She lives!

[billy sugger]

Well, the 500 is alive. The oil filter arrived Friday, so that was fitted, then rather than waiting for the replacement thermal switch I set about repairing the broken one. I cut off the surrounding material to the connector and fitted a naked male connector to the broken remains, with a small length of wire to a spade terminal which then plugged into the original terminal, and then fitted a rubber cap full of epoxy glue onto the switch for waterproofing. Ran the bike via the starter motor for a while to pump oil around, filled the cooling system with new antifreeze mix, then added a makeshift fuel tank. Bike wouldn't start to begin with, so checked plugs for spark, all OK and dry, so no unburnt fuel/flooding, so a good sign. Put it all back together and tried again, this time I held the throttle open slightly and boom! Off she went like She had never broken down. Slight issue of coolant leak from thermostat housing, this caused by a dried out O ring, and this was fixed with a touch of sealant. So,all I need now is replacement side panels and an MOT