She's Alive!!

After weeks of wrenching and researching I have begun the final stage of the Shadow Project. To recap, I completely drained all fluids, installed a new thermostat, rebuilt the carbs, clutch master and slave cylinders. The most frustrating problem centered around that bitch of a clutch which I had a hell of a time getting it to work. No matter how many times I took that master and slave cylinder apart and put it all back together I never could get it to work. To make a very long story short, I learned from the Shadow Forum that the procedure to bleed the hydraulic clutch outlined in the official service manual was useless and there was an unconventional "secret" method to follow. Basically, extremely stubborn air bubbles get trapped in the banjo bolts connected to the master and slave cylinders and no amount of standard bleeding will dislodge these bubbles. The secret is to crack those banjo bolts and get all the air out of them first before you follow the service manual protocol.
Once I did this the clutch lever firmed up and, God Bless Baby Jesus, I now have a fully functioning clutch. She is also running like new and is mechanically ready for the road. I still have to get her detailed and put back together but the difficult work is complete. I'm feeling pretty damned good about getting this accomplished, there were times I almost called the Chilli Wrecker Service to have her hauled in to Southard's Cycle Shop.