Mechanical

Getting the Bike Back on the Road for Spring

Published on May 4, 2012 by Katya in the category Mechanical | 2 Comments

I have luckily had a pretty slow week, my favorite kind, and the weather is much warmer than it has been, even with the wind (which on sunny days is still usually too brisk for working outside very long in). Yesterday I decided to work on my bike (a 1981 Honda cm200t), removing its winter protection and pushing it somewhere convenient to start on my long list of Spring cleaning and repairs.

Last summer the bike started running terribly, requiring the use of the choke while simultaneously adjusting the idle screw to get it started, not to mention a gas leak it’s had for nearly a year, but it still ran and as long as you didn’t stop, it wouldn’t stall. When it does stall it’s easy enough to get restarted, if you don’t mind getting gasoline all over your hand. Every time you wanted to stop somewhere you had to remove the gas line from the engine and stick a screwdriver bit in the open line, blocking it from leaking all your gas away while you took a photo. It leaked slow enough that I could go a few miles without being afraid of running out but after filling the tank halfway yesterday, it was basically pouring out the weak end of the line at a pace that my gas would be gone in a half an hour.

Gas line issue

When we were in New York (and Ross was in Seattle) a guy from a neighbouring RV helped me come up with a couple solutions to get the thing back on the road, the screwdriver bit idea being one of the solutions, carrying a flathead with me everywhere to adjust the idle, another. They were definitively not long-term solutions but would work, and as time went by, I forgot what I needed to do to fix these things permanently and eventually the bike became more of a burden than anything.

I started yesterday by putting in some gas and seeing if it would start after sitting pretty much outside all winter. I expected the battery to be dead in the least but the lights came on as soon as I put in the key. I held open the choke and pushed the start button, and it started right away, as long as I was holding the choke. A few adjustments of the idle screw and it was running on its own. It was at this point that I noticed the gas leak’s rate of loss was much faster than before, so unfortunately instead of a ride,  I had to stick the screw back in the hose and start on other things.

Cleaning the bike

I washed the bike, shined up the chrome (rusty chrome) with BlueJob powder, shined up the plastic and seat with Armor All leather cleaner, greased the chain, used tire restorative on the tires and checked the oil (oh and drank Rhubarb soda). Ross asked why I hadn’t gone for a ride and I told him about the hose leak now being worse, and that I couldn’t even remember if that was the main problem or if it was only one of the places the gas leaked from. A new fuel line wouldn’t fix the starting/idling problem but it would mean I could drive it without catching on fire or running out of gas. We bought some new hose at a nearby motorsport shop and after a few recuts, we got it right and the bike was good as used! (“used” being one step up from junk or parts haha – it will never be good as new).  I also picked up a new helmet (AFX FX-100S Helmet) because the helmet that came with the bike is pretty much embarrassing - a small black skullcap that sits on top of my head like a riding helmet (equestrian). I wear a large helmet apparently, it’s no wonder both of my previous helmets, both smalls, were painful and annoying to wear. Having a comfortable helmet with ventilation, a sunscreen and clear shield is like night and day and going faster isn’t so uncomfortable when you can’t feel a thing. In the south I was always afraid if I went too fast and one of the many huge bugs hit me in the face, I’d not only be physically scarred but traumatized. I have swerved around many a hand sized dragonfly.

I decided not to check the tire pressure because.. .well… I can be lazy, but they weren’t giving any signs of being low under the weight of the bike so they seemed OK – then I booked to the nearest mountain, which conveniently was about 2 blocks away.  Our road and the road up to the fancy mountain houses is dirt but mostly packed. If you’ve ever driven a bike on gravel you know what a disaster it can be, especially since my tires are original from 1981 and bald as hell.  When I came back down the mountain the intersection, which was at an angle, was also all loose dirt. You don’t want to brake on that stuff, especially with bald tires and old brakes so I downshifted to 1st and made the slowest and widest possible turn I could make to avoid skidding. I think when I get some new (used) tires, I will also get new brakes and calipers. I also ordered a speedometer cable, hoping that is all I need to get that working because it’s really horrible riding on highways and main roads with no clue as to how fast I’m going.

The bike (yet to be named) at the top of a nearby road

The bike (yet to be named) at the top of a nearby road

My new helmet

 

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Suggest a name for my bike!

 

A Nerds Thanksgiving

Published on November 30, 2009 by Katya in the category Mechanical, projects | Leave a comment

I have never really liked Thanksgiving much for many reasons and being British, Ross just doesn’t have it drilled into him like I do. I don’t like Thanksgiving  firstly due to the story itself. The idea of a bunch of Puritans having dinner with a group of American Indians just doesn’t sit right with me. I can only picture a group of fearful religious nuts spreading the word “savage” around a dinner table while a group of Indians, miles away, debate what these new weirdos might want. What they wanted and got was ownership over land they decided belonged to “no one” (the Indians). There’s no way they ate outside in November in the midwest and no way that stuck in their ways puritans just accepted the company of “savages”. Lies, all of it. Secondly, I don’t like a holiday based on the celebratory killing of one specific species and in such large masses. I don’t like when any of them are killed but an actual holiday basically dedicated to the mass killing of one is just overkill, literally. Now that I’ve alienated everyone, I’ll admit that as much as I don’t like the holiday, it’s so ingrained in me (especially with calls and text messages from family the morning of) that I do like to make a pretty good dinner, watch a movie and very willingly take the weekend off.

Thanksgiving with the Nerds

Thanksgiving with the Nerds

I made corn on the cob, homemade smashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and veggie Italian sausage cooked with onions and garlic – all pretty much smothered in HP Sauce. If you haven’t tried HP sauce you should. It’s like a tangy steak sauce but better and goes great on meats, potatoes, sandwiches and whatever you’re willing to try it on. We bought it at Fred Meyers in Portland but you can get it at World Market also.

thanksgiving2

As fun as it sounds, we didn’t just eat on Thanksgiving. It was a pretty nice day in Catalina State Park outside Tucson so we decided to take on a list of projects. Ross started with and spent most the day trying to change out the gas tank inlet that has been leaking on us since Portland. I didn’t even know they used rubber for gas tank inlets but apparently they do and as expected, it eventually corroded away. The hose we bought was pretty hardcore with a bit of metal running through it and cost about $50 for 3 feet. Unfortunately it had to be cut, so scuffed hacksaw and pliers later we had the two pieces needed to complete the project. The last people to attempt to fix it ran into the same issue as us, a metal pipe with an oblong mouth – that needs to connect to a round hose. As you can imagine, this didn’t work so well and we still leak if we overfill but at least we’re not smelling gas anymore. We plan to use some “hard as metal” epoxy” to complete the task.

gastank1

pleasedbrougham

While Ross was tearing his hair out trying to finish that project, I was inside hanging heavier ceiling hooks for the divider curtain, organizing our bins that sit on the bumper shelf (one of which we were able to get rid of) and putting a railing on the top of my closet so things can be put up there and stay up there while we drive.
The day before we had hung a standing oscillating fan on the ceiling above the back shelf, a necessity for circulating heat in this thing, and Ross wired up a 3 way switch so that the front stereo he worked so hard to install could be used with the house batteries, allowing us to use the stereo for movies or music while we’re not driving (so it wont drain the starting battery).We are definitely making progress on the projects, one of the only things left is to patch the manifold, patch the hole in the floor and figure out whats up with the water pump.

catalinacamp

The day after Thanksgiving was our last day at Catalina State Park and although it was more than time to move on, I kind of wish we’de stayed long enough to avoid this winter storm that’s taking over New Mexico and Texas.

Rain on the Windscreen

Published on September 21, 2009 by Ross in the category electrical, Mechanical | 2 Comments

When we got the RV, another one of the projects we had to work on was the windscreen wipers.  There were wiper arms,  something which may once have been wiper blades crumbling on the windscreen, a broken wiper motor and a few loose wires hanging behind the dash.  Exactly where the switch went I don’t know.

wipermotor

This was a fairly minor project.  We purchased a new wiper motor online, somehow only paying $5 for shipping.  No idea how companies price shipping.  Seems to be entirely arbitrary.  Anyway, fitting the new motor involved little more than removing a grill and and 4 bolts holding the old motor in place, and replacing it.  This was all great – I could wipe the windscreen clear any time I felt like tapping a wire on one of the battery terminals, but you can probably get a ticket if you try do that kind of thing while you’re driving.

3wayWiring the switch into the dash was a little more complicated.  Really we needed a 4-state switch – off, low speed, high speed and washer jets.  We opted to just get a 3-state switch, and forget low-speed mode.  The resistor required for low-speed operation was missing anyway, which is why you can see the two wires twisted together in front of the wiper motor.  I wasn’t responsible for this, and it’s a minor example of the lazy hack-jobs that have been done throughout the vehicle’s wiring.  Wiring the switch took a while of staring at the circuit diagrams in the maintenance manual to work out.  And despite being absolutely, mostly, fairly..somewhat sure I wired it right, the windscreen wipers don’t park themselves when the switch is set to the off position.  I’ll have to pull the switch and fix that, but at least for now, we can drive in the rain without having to guess where we are going.