Honda RC163 Project - Painting the tank

I finally received the decals had been waiting for and applied them to the tank, I am very happy with them but wish sellers would keep their customers informed, I was sure they were not coming so ordered another set that I now don't need - all a bit annoying. Anyway, having learnt from my earlier experience I stayed with the Motip lacquer, I knew it didn't react with the paint I had used and that it went on nicely. It dried out in the sun, I am quite pleased with the results, it will look even better once it's flatted and polished, I will leave it at least a week to go fully hard before I do that.

The exhausts look pretty good and the bike is running quite well although I am tempted to try different plugs in it, I have had too many bad experiences with NGK and once again a virtually new one has started playing up. I was comparing temperatures on the 4 down pipes and number 1 was way down - 100 degrees less than the other pipes. I changed the plug and it came back up, with the bike revving much more cleanly and up to the 14000 point where my ears couldn't take any more. The carbs clearly need a balance but it's an absolute bitch to do on these due to the locations of the adjuster screws, you have to keep taking measurements, turn the bike off, make adjustments and go through the whole routine dozens of times to get it spot on. Oh well, it needs doing and it will make a huge difference to how well the bike runs. I think the fuelling rates are about right, I am temped to buy an AFR meter with a wideband lambda sensor so I can set the air fuel ratios across the rev range. It's by far the best way to set an engine up these days because it's dynamic, you can see the results immediately. Quite expensive though, I need to sell something first.

Anyway, rather pleased with how things are looking, next job is to sort out the footpeg brackets, I am not at all happy with the ones that came with the bike, they just don't look right. They are clearly adapted from something else and are far too chunky. I think some cardboard aided design work is in order, might have to buy some metal to do the job, will have a look in the scrap box and see what is in there. I don't want to use modern rear sets as they would not be in keeping with he look and the feel of the bike, I have not been able to get any close up shots to see how it was done originally. Nobody said it would be easy.