Went smoothly and the bike started and idled ok, so figured I was in good shape.
Then also discovered that the bolt holding the exhaust to the head had fallen out! Replaced it with a stud bolt taken from the model engine. Had a scary moment when I installed the bolt then couldn't get the exhaust hole to line up.
Ended up having to line up the exhaust first and then screw in the stud bolt. Question is - will I have to do it that way every time now??
Dec 2nd Ride Report:
The bike felt stronger and smoother which I figured was because of the exhaust not being loose, but it could have been entirely my imagination.
Everything was going great until I got back to 19th and felt it sputtering and hesitating. Right when I turned for Blue Fin it died completely. After many tries, finally got it restarted but only lasted a block and died again.
Checking the battery at home and it was down to 5.67 volts, so clearly the lights were too much of a drain. But this was on SLA #3, which is the weird one since it never goes fully green on the charger. So is it really the lights draining the battery, or is it just a dud battery?
Needless to say, disconnected the lights for now...
