Carb inlet needle on the bike failed on the weekend, which flooded the crankcase with gas. The oil is ruined, as is the filter I imagine, and I will probably have to spend in the range of $200 to get it going again.
Note to the wise: do not leave the petcock in the ON position when storing the bike for any length of time..
I'll be retiming the engine and such later this fall/winter, so that's when all this will happen.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Blood, Oil, Sweat and Tears pt. 2
No pictures for this update - sorry folks.
In addition to the maintenance I did in part 1, I also changed the oil and filter. This is pretty routine maintenance and not a big deal at all, except there were a few serious complications that made it pretty tough.
First, the head of the bolt on the oil filter was old, rusty and the head was rounded off. When WD-40 and Vise Grips failed, I was forced to go pick up a set of bolt extractors from Canadian Tire. $30. Ouch. Well, after 12 hours of trying to WD-40 it out, I guess that's alright.
After that, things went fairly smoothly. Out came the old, nasty, blackened oil and in went the fresh, nearly transparent oil. Also dropped in a new K&N Oil Filter. Drain plug and oil filter bolt retightened, oil level check looks good, all set. Or so I thought...
One hour later, I started to skid a bit when braking. Shortly after the oil light went on. "Dude, you're leaking...!" Shit!
The drain plug had popped out mid-ride. So we hopped on Dave's ATV and followed the trail of oil down the road. About an hour of searching later, we found both the washer and the drain plug bolt. Crazy lucky, because they must have gone flying off at at least 70km/h.
The oil that came out (what little of it we caught in a bucket) looked nearly as black and awful as the old oil I had changed out earlier, so I might very well have done the engine a favor by accident. Anyway, another $20 of oil and a properly tightened drain plug later, everything is smooth.
In addition to the maintenance I did in part 1, I also changed the oil and filter. This is pretty routine maintenance and not a big deal at all, except there were a few serious complications that made it pretty tough.
First, the head of the bolt on the oil filter was old, rusty and the head was rounded off. When WD-40 and Vise Grips failed, I was forced to go pick up a set of bolt extractors from Canadian Tire. $30. Ouch. Well, after 12 hours of trying to WD-40 it out, I guess that's alright.
After that, things went fairly smoothly. Out came the old, nasty, blackened oil and in went the fresh, nearly transparent oil. Also dropped in a new K&N Oil Filter. Drain plug and oil filter bolt retightened, oil level check looks good, all set. Or so I thought...
One hour later, I started to skid a bit when braking. Shortly after the oil light went on. "Dude, you're leaking...!" Shit!
The drain plug had popped out mid-ride. So we hopped on Dave's ATV and followed the trail of oil down the road. About an hour of searching later, we found both the washer and the drain plug bolt. Crazy lucky, because they must have gone flying off at at least 70km/h.
The oil that came out (what little of it we caught in a bucket) looked nearly as black and awful as the old oil I had changed out earlier, so I might very well have done the engine a favor by accident. Anyway, another $20 of oil and a properly tightened drain plug later, everything is smooth.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Blood, Oil, Sweat and Tears
I know it's been a while since the last real update, but it's been worth it (sort of.)
The bike came apart again on Friday night, and a lengthy process of changes to clean up the engine began. First and foremost were the carbs. We'd done some bad things, leaving some jets loose last weekend, and unfortunately our cleaning job was fairly subpar too. This time, I went out and got some real nasty super-concentrated Motomaster Carb Cleaner (about $4.99 from the good ol' C-Tire.)
You know I love before and after pics, and I know you love before and after pics. Well, on your right you will see a lovely display of what the jets looked like before and after being soaked in this super-concentrated cleaner.
My eyes were pretty much bleeding from the fumes.
Great, so that got cleaned up.. I also rejuvenated the rubber a little bit for the air boot by soaking it in Armor All, a little trick I stole from Dan's Motorcycle Course. Actually, a lot of my knowledge comes from there, so if you are curious about motorcycle repair I would check it out.
Next on the list was the air filter. This was the simplest, thankfully. The old filter was simply chock full of dirt, mostly likely completely unsalvageable. I'm surprised the bike even ran with it on. Anyway, I got a new UNI Air Filter and greased it up with some K&N Air Filter Oil.
The old filter. You can see the dust that's blocked it up just by looking through the grate. Unfortunately it wouldn't come off, so.. out with the old and in with the new.
The new filter, with some sticky red filter oil. Mmm, mm.
Once again, the carbs come apart. The glass jar on the right is holding a small amount of super-concentrated carb cleaner, which the jets were doused in. I also used it to scrub the rust/varnish off the far left carburetor. The spray carb cleaner on the left is pretty much junk, I would avoid it in the future.
My eyes were pretty much bleeding from the fumes.
Great, so that got cleaned up.. I also rejuvenated the rubber a little bit for the air boot by soaking it in Armor All, a little trick I stole from Dan's Motorcycle Course. Actually, a lot of my knowledge comes from there, so if you are curious about motorcycle repair I would check it out.
The old filter. You can see the dust that's blocked it up just by looking through the grate. Unfortunately it wouldn't come off, so.. out with the old and in with the new.
The new filter, with some sticky red filter oil. Mmm, mm.Tuesday, October 6, 2009
This Just In...
It DOES pay to read the manual, even if you have to pay to get the manual.Apparently a few of the carb 'adjustments' I did two weeks ago were... uh.. yeah. They were totally wrong. Ah well, no harm done... I think. Oops.
That said, the carb assembly'll be the first thing to come off the engine next weekend.
I also got a new oil filter, air filter and set of turn signals. The engine will appreciate the first two, and the latter will be ready to road legalify my bike as soon as DriveTest comes back from strike.
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