what did you wrench on today??

[Gonzo]

Tore the head off my 98 Cavalier to replace a gasket. I was expecting to find layers of carbon, but it looks pretty dang clean for nearly 200k on it. Thankfully nothing is cracked and doesn't appear warped, so happy day!

[LarryA_Texas]

New Project

I've been resting for a while; got a new project yesterday. As always, i paid too much, it looks like crap, and I'll sell it for not enough. That's just how I roll.

[Flyboy]

Spent the day working on the E30, attending to some long neglected items.
replaced the radiator, sorted out the loose fan belt and rebuilt the starter motor.
Was supposed to repair the heater as well but ran out of time, will have to tackle it next weekend.

[lurch12_2000]

new tires for the GS1000G today

The rear Bridgestone Spitfire was at the wear bars after 7k miles so I did a tire change today. I mounted both new front and rear Shinko 712 tires that I purchased back in the winter even though the front had plenty of miles left on it. Also got to use the new tire iron set for the first time. This new set of tire irons is great, made the job easier and quicker, and they were free with the online purchase of both tires and my leather gloves and with free shipping, all for $100...a bargain. Cleaned the rear splines and lubed them up with Moly-60. Not a sign of wear on the spline as this is the good one in 1980 with 21k miles. Took the bike out for an initial 5 mile scrub in for the tires but started to rain so I'll wait for a dry day to finish working them in. I hope these Shinkos handle as well as the Spitfires. The new set of 3 irons is on the yellow milk crate and the 2 saw horses and metal dowel is my balancing bench. The white bucket works great for my tire mounting stand. Nothing like new tires on the bike for a cheap thrill.

[wally]

Painted my back wheel! Letting the paint settle, will then polish and finish the lip and spoke faces and also neatening up the rear brake housing.

[pete]

Tested the camera mount to work and back today, very vibey as expected, so have removed the galvanised steel piece and strip of rubber and will try again tomorrow. Unfortunately the camera's only lasting about 20 - 25min's on battery so I need to do something about charging it properly as it's supposed to last 2 hours.

Then tonight I got more Cucciolo clean up done and discovered I'll need a new ignition coil, and I suspect that will involve winding my own

[Toasty]

I picked up a tank off ebay from a Virago XV920, mounting it to my 550 will be interesting but it should look cool . Plus its 5+ gallons, my L tank is annoyingly small.

Looks like this


Gonna chop off the tweaked rear rails and put on a cafe seat that matches the tank shape. We`ll see...

[Blastr2783]

2011 mtd lawnmower, damn all ethanol.

[ndaugbjerg]

Blastr2783,
"Washington Wisdom" the benchmark for oxymorons. Make $4.75/gal ethanol to save $3.75/gal gas ? I'm reminded of a joke (at my own expense) about the two Texas Aggies who bought a couple of dump trucks and went in the sand and soil business. They were buying sand and soil for $3.00 a yard and selling it for $2.75. At the end of the year, one of them was lamenting all the red ink and unable to figure out why? His partner was looking at him, shaking his head: Hey, dumbass, it's pretty obvious we need more trucks".
Niels

[Normk]

Mounted two tip-over guards to a friend's 2011 Honda ST1300.

Continuing with refurbishing four early 1970's Honda CT90's for a friend. Carbs.......just a bit gummed.

[themess]

Blastr2783,
"Washington Wisdom" the benchmark for oxymorons. Make $4.75/gal ethanol to save $3.75/gal gas ....Niels

http://www.ethanolmarket.com/fuelethanol.html

National average, $1.8392/gallon for fuel ethanol, wholesale.

[pete]

Pulled the head off the Cucciolo last night and discovered I think I'm missing some roller bearings which explains a few things... and I made a little engine stand for it to sit on the bench. Then I had to work so I haven't uploaded pic's yet.

[7981GS]

I finally got tired of needing another gear on the '81 1100EX.
I bought 16T C/S sprockets and a 40 and 41T rear sprockets month's ago from Z1.
I was in a bit of a hurry so at least thought that I would change the simple C/S sprocket.
Then, I found yet another reason to not trust PO's!
Besides finding out that one of the C/S sprocket cover (stock) phillips head screws had snapped off an engine boss...
(Click on video! )



I replaced the sprocket, made a 3.5 mm spacer and tightened it down TIGHT!
Also replaced the remaining screws with Allen head bolts. (Of course. )

Much better with at least a 2.625:1 final drive ratio than the factory 2.80:1
Now, I can cruise at 70 at 4,000 rpm instead of buzzing along at 65 at 4,500 rpm.
One of these days the rear sprocket will be changed for a more friendly 41T to give a nice comfortable 2.5625:1 final drive ratio.


Eric

[pete]

Eric, that's how my sprocket nut was on my 450 when I first bought it years ago... I'm guessing our PO's had something in common... no torque wrench!

I refined the Cucciolo engine stand (still a bit wobbly but not too bad) and worked out I'm not missing any roller bearings.

And I started thinking about how to redo the connections under the tank for the Dynatek and coils as I'm pretty sure one of those is dodgy. Ran on one cylinder all the way to the post office after work today again And then ran on two cylinders from the post office home. This is driving me nuts!

[ndaugbjerg]

pete,
I think you may have one of those rare Australian 450's with the fuel saver system. Like the infamous Cadillac 4-6-8 which dropped 2 or 4 cylinders while cruising to save fuel. Suzuki's thinking was that this would prevent running out of fuel in the Outback and becoming dinner for the buzzards.
Regards,
Niels