Goodnight Sweet Prince.

The Ranger has suffered a mortal wound.
It currently resides in the driveway awaiting it's dire fate.

The engine still runs just fine and the transmission probably works, although I can't tell because a brake line and clutch line have snapped. The left front steering knuckle is broken, and the passenger side body is crushed.

I would love to believe that I will one day go out there with a sawsall, chop the body off, make a tube frame, and pre-runner it. But I just don't know.

New bikes! - surprisingly, they're not vintage.

I can't believe it's been over two months since my last post. It's not like I've been slacking off though, I've just been extremely busy at the shop.

In the meantime, I managed to bring home a couple more bikes.

First off, a 1999 VFR800FI

...of which I seem to have no pictures. Well no pictures of it in one piece at least.

Then about 2 weeks later this beautiful 1996 CBR600 F3 followed me back to the shop.

It didn't stay together all that long either...

Currently both bikes are awaiting some new parts. The VFR has a laundrylist of things the PO lied to me about. I'll be replacing the seat, regulator, headlight, chain + sprockets, tires, rear master cyl and eventually swapping the front forks and de-linking braking system.

The CBR only has 6500miles and is in immaculate condition. After I finish cleaning the carbs, it will be receiving a K&N air filter, new jets, carb insulator boots, and a lot of attention.

Back on two wheels - the CB360

The CB360 is finally back on two wheels again. I put the rear end on Saturday, the rebuilt front end on yesterday, and today was the engine and other little bits.

Engine's installed, along with the rebuilt front forks and brake caliper.

As a little bonus I discovered where these guys came from.

This thing here.

Which came off this other thingy here.

In all honesty I really have no clue how those rollers popped out without the plate coming off the rotor. But they went back in without a problem, so no worries, I guess.

This is pretty much how she sits as of now.

I'm still going over the wiring harness and looking for issues with the electrical system. So far I need a regulator, and somehow I can't seem to find the stator anywhere. Carb insulator boots are on their way along with a new headlight mount bracket. 

CB360 progress

I had some spare time today so I chugged right along on the CB360.

I finished washing the motor in the parts washer. It came mostly clean. It's not perfect, but I'm not about to wire wheel the whole thing either.

I cleaned up the frame and decided not to repaint it. To be honest I'm just really lazy and don't feel like even attempting it. There's only a few spots with little scratches and touches of surface rust. I'm just going to convert the rust, spray it with clear, and call it a day.

The brakes did get some special attention though. The front caliper needed to be rebuilt, so I disassembled it and spent about an hour trying to get the piston out. I blocked the bleeder hole and screwed a fitting to connect the air hose to the brake line inlet. After lots of scrubbing, and smacking it with a hammer, and applying lots of pressure via the attached air hose, the piston shot out with a loud *POP*, bounced over my shoe and skipped all the way across the shop.
Surprisingly there was only a light bit of pitting on the piston, and only in places where it didn't REALLY matter. The caliper body looked really gross inside though: lots of dried crud (from brake fluid) behind the piston seal.

I neglected to get any pictures of the action, but here's one I forgot to post the other day:

Restoring the CB360

I've been sitting on the CB360 for a little over a year now. I'm sick of just shuffling it around so I decided to use my lunch break to give it a once over and see what needed to be fixed to get her running.

I started by cleaning a few things up, and looking to see if anything was missing or needed to be replaced, but I ended up with this:

I guess it's time to restore her.

All in all she looks pretty good but needs a few things: rebuilt master cylinder and caliper, carb boots, a few rubber bits, regulator, I've already rebuilt the carbs, as well as touched up the paint on the toolbox, airbox, swingarm, and battery basket.
With everything apart I'm taking the time to clean up all the parts before reassembly. The engine is in the parts washer, the frame is about to get scrubbed, I took the surface rust and grit off the shocks, and polished a bunch of bolts.

Hopefully I'll have everything (minus the parts that need to be ordered) reassembled next week. I still have some maintenance to do before then; valves, forks, chain, steering head, wheel bearings, and oil change at least.

I'm sorry.

It's been well over three months since my last post, and I would like to apologize.
It's not for lack of content, or progress, really. It's for lack of time and inclination.
To sum up the last few months in a word: it's been "complicated." Somehow cleaning the garage turned into me rebuilding the shed, cleaning my living space, and renovating my closet, and fixing some plumbing... Like I said, "complicated." Oh yeah and a Miata followed me home.


Since I started working at Brooks' Cycle Center my life has been kicked into high gear.
My urge to wrench, fix, and mend is satisfied during the normal 9-5 so I'm happy. I've even picked up a second job working nights at a hospital to help supplement my income (work is slow in the winter).
However, when I come home in the evening I have to walk through a veritable graveyard of bikes and it's become quite depressing. Every day the same thing, watch other peoples bikes come and go while mine get neglected. So, I've begun to sort through my mess of a garage and shitpile of a bike collection. I wish I could say it was a Zen process of "pick up this part and place over here," but with 2 jobs and way too many other things demanding my time, it has been nothing but stressful.

But, with a new year comes a new attitude. I've managed to put a good dent in my workload and I'm ready to start prioritizing projects. I owe a number of people some motorcycles, and those of you who have been waiting have been all too patient.
Elrich, you're at the top of my list, despite the fact that Joey's bike is making some horrible top end noises.

Now if only I could figure out what the fuck to do with this thing:

Strength and inspiration dropped by for a visit

Todd  Spurrier of destinationxride.org [right]
with our shop owner Jason Brooks [left]

Today, I had the privilege of meeting Todd Spurrier, a man who is riding his Ducati Multistrada across the entirety of North America to spread awareness for a couple of genetic diseases that have affected him greatly.

Todd is an awesome dude with an awesome bike to match.

Todd was (presumably) wandering around our area looking for some good roads to ride when he stumbled upon Brooks' Cycle Center. We talked at length about some of the places he's seen, roads he's tackled and why he's on his adventure. If you're interested in the details, please email him and show your support.

Please take a minute to visit his website http://destinationxride.org to get the full story.

Do what you love, and love what you do.

I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates to this blog lately.
Basically, I did a lot of nothing for a really long time then got a job.

I lucked out real hard and got a job as a motorcycle mechanic.
My new employer is Brooks' Cycle Center. Please check them out and if you're in the area swing by and see us.

Meanwhile, I will be cleaning out the shed, and garage, sorting tools, etc... I might post some garage porn once I'm done. After that I really need to get back on the horse with Elrich's CB750F that man has been too patient up to this point, and I really need to finish his build.

CB125 shakedown

The CB125 seems to be up and running well. There were a couple mishaps but those got sorted out quickly.
I took the bike out for a spin to test everything out and make sure all is well.

Rest stops make good places to  put a bike through it's paces.

I think I might go up a size in the main jet. It's a 110 now but I think it could stand to be a little richer at full throttle. The pilot jet got bumped up from a 38 to a 40 and that seems to be doing nicely. That's it for now hopefully with this little guy out of the way I'll start getting some other bikes knocked out.

She purrs like a machine gun

I figured out the reason the CB125 wouldn't start. After many attempts the best I could do was to get it to backfire through the carb. This told me that it had to be a problem with the ignition timing but no matter what I did I couldn't get it to time correctly.

That is until I decided to take a closer look at the points advancer.

[Left] Timing advance unit from a parts CL125
[Right] Timing advance unit from my CB125
Can you spot the difference?

Looks like the advance shaft was on backwards, so off it came.

Much better.

MUCH better.

Taking a leak

Update on the CB125:

I replaced the piston and rings, and had the cylinder bored .25 over. There was still a leak.
I replaced the exhaust valve (the one that was leaking). There was another (worse) leak.
I replace the intake valve. The leaking stopped and the motor held compression. 130ish psi.

Hells yeah.

Now that I've taken care of all that I've been trying to start the bike for a few days now. I have all the necessities: fuel, compression, spark. The valve adjustment has been performed about a half dozen times just to be ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT sure it's right. The cam timing has been done the same number of times, and the ignition timing I lost count of somewhere around twenty.
I even pulled the motor went over everything one last time, then pulled and checked the carb, then the fuel tank (the petcock screen was a little dirty with aluminum oxide), I even replaced the carb to engine gaskets, gave the exhaust a new crush gasket and still got nothing.

Hopefully the next post will detail the awesomeness of my success and not some other catastrophic discovery.

CB125 Head Work

So I buttoned up the motor with the new piston and leakdown tested it. I gained about 4% - putting it well into the 'acceptable' range. However it's still not quite where I want it and I can hear a definite hiss coming from the head. So off came the head and out came the exhaust valve since it was the most proximate to where the hiss was loudest.

The best way to prevent the loss of ferrous parts is to keep them bundled together with a magnet. In this case a rare earth magnet out of a harddrive.

After pulling the valve I checked for burrs, carbon buildup and any obvious damage.

The valve seats looked good and I didn't see any damage to the valve. There was a bit of carbon buildup though. The valve itself also had a bit too much play in the guide. It rocked back and forth about half a millimeter, which is WELL over the limit according to the FSM spec. A new valve will be taking its place soon.

I cleaned the carbon buildup from the exhaust ports. I'm debating on whether or not to port the intake and exhaust tunnels. 

On a very serious side note, it is always good practice to wear safety gear when working on bikes; gloves, protective glasses, etc...
Little did I know that in this case the requisite safety gear for valve spring removal includes a cup. Yes, a cup, like the ones baseball catchers and football players wear. I had the valve spring fly off and nail me straight in the barracks. That put an end to my night. Recovery beer and a good night's sleep and I should be good to go at it tomorrow.