Haven't done a lot to this thing as I've been out of town in Mexico but I'm back now. As you know by now, I try to do things in a specific order instead of jumping all around. I need to get the Dyna ignition installed but before I do that I wanted go back into the carbs and replace the aftermarket main jets and needles with the stock ones. They were the same size but many people complain about aftermarket brass causing running issues on these bikes and it's bothered me ever since I rebuilt the carbs. So I yanked the rack of carbs off the bike and, in doing so, managed to crack this ear on the carb stay plate.
It was a bonehead move and I'd rather not go into details about how it happened. Let's just say I screwed up. I guess my head was still laying on the beach. In the picture you can see the ear is cracked all the way through and that part of the bushing inside is cracked as well.
Here's a picture of how the whole rack looks. There is a rod that goes through the closest ear in the picture, then through the piece by my thumb, then through the throttle spring return assembly (not pictured), then through the cracked ear and, finally, through the piece by my finger. The purpose of the rod is to keep all 4 carbs working in sync.
In this picture, the rod actually needs to be flipped the other way. That groove is where a set screw in the cracked ear sits and keeps it from moving laterally. This is a big mess.
Here is the ear.
There's also these two little woodruff keys on each end of the rod that help to keep it in place.
Finally, here's a picture of the entire carb stay plate as it should be. Apparently, this plate is not meant to be taken apart but...I found a way to do that.
So after I calmed down I began to think about options. Even small parts for these carbs can be quite difficult to find so I really started thinking outside the box. My idea (with a friend of mines help) was to remove that bushing, TIG weld the ear, then run a lathe on the inside of it to make sure it was totally smooth, make a new bushing, press it in, find a new set screw and put it all back together. Problem with this is that I don't have access to these tools but my buddy in Virginia does and was confident that he could fix it but it would take time. My other idea was to use JB weld and simply address the cracked ear, leave the bushing as is (I don't think that area sees a large amount of stress), find a set screw and put it back together. Problem with this was that I wasn't sure it would hold and I do not need any issues with the carbs not working as a unit. Well in the 11th hour yesterday I was able to track down a stay plate in Arizona and the guy only asked $50 for it. So...it is on the way and I'll swap the two pieces (by my thumb and finger in one picture) from my carbs and reinstall them onto the ones on this new plate and hopefully be back in business. I considered repairing my plate and reusing it eventually and selling this one but that's a lot of extra work taking apart a 45+ year old bike and, seems to me, possibly asking for more trouble. So I think I'll just chalk this up to experience (it's been a tough pill for me to swallow knowing that I ****ed up pretty badly) and move on. As soon as the rack is back together I will bench sync them again, reinstall them, then do the ignition, and finally be able to vacuum sync the carbs. This project has really been an exercise in patience for me.
