new orleanian with first build questions

For the chain I found a way that works very well: Just position it in the jaw of a vise, with the rivet you want to remove over a hole (either a recess in the vice jaw or a piece of something with a hole in it). Put a nail punch (or something else that's pointy and fairly sturdy) in between the other side of the rivet and the opposite vice jaw. Hold it steady and slowly tighten the vise...it'll pop right out!

i've found a good chain tool is essential to maintaining and building these bikes. check out this one: http://motorbicycling.com/f34/chain-breaker-harbor-freight-12689.html

it works great if you have the larger 415 chain. if you have the regular bike chain in your kit, just go to a bike store and buy one. the hammer and punch method works alright, but i don't like it.

2, i dunno. sounds like a good idea, but i just trace mine out myself. an easy way to do it is with the studs out, you put a piece of masking tape over the intake or exhaust, trace out the outside with a pen, then rub your dirty finger over the hole so it traces that as well. peel the tape off, stick it to some gasket material and cut it all out with some sharp scissors or a knife.

for the holes, i put the gasket on the flat metal part of my vice (or smooth concrete floor) and use a bolt that's larger than the original, like a 3/8 or something, line it up with the center of the hole and hammer on the head of it. this will punch out a perfect hole.

3. i don't use any. i make good gaskets and lap all the surfaces so they fit. it's always been my opinion that silicon or anything else is just a band-aid for a bad mating surface.

4.i use heat shrink tubing on all my wires. looks clean, works good. i like to pull the rubber grommet out of the engine and slide a piece all the way up to the magneto, shrink it, then replace the grommet. that way all my wires have black heat shrink and there's no white cloth wire sticking out.

5. any good industrial metal supply place should have lead sheets. be sure to lick your fingers and smoke cigarettes while handling it. wait... don't do that.

6.if you have the aluminum intake, you can take off pretty much to match it to the engine. just use common sense to figure out how much. it's obvious that a millimeter of cheap aluminum won't hold the carb on, so just grind it and keep checking.

the steel intakes i've seen are the worst POS's i've ever encountered. i would grind those up until they no longer exist and then light the shavings on fire.

7. i use anti-seize compound from a tube, a very small amount, on the threads. most people don't use it because they don't have it or even know what it is. it's just another simple thing to do to make your engine last longer.

any more questions?

if you find an industrial metal supply place, they usually have scraps of all kinds. i buy all sorts of aluminum chunks and whatever all the time. call and ask if they have lead.

i buy heat shrink tubing from an industrial fastener place, and for 4' lengths of 3M, 1/2" and whatever the size smaller is, i think it's like 2 bucks a tube.