While at the local Harley Davidson dealer the other day I saw something on the spare parts counter that caught my eye. Nope, it wasn't a new 2011 Road King, they haven't arrived yet but it was something that I thought would bring a nice balance to my 2009 Harley... a Willie G (skull) timer cover.
I resisted the urge to snap it up immediately but today it got the better of me so I went to order one. Happily they had one in stock and I walked out with it ($37.50) and headed straight home to have a crack at fitting it. It was purported to be very easy and extremely unlikely, even with my total lack of mechanical skill, that I could render my Harley unusable.
Excitedly I went straight to the garage, took my Harley Davidson tool kit from the pannier and found the Torx head attachment for the multi purpose srew driver thing ready to take of the exiting cover. As murphy would have it, I didn't have a Torx head the right size, nor was there one that would fit the screws that were to be put in with the new cover AND they were different sizes. Excitement to eye-rolling and cursing in 30 seconds flat.
Not to be beaten I went back to the dealership to see what I could get and I was presented with a swiss army knife of torx screw drivers that would fit that displayed $55.00 on the price tag. I commented on the irony of the tool to fit my new piece of bling costing more than the bling itself and I was grateful that it seems that particular tool had been put on special at that time and it now only cost the same.
Back home now, fully expecting the existing conver's screws to be immoveable which would be the obvious extension of the event now I had the appropriate tool (followed of course by stripping the heads and the new cover's holes not aligning and not fitting). Fortunately though all went well and it was two or three minutes work.
Interestingly there wasn't actually anything behind the timer cover except a metal void. Clearly there once was a use for that area of the engine, but not now. The cover itself now remains as a visual reminder of Harley Davidson engines of the past. Tradition not function... just something else to customise.
