What have you been up to in the shed/garage recently?

[Alan H]

Oil change on the Hippo yesterday ready for the long weekend to Wales from Thursday. Managed to clean most of what spilled on the drive.......
Lekky start works when it wants and solenoid is ok. Looks like a job for when we get back as it's a pita job to remove the motor.
Yeti still running nice and smoking on all 3 now I've fitted a better grommet to the oil pump lever.
Earwig clutch has had the drybollix reset and works lovely now.
GS seems happy enough, so 4 bikes out of 4 running. That's quite novel.

[TOwenR]

I''m waiting on a chain for my '76 GT550.

And regarding the pipes that I was going to work on, I've decided to hand them over to a neighbor of mine who is a former welding instructor and currently a supervisor in charge of a dozen welders in a shop. Hope I'm doing the right thing. But just in case, I do have an extra set of pipes I can work on, which I acquired about 10 years ago on a parts bike I bought for three hundred bucks- '74 GT 550

Leads me to another task on the table. The person I bough the parts bike from (with whom I only interacted with through emails and paper} claimed that the engine is seized.

The bike is all there. Everything. It too will at least need a new chain, tires, seat reconditioning, along with whatever else lies out of first glance visual insepction.

I read a post of yours, Alan, where you state that the first thing you want to do is pull the barrels off, put some diesel in the crank, and kick it over numerous times to get all the crap out. So I'm going to venture to start here as well as just do a general cleaning of the bike and the area in my garage where I'll be working on it.

Soon as the humidity goes down a little bit. I hate sweating before I've even done any work.

[Alan H]

I actually used a spanner on the crankshaft to turn the engine. If you use the kickstart anywise other than 'very gently' the con rods rattle about in the cases and are likely to get damaged.
My reasoning with the diesel method is that it'll soften the crank seals and also loosen any rust on the crank where the seal lips run so they don't tear. Both the 550s I did successfully ran well for over 3000 miles before they needed further attention crankwise. The third one I did felt good, but I ended up splitting the cases as they were uncleanable with the bottom end complete and one of the seals was dud. The engine did run though.
Always cover the crank with cloth after the barrels are removed to stop anything dropping in there. That really does cause a lot of angst!

[Zunspec4]

No road bike attention as I'm fettling the Seeley T500 for (hopefully) a fun weekend with CRMC at Donington on 31 Jul/ 1 Aug. Fresh engine which with any luck (and the right jetting =D ) 66 rwhp on tap.



Cheers Geoff

[daxman]

Cheers Geoff

Handsome chambers - quite long and narrow in the belly - what RPM are they optimized for do you know?

[Alan H]

A group of us will be touring N. Wales on the (mainly) GT750s so can't make it. A mate will be there on his 550 though - which reminds me - he needs an inner pipe baffle out of my spares stash to stand a chance of getting through scrutineering!

[daxman]

Thought about wiring in the front brake light switch on my 250A which has a GS500 M/C fitted. Found a spare orange feed (switched live) in teh headlight bowl but no easy connection to the BL white so I put that on the back burner and adjusted my chain instead.. Looking at making a new 'hybrid' mudguard for teh rear by keeping GSX 250 plastic part front section and joining a painted steel part at the rear section.. means buying a pattern part and cutting it up.

[Zunspec4]

Handsome chambers - quite long and narrow in the belly - what RPM are they optimized for do you know?

Hi dax,

Here's the dyno sheet.

[daxman]

NIce! Would be fun to get my 250 dyno'd one day and see if my home-made chambers have added (or robbed!) any power..

[Zunspec4]

Hi dax,

There is a CRMC post classic class for air cooled 250s. Suzuki X7s and RD250s are popular. If you have the knowledge (and money ) these machines are capable of 50 rwhp,

Cheers Geoff

[daxman]

Hi dax,

There is a CRMC post classic class for air cooled 250s. Suzuki X7s and RD250s are popular. If you have the knowledge (and money ) and time these machines are capable of 50 rwhp,

Cheers Geoff

FTFY..

Cheers

James

[TOwenR]

The work in the shed has turned into a general cleaning. Found a lot of mouse droppings on some of the shelves. Put a mask and gloves on, sprayed the shelves and floors with a mixture of bleach and water, and spent yesterday afternoon and today turning my detached garage in to a workable area once again.

We do tend to get a lot of mice around here. I've a dense forest with a small river running through it across the street. The surrounding area is also filled with the various critters that feed off the rodents: owls, snakes, coyotes, bobcats. Plenty of deer. Haven't seen a bear yet, although about 10 years ago I swear to God that a mountain lion walked right down the street in front of my house one night around 1am after I had just returned from my 2nd shift job and was on beer #2 while sitting on my front porch. I've seen bobcats, and this was no bobcat. He had a long curved tail and rounded ears. I can hardly believe it myself as the mountain lions have supposedly been absent from east of the Mississippi since the 19th century.

Perhaps it was someone's pet? I wouldn't put it past some misanthropic pet owner to place their trust in a "special friend" capable of digging its fangs through a cranium for a snack. Some lady had a large pet gorilla bite her face off about 10-15 years ago on the other side of the state. All too often there's the family dog suddenly and inexplicably mauling both old and young. {within the past 30 days, actually}

Anyway, the detached garage is ready to serve as a workplace, pavilion, shelter for barbecue during foul weather, occasional card games and darts, etc.

When will I have a road worthy 2 stroke going again? I'm not going to rush it. This time of the year tends to have too many tourists who are clueless as to where they are going, and they can spoil a pleasant afternoon ride. I think as long as I'm smoking the countryside by mid August, and when there's a pretty decent show that's more geared towards classic Brit and rice burning bikes to show up and show off at, and the humidity hopefully begins to lower and the bugs start to disappear to a more tolerable level.

As for now, just move along with the repair and maintenance surely and smooth like.

[TOwenR]

Taking a break on this extremely humid afternoon before continuing on with the bike work.

After starting the process of removing the rear wheel, I decided to take an inspection of the clutch access cover, since there's been this persistent sort of stain around it. I've never noticed any oils that seem to be down. As always, all barrels seem to smoke fine, inspection of the tubes looks normal- no air bubbles, gear box oil level and appearance have never seemed suspect whenever I've changed it.

What could it be?

The answer was evident as soon as I removed that side case. The void in that case that houses the clutch cable mechanism was pack filled about as solid as you could stuff it in there with mouse frass- bits of grass, acorns, urine, droppings, and whatever else have you.

I can't remember when the last time was that I removed the side case. At least ten years and 25K miles ago, which I believe was when I last changed the clutch cable. The clutch has performed ideally in all this time. Best clutch of any bike I've ever owned in fact.

How in the hell did they get in there? I'll be going to take another look in a bit now that I've had a few splashes of water on my face and arms, and a nice tall cool glass of iced tea

Those damned mice. What I think I really need is about a half dozen feral cats to take up residence in my garage or nearby somewhere.

Funny thing is now that I think of it, that parts bike I bought back long ago had a similar problem. The mice had taken over the exhaust pipes. {Which incidentally was the main reason I bought the bike in the first place, although the two outer pipes were no better condidtion than the ones on my current bike. The only other thing I've used from the parts bike was the headlight.}


OK...back to work.

[TOwenR]

Tearing it all apart.

Removed the clutch case/sprocket cover and see no further evidence of mice infestation. No damage either. I admit to be a little concerned over any oil lines, gaskets, or wiring being chewed up by those unlikable little devils. {a nasty death to all rodents chipmunks too}

Wondering if I should replace the sprockets. They don't look bad to me. I don't see any sort of warp or wear. So unless someone can honestly make a believable sales pitch, I think I'll not mess with 'em.


Still muggy as all "EFF!"

To ride now is to go without protective layers of clothing, namely my leather jacket, which I tend to always ride with. I'm not going to fill the inside of that jacket with sweat. Nope. No Sirree Bobert {french pronunciation}

It so hot and muggy today that one must shower using cold water only. And even once you step out, it's as if you've instantly walked into the sauna.

[Alan H]

Frass. That's a good word for 'crap'. Fortunately we don't have either in the UK.