what did you wrench on today??

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Getting the Kat ready for a weekend ride in March with about 20 other Katanas. New tyres, changed the fork oil, throttle - clutch - speedo cables cleaned and lubed. Chain cleaned and oiled, carb spindles lubed and OEM rear shocks swapped for the rebuilt AG Strada Marz units, cheers.

[pete]

And one little 450 Glen

Sounds like she'll be all right and ready for the run... doing a service on the 450 on Saturday so she'll be ready to rock too

[pete]

Ok I finally really wrenched on something tonight!

I'm sick of whining about my fuelling/jetting issues and being too paranoid about making it run lean and hole a piston... so I got some more mains the other day and have also ordered some needle shims from the US. Neither Mikuni reseller I've found here in Aus sell them which is a PITA.

Anyway, I dropped the mains down two sizes tonight from 137.5 (yes that's 8 sizes up from stock) to 132.5. I'll try and get the throttle open on the commute tomorrow but that could be difficult. The needles are where the real issues lie but I only want to drop them half a notch so I'll wait for the shims to arrive.

Whoever posted that Eric suggested my needles were the issue a while back, tell him yes, and I have no idea why I thought otherwise when most of the issues I have start with the throttle just opening... anyway...

I managed to do all this in this tiny space behind the Peugeot tonight:



Two new main jets, and yep I need the magnifier to read the sizes:



And after a bit over a year in use, the float bowls are pretty clean with just the tiniest bit of sediment in them:



We'll see how they go tomorrow... if it's still rich I'll go down two more sizes but given tomorrow is Valentine's Day I suspect it will have to wait...

[wally]

Finally got the clear on the tank and it came out much better than I anticipated.

Now I need to let it dry.

[pete]

Finally got the clear on the tank and it came out much better than I anticipated.

Now I need to let it dry.

Now c'mon Wally, you know better than that! Where's the pic?

I have no idea if my main jet changes made a difference... the commute was shocking today. There's one really big steep hill on the way to work I can use to really open the throttle, but of course today resulted in a 20kph run up the hill stuck behind cages... typical! It did feel different but I can't quantify it just yet... see how tomorrow's commute goes...

[gustovh]

Well the last few days my son and I have pulled the head on his girlfriends 2000 chev tracker, to replace the head gasket. It is quite an operation when bolts are overtorqued and rusted in. Have to install the intake manifold, fuel rail, water pump, and radiator. Should be finished sometime this afternoon.
V

[wally]

Yes, yes!

I had to wait for it to dry properly - wasn't going to risk ruining it.
I'll see if can take a shot tomorrow.

Off on workshop from 6pm tonight till 3pm tomorrow.

[pete]

You'd better Wally! haha

Drained the oil when I got home from work this avo as it's service time... and in the process I believe I found why I've had a few drips of oil under the bike this week... sump plug wasn't tight Glad I found that sooner rather than later!

When it's cool tomorrow it'll be valve clearance time and all the rest, so tonight I tidied up some bits of wiring I wasn't happy with, topped the battery acid up, and swapped my auxiliary power socket for a proper dual USB weather proof setup which is much neater.

[rustybronco]

Ground Control to Major Pete...

[pete]

Ground Control to Major Pete...

Hahahaha yeah it is looking a little that way in that photo Dale...

[Tim Tom]

Got my Hooker 4-1 pipes 95% on the 850. All that's left is to fab up a rear hanger for the megaphone. Doesn't sound all that impressive, but in order for me to do that, I had drill out a broken exhaust bolt, re-tap it, and replace all 8 bolts with studs. Then I underwent the very difficult job of putting in some new spark plugs .

Actually while I was working on my bike, the guy who parks his FZ1 next to me in the school parking deck, showed up with a new pipe for his bike. He was gonna try and install it with the factory tool set from under the seat ! Needless to say I gave him a hand too.

Two pipes put on two bikes in one afternoon. Not too shabby!

[gsrick]

Pulling the 2.2 engine out of my $300, 2000 GMC extended cab Sonoma, what a PITA. I think I should have just pulled the engine and tranny as a unit. It's times like this I wish I was a little smaller. It's going to be my long distance bike fetcher. Soon as thats accomplished, I'm replacing the head, oil pump, water pump, timing chain and gears, freeze plugs, might as well hone the cylinders walls also. I saw a nice stainless steel header on ebay, that eliminates the cat. which will ad 15+ hp and should squeeze a few more mpg's. No inspection down here.

[pete]

Got the service done today, all valve clearances are the same as the last service, plugs are good, new Castrol GTX 15w40 diesel oil in, and got some threebond on the breather cover to hopefully stop the never ending weep.

I also got the new breather catch tank on tonight so no more weeping from that either.

All up she should be a lot less oily once she gets a big bath and polish

[Paul]

I made myself a fuel header that I can screw on to a petrol can, and start a bike while the tank it off...... I like it

[dpep]

I made myself a fuel header that I can screw on to a petrol can, and start a bike while the tank it off...... I like it

I like it as well, but I am a little unclear on how it works. Your gas/petrol container will have to be inverted for the fuel to flow out. But that means any vent opening on the container top (which will be the bottom in this use) would have to be sealed shut which would create a vacuum above the fuel. No air in = no gas out. Did you not have to make some mods to the container as well?
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