what did you wrench on today??

[gtem]

Have been tinkering with two of my new(er) to me bikes: a '78 XS1100E and a '80 Harley FXS80 Low Rider (shovelhead motor).

The Harley got all of the (many) rubber oil lines for the oil tank, primary lubrication, and oil cooler. bwringer graciously mounted up the new Dunlops up at his place for me. Waiting on one more baffle for my mufflers, yes I did the unthinkable and am trying to make this thing *quieter*

The XS1100 has been a real journey to get the non-original (1980) carburetors set up right. I'm finally very close to nice clean response throughout the RPM/load range. It also needed a fresh clutch and springs. The old parts still measured in spec when I took them out, but with the new parts I'm no longer experiencing any slip so that's that.

The Bandit got a new rear tire, once again mounted up for me by Brian, many thanks. I got to break the new Shinko Raven in this past weekend on a fun ride with Brian (still have some quite embarrassing chicken strips on them... still getting my legs back this season).

[rustybronco]

What didn't I work on today?

Tomorrow will be another fun filled day out in the driveway. (Garage has the newest 300M project occupying a space, boat is in front of it.) The driver for the boat drive bellows should show up in the post so there is that. Gotta make an install tool for the exhaust bellows. (Alpha 1 Gen 2.) The '02 300M gets P/S lines installed. Those showed up yesterday. Probably will do a bit on the '03 300M special that's in the garage as well. Put the EVIC back together, R&R hood cable.

[gtem]

What didn't I work on today?

Tomorrow will be another fun filled day out in the driveway. (Garage has the newest 300M project occupying a space, boat is in front of it.) The driver for the boat drive bellows should show up in the post so there is that. Gotta make an install tool for the exhaust bellows. (Alpha 1 Gen 2.) The '02 300M gets P/S lines installed. Those showed up yesterday. Probably will do a bit on the '03 300M special that's in the garage as well. Put the EVIC back together, R&R hood cable.

I take it you're a bit of a Chrysler 300M enthusiast then? I always liked those cars. Comfy mile eaters.

[rustybronco]

This latest one makes number three that we've owned.

The first, a 1999, my wife bought new. The second was bought to replace the worn out '99. The latest is an '03 special I purchased sans engine. That one has 130,112 miles on the chassis. The gent I bought it from was the second and fourth owner. The third owner destroyed the engine I assume by neglecting oil changes. It took out the crank shaft. He removed the engine, bought a crank kit and had the heads redone. I can't remember if he had the block bored or not but I'm pretty certain that was done as well. He still has the engine but as he's more of a rear wheel drive person, (300C etc) decided to sell the car. When I bought it the car had new struts all the way around and recently had brakes installed but the rotors had rusted from sitting plus they were not the correct front rotors for a special so I bought new rotors and pads along with new struts (purchased KYB) and a host of other things. The owner couldn't believe I was going to buy new struts for it as the one's on the car had zero miles on them. Yah puts the wrong crap on it! (Base model 300M/ Duralast replacements.) Can't have that can we?

[Suzukian]

Taking covers off my ZZR1200 to install new throttle adjusting cable that the PO unscrewed completely. Those cables cost over $90 dollars. Lots of fairing to remove. I also have to make new Brackets to hold up the new exhaust slip on pair I designed for it in the rear exhaust. Almost done.

[johnod]

Pulled carbs on 79 gs1000s, Stuck needle valve , gas all over the floor.
Fixed, and installed carbs, just have to hook up cables and put the tank back on.

[Suzukian]

The idle cable sent was the wrong thread. I just found the original one. The PO had turned it all the way out, it was under the seat, under the owners manual in the storage area. Got to take it apart again. Aargh.

[adamdaz]

A Range Rover. Well, a kids electric play car (Feber brand). Such a silly thing, but it makes my daughters giggle. They love it. It was a marketplace buy a couple years ago. Came as a slow 12V thing. One of the original motors gave out, so I upgraded to 18 V, which gave it a little more umph and louder giggles. When I bought it, I needed new batteries, so I took out the dead 12V and replaced it with 6, sealed 6V batteries. My daughters have yet to run down batteries in a single day. The 6V batteries also let me wire up a complex set of relays so that when they hit the "gas", momentary on switch, it runs as 18V. Then when plugged into the battery charger, it switches the wiring to a 12V setup. Keeps me from having to change wires around everytime it needs to be charged.

So the "wrenching" today was soldering wires in the spagetti mess that is the relay system to fix connectors that broke.

[Suzukian]

Finished mounting the exhausts mufflers I designed for my ZZR1200. They sound great!! Knocked 40 lbs. off of the bike.

[dorkburger]

Bit of riding, but of wrenching. I took the bike today to pick up cold medicine. It didn’t want to start or run properly, and it would only run on prime. Once underway, I switched the petcock to on and it quickly ran out of gas with a full tank. Switched back to prime and it would run, but with a miss and some popping and farting on deceleration. I did a quick touch test of the pipes in a parking lot and number 2 seemed cooler then the rest. I suspected petcock issues. After lunch I confirmed # 2 was much cooler with the infrared thermometer. I pulled the tank, and while I couldn’t see the vacuum line for the petcock, it either was already off, or loose enough that it easily slipped off and may have been leaking. I replaced the line. Restarting the bike showed consistent exhaust temps and a the bikes usual nice impatient sounding idle from the Yoshi exhaust can.. I took it for another ride... smooth as mother’s butter... (that’s a song reference)....

[Buffalo Bill]

6/8/2023, Low side @ apex in negative camber corner, Lafayette IN.
Bike is healing well:

kzleUGw.jpg

[rphillips]

Makes sense Glen. Vacuum leak causes pet cock not to work, same vacuum leak causes problem on # 2 cyl... Ain't simple fixes great.

[joequesmith]

Today's job, replace a dead fuel pump on the GSX
pump1.jpg

[dorkburger]

6/8/2023, Low side @ apex in negative camber corner, Lafayette IN.
Bike is healing well:

kzleUGw.jpg

Yikes Bill. How did you fare?

[Suzukian]

Had to do the clutch cover gasket on my '83 GS750ES. I apparently didn't catch the first gasket had missed it's mark, and the following Brain fart caused me to not notice the bottom came off the pins. I wondered where all the oil went. Luckily, very short ride, no oil on bike or tire, all is well.

Also, I purchased a set of 4 signal lights off of EBAY that look like smaller versions of the original signal lights for the same bike, and only cost $14 bucks, + $10 shipping. They came in, and are very solidly built, even came with 2 year warranty.