We had such a good time working on the project that my son and I decided that we'd like to work on another one. I was really hoping to find a v45 Magna as my next project. As much as I love the Sabres, most non-riders 'relate' to cruisers and the Magna (even a V45) can give most cruisers a run for their money. But inthe course of idle conversation with another Sabmaggot(Uncle Milt), he convinced me to buy his "Very Red and MOstly Dead" V45 Sabre. This one with a Hondaline fairing(like my V65), and in red, rather than the black of our project bike. It soon occurred to me that I could easily move the "cosmetic" pieces to the running V45 (Of course I had to clean solidified gas sediment out the rusty tank, and apply a Kreem treatment). Fortunately I had the entire "transformation" complete 2 days before my scheduled departure for SME 3.0.
The *whole* story of the ride is available here, but from the standpoint of the project bike, things went very well. The bike performed flawlessly until I was on my way home, on I20 pulling into Vicksburg, Ms. As I exited the freeway I notices a sound I hadn't heard before, like air escaping in a rhythm tied to the rpm's of the engine. I looked at it in the parking lot of the motel I was planning on staying in, but it was dark and I couldn't tell what was up.The next morning I started the bike and the sound was still there. I looked and couldn't tell where it was coming from, so I decided to head west, monitoring the engine performance and temp, etc. If it was bad I assumed I could find someone in Shreveport, La to look at it. Although the sound remained, I made it all the way back home a-ok.
I removed the carbs some days later and found the source of the noise. The boot that the left/front carb sits in was all mis-shapen. I had a replacement boot, which I installed, and the bike has worked perfectly since then.
About all that's left to do on this project bike is to touch up the original gas tank, and to order the pieces that will allow GSF to ride it without the fairing, which he's decided is his preference.