what did you wrench on today??

[Steve]

Did you have the brackets powder coated? I need to do something with mine before the rust gets serious.

I asked him the same thing in a PM, have not gotten a reply yet.

I need to check at the powder-coating shop to see if they have a chrome-ish powder coat. The ceramic coat on the exhaust pipes would do, but I think it costs more. I looked into having the racks re-chromed and had some SERIOUS sticker shock. Just the top rack was going to be about $700. I didn't bother to ask about the lower half of the mounting system.

.

 

[Steve]

I asked him the same thing in a PM, have not gotten a reply yet.

As luck would have it, when I pushed the "Submit post" button, I got a reply from Simon. :encouragement:

He said that the nearest chromeworks is about 1500km away, so he sandblasted and used 2-part paint for the mounts.

.

 

[Guest]

Looks good, except maybe for the big white view from the rear. Mine doesn't look that big, so I think that camera's adding the usual 10 pounds. Did you have the brackets powder coated? I need to do something with mine before the rust gets serious.

Hey Dale , you sayin' my arse looks big in this ????

Cheers , Simon .

 

[rustybronco]

Nice! I have a neighbor who just this summer restore an old Peugeot bicycle, and it's a beauty.

'Cept his isn't a restoration.

 

[Guest]

Titanium? Looks too dull for steel or aluminum. Nice lugs.

 

[Nessism]

Titanium? Looks too dull for steel or aluminum. Nice lugs.

Steel. It's dull from blasting.

Regarding Ti, pretty sure you can't braze it. And I've never seen a lugged Ti bike unless you want to count glued together frames with Ti tubes.

 

[rustybronco]

Head gasket oil leak. Cleaned the cooling passages while I was in there. Going to change the steering housing while the front end is devoid of all components.

 

[Burque73]

I rolled on a truck bed liner using Herculiner from Lowe's. Turned out surprisingly nice looking. Around $80 for a nice bed liner as opposed to a professional sprayed on liner for $500 or more. It's a slow drying and really stinky moisture curing urethane with rubbery chunkies in it. If it's stirred up frequently the texture stays consistent throughout the job. One gallon did the 8 foot bed minus the tailgate. I put three coats to get everything covered and plan to eventually buy an additional quart just for the tailgate. We had rain right after I applied the final coat and I stressed about it blistering up or something. No issues though.

 

[Burque73]

Just an oil and filter change for the GS today. Oh, and a much needed bath afterwards.

I've always fumbled around with a funnel getting used oil back in a jug. Today the light bulb finally lit!

 

[Guest]

I have been using big funnels for many years. After most oil is in the jug, I find something to lean the drain pan against, and let it finish draining overnight.

 

[Carter Turk]

I had a moment yesterday when I finally decided to tear into the Kat engine that's been sitting there for 6 months.
I really had a hard time getting over the fact that the nearly brand new gaskets cost $150 bucks, and the pistons were $500 and the bore n hone $225.
Pulled the top end on an engine with less than 500 miles. 3 burned Wiseco 1229 pistons, 1-3 with one having a 1/4'' notch above the top ring.
#4 looked normal. All the others had black scars on both sides, deep into the skirts. Guess I now know where the terrible sounds were coming from.

 

[Boriqua]

Not very exciting but after having a non working horn for over a year and trying various recommendations on fixing it to no avail I broke out a fat $5 bill and just bought a new one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Waterp...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Works great. I dont ride much in the rain anymore so I cant speak to its water resistance but it is a tad smaller than stock and it was plug and play.

 

[Redman]

Not very exciting but after having a non working horn for over a year and trying various recommendations on fixing it to no avail I broke out a fat $5 bill and just bought a new one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Waterp...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Works great. I dont ride much in the rain anymore so I cant speak to its water resistance but it is a tad smaller than stock and it was plug and play.

Loud?

. . . .

 

[storm 64]

My friend Amy calls me to tell me her muffler has a hole in it. No problem, I call the muffler guy in town. I figure it's a lot easier for me to pay someone than me crawling under the car. Turns out he's all booked for Saturday. I call my mechanic, he's going out of town. I tell her just bring it over and I'll figure something out. I see a hole right before the muffler. Cool, this is going to be easy. I wrap it with muffler tape and a metal band. Start the car, it's still loud! Here the pipe was broken up by the engine. I had to grinde a flang off, laying on my back. Put a splice in... I'm getting to old for this stuff. I told her "let me know if you have anymore problems. I think I adopted a car!

 

[Guest]

I used to do all my own exhaust work. Put the car on jackstands, hacksaw out the defective section, replace using adapters and exhaust system clamps. No more. Selection of clamps is too small to fit all but the simplest situations. Components made of good stainless steel last a very long time, and need to be welded in. Overhead welding while lying under it, no way....My 1995 Mazda Protege's original muffler lasted a quarter million miles.

 

[Burque73]

My son took our 85 Dodge Power Ram in some brush or something and punched a huge hole in the muffler. I scabbed on a piece of sheet metal and used rivets all around it to quiet that beast down. It held for a while and no welding was involved. Pretty hoaky repair, but it worked.

People around here, and probably elsewhere, are getting catalytic converters stolen right out from under their parked cars. I guess they have some precious metals like silver or platinum in them. My neighbor's daughter had one taken from a Jeep Cherokee. They live in an apartment complex so it's a bit hard to look outside and see their vehicle at night. Still, even with what appeared to be a cordless reciprocating saw, that had to make one heck of a racket.

 

[storm 64]

I guess I don't mind taking on another car. I hate hearing stories about $700 brake jobs when she just needs a new set of pads. Or the check engine light, women freek out when they see that! That's $500 to get it turned off, for it to come back on 100 miles down the road... A friend was driving my car home. She says "Norm your check engine light is on". I told her "If it goes out let me know".

 

[dorkburger]

The converters contain platinum. I don?t know what the scrapyard pays, but they do buy them as a separate item.

 

[Boriqua]

Loud?

. . . .

To me it sounds the same as I have had on any other bike. I rarely use my horn but a week ago a cab got stuck at the gate to my community and started backing up and I had to shout to get him to notice me. Figured out. It was time to get a horn. For $5 it was worth the chance.

 

[cowboyup3371]

It's been 12 years since I bought my horse trailer and in that time I have never replaced the floor. However, I started getting concerned with the way one section felt so I moved the trailer from the barn to our garage yesterday and after, removing the air conditioner, managed to just get it in with room to spare (trailer stands 9'3" with the air conditioner). Then today, I took the floor from:

Old Horse Trailer Floor by Scott Baker, on Flickr

To:

Horse Trailer Floor Removed by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Sadly, we found we have some welding to do on the sides where a metal frame should sit on top of the boards. I also noticed today I will need to repair the electric brake wiring as whoever last got into them put scotchloks all over the place

Electric brake wiring by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Plus my quick repair of my tail/brake lights last year failed again so I'll take the time to permanently fix them

Wiring for tail lights by Scott Baker, on Flickr