Workshop Wednesday-Potpourri

 There was a rare sighting today at work in the form of a Rat Turd. That's right, for the first time this year that bike was able to complete the 18 mile trek from home to work. Two previous attempts resulted in me having to turn around and grab a different scoot because of mechanical problems.

 I have been riding the Ultra lately and the sportster before that and I had forgotten how much attention this bike draws. I kept getting reports from coworkers about people taking pics or kids checking it out. Cool, but I'm ready to take it to the next level...only I don't know what that means. It'll come to me one day and you'll be the first to know.

 In other news, we had some problems with an antiquated phone system at work but got that all sorted out. "Can you hear me now?"

 Back on the topic of rodents, this poor bastard didn't make it. Its not uncommon to find a carcass or a nest under the cowl of a lawn mower engine. Its also not uncommon for an engine found this way to develop valve or head gasket problems because it over heated.

 And another pic of some animals that will pack away whatever is put in front of them.

Later.

Filthy Disgusting Pigs

 A couple weeks ago I talked about the fuel tank I made for the Rat Turd. Earlier this year I also showed you the homemade header I welded together. When I took the Rat for a test ride after these mods I was disappointed with the performance of the bike. It was jetted lean from day one and always had to be choked for many minutes before it would idle on its own. Now with the free flowing exhaust and no restrictions, it wouldn't even accelerate to 55 mph.

  The plan was to drill out the jets to compensate for the air filter pods and header. The problem was I didn't know how big to drill them and I didn't want to pull the carbs, test run and repeat a bunch of times.

I decided the best thing to do was ask Greg, our 4 stroke tech at work, what his opinion was. He has a lot of experience working on these disgusting pigs that swim in their own filth and I respect his opinion even if he is a young whippersnapper. I described the way the bike was running from startup through hi gear complete with sound effects. Bwawp burp chug. He asked a few questions and I filled in the blanks with more vroom vroom noises. As he handed me a set of tiny drill bits he told me to find the size of the jets and go up two bit sizes.

 I did as told and put the bank of carbs back on the Rat. Upon first start with a stone cold engine the bike fired right up. I immediately noticed the bike didn't need as much choke I and was able to let it idle on its own in less than a minute. Once on the road I could tell the bike had more power than ever. The problem was that all this new power revealed another problem I didn't even know I had. The clutch now slips when I crank the throttle open. It's always something. I have enough bikes in the garage that I'll probably save the clutch for a winter project. It will be good enough to get me to the one bike show I plan to attend with the bike.

 In other news...I whined last week about the customer service from J&P Cycles.

 It turns out someone in the marketing department over there found my blog and wanted to correct the situation. They said I would receive that gift card soon and in fact I had it in days. They went out of their way to make it right and I respect that. We all make mistakes or run into problems but the bottom line is to make it right. I'll give them another chance.

Plumbing

 I showed you the Rats new fuel cell after it was coated in bedliner and wrapped in barbed wire. I did a little messing around on the front of the tank frame to outline the rat.

 I just took some rat colored paint and sprayed the front of the mount. I did a little drawing with a sharpie to detail the rat. It doesn't pay to redo it because that's about as skilled as I get when it comes to drawing rat faces.

 So the front tank drains to the rear tank through the hoses on each side of the tanks. I figure when  I can no longer see fuel in that hose I'm on "reserve". The hoses on top of the rear tank run up to the filler neck and also show fuel just before the tank is full. Pretty handy at the pump. This pic doesn't show the vent in the cap or the plumbing from the sediment bowl to the bank of carbs.

 I really didn't like the hoses. I changed them to clear ones.

 So here is the bike as it sits now. You'll notice I also wrapped the muffler with barbed wire. It wasn't as bad as wrapping the fuel tank but still a pain. I scratched the shit out of the paint on the muffler. I think once all the scratches rust it will look ok. About the exhaust...it flows way better than the stock carb jetting will handle. I'm gonna have to rejet.
 As I look at this pic I realize I have made a lot of changes to this 31 year old bike. Tank, seat, fenders, rear frame, hand made header and crossover handlebars. I still have a few plans for it including a different front end. Stay tuned.

Rat Turd Exhaust

 Last week I told you about my homemade headers. This week I'll follow up with the rest of the exhaust system.

 Here you can see I routed all the head pipes to the right side of the bike. I built a collector and added a piece of 2 1/2" pipe to that.

 I was out of oil and didn't have any in the engine at this point because I had just sealed up an oil pan leak. Too bad because I wanted to hear how annoying this open pipe would have been.

 Here is the fart can I bought from a co-worker that needed the $20 more than I did. I put a rain flapper on top of the 4" outlet. My hanger bracket is mounted from the same hole the stock muffler was bolted to. The bracket is strong and cheesy, just like a rat bike bracket should be.

 Why is it crooked you ask? Well if it were straight there is a good chance the exhaust would blow right up into my helmet. I'm goofy enough breathing clean air, you don't want me on the road all hopped up on rat bike fumes. Another reason the muffler is on an angle is because I wanted it to be perfectly vertical when the bike was on the side stand. I don't "look" at bikes while I ride them, I look at them sitting still. I think it will look better this way.
 I'm not completely thrilled with the rain flapper and may swap it out for a 45 or 90 degree tail pipe facing to the right side. Once I get the bike outside and fired up I'll decide. If the flapper doesn't bounce at idle or make that cool clinking noise then I may just remove it in favor of an elbow.

End.

Discoveries

 My little workshop has one lift and enough room to work all the way around it. Because I stripped the BSA down to nothing but a bare frame, it was easy to make the decision to remove it from the lift and put the Rat Turd up there. This in no way halts the very slow but present progress on the BSA.

 The Rat Turd (Doesn't it seem weird that I'm capitalizing rat turd?) is a fun bike to work on because anything goes. More details can be found here. If I want to try something new I'll just weld it on. If I hate it I'll cut and grind it off. It's not like I'm gonna wreck the bike!
 I noticed a small spot of oil under the bike and decided to investigate. When I pulled the left engine side cover I immediately noticed the answer to an unrelated problem I was having. Do you see it?

 Unless you are able to zoom in and study the pic you may not be able to see it. I'll zoom in for you.

 It seems last time I replaced this cover there was a gremlin hiding in here and he must have pushed that green wire to a spot where it would get pinched. This explains the intermittent side stand switch problems.
 Following the wire harness led to another discovery...

 I heard an odd sound coming from behind the side cover.

 When opened, I realized I needed more power to get the 1.21 gigawatts needed to move forward on this project!
 Yes I know this is lame so just r-e-l-a-x.  I was in the phone app store and saw this flux capacitor and loaded it on an old phone.  I've been in a funk lately with the bikes and am having a hard time turning ideas into hard results. On the plus side I did come up with an idea for a hand shifter that will allow me to keep my left foot on the highway peg when I just need to grab a gear or two. I have some lawn mower parts that will be just right for the job.

 We finally got some precipitation and I am about to go to work and relocate some snow. Have a great new year!

Workshop Wednesday-Tanked

 Because my boss almost never says no to a customer request, we end up doing a lot of different things in the shop. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I enjoy the variety. Besides, thats the best way to learn new skills.
 This project isn't new to me. I've sealed fuel tanks in the past.
 It's best to start with a dry tank. If it has a lot of heavy rust, not just surface rust, you'll want to loosen that up and remove it before moving on. Put some nuts and bolts or maybe blasting media in the tank and shake it up. Try to get as much of the loose flaky rust out of the tank as you can.

 I used this air powered vacuum because it has a small diameter suction hose that worked good for getting through the filler neck while seeing what I was doing.

 Next step is to rinse the tank. I'm using Kreem brand tank liner. I've had good luck with it. Add the recommended amount of acid/water for the size tank you are working with. On lightly rusted tanks you may see immediate results. Most tanks that get to the point of needing to be sealed have more than just light rust. Overnight or longer has worked well for me.
 I'm getting bored writing this and I can only imagine how bored you must be. Follow the manufactures instructions and you'll be fine. Now, wouldn't that tank look awesome on my rat turd? Thats right, I thought about it. I could do an entire 1000 mile Iron Butt ride without stopping for fuel!  I'm looking for a small version of this or maybe a piece of tractor grill that I can add to that bike to continue the tractor theme.

 I saw one of these for sale earlier this year. The guy didn't answer my call and by the next day it was gone. Bummer. That hood would have been a perfect starting point.
 I want to modify the exhaust to continue the tractor theme. I've got a few ideas including something like this:

 I'm thinking four into one exhaust dumping into this muffler. I'd put a rain flapper on it to give it more of a tractor feel. If you think thats the stupidest thing you've ever seen then I don't recommend you modify your bike this way.
 I have been following the chopper scene lately. There are a lot of young guys out there with talent making custom parts. They are bringing old bikes back to life and thats cool. I'm not knockin these guys. There are some serious mad skills going into very original parts. The problem I have is that many of those bikes all look the same to me after they are done. I'd like to see some of these guys use their talent to build something we haven't seen yet. Anyway, my point is I guess I'm not afraid to try something different even if it seems odd.

End.

Back Cracker

 I've got back problems. Bulged disc, degenerative disc disease, whatever they want to call it. When I built the Rat Turd I picked a seat that fit my ass. I trimmed it so it fit just right. I mounted the seat with its own pair of nitrogen filled shocks. I placed the hiway pegs in a spot that allows my spine to bend in such a way that it takes pressure off my nerves. I made the handlebars with just the right bends to be comfortable for me. I rode this bike three thousand miles in one week last year on vacation. It works for me and my back feels better after a ride.
  Here is a pic of the cast iron seat on the bike. It looks like torture but that's not the case at all.

 So the other day I roll up to the chiropractor's office. I pull into the first available stall and step off the Rat Turd. There was an elderly gentleman sitting in the car next to me with his window down. He must have been waiting for someone. He looks at the seat, looks at me, looks at the seat again and asks if maybe that seat is the reason I need the services of a chiropractor. He was kinda a dick. I mean it could have been funny but he said it with such a "holier than thou" tone in his voice and a judgemental look on his face.
 If someone that rides is truly curious then I offer all the info I just stated above. I was already running a little behind so as I was walking away I just told him "The key is in it. Find out for yourself".
  When I came back out the bike was right where I left it. I guess Mr. Knowitall didn't take me up on my offer.
 Moral of the story...Keep an open mind and don't be a dick.

Maggie Valley trip 2013: The bike

 As the summer of 2013 rolled along excitement was building for the start of a nine day bike vacation. I was trying desperately to make road worthy the sportster my wife bought me for our anniversary.  I had four weeks to tear it down, paint it, replace the engine and work out the bugs. Just when I thought I had it ready I encountered a setback. It was the plugged crankcase issue described in an earlier post.
 So it was decided. I would take the rat bike. I had enough mileage on this bike to trust it for what would be a 3000 mile week. It had enough room to haul plenty of stuff. The only down side was the small displacement. This little motor was gonna be screaming on the interstate.
 In the early years of making this trek to Maggie Valley, NC I would eat up the whole 950 mile ride in one day. In later years I would make plans to meet friends halfway down and do it in two days. This year was different because I had no plan. No advance hotel reservations and no route plan.
 It was early saturday morning when I fired up the little kawasaki and started motoring south. I figured I'd get on the interstate and get as far south as I could on day one.  The first half of the day the weather was ok. The only thing bothering me was looking at the tach. Its a little digital gizmo with small numbers. The difference between 6,000 rpm and 8,000 rpm is less than a quarter inch. Its hard to read but it was obvious the reading was high. On local rides this didn't matter much but I've been running it this way for hours.

 I'd stop for gas and someone would make a comment about the tractor seat. It is a real conversation starter.
 When you ride a motorcycle on a mind numbing interstate like the ones in Illinois, you better have something to think about.  Sometimes when in deer avoidance mode I have to be careful. If I think about "deer" I may accidentally start singing that stupid kids song. "Doe, a deer, a female deer." I have to stop there or I'll hate myself the rest of the day.  You have fun with it though. Why not listen to music while riding? Well I've done that. Its relaxing but I feel it takes something away from the connection between me, the bike and the environment. The other issue with me listening to music on the bike is that I found my pace was controlled by the beat. If the music was mellow, I'd slow down.  If it was angry metal then I'd be hauling ass.  So, a good portion of time was spent trying to figure out why this bike ran different depending on where my feet were placed. With my feet on the hiway bars the bike ran great. On the stock pegs it ran just a bit noticeably worse. I was sure it had to do with air flow around the carb pods but I just couldn't quite nail down why it was happening.
 As the afternoon wore on the weather turned wet. I don't mind riding in the rain as long as I can stay warm enough. I was happily scooting along in the rain when the motor started feeling weak. I was loosing power on the interstate and was pretty sure I'd have to pull over.
 A lot of things go through your mind in these situations. Why? I had plenty of fuel in the tank. Is the traffic behind me heavy or light? I should have made more of a front fender to keep the water off the motor. I wonder if my pods are too wet? Where is the next exit? Good thing I don't have to be back to work for another 8 days.
 I rode the shoulder for a mile or so and got off at the first exit. I made it to a parking lot and started troubleshooting. I figured the easiest thing to check was the air filter pods. I dug out a screwdriver from my saddlebag and removed the pods. When I fired the bike up it seemed to run ok.
 Some dude in a pickup truck gave me a thumbs up and said "I like the seat!"
 The rain was letting up so I hopped back on the interstate and continued eating up miles. Just about the time I was drying out, it started raining again. I watched as the water ran across my tank and dripped down in front of the carbs. The bike was drinking some rain water but running fine...until all of the sudden it started loosing power again. Huh, I guess the pods weren't the problem. I immediately exited and found a gas station. This time the plan was to find a can of wd40. I took my time spraying down every part of the ignition wiring and coil.
 While I did this some lady told me about her great grandpa the farmer who sat on an old seat just like that.

I know nobodys great grampa sat on a seat just like this. I used a cut-off wheel to modify the front outer sections. Before I did that I couldn't reach the ground with my feet.

  The bike fired right up and I continued south. Things were going fine until it started raining again. Once again I nursed the bike to somewhere safe I could work on it. Once again I hosed it down with wd40 and once again someone commented on the seat. "Did you ride that thing all the way from Wisconsin?"
 Back on the road the bike was buzzing along. I don't know how happy the motor was about being wound out all day but I know it was driving me crazy.  The motor felt fine but I couldn't stand looking at that tach. I tried not to look but the more I tried to forget about it, the more I thought about it. Ya know how sometimes you know you're in top gear but make that attempt to upshift anyway? I was getting sick of looking for seventh gear.  Luckily it started raining again and I forgot about the tach. I found myself anticipating the power loss I was sure would come. Man it was raining hard. It was getting dark and I was approaching Paducah, Kentucky so I decided this would be a good time to call it a day. Besides, I knew Raffertys served up some delicious cheeseburgers.
 I pulled under the motel marquee and was greeted by some fellow bikers seeking refuge from the weather. We exchanged stories of the road for a few minutes as I started peeling off a few wet layers of gear. One of them commented on how nice it was that the rain doesn't puddle up on my tractor seat full of holes. I agreed.
 The cheeseburger was good but not "the best cheeseburger ever" as I remembered them. I think the quality of the meal is directly related to the company you keep while dining. The company I'm referring to is the group I rode with a few years ago on this same run.
 Day two offered much dryer weather. I had to eat up a little bit more interstate before getting into hill country and it didn't take long for my mind to slip back into obsessing over the tach. Its really not much of a vacation if you are slowly driving yourself nuts. I decided I like the speed I was traveling so the only way to change the reading on the tach was to make it read zero. I pulled into a wayside, removed the fuel tank and snipped the wire. Ahh, relief.
 An old timer asked "Did that seat come off a hay rake?"
 The rest of the day included some enjoyable riding through the Smokey mountain national park followed by dinner with friends in Maggie Valley, NC.
 Monday I decided I wanted to investigate the "loss of power in the rain" issue a little closer. I purchased a tube of dielectric grease, pulled the fuel tank and began insulating all the connections under there. I also attached a temporary fender to help control water spray off the front tire. I did a bunch of riding that day and tuesday without any problems but then it didn't rain much either.

Scene from behind the motel on monday.

 On Wednesday I rode with a small group up on the Blue Ridge Parkway when it began to rain. To my dismay the little Kaw started running like crap again. So much so that it died and wouldn't restart. I was headed downhill so I coasted into a scenic overlook where I began tearing the bike apart looking for a problem. The battery was old. It was in the bike when I bought it a few years ago. Testing and cranking and...oh, oh it might start...but no. This went on for a long time. We all figured it was only a matter of minutes before a dead battery was gonna be the end of this ride. This looked like it may be a repeat of last year when the new battery in my Aprilia went south, but thats another story. A couple guys in the group decided to head back to the motel and get a trailer. A couple others stayed back with me. I decided as long as I had the bike ripped apart this far and the battery wasn't dead yet, I would keep troubleshooting. I started tracing wires and then it caught my eye. Just for a second but I saw it. It was a color I shouldn't have seen. It was the shiny metal prong on the end of a wire that should have been hidden inside a plastic connector. I examined the connector, snapped the wire back in place and attempted to start the bike. It fired right up!
 Enough time had passed that we figured our rescuers would be back to the motel and we wanted to stop them. It was funny watching everyone including myself do the "lost signal shuffle". You know the scene where everyone is holding their phone up and moving about reporting how many, if any, bars they had and who their cellular carrier is. We couldn't make a call but we all sent a text message and I guess one of them got through. The rescuers were just about to hook up the trailer so the timing was perfect.

Back at the motel and ready to settle into an evening with friends.

 The bike hasn't missed a beat since that day.  I had long ago decided the problem with my foot placement was an air flow problem around the pods. I was close. Moving my legs changed the air flow around the electrical connector located a few inches behind them. I guess at highway speeds the force of air was pushing on that wiring harness just enough to affect that loose connection. So many changes were made to the bike at once that it was difficult to narrow down the problem. After I ruled out the pods it seemed obvious that water was creating a short. I think this may have been one of the first long rides without a front fender so I was looking at wiring under the tank, not all the way back under the seat. I think if I would have made the connection between the two problems I could have figured this out the first time the bike gave me grief. A lesson I should have known because multiple symptoms can often be traced to a single issue. I've also decided its possible the bike fired back up after engine heat dried out the wet wiring during my repair efforts. I had never sprayed the bad connector with wd40.

The bike developed a drip on the return trip. It turned into a major leak a few days after getting home. You can see my temporary fender made from a license plate I bought from "Crazy Bobs Biker Stuff" store.

 Heres the thing. I love this shit. When there is a problem on the road that can be fixed without a trailer, then it becomes an adventure. This was a good vacation.

From LTD to rat turd in a few easy steps

 I was looking for a bike to commute to work that would be cheap to operate in terms of maintenance and fuel. There were a lot of bikes on Craigslist and after weeding out the junk I settled on an old Kawasaki. I ran it much of last year and decided it was reliable enough to keep around.

The victim. A stock 1984 Kawasaki KZ550LTD

 I wanted to do something to this bike to make it comfortable and have the ability to haul stuff. I knew my vision of a utilitarian rack was going to be ugly and I wanted to do some things to distract from that. I had an idea for a "crest" for the rear fender so I knew the I had to build it strong enough for the added weight. This meant using 3/16ths steel which was a real pain to bend by hand.

I knew I wanted a hugger fender but wasn't sure yet how long to make it. Stock tail section still hasn't suffered the wrath of my cut-off wheel.

Here you can see where I cut off the tail section.

Rear fender build. The right side remains open.

New rear section should be big enough to haul my stuff. The Aprilia in the background has a single sided swingarm and inspired the single sided rear fender strut.

This whole project started because I wanted a seat that could soak up the bumps.

Sure the seat is hard but those long travel shocks smooth out the roughest roads.

 I had to chop the front side sections off the seat. My feet couldn't reach the ground with the seat in stock form. Farmers sat on these things forever and they are more comfortable than they look. I did try putting a 1" thick gel pad on it but my ass wouldn't fit with the extra padding. I can't sit on a bleacher for an hour but I can sit on this all day.

Kinda cool but as it turns out...not very practical in the rain.

Lots of room for stuff!

Wiring LED stop, tail, turn and plate lights.

 I like these LEDs. The outer six on each end are orange turn signals. I want to use LEDs up front but I plan to make some big changes in the forks/suspension so I'm kinda waiting on finishing that up.
 The crest (and the seat) are painted with Rustoleum Hammer coat. The bike and deer are made from bent rod. To secure the pieces of rod to the plate I drilled holes in the plate and plug welded the rod from the back side of the plate.

The gear is a leftover from my Aprilia. The deer kinda looks like a seal with horns.

Tied down wrenches because my ideas are often bigger than my capabilities. Skull gearhead just seemed cool. Bike verses deer represents a crash. I earned a week in the hospital after hitting a deer. The whole thing is shaped like the US interstate symbol because I actually enjoy superslab travel. Hey, even a crappy day on a bike is better than any day at work.

One day I decided the right bar should go to the left grip and the left bar to the right grip. The object in the middle is GPS. The gizmo on the left is speedo, tach and idiot lights.

cup holder!

The bike is painted with truck bed liner. Many times I have welded something on this bike, hated it, cut it off and welded something else on...and slapped more bed liner over the top.

  Its not done yet, they never are. I have an idea for replacing the front forks with something home built. I was also thinking a tractor hood fuel tank might compliment the tractor seat. We'll see. Stay tuned for more updates on the rat turd.

Slimey Crud Run Fall 2013

 Twice a year I try to attend the Slimey Crud Run. Its a great chance to hang out with other motorcycle enthusiasts and see some nice bikes. There is a limited cruiser crowd here. Its one of the few gatherings where if you see a v-twin its more likely a Ducati, Indian or TL Suzuki rather than a HD.

The thermometer read 42 degrees but it was gonna be sunny so I knew a lot of bikers would show up.

A quick stop for fuel

I had to travel about 90 miles. Using the ferry in Merrimac really doesn't save time, its just a novelty.

The ferry holds 15 cars and takes 7 minutes to cross the wisconsin river. Its the only free ferry in the state.

    

The ferry is self powered but guided along by cables.

A pretty good turn out.

Flat head v-8 scoot.

The owner said the light was added temporarily but ended up getting painted and left on.

 The rat turd got a lot of attention. When I wasn't drooling on others bikes I was hanging out within earshot of mine. I really enjoyed hearing some of the comments. The best one was something like this: "This bike is proof that the winters are too long in wisconsin." Ain't that the truth.

I used to have one of these. I tried adapting the engine to a snowmobile. The project came to an end when we (me and some buddies) were evicted from our rental (the "animal house"). The owner let the fire department burn it down in a training exercise. The sled was still in the basement.

I had to stop and see what this was. Its a big ball of barbed wire sitting on a post.

Theres a butteryfly stuck in there.

 I had a good time. It was a chance to see some bikes that you don't see all that often. I didn't make it to Leland, the destination much of this group rode to in small packs. Theres a lot of good riding over there and I'm looking forward to next spring. Maybe I'll have something new on the rat turd for the crowd to point and giggle at.