More Mess.

What a mess!

My poor garage has become a massive mess yet again.
Looks like spring cleaning round 2 this weekend.

Here's Some Eye Candy

Sorry for the lack of updates. Right now the garage looks like it threw up all over itself. I'm short on funds so I'm sorting through piles and boxes of parts and listing stuff for sale.

In the meantime here's some pictures of my Goldwings.
The red one just stole brake lines and a caliper from the blue one. It also got some fresh coolant and had all the brake components cleaned and bled excessively.

Loaner Tools for the Win.

I ordered all but one case bearing from Manassas Honda (thanks again Drew).
The one they couldn't source I got from Motion Industries ($40+shipping, ouch) which is just down the street from where I work.

I managed to get a blind hole bearing puller on loan from Autozone instead of spending $170 on a new one.

Update: [11/29/11]
I needed to borrow that same Blind Hole Bearing Puller from Autozone last week. So I go in and ask them for it and the guy behind the counter just stares at me like I have two heads. They don't have it listed in their loaner tools. There's no record of it, nothing.
Advance didn't have one either.

I wound up buying one from Harbor Freight for $50ish.

And You Thought I Only Cared About Honda's.

Tommy's xs650's.
The black one with no front end is the project bike, the other is a parts bike we picked up the other weekend.

Looks like the remnants of a bonfire in the parts bike motor. 

Front wheel bearing assembly apart.
New bearings for the Lester Mags are en route from All Balls Racing

Split Cases Personality

I got the engine cases of the K7 separated last night.
Here's the results:

Pistons off.

Make sure you know which way they go back in.

Cases pulled apart.

*Clink plunk* "Where the hell did this little piece fall from?

...oh.

Gear teeth look great
and the faces will be polished in short order.

I went to Manassas Honda today and ordered 2 new primary chains, a tensioner, and all new crankcase bearings. Expensive, but worth it for the peace of mind that I won't have to do this again anytime soon.

GnarlyWrench it is

I think I'll stick with gnarlywrench for the blog name, at least for the time being.

Five Hours Later...

...plus a few puddles, some missing paint, 8 or 9 rubber gloves, and 32 fl.oz. of DOT3, I managed to fix up the brakes on the 76 Goldwing.The previous owner had only one "functional" brake in the front. The rear brake had no pressure and the front left caliper was missing entirely. I snagged a donor caliper from the 75 as well as the brake lines and front brake switch.

As fate would have it, I snapped a brake lever trying to bleed the brakes. Minutes later, I get everything assembled and bled the freshly swapped caliper before discovering that one of the donor brake lines was completely shot and worthless. I decided to use the single brake line that was on there before despite the fact that it is too long... I'll figure that out later.
On to the rear; I just bled it with the rest of once was an extremely large bottle of brake fluid, and it seems to be alright.

I just heard the newspaper delivery guy pull up a couple minutes ago. It is a sound that instills a fleeting sense of pride and accomplishment, followed quickly by pangs of regret and the realization that the real world is only 4 hours away.

What's in a name?

A rose by any other name would probably smell just as sweet, sure.
A blog however, has no smell and therefore relies greatly on it's name to attract attention.

So, help me rename this blog!
Leave a comment telling me what you think the name should be.
Options I've come up with so far are:

• GnarlyWerks [although I think this sounds too much like a trendy VW blog]
• GnarlyWrench

...uh that's about it.


If you have a suggestion or would like to second one of these, please let's hear it.

Surprisingly good condition for a neglected bike.

This K2 swingarm bolt was in surprisingly good condition for being on a bike that had mice nesting in it. 

Props to All Balls Racing

I just got an e-mail from Paul Waslin at All Balls Racing:

CharlieThe 25-1379 has a bearing I the size of  17/47/14We do have a bearing that is  20/47/14   part number is  6204-2RS Paul WaslinAll Balls RacingBearings and Components822 North Reading Ave.New Berlinville, PA 19545T:  (888) 228-3323P: (610) 473-0505F: (888)552-0557WEBSITE: All BallsEmail : paul_waslin@allballsracing.com

Fuck yes. Tommy's sex-cess650 will be getting the royal treatment. CBR F4 forks and lester mags, dual discs on the front, single disc rear, thanks to a donor '80 xs650 we picked up over the weekend.

It's always worse than you thought.

Most of the glue was on the carb on the left.
Note the large yellow line of gunk dripping from the top center of the carb body.

I pulled the (horrible) Mikuni BS38CV carbs off of tommy's xs650 on Saturday.
I thought it would be bad, but not this bad.

It only took me about 2 hours to scrape off all the gorilla glue from the outsides of the carb bodies, the throttle linkages, float bowls etc.
The insides didn't escape the previous owners glue fetish either. The vacuum boot for the slide was nice and coated. There was glue in the needle jet, venturi and float bowl. Although, I am forced to admit that he did a good job of plugging those pesky pilot jets as well. Not a problem if you live life at wide open throttle.

Everything is clean including the disturbing amount of rust and oxidation inside the carbs thanks to my new ultrasonic cleaner, a brass brush, and a lot of patience.

If I ever see this bikes previous owner again I'd like to kick him in the teeth.

4/09/10 update: I'm still finding glue bits.
4/20/10 update: Even more glue found all over motor and in between cooling fins.

This Cylinder ROCKS!

...and this is your cam on drugs.

I cracked open the K2 last night...

...I really wish I hadn't

"Off With His Head!" K2's Head removed.