Just a bit of an update on the Sportster running in period. I've now covered over 500 miles and things seemed to be going well... until this week, when I had two separate breakdowns.
The first related to the copper coolant pipe that runs from my header tank to the back of the water pump. The front end of the pipe has no bead on it but is just held in with a jubilee clip. This proved not to be good enough and it popped out last Sunday when I was about 6 miles from home on the start of an outing as the weather was so good. I noticed my temps hitting 110 so pulled over and found coolant all over the side of the block. I had no tools with me so unfortunately had to call the RAC as I couldn't even get the side panel off the bonnet. Fortunately the incident happened half a mile past a pub so I limped the car back there, call the the RAC and settled down with a pint in the sun for an hour and a half wait. It took 10 minutes to get the hose back on so I just need to look for a more reliable fix long term.
The second breakdown happened just 4 days later on Thursday evening when I was out road testing the car after draining the tap water out and refilling with coolant. I was about 4 miles from home after a good 25 mile loop, went to pull out at a junction and couldn't find any gears. I coasted into a bus stop and realised that the gear linkage had come off somewhere. I initially thought it was the bush at the rear as I could move the stick up and down quite freely. This was not the kind of thing that was going to be fixable on the side of the road given the linkage is buried above the exhaust and the propshaft and I was loath to call the RAC twice in 4 days. I managed to force the car into gear using one hand to fix the base of the stick and luckily it turned out I'd found 4th. Given the car is so light, I was able to rev the engine, slip the clutch and pull away just trying to avoid coming to a complete stop where possible. When I got the car up on stands yesterday it turned out to but the front of the gear stick carrier arm had come away from the top of the box. The pin that held it in place was completely missing. An M8 bolt and a nyloc soon sorted that out and the car now changes gear smoother than ever.
One of the things I really need to prioritise is the suspension settings. Although it handles great on a good smooth road, as soon as you get any undulations on less maintained B roads, the back end grounds out with a spine shattering jolt and steering and back end get very skittish.
I also invested in a GoPro camera that I've mounted on the top of the roll over bar using a pair of exhaust clamps. I always promised myself I'd buy one once the car was finished. The built in mic was useless as all you got over 20mph was wind noise so I've been playing with two external mics placed in different places around the car. One under the bonnet next to the scuttle and one inside the boot seems to give the best result so far
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaE...iLeKrQwmLUrdwQ