24 Hours ago...

It was 45 degrees F this time yesterday. It’s 74 now. Despite all the buildings, wind is a thing here.

Solid legshields are excellent sails. Great with the wind at your back. Not so great in a crosswind. I’d remove them, but it’s going to get cold again Sunday evening.

I’ll be changing the mounting hardware so I can take them off without tools, speeding up the process for just such occasions.

She’s (the bike) still shy of 30k miles due to circumstances beyond my control. Let’s just say that I hate anaphylaxis, especially when my wife is the person suffering.

I found a paint template that I made for my scooter, and I’m going to rename my 750 since it’s been filling the same roll for a good long while now. Photos once the job is done.

I hope that y’all are doing well (even and especially @Minimutly). No matter how often we all butt heads y’all are extended family to me.

 

48 hours ago, reworked the petcock on the 700, replaced on the tank and got the bike to awaken from the long sleep. Rode it a bit in the cold in anticipation of riding the next day with the coming warm temperature.
24 hours ago, went fishing and upon arriving home at 2:30 PM found the power had just gone off. Spent some time sorting the shims for the 700X and went outside to place them in their respective positions. Waiting on the next nice day to tackle replacing the cams, sprockets, etc. Power came back at 6:00 PM.

 

Sorry to hear of your wife's ill-health @k-moe , hope it improves. I'm in bed, mid afternoon, struggling through covid - feeling a little better today actually.
Nothing going on with the Yamahas, I took the trike out for a blast last saturday, man was it cold. I should be collecting bits for the 900F but even that's ground to a bit of a halt - yes its on its oversize wheels, but that's about it. Rear brakes needed next, and some machining to align the back wheel.

 

UGHH....COVID sucks from what I've heard. I really hope that you have recovered and don't have any of the lingering effects. I'm just today finally over having a sinus infection that has pretty well sidelined me for the last week and a half. The wife is doing well now, but there are still some ongoing issues that we will just have to manage.

Today I went for a short ride even though it's 0nly 40ºF. I found that #4 is cold at idle, so Iguess Ill be pulling the float bowl to see what the matter is. I suspect that it's just a bit of varnish as the fuel filter is clear.

I'd also like to apologize for my most recent criticism of your advice. I was quite tired, and just typed on impulse. It was unfair of me, and not my best moment. I think on that matter nobody is ever wrong, it really comes down to the individual circumstances of the owner.
I would have preferred to apologize in that thread, but I can't find it.

Well wishes to you and yours.

 

One more thing:
24 hours ago it was snowing. Not much, but still...snow. It's supposed to be 77ºF on Wednesday. I thought this crap only happened in Kansas.

 

No worries, no need for an apology. Covid gone but left its mark for now, hopefully not for long.
Hope the weather perks up for you, been almost summer like here, now winter returns for the rest of the week. But I will be road taxing my trike, mot testing the 650, and maybe doing some more to the seca and 900 framy.

 

It was warm enough to ride to work today, but too rainy. I'm not putting on rain gear for a 10 minute ride. It's supposed to clear up by Friday though, and I can take a longer way home.

 

Yes looks like spring might hit this week...maybe...

 

24 hours ago I was getting the smoker ready for the easter ham. Warm enough for a long sleeve shirt and enjoyed the sun. Snow today and tomorrow. Supposed to be 82 Saturday. Always frustrating this time of year!

 

It snowed this morning, and will again tonight.

 

@hogfiddles , getting snow?

 

A little.......


recognize your camping spot??

 

Man, I fully expected a @hogfiddles snowmobile picture. He’s like the groundhog, Dave on a bike in April, winter is over. Dave on a snowmobile in April, it’s gonna suck for a few more weeks.

 

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/cnycc-15-saturday-june-11-2022.130479/
go to the bottom

 

Need to update your handle to groundhogdave

 

So, I finally did a thing that I had planned to do 7 years ago.

 

Reach 30k?

 

I guess that is one way of an old style speedo healer

 

Yep. Even with life working against me I managed to put more than double the miles on her in the past 9 years than all of the prior owners did in the 30 years that came before I bought her.

 

It was a lot cheaper to put the labels on than it was to send it off to one of the two people in the US that recalibrate Yamaha speedometers of the era. I figure that I can put new stickers on every year for the next 200 years before the cost of that exceeds the cost to reclaibrate. She's not show bike, otherwise I'd have it done correctly.

 

24 Hours ago I discovered that fork seals last about 10 years, and will finally fail when riding on Cincinnati "paved roadways."

I swear, Kansas dirt roads are smoother.

 

Not exactly 24 hrs ago but last week. I de-rusted my sons Honda tank. What a pain, there is not much room for an anode for electrolysis. I don't have a 'before' picture but the inside was pretty solid rust.
Here is during electrolysis.


Some rust inside after rinse out.



After a quick treatment with phosphoric acid.

 

That's a pretty nice result, @Huntchuks !! Any idea why one type of acid would be better than any other? I've used muriatic acid in the past, haven't tried sulfuric.

 

Muriatic acid - works well BUT you Should seal the metal ASAP because the bare metal is now unprotected and can flash-rust upon exposure to even humidity

sulfuric acid - highly aggressive acid and can creat bad fumes as well as damage the metal

Phosphoric acid - dissolved the rust AND converts the metal surface to an iron phosphate costing which protects the metal.

 

Muriatic is weaker hydrochloric acid, I think. It is more apt to eat metal and needs to be neutralized well. Phosphoric acid is mild in comparison and converts rust and can leave a phosphate coating. It will allow flash rusting if not careful. I drain the acid and flush with lots of hose water, then fill with water/baking soda mix to fully neutralize. Drain and blow it out a bit. Add alcohol to help absorb water. After removing the alcohol I went an extra step and used a couple of gallons of evapo-rust in case there might be some leftover rust spots. The evapo-rust drained clean and ready for other projects. Blew it out again and added motor oil to coat all surfaces. Next step is to drain the oil and swish some gas/drain again prior to mounting on bike. Then, some dry gas additive with the first tank fill up. This tank was a nightmare to work with and there was no way to remove all liquid without flash rusting. Hopefully the dry gas will allow the leftover moisture/water to be removed/burned during normal operations.

 

How long do you leave the phosphoric in there, @Huntchuks ?

 

When I did my X tank was the first time I used it. I left it in approx 24 hrs, 1/2 the time the tank was upside down. This time I rotated the tank to different positions like upside down and on each side and left in each position for 10-15 min. Because most rust, or heavy rust was already removed, it was adequate time. I noticed when pouring in how the rust I could see just practically disappeared immediately.
BTW, I used two gallons of acid in my X tank, poured back out into the original containers and left outside for the winter. This time I observed about an inch of semi solid sludge in the containers but the acid above was fairly clean looking. I poured all liquid acid in to the tank and then shook out the solids into a pail and just hosed it out.

 

Operation fork seal replacement was a success. Just in time for 36-48 hours of thunderstorms

 

Well…that fork seal didn’t last long. Ether I messed the new seal up (likely) or my prior repair to the gouges in that fork failed (less likely. Given my current transportation issues (the XJ is it for now) I opted to buy a replacement fork leg, and what a leg I found. She looks brand new and only cost the same as two fork seal kits. I should have bought both legs.


As an aside, when at the gas station and asked about your cool 80’s motorcycle, don’t mention that she’s been a solid ride for the ten years you’ve had her. That’s a sure way to cause the starter to fail right then and there

 

Yep, a friend's DR650 heard him bragging up it's long life and promptly had a catastrophic transmission failure. In Nowhere, Va on the MABDR. And folks says the bikes are not listening....

 

Thankfully it’s just worn starter motor brushes. She’ll be back on the road this afternoon.

Any sort of transmission failure sucks, but to have one that far away from a highway…eek!

 

Sometimes I wish my XJ had a kickstart as a backup.

 

Same. I’ve had to bump start her three times. Not hard to do, but not as convenient as a kicker.

 

I have a hill just hope it doesn't need bump started at the bottom of it .

 

I got the high back rest. -- nope ain't happening.
I'll figure it out.

 

That makes it easier, just grab a handy stranger to give you a push.

I bump started my Seca the first time on a long road-trip. The passenger seat was full of Drybag, and I had the trunk on as well.

 

24 hours ago I was only 1/2 way through replacing the ball joints on my Jeep. The first two took most of a week, due in part to a lower ball joint breaking (not popping out of the socket as usual, but the shaft twisting in two ). Three more hours and she'll be all refreshed and back on the road. Just in time for the Seca to get her oil changed.

 

ok, I'll bite. is it a xj ?

 

I kind of wish. It’s a KJ. Closest I can afford to being a Willys. In size and ability (plus it goes faster).
I think the one thing I’d do-over from my teenage years is save my money to buy the ‘43 that my dad’s friend was storing at our place. One of my friends grabbed it and did a great restoration. Oh well…

 

Clock update.
I finally found time (lol) to get back into this project. No pics yet, but I do have the microcontroller code set up for testing, and will start tomorrow on machining parts for driving the motorcycle chain and sprockets. I hope to have a rough setup done by the weekend.
Odds are that I’ll need to use a different stepper motor, but I have a few on hand that I can steal from my long-languishing telescope upgrade project.

 

The garage was just cool enough to allow me to do a little machining and mockup. I'm a little disappointed that the belt drive cog I have was too small to allow hobbing splines to suit the XJ550 output sprocket, but I made it work anyway.
https://youtube.com/shorts/nMH57y2aIC0
The new "shorts" Youtube url won't embed...annoying.
Please ignore the bearing noise. The Jackshaft for the belt tensioner is a little old

I got the fit right were I wanted it. Just enough slop to allow for bearing retaining compound (I want to be able to take that apart, and drilling the output sprocket for a grub screw is not on the table at this time).

Why not a press fit though?
Aluminum and steel, and a touch of laziness on my part.
(Yes, I need to clean the ways again. They feel smooth though, and don't look bad for having been in a storage unit without climate control for almost two years).

The mockup works as I hoped it would (the driven sprocket is temporarily glued to a worn output sprocket which sets on top of my first attempt at machining the aluminim belt cog (which ended up undersized , beacuse making a video is more important than watching the dial...right...right?)).


I'm debating about using a good peice of Oak for the clock body, or just making it all be able to mount to pegboard without having a fixed body,
Another idea I'm running through my head is using a swingarm, but then I'd want to also cut a slice of of a ruined engine to complete the look, and that would get tto be a little spendy (and heavy).

The driven sprocket will be the clock face, with numbers either etched into it or number tags hung from it (like the brass tags that were used before time clocks were common).

As I suspected the smaller stepper motors that I have are not torquey enough to drive the assembly. Thankfuly I have a few of these that I salvaged from broken printers a long while ago.


The appropriate driver will arrive Saturday, so I won't be able to make any progress until then.

I still have to work out which bearings I'll be using, machining the appropriate shafts, and eventually working out adding a real time clock daughterboard and position sensor so I don't have to set the clock after a power outage.

 

The new (but old-school) driver arrived a bit ago. It's going to work fine.
In addition to just seeing if it actually would work I did try it on the mockup. There's more than enough torque to spin everything, but I need to change the pully to suit the belt that I have. I'm hoping for an actual in-situ test run of the mockup by the middle of next week if not sooner.

https://youtube.com/shorts/kpUtKzuBkx0?feature=share

 

I swapped out the pulley to the correct type, and.....
https://youtube.com/shorts/BRl2Sg8QgeQ?feature=share

On to bearings and final layout.
I've decided for my own sake to just mount it to a nice piece of oak, or maybe square steel tubing if I can find anything suitable at the scrap yard.

 

So…you know how one thing leads to another?

I want as clean if a look as I can possibly manage, and that means machining the ID of the drive sprocket so I can fit the bearings that are the closest match.

Easy-peasy you say, he has a lathe.
Well, sprockets are hardened. Not so easy to cut, even with tungsten carbide it’s slow going.

So what’s a fella to do?
Anneal the sprocket. Which actually is easy-peasy.

Except

My DYI kiln/forge had to be left behind during the move to Ohio.

So….

New project so I can finish this project

I gathered the materials today for a small kiln and a hot enough propane fired Venturi burner.
I’ll start the mould making process and pour the kiln tomorrow.

I really do love having learned how to make things. Despite the rocky relationship I had with my father, he did me right.

 

Well....the pouring is on hold.
I had an idea.
Bigger an better, but payday has to come first.

 

MAP gas around the current ID will not anneal enough? How much needs to be removed?

 

I used my MAP torch (which in the U.S. hasn't been real MAPP gas for about a decade) and didn't get anywhere near the bright orange needed to anneal the splines.
I need to remove about 20 thou, and spent 1/2 hour removing less than 1 thou.

Besides, having a smelting kiln isn't a bad thing.

 

Another update on my slow project.
I've found time to cobble together a wonderfully hot propane burner to fire the kiln with (as a bonus it doubles as a large torch). Hopefully this weekend I can find the time to do the fabrication for the kiln body, and maybe even pour the refractory cement into it.
It'll be nice to be able to do proper metal work again.

 

Oh....no video of the torch until the wife is out of the house.
I'm on a bit of thin ice as it is due to other "dangerous acts of recklessness"

 

Here she is. I decided to grab an adapter so I could run her off of a 1lb cylinder.
She's running on MAP+ gas in the video, but will be fired on propane for longer burns (25 pound tank).

https://youtube.com/shorts/F2-gBWpgQ2o?feature=share

The torch is putting out enough heat that I'm going to try for the anneal this weekend. I'll still finish the kiln, because I really want to get back into doing some casting. I'm really excited about lost PLA casting. The artistic surface finishes that can be achieved are truly amazing.