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| | Real nice day | | | | Thursday, July 24, 2008 (6:13 PM) | | | Last nights rain dumped an inch.The garden grows.Normal temps with low humidity.Actually nice.After the days work went out on the 500 for a trial run.Everything behaved nicely.So its back in service.I was hoping to see some critters on the ride.I usually do.Only caught sight of something at the edge of the road.Was too much vegetation to tell what it was.I just saw brown back and tail disappear into the woods.This run has the coyote's path across the road.I filled up on the way home got 67 mpg which is normal. I am revving it up a bit more now so that was good.Weekend coming up,what to do? Haven't figured that out yet. The only question is, Do i get away without something spoiling my fun? Like some job crisis thing.no crisis for me but other peeps don't think so.Let it roll.Have a night. | | | 6 Views | 0  Thumbs Up | 0 Comments |  |
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| | Evening Rain | | | | Wednesday, July 23, 2008 (5:39 PM) | | | Nothing exciting today did chores.Installed a radio in the cousins car.Fixed my cable problem on the ninja.Hot as usual.Got rain and boomers going on now.Already had a power blip.So this is a short one.Another day gone another tomorrow.Have a night. | | | | 4 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Damn hot Again | | | | Tuesday, July 22, 2008 (5:24 PM) | | at least the humidity was lower.It hit 104 degrees around 2pm.So back to the ninja.It was time to operate.Off went the tank and body panels.It came down to removing the carbs.Wasn't bad really.Just a bit of work.So now i opened up the fuel bowl cover and did a look see on one of the carbs.Nothing major out of place.Removed the main jet and pilot jet.Main looked good.I checked the hole dia. using my pin gages.Main looked good.What is a problem for this bike is the pilot jets.Real tiny hole.Main jet is 130 or something which is 1.3mm. My gage said .050".Close enought.It wasn't clogged.I took out the pilot jet and saw some crud.It looked like paste on it.The jet was blocked. This is a tiny hole thru.my gages showed .013".Thats 5 hairs or real damn small.So i got the crud in the pilot jets.Why did this happen when I was riding in town?I rode 120 miles that day.Strange stuff.It is highly recommended to put a fuel filter inline before the carbs.So now it was time to do so.. I posted a pic of the filter on the ninja.Wasn't too bad to do.So 8900 miles and the the ninja does its first sick day on me.Well that was it.Found a definite culprit and fixed it.i buttoned up the bike and it started up fine behaved like it was supposed to do.The only hiccup was the throttle cables are a bit tight.
I found this when turning the handlebars full lock the rpms go up to 3000 rpm.So slight adjustment,i will do that tomorrow.It was enough for one day and hotter then hell.Did I ride? Would you?Temps over 100 degrees in the afternoon sun.Yes i did.with my gear on.Did a good 30 mile run.Bike behaved nicely like it was supposed to.Wind was hot but dry hot.Did my local twisty roads and headed home.so it was good again.Will do the adjustments so its ok then next project.In the am i took out the scoot for a short ride to hear the new muffler.it has a good sound and ran very well.The tight packing gives a slightly louder sound.The gases don't bleed thru as easily.The harley has loose packing
and gets melowed out a bit.So I did a ride.It was cool temps around 8am.Scoot is doing fine and back in service.Am I finally getting things sorted out?A little.Whats next on the schedule?The 500 bodywork.Have to fix the plastic.i will get things ready for that.Fill up the holes and patch everything up.Sand it down then paint.Enough for one day Have a night. | | | | 4 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Damn hot | | | | Monday, July 21, 2008 (5:12 PM) | | a real scorcher today 100 degrees and high humidity.Brutal is the word.i got the scoot exhaust done and sprayed some paint on it.i did take a pic and posted it here.I managed to ride up and down my street a bit.I had to wait for the ups man to arrive.Too hot to go out for a ride.i'll do that tomorrow in the morning.The exhaust has a 2" outside pipe which will work.The inside pipe is 1" so there is room.The packing is tight and that gives it a different sound. After riding for a bit it settles out.So i can't tell you how different it is.At least its done. Now i did mess with my ninja early on just to test out my theorys.The bike did start up and run fine without openning the fuel.I opened the fuel and it ran for a short bit then started coughing and missing like it did. I shut the fuel valve and ran it and it started to behave. I yanked the vacuum hose off expecting to see some fuel come out,but it didn't happen.So No1 suspect is off the hook.Its not the fuel valve leaking thru the vacuum side. Now I go to No2 suspect.There is an overflow hose that sometimes clogs up.
I visit the 500 ninja forums and have read about it.The theory is the hose clogs up and prevents the carb floats from seating which then lets fuel pour into the intake unregulated. I will have to pull the tank off to see this hose.It definitly is fuel control.Just which part is messing with it has to be found out. i want to see a good guilty part or whatever to solve this.When fixing machines you want to find the culprit then you know you got it.Things that go away like spirits are not cool.They can always return.So maybe i will have to remove the carbs and check them out totally. I have worked on carbs 30 years ago. I know how they work.Some are a pita to rebuild like a quadrajet on a chevy,but these are simple.
I have to find some crud blocking this suspect hose to be satisfied or i dig deeper.So tomorrow is the ninja's turn.I got a local job to do first from the harley guy,but it won't take too long.then the ninja has to explain why it is fucking with me.
Obviously something is wrong and it has gotten my attention.just what it is i will find out.Thats tomorrows story.Have a night. | | | | 7 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Getting home was rough | | | | Sunday, July 20, 2008 (5:48 PM) | | Sunday day of slack. I went out on the 500 early.I found some uncharted roads to ride on.Did about 70 miles and headed home for lunch.Went out again.A trip to the next town.I looked up where the closest shop with a dyno is and its about 20 miles away. I went for a ride to check it out.They have a web site and their prices are really high.I checked tire prices and greedy is the word.Don't know how much they charge for a dyno run.I'll find out eventually.My dealer that i bought my 650 also has a dyno.They are a tuning center.I might call them up and check their price.Problem is they are 50 miles away..So something to play with later on. I headed home and got to my town.I was going to get some gas and go home.So this is where the nin ja had its first problem.I took off from a light and the bike starts acting up real bad.Breaking up and missing.I could start it and rev but it would break up over 4000 rpm. I could ride it but slow.I went for the ride it home option.I am 6 miles away and i have 2 hills to go up.So the ride was a bit hairy,but i made it home.
There was no leaking gas that i could see.Both exhausts were dark which is too much gas.How could both cylinders
get crud messing with the needles at the same time?I went online and found a good explanation.I would call it No.1
suspect.The gas tank has a vacuum petcock.Two hoses are connected to it.One is vacuum and the other is gas that goes to the carbs.So you need the engine turning over for gas to flow.If the seal breaks in the vacuum component then gas gets sucked into the carbs and it runs like shit.That just about describes what it was doing.So i will find out.I have to make the exhaust for the scoot first and test it out.Not a big deal there but I have to finish up one project at a time.Then i work on the 500 and see what it is.The new petcock cost about $65.I might bypass the vacuum part and ignore it.I have to see how its made and take it from there.So unexpected fun and excitement. Notice how my vehicles screw up in the best of places like in town close by or at home.This is karma. I do fix them up whenever they need it.
So having this problem 50 miles out in the boonies could be a problem.So thats my No1 suspect. I'll find out when i
work on it.That will be tuesday at least.i do have another bike to ride for whatever comes up. Its called backup. I also
get extra parts in case i need them.That was todays excitement. The rest of the afternoon was goof off mode.I'll post pics of the scoot exhaust when done.i don't see any reason for a vid.People are probably tired of my scoot vids.The new exhaust will sound like the harley muffler.It will have the large id size pipe.So no big deal really.Have a night. | | | | 8 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Screw work | | | | Saturday, July 19, 2008 (5:25 PM) | | It was one of those days.I didn't feel like working and my job was done.My own projects will wait until next week.So
out on the 500 for some wind.Stopped by the race track to check the price of the pit pass.It was $20 for the weekend and 15 for sunday.Better than the last race but i passed.Rode around on my favorite roads chilling out.It was hot and the passing clouds started to form.You could get wet from a passing cloud and miss it totally a mile away. I ran into the next town to check on my throttle cable.It still wasn't in.So they are fail for getting parts. Thats over 2 weeks.I got the cable in 3 days over a weekend.The mechanic guy was on a busa and about to take a test ride.It had a nice custom paint job. I got my refund and split.So much for that.Went home after 1PM.That was good enough.Time to chill out.
Tomorrow more wind in the face.I just have to figure out which direction i will go.Have a night. | | | | 11 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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| | weekend mode | | | | Friday, July 18, 2008 (5:31 PM) | | Its here so now what?weather is hot with funky rain clouds passing thru. i rode thru some rain going home on the 500.First time for the 500 in the rain with my funky tires.In town it wasn't raining.I had to get copies of a medical issue.i got stitches on my leg 4 years ago from a neighbors dog.So I needed a copy of the bill.That was jan,2004 from the local health clinic.Thats all there is here.The name of the place changed so it was unknown if i could get it.Actually was very simple.I also got a copy of my check that paided for that event from my bank.Again 4 years ago but the bank has photocopies of your checks.They called me up and had it ready.Thats why i went to town on the ninja.The major tasks were easy so what screwed me up? My printer decided to stop printing black ink.I made one copy and the next faded out.The other colors worked ok,but not black and the ink was fine.i could take the cartridge out and the printer didn't
care so electrical issues.It was about 4 years old so i ordered another.That will take a few days .I can't send in my info
until this new printer arrives.A delay a serious delay beyond my control.So whats with that or why? Weekend is going to be my work.i want to make the new scoot exhaust and be done with the scoot for a while.It runs great with my aluminum gasket.I don't want to use the harley muffler because it is heavy.So lets see what i can do with what i have laying around.The bike races? I don't know if i run over to check them out or not.I'll probably work on the scoot can and get it done then chill out before i run out of weekend.There is supposed to be fun in this somewhere.Maybe i'll find it.
Any how have a night. | | | | 8 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Almost time | | | | Thursday, July 17, 2008 (4:54 PM) | | | One more day.Finishing up my work.almost there but not done yet.Weather is hot and dry and tolerableGet this job done and work on my new exhaust.Make progress.Otherwise nothing special.Went out for an evening ride.The air was hot and dry.Not bad at all.Gave the 500 a run.The mirror is holding real good and very solid.so the 2 inch extensions are working fine.I'll make another set later.So I have the scoot muffler,oil change on the 500 coming up.i have 3000 miles on this oil.The fairing repair to do and whatever else comes up.Races this weekend at the track.i might stop in and check it out.Thats todays fun and excitement.Have a night. | | | | 8 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Hump day | | | | Wednesday, July 16, 2008 (7:04 PM) | | Ran into town to ship out my jobs.The scoot is running really fine and it still doesn't pop on decel.I saw another crack forming so I have to finish the current job and make the new can.That will probably be the weekend.So back in the salt mine gooves making those zorkins. I am just a metal carver.Mostly dull and boring jobs.Sometimes it gets interesting
when i do my work.The rest is just zorkins.If you know what game used that term you really good.I did a ride after dinner
on the 500.a little tour about 30 miles.Weirder people out on the roads no kidding.Cagers still hang on my ass while riding, 60 mph is too slow for them too bad.The 500 has spunk.Everytime I give it some throttle i get a kick forward.Still don't know what a stock bike is like.The seller of this bike was a wholesaler.The first owner was a harley guy.The chicken strips were wider than the contact patch.This guy did no twistes.The harley guy tradered it in to harley of Charlotte for a harley.The mileage was 1800 miles on the paperwork.The wholesaler told me he used to race the 500.The exhaust had some mods when I got it which i didn't like.I wonder if the wholesaler messed with the clutch springs because it has some serious compression.More things to find out.They are having MC races this weekend. I will have to run over to the track and find out how much the pit pass is going to cost. I don't want to work as a corner watcher I have my stuff to do.Thats tomorrows goal.Well I'll see what happens.Ok have a night. | | | | 6 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Another days toil and trouble | | | | Tuesday, July 15, 2008 (6:03 PM) | | Nice day actually.sun and dry.Good day to fix my bike.It went well.made a new support piece and welded it up.Actually had the bike done by 1pm,but I decided to make my 2" mirror extension for the 500.Less weight and more ridgid than the 3" exts.I already had the bolts for it.I made them a while ago. I lose a bit of backview with the shorter exts,but still is good enough.That took some time.Made them out of black delrin which i have so no problem.The problem was i didn't have any fine threaded nuts for it and i didn't want to make them so i went into town on the scoot and hit the hardware store.Suckers cost 0.20 cents each.Went home bolted the mirrors on and went out for a quick run.I needed gas from the last run so that was good enough.A little shakedown run.The new frame support piece is super strong now and the mirrors had little vibration.So it needed to be done.I have to get some good epoxy and finish up the fairing job.I have to fill in the holes and reinforce the back side.After everything settles down i'll paint it.I'll do it after the simple muffler for the scoot.The scoot is running like a champ and still quiet.The metal gasket is doing its job.I posted some pics of the days work.i think it was 4 .The last was the extension on the bike.So i hope the ninja spirits are happy now.I didn't make any money today but the frame piece cost over $100 to buy and it is stronger.Tomorrow its back to our regular program. My big concern was welding on the bike and the gas tank.I disconnected the battery and covered up the whole area pretty good. I have a wire welder and its ok.One of the rags caught fire from the sparks,but i got it quick.
The 500 is back on the road and ready for some action.And that was how my day went.Have a night. | | | | 7 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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