, I deftly selected first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth gears.
Sixth to fifth to fourth to.... fourth and fourth again. Dammit, it is not changing down.
More adjustment, same result, and yet more adjustment ignoring the centering marks altogether had a transmission that changed up like a dream and down reluctantly.

Spin the selector drum by hand and they snicked in and out perfectly, with selector arm fitted, they shifted very poorly. The selector arm assembly must be twisted.
More expense to be spent on this "fully overhauled motor".
No way would he have not known it was not changing down. I think the accident involved the gear lever clouting something hard enough to bend the selector arm assembly. The list to the back light and other feckwittery I come across later definitely points to a heavy drop on the left hand side.

To say I was miffed would be an understatement. I sloped off, shoulders slumped, cracked open a beer and had a bit of a sulk. A few beers later and I felt better and resolved to order the parts in the morning.
I would wait for the missus to have another drink before I broke the news to her.

Parts ordered, I dropped the motor back in the frame with all new genuine bolts and nuts and loosely assembled the right side hardware to keep any small parts from being robbed by the infamous part robbing pixies during the night.

Bottom end back in the frame. I really wish I had checked that crank for alignment before I rebuilt it. The cases fitted tigether fine, it turns perfectly freely and there is nothing I know to suggest anything is wrong with it; but the paranoia is biting because of a very noticeable vibration through the pegs at 5000rpm.
I am used to 4 stroke V4s plus a long line of other multicylinder bikes and cannot remember if my other DT vibrated like that.

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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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Carried on with bits n pieces. Some may have seen me mention Simonize Tough Black paint on various threads recently. Available as gloss or satin fnish.

I painted the clutch and oil pump covers with tough black satin, indeed I also use it on the cylinder and head. It is able to stand up to the heat very well and is chip resistant.
It matches the original paint very closely, esp after a rub with a silicone lube soaked rag.

Clutch cover.
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After months of finding and looking through parts books, I finally found a brake rod that looked to have the same ends as my original and the proportions looked right.
It was not expensive and I thought it might fit after modification. It had a bend in it where my original did not and maybe I just needed to straighten it.
It actually came off a 2020 Asian market DT125 or 175 if I remember correctly.

I need not have worried, it fitted like a glove, even the bend was in the correct place to clear the swingarm.

Plastic bag is the correct part number if anyone needs one. It can be ordered from Fowlers in Bristol, if in the UK.

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Turned my attention to the fully overhauled carb.
Carb is a Mikuni VM24-005 iirc and according to the advertisement, was fitted with a new main jet.
Unfortunately that main jet was wrong. It was a #120 and the UK spec for the 1979 DT175mx is 130 or 140 main according to Yamahas good book.

I split the difference and went for #135.

Sods law and my terrible luck came into play and in hindsight, it would have been better with the #130.
Plug insulator at high throttle settings is a milk chocolate brown, although the incredibly poorly machined rebore might have had something to do with that.
Oh yes, my good fortune has no end.
I suspect most already know about that particular sorry tale of woe.

​Anyway I fitted the 135 jet, gave the non teflon tipped float valve and seat a quick lap in with metal polish and set the float height to spec with the hammer in the picture.
Actually the hammer is there to prevent two reprobate Bassett Hounds and a Irish Wolfhound pup from jumping up and pulling the whole lot onto the floor when I turned my back.

Basset Hound proof.. In my dreams, nothing can withstand a Bassett assault.
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The local car engine reconditioner phoned up to say the rebore was finished. Picked it up at lunchtime removed the razor sharp edges around the ports and subjected it to various cleaning processess at work to rid it of ingrained contaminants.

Got home and in my excitement, forgot my aching body and fitted the piston and rings.
Usually after a day of struggling with huge parts of heavy equipment engines, axles and transmissions I am totally spent and only fit for laying on the sofa watching TV.
Getting way too old for the job.

Anyways, in a rare burst of evening energy, I continued on and got the barrel, head and exhaust installed.

Once again my reputation for good fortune held to its normal way of doing things. The local car reconditioners machine shop who have quite a good reputation has trashed my cylinder. In the pic you can see a shadow where the hone missed just above the exhaust, something the camera picked up, it was not visible by eye.
That rebore would just about manage 200 miles before it would be sounding like a brick in a concrete mixer.

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Bikechat forum edit.

At the time though, as said, the shadow was not visible to the eye and I had complete faith in the engineering shop. More of this many moons later when the devil bike struck not once, but twice. At the time I was rocking two threads, one about the resto and the other about the complete bastard of a bike kicking my backside yet again. I will add the other thread of woe onto the end of this.
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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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I got the head and exhaust fitted. Everything was going swimmingly.

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Whisling a happy tune, I spied the lid of the toolbox and wondered if the original tookit was still inside.. Happily I opened the lid and took a peek.

The tools were not in there. What was in there was a very nasty shock indeed.

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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

[Easy-X]

Oooooooo! Cliff-hanger
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[stinkwheel]

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So I am peering into the toolbox and wondering just what I am looking at. I expected a blue bag containing white and rust coloured spanners.

What was in there was an electronic unit of some unfamiliar type, but what on earth was it?b

Was it a tracking device he had fitted in case the bike was stolen?

I pulled at it and out it popped. So did the electrical plugs connected to it. They popped out like a babies jack in the box toy. I was not expecting such a state of affairs and dropped the unit onto the floor.

Closer inspection revealed that the plugs were not designed to fit the sockets and therefore had no means of latching them together. None of the plugs ever saw a Yamaha factory, nor did the wires attached to them.
What the feckity feck am I looking at???

Closer inspection yet, revealed bent pins just slightly bent in order to fit in the plug registers. The plugs being oriented 90 degrees from the way the sockets were designed to accept the original plugs to make them closer to fitting the pins. So the sockets and unit were not of Yamaha fitment, and the plugs were not Yamaha fitment.
Even worse was the fact the the plugs and sockets fitted that were not Yamaha fitment, did not even fit each other.

My head was spinning....

The only means of holding the plugs tightly into the sockets was the fact that the plugs had been placed into the sockets and the unit jammed into the tight confines of the toolbox. Jeeze.

As I was scratching my head at this rather unexpected predicament, a chill grabbed my heart.
Oh please God. Oh Goddy God, please do not let this be the wrong CDI and original wiring harness he has butchered to make it fit.
Yep, you know how my luck runs now. I pulled the wiring harness out.
It was indeed the wrong CDI and of course, the comprehensively butchered wiring loom.

Why? Why on an original bike with just 6 months use and less than 2000 miles on the clock.
Of course it would be to do with the dimwits obsession with 12v electrics.

I do not have enough facepalm emojies to do justice to my feelings.
My immediate feeling was to jump in the car, drive 300 miles, ring his doorbell and punch the silly old sod in the face.

It was time to slink away from the mess and have another beer while being very attentive to the missus with a view to ensure her glass was always topped up.
Later that saturday night I was going to have to inform her that there was going to be several new assaults on her credit card.

Dimwitted butchery. All insulation tape, twisted together wires, crimp on lucar terminals and wires of random sizes and colours. Some of which I suspected had been salvaged from an old washing machine.

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I had two choices. Make up an entirely new main harness, or try to find a good secondhand one. New ones were unavailable and the rest of the harness that I had been desperately trying not to see was in a similar state.
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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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And here we have the days haul of good cheer. A chinese CDI unit of unknown provenance, a cheap, generic chinese 12v reg rec and a non automotive rated battery with slip on terminals held in place with gaffer tape. Not a fuse in sight.

Oh Goddy God. Who knows what ignition advance curve that bogus 12v CDI unit had. Why he felt the need to change it I have no idea. Ignition is completely independent of charging and lighting and is its own entirely seperate system.

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Rexs speedshop and electrex sell plug in 12v conversions. Change the bulbs, battery and horn and there you go. No hacked up main harness.
But that was too expensive a route for the mouth breathing, oxygen thief of a "restorer" and he decided it would be a good idea to go it alone.

I found a NOS, 7 wire genuine CDI advertised in the US. The seller was willing to ship to the UK, so snapped it up. If I had failed to locate one, I would have had to fall back on a Rex or Electrex aftermarket unit.
It would have been less expensive, but my goal was to restore the bike to as it was in late August 1978 when it left the factory as far as practicably possible, not just get it running. I am restoring it with an eye on the next custodian who decides to restore it in another 40 years.

I also found a secondhand main harness in the US from a running bike. I would have preferred a new one, but beggars can't be choosers.
From the extensive reading I had done, I knew that there were differences between the US and UK harnesses, the first being that the tailight ran off the battery in the US and was always on. The UK one ran in concert with the headlamp.

The second was that the UK version somehow supercharged the battery when the lights were on. I forget just how it did it, it was switched through the lighting switch, but do remember I had to replicate it by making up a secondary harness and piggy backing it onto the main one to feed the rear light and battery as per the UK spec.
Not ideal. Wish I could have found a good, untouched UK loom. Still have not seen one.

The regulator was completely unobtainable. The only genuine ones offered up for sale were badly rusted blobs at over inflated prices. I eventually gave up on finding a good original and bought a new 6v one intended for an Italjet scooter.

The missing rectifier was easy to source. No problem there.

That just left the battery. Back in the mists of time, I used to be a fan of replacing old batteries with motobatt bateries, so found a 6v motobatt agm battery and bought that.
Even I thought that a conventional flooded cell battery was taking originality too far in this day and age.

This was the first time I had violent thoughts towards the seller. Previously I saw him as a complete useless Ebay tosspot who was blissfully ignorant of his lack of skill and knowledge.
Now I see him as a demon, sent to aggravate and torture me.

There would be many other occasions of aggravation to come, including a later email threatening him with court action for gross misrepresentation in his advertisement after the final straw. From his ad, I fully expected to fill the bike with fuel and oil and ride off into the sunset for many years to come.

AAAAARGH GNERRR! Patience my Ass. I Want to Kill Somebody. Site of much consternation and cause of much beer consumption.
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Wading through the thick tapestry of life one day at a time.

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Did you buy a bike or an example of what Yuri Bezmenov referred to as "Active Measures"
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

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Does a basic stroker like that even have an advance curve in the CDI? I'd have expected it to be a simple direct spark on fixed timing, just like they would have been when they were on points. At which point a CDI is a CDI. No excuse for bodging it on though.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

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The bottom-end looks very similar to the DT175 I had a while back. IIRC the timing advance was one of those mechanical spinney weight thingies lurking behind the points plate.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

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