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Space Quest continues - in the effort to find and explore new storage solutions, I've been putting up more racking. Surprising how roomy that end seems now, and that's before I clear up the stuff that's lying off to the side which will be going onto the racking.---- Dave
79 GS850N - Might be a trike soon.
80 GS850T Single HIF38 S.U. SH775, Tow bar, Pantera II. Gnarly workhorse & daily driver.
79 XS650SE - Pragmatic Ratter - goes better than a manky old twin should.
92 XJ900F - Fairly Stock, for now.
Only a dog knows why a motorcyclist sticks his head out of a car window
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Oh, joyfulness abounds. In amongst the detritus of engine parts I found a missing '79 850 kickstart side cover - I was sure that had disappeared during the Great Shed Roof Collapse that happened years ago at a mate's house, where I'd left several tea-chests of surplus bits. Turns out I'd kept all the bits of that engine together and brought it here, in its entirety.
This means the '79 engine can be rebuilt properly, with kickstart attached and without having to go out and find one.---- Dave
79 GS850N - Might be a trike soon.
80 GS850T Single HIF38 S.U. SH775, Tow bar, Pantera II. Gnarly workhorse & daily driver.
79 XS650SE - Pragmatic Ratter - goes better than a manky old twin should.
92 XJ900F - Fairly Stock, for now.
Only a dog knows why a motorcyclist sticks his head out of a car window
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sinkankan
Originally posted by sinkankan View PostI bought an American truck, (probably more Mexican) a Ford F150 1989 Custom.
It's 2WD with a limited slip diff, 302 cubic inch fuel injected and I'm the third owner. The 2nd owner just bumped after buying from a country dude, and it's in good condition for it's age. Faults, poor paint work, heavy Australian made steel tray, one of the dual petrol tanks isn't connected, horn doesn't work (watch for finger).
The good points are it has good resale value here in Western Australia, good solid motor and g/box, chrome mag wheels and new tyres, Kenwood sound system and Bluetooth, body doesn't have any visible rust except for the minor paint marks.
I've ordered a moulded carpet set from Sydney, and just had the seat redone, new cloth, new foam underneath. So tonight I serviced the seat tracks, put new springs on the slides, and replaced the cable. Gave it a buff and repaint.
Picture of the bottom half of the seat.
and the new springs, tested and works fine. Paint will take overnight to dry, it's winter.
For a 26 year old truck it's suprising free of rust, and I'm painting the floor with POR 24 rust proofing before applying the new soundproofing.
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Air compressor extension cord/adapter
My air compressor runs off of 220V. The house I'm renting doesn't have 220 in the garage. The laundry room links the garage to the living area, and has a 220V clothes dryer outlet. So I made a special extension cord. A 4-prong drier cord, 6' long, $24. An outlet of the type typically used for 220V window air conditioners, $9. An outdoor electrical box, $8. Strain relief, $2. A cover plate, $1. Indoor electrical boxes don't have holes for 3/4" strain reliefs, which the dryer cord requires.
At the same time, I replaced the 5' cord for the air compressor itself. After 35 years, the outer cover of the cord was shot. I used 9' of 14/2. Yeah, 14/2 seems small to me, but it is only 9', and I think that the original cord was also 14 gauge. $13 for the wire, $15 for the plug. I didn't find any plugs that could have handled 12 gauge or larger.
So, $71 to turn the compressor back on. The air hose was also 30 years old and leaking, so I threw it out before moving. For now I'm using HF vinyl 3/8" hose. It will be replaced when I find a permanent place to live. The old hose was also 3/8", but the regulator was 1/4", negating hopes of higher air flow. For now it is going back on. The regulator and filter will be replaces with an Astro Pneumatic 2618 Air Control Unit, $80 from Amazon. Reviewers say that DeVilbiss sells the same device for $130 and Snap-On gets even more.
One other observation: HF 3/8" connectors for air hose are internally stepped down to about 1/4". I'll eventually drill those out.
sigpic[Tom]
“The greatest service this country could render the rest of the world would be to put its own house in order and to make of American civilization an example of decency, humanity, and societal success from which others could derive whatever they might find useful to their own purposes.” George Kennan
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Installed a tyre machine that's the same as the HF manual cheapy model. It wasn't new, but quite serviceable.
Unfortunately the HF bike tyre adaptor isn't available here, so I'm making a bike tyre changer from an old Transit van rim on three legs, like this example...
Attached Files---- Dave
79 GS850N - Might be a trike soon.
80 GS850T Single HIF38 S.U. SH775, Tow bar, Pantera II. Gnarly workhorse & daily driver.
79 XS650SE - Pragmatic Ratter - goes better than a manky old twin should.
92 XJ900F - Fairly Stock, for now.
Only a dog knows why a motorcyclist sticks his head out of a car window
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Cheap and crappy gasless MIG wire
With my toy welding kit I'd struggled through the last couple of reels of Super Six, and put a reel of flux-core Weld-Team on. I'd never heard of them before, either; turns out it's made by Air Liquide; the French equivalent of BOC or Air Products, for those who have a degree of familiarity.
Holey Drawers! The difference - night and day - suddenly the machine became a welder again and not a maker and distributor of smoke and blobby melted metal.
And here's the best bit - I only got the Air Liquide wire because my local supplier started stocking it out of the blue and had nothing else in - turns out that was a lucky break, as the other stockists in the area only had the Super Six anyway, which they were charging more for.
Lincoln Electric is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, automated joining, assembly and cutting systems, plasma & oxy-fuel cutting equipment.
It had got to the point I'd started to wonder if I'd lost my touch - I don't claim to be wonderful at it, but I knew I was better than that; either that or the machine was pegging out. The Super Six is just totally inconsistent; some reels are quite passable, but these last two were bloody awful. I suppose they're sourced from whoever can knock it out cheaply enough, and these days that's probably somewhere in China, with not much in the way of QC to interfere with the price. Problem I have locally is the dearth of stockists and now I've found this supply, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a one-off. I can only hope they continue to stock it.
I had a look at the label, but it doesn't say what standard it's made to or whether it's the same as E71T-GS, or anything else. If it's actually made by Air Liquide, I hope they maintain the quality.
Whatever happens, I'm avoiding SuperSix like the plague from now on. there's a remaining reel of SuperSix on the shelf and it can stay there for emergency use, but it will be sub-zero in Hades before I actually use it.---- Dave
79 GS850N - Might be a trike soon.
80 GS850T Single HIF38 S.U. SH775, Tow bar, Pantera II. Gnarly workhorse & daily driver.
79 XS650SE - Pragmatic Ratter - goes better than a manky old twin should.
92 XJ900F - Fairly Stock, for now.
Only a dog knows why a motorcyclist sticks his head out of a car window
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Did a front break job on Scruffy, replaced the oil cooler adapter with stock, installed the carbs, removed the luggage rack, reinstalled the mirrors and took her out for a blast. Triple digits in 3rd, she works.
VGustov
80 GS 1100 LT, 83 1100 G "Scruffy"
81 GS 1000 G
79 GS 850 G
81 GS 850 L
83 GS 550 ES, 85 GS 550 ES
80 GS 550 L
86 450 Rebel, 70CL 70, Yamaha TTR125
2002 Honda 919
2004 Ural Gear up
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Tyre bay now taking shape, with HF and H-M side by side. Will pick up a length of 14mm all-thread for the front wheels. 16mm I already have is perfect for the rears.
More pics when I slap som paint on.---- Dave
79 GS850N - Might be a trike soon.
80 GS850T Single HIF38 S.U. SH775, Tow bar, Pantera II. Gnarly workhorse & daily driver.
79 XS650SE - Pragmatic Ratter - goes better than a manky old twin should.
92 XJ900F - Fairly Stock, for now.
Only a dog knows why a motorcyclist sticks his head out of a car window
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Joe H
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Fun tiime in the workshop.
Busy welding away and looked up to find the bench merrily on fire, just a bit.
I'm glad I hadn't walked out a few seconds earlier for a leak, as I'd intended to.---- Dave
79 GS850N - Might be a trike soon.
80 GS850T Single HIF38 S.U. SH775, Tow bar, Pantera II. Gnarly workhorse & daily driver.
79 XS650SE - Pragmatic Ratter - goes better than a manky old twin should.
92 XJ900F - Fairly Stock, for now.
Only a dog knows why a motorcyclist sticks his head out of a car window
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Originally posted by Joe H View PostsigpicMrBill Been a GSR member on and off since April 2002
1980 GS 750E Bought new in Feb of 1980
2015 CAN AM RTS
Stuff I've done to my bike1100E front end with new Sonic springs, 1100E swing arm conversion with new Progressive shocks installed, 530 sprockets/chain conversion, new SS brake lines, new brake pads. New SS fasteners through out. Rebuilt carbs, new EBC clutch springs and horn installed. New paint. Motor runs strong.
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