Linkage anyone?

This step has been one of the most daunting tasks I knew I had to tackle. If you are familiar with early Excelsior throttle and timer linkages you know what I mean. In essence there are many little rods and couplers that connect both twist grips to the carburetor and timer assembly. This bike is missing some and the rest were rust-welded together. Here are a few pictures of what I started with:

So after soaking in Kroil for a few weeks, and every now and then tapping a little, I was able to loosen one nut on the right side inner handlebar pivot. Then I was able to separate the lever from the shaft.

This left a nice perfect condition shaft that was still frozen solid on the handlebar. But more Kroil and heat and I was able to start to move it a little.

The left side handlebar shaft did not have a nut or lever attached. So I cleaned up the threads and kept oiling the shaft.

Back to the right side. After more finesse I was able to completely loosen and remove the shaft!

PERFECT condition! Time to clean it up a bit. Happy days! One side down and one to go.