Wow, a pile of parts is turning into...

a motorcycle! A few missing bolts are being ordered - had them but lost them (never fails). I mounted the Boyer power box (which eliminates the zener diode, the condensers and rectifier) under the battery tray. This box eliminates the need for a battery all together, but the battery helps when starting the bike so I'm keeping it. Spring can't come soon enough!

Bonnie is coming together!

Got the rear wheel on, front forks rebuilt and on, headlight, clocks, chain etc... Next up, front wheel, wiring and carbs. plus a laundry list of little things that need to be buttoned up.

Timing gears lined up, oil lines hooked up. slight snag.

One step forward, two steps back. I hooked up the oil lines and with oil in the reservoir, I kicked it over hoping to see oil entering the rocker boxes. Nothing. I'm worried that because the guy who owned this bike prior to me, powder coated the oil feeds to the rocker boxes and they may not be lining up properly.

Snag number two: It appears that the Gear box cover is from an early 60's unit and has no oil plug. Where does the oil for the gears go? Plus the bottom gearbox cover screw wont go in. It's also missing the dowel that lines it up on the inside. that is probably the reason it won't go together. My dilemma  is since the covers were all chromed (poorly) do I buy a later gearbox cover and chrome it? At that point I'd probably want to re-chrome the  others since their already pealing. Remind me to never buy someones halfway finished projects ever again...

Trying to shoehorn the engine back in the Bonnie

I wrestled the motor into the frame while on it's side. I couldn't seem to get the front engine mounts to line up with the bolt hole in the engine, so I attached the back side brackets loosely and righted the bike. Still no luck. I got the engine tightened up hoping the back side brackets would line up the front but still no luck. I loosened all the mounting bolts to see if I could wiggle the engine into alignment and guess what... No dice. This is probably a two man job. After 2 hours of sweating and swearing, I called it a night. The motor looks nice back in the frame though!