Garage: Odd Jobs

• Ivy - reinstalled pillion pegs
• Red - oil change (not filters)
• Roxy - installed new fuel line, flushed some gas through petcock

Odd Jobs

Installed a new steering lock on Astrid, so I can street park her when necessary.

Tested the chain breaker, grinding down the post with the Dremel first.  Popped the link out easily.

Weird thing testing the baffle.

• Earlier, I had started and run Red like usual, no problems.
• Maybe 30 mins later I installed the baffle
• I started her and she started ok, but then stuttered and died
• Kicked a few times to try to restart and she wouldn't
• Then removed the baffle, but still wouldn't start.  Kept kicking.
• Swapped the battery after a few minutes of trying and a few kicks later she started

 I think the battery swap was a red herring.  I think the baffle choked the engine off and then the subsequent kicking flooded the engine.  Gonna forget the baffle for now...

Odd Jobs: Tires, Mufflers, New Frame

Miscellaneous odd jobs:

• Unbox the misc bits and bolts from Ebay.  Score a roller, engine bolts, clutch lifter and some decent screws and bolts.  All the 5mm screws were JIS!
• Tire pressure to 30 for all 4 bikes
• Unbox the new muffler and finally make one good one for Red (no baffle)
• Revisit the engine guard for Ivy.  Marked off the section that would need to be cut down so that it doesn't hit the muffler.
• Unbox the new blue frame (but didn't unwrap it)

Run Red Run: Odd Jobs

Some small jobs on the carpet.  Motley screws for the rocker arm cover: 1 original, 1 ACE, and 1 OEM salvaged.  Swapped an exhaust stud bolt from the display engine to the Red's.

Odd Jobs

Sunday afternoon odd jobs...

• Checked the plugged up gas cap now that I know to look for the "pinhole" opening near the edge.  It was indeed plugged and I freed it (but didn't test yet).  But then, looking at the one that worked, it seemed plugged up, too!  So not quite sure how that works...
• Ivy - Added 50 mL of oil using the new dispenser bottle from Kamei.
• Ivy - Added moly-B to front axle
• Red - bolted on the exhaust, found that for some reason the hanger on the exhaust didn't quite line up with the boss on the engine, so may need to file it a bit
• Paint audit
• 3 Ford red
• 2 whites
• 1 clear 
• Tested a stock screw (with small head) on the new petcock and that worked to get it flush to the tank
• Carpet work - measured the "$15 Bill" jug at 50.23 to 50.35 (varies due to the corrosion inside)
• Also, the Flexhone jug is a CT90!

Summer Garage Week 2017: Day Three

Two big and equally satisfying projects today.

First, got the new 90 degree Dremel attachment and put that to good use in reslotting the frozen cam guide screws on the new Late case.  Surprised this was the first time I'd ever needed to get to a screw at this angle.  You'd think it would have come up before...

The 90 degree head put the cutting wheel exactly where it needed to go.  On the first screw, I didn't cut deep enough and when I tried the impact driver, it started to strip the head.  Went back and cut it as deep as I could so the bit was as well seated as possible.  Then 2 good whacks and she was loose.

Cut the next two very deep and very wide to get the best possible fit and those both came out with just 2 whacks each.  Job done.


Next, painted all the parts with the ACE brand "Machine" paint.  Following the can's instructions, I only waited a few minutes between coats.  But the big difference is that this time, I let everything dry overnight before handling.

Went for a "decent" paint job, but didn't sweat the details since this is just a color test.  Missed the back side of the swingarm since I never flipped it upside down to paint.

Summer Garage Week 2017: Day Two

Day Two

• Put the new hex bolts into the model engine.  Pretty snazzy.
• Started sanding down Red's parts and getting primer on them
• Discovered that new (aftermarket) main stand is actually less stable than the unstable one I was trying to replace.  Though again, not sure if that's only because the bike isn't fully weighted down.

Summer Garage Week 2017: Day One

Had a solid week to get my hands greasy again after not having done much since getting Ivy back on the road.

Monday was really just about getting back into the groove, doing a few odd jobs, tidying up the garage storage...

• Unboxed a few parts that I've never even opened since purchasing
• The new Late crankcase looked to be in good condition, but discovered that all 3 cam guide screws were very stuck and one was already stripped
• The footpegs I had bought turned out not to be S90 at all
• Moved the cable guide from Red to Ivy (and re-torqued the lower fork bolt) 
• Filled up Ivy's gas tank
• Started thinking through Red's repaint