what did you wrench on today??

[dorkburger]

Unless the wife's bicycle counts, no wrenching on bikes. I did however fix an air compressor that was in Sundays trash that I couldn't resist picking up. 1 HP, 3 gallon Craftsman portable type. It had a tight motor bearing in need of some oil and a few leaky pipe connections between the head, tank, and pressure control. The thing works great and will be a nice unit for my tiny garage.

[Darin Jordan]

Well, after laying my GS850G down a few weeks ago, still not sure quite WHY, I finally got the parts back and:

Replaced the rashed Stator cover after sourcing one from Ebay and having it Powder Coated...
New Stator Cover Decal...
New Clutch Lever...
Ebay sourced (and not quite as nice as the originals, but no rash) rear tail-lights (the pair)...
New Left Bar-end mirror...

And, while it's in the garage, figured it's time for a valve clearance check/adjustment...
Going to rejet the carbs down one Main size from 155 to 150 (Dynojet), as it's been running a bit on the rich side, especially in the summer and at altitude.


Suzuki_Repairs.jpg

[Sandy]

Not motorcycle stuff but 4 days into a fence project. Certainly be glad when that's over.





by soates50, on Flickr

[2BRacing]

Wow, really beautiful view from your house to that mountain backdrop in the first photo! Your fence project looks great as well!

[Downs]

Dropped the new TPS in on the VSTROM. Certainly made a difference in how the bike is running. When I removed the old one while shooting it with the multi meter I found a dead spot which would explain the strange fueling issues I've been having. I also pulled the spark plugs because it's been running very rich for a while which I attributed to the TPS going out. But I found the rear plug in perfect shape and the front plug full of soot :/ which would explain the random miss at idle that it's been having for a bit. Years ago I damaged the spark plug cap and ignition wire and patched it back together with epoxy. I'd imagine that water has found its way into the wire or cap or both and it's finally starting to take it's toll. New wire and coil (because they're only sold as a unit) is 65ish dollars and a new cap and associated seals will be about 30. So just under a hundred dollars to get that fixed up.

[bobgroger]

Dropped the new TPS in on the VSTROM. Certainly made a difference in how the bike is running. When I removed the old one while shooting it with the multi meter I found a dead spot which would explain the strange fueling issues I've been having. I also pulled the spark plugs because it's been running very rich for a while which I attributed to the TPS going out. But I found the rear plug in perfect shape and the front plug full of soot :/ which would explain the random miss at idle that it's been having for a bit. Years ago I damaged the spark plug cap and ignition wire and patched it back together with epoxy. I'd imagine that water has found its way into the wire or cap or both and it's finally starting to take it's toll. New wire and coil (because they're only sold as a unit) is 65ish dollars and a new cap and associated seals will be about 30. So just under a hundred dollars to get that fixed up.

The price of parts for the newer bikes seems quite a bit higher than the old GS stuff. Just the gaskets to do a valve adjustment on my C14 is $125. And book time is 5 hours, but DIY averages 8. Cams need to come out....

[gustovh]

About half way with this project, a Klinker helm.













v

[aclaytonb]

With two large horns, that could be an amazing motorcycle helmet.

[gustovh]

It will finish out around 10 lbs. toooooo heavy for me.

V

[Redman]

Did not involve a wrench, but....

Noticed that the oil pressure light was not coming on when turn on the key.
Pondered on that a bit. THen noticed the sidestand light would go out when picked up the side stand before start the engine.
Pondered just a bit more.
Reached in there, pulled off the oil pressure sensor connector and put it back ... and there is oil pressure light and the sidestand light both on, good, that was the problem ... pulled up the sidestand, and the sidestand light still on, started engine and both went out. Okay, that was a good functional test.
Take it off again, ana a little spritz of contact cleaner, put it back. All fixed.

So great to be familiar with my GS.
Observe a symptom, deduce probably cause, investigate and fix it immediately.

Anything simple happen on the BMW, and Oh Crap, i am reading thru manual, searching forum, getting frustrated,.... and probably take to dealer. E x p e n s i v e .

[Skinner]

Attempted to repair the dead tachometer. Disassembled, lubed and replaced 2 capacitors - no change. So I instead installed the tachometer guts from a 1993 GSXR 750. The tach now works but reads high by about 700RPM, but I can live with that. There may be an adjustment available on the circuit board to dial in the ratio, but that's a job for another day.

Also swapped out the broken trip odometer for that from the 1993 GSXR.

[Darin Jordan]

Prepping the Carbs to replace the Needle/seats (K&S) with genuine Mikunis, and replacing the bowl gaskets, after discovering that the gaskets were dragging on the side of the floats on #3.

20180502_170942.jpg

[Grimly]

One of these arrived in the post today...

Which makes all the previous struggles with deeply-recessed valve guide seals a thing of the past.
Job jobbed.

[Grimly]

Work continues apace (snail's pace).
Got around to grinding in the valves this afternoon. No seat burning, but quite a few mottled markings that were shallow enough to lap out without any danger of grooving the valve head angled sides. The resulting finish lines were nicely positioned, both on valve and seat, but it's a fair warning to not let valve clearance checking slide too far. Previously, I'd been checking them at long intervals, as the pattern of useage was long steady speeds for long distances, and clearances hardly changed. The past couple of years it's been getting worked harder, and things started to change more.

[Uncamitzi]

Got valve clearances checked and fixed, replaced stator (rick's) polished covers on both sides, replaced DOCC badge and SUZUKI badges, cleaned electrical contacts on fuse box, polished highway guards cleaned frame. .... still lots to do.. need to get the tires changed and balanced and tune the carbs... might get to go for a ride later this month.. sigh