It's A Motorcycle Again! - Walnut, CA – 21 June 2018

21 June 2018 – I called Bert’s Mega Mall to check on my “J” nut and guess what? I was talking with the parts guy who ordered my parts. Excelente!!! I asked him, if my “J” nut has come in yet for my Kawasaki KLR650. He said he would have to check. So, I wait and until he gets back to me. Yes, they’re in. He says, we have two of them. Imagine that. I told him, I would be down to pick them up shortly. Larry and I jump into the car and went down to Bert’s Mega Mall and picked up the nuts. I took one of the bolts along to double check that we received the correct “J” nut. Yep, we got the right one. He asked if I wanted the second nut. I told him yes and I would keep it for spare parts. Off we go. I will have my motorcycle assembled before the day is over.

When we get home, I’m going to remove the spark plug and check the gap on it. I checked the gap and it has seen considerable erosion in the last 20,000 miles / 32187 kilometers. I went to my spare parts bag and pulled out a new spark plug, I set the gap, put some anti-seize paste on the threads, screwed it into the head and tightened it. I hooked up the spark plug wire and filled the carburetor with gasoline. I started the motorcycle to make sure the spark worked ok and then let the engine run till it ran out of gas. I gathered up my top motor mount parts and assembled them into the frame and the engine head. I inserted the 3 bolts thru the two side plates and thru the frame. I screwed the nuts on finger tight. I screwed on the precious “J” nut that I waited so long for. I know why that nut is so special. You can’t get a wrench into the small area where this “J” nut is located. Before I put the “J” nut on the bolt, I put Blue Loctite on the threads so they will lock up after they are tightened. I also put Blue Loctite on the other two bolts. I then tightened all three bolts to the correct torque. I set my gas tank on the frame and screwed in the two gas tank mounting screws at the rear of the tank. I hooked up the vacuum hose to the vacuum fitting at the rear of the gas tank and secured the clamp. I bolted the right and left front mounting brackets into place. I inserted the blue spacer between the gas tank and the radiator. The purpose of that spacer is to prevent air passing by the left side of the radiator. With the gap closed the air pressure in front of the motorcycle forces more air thru the radiator. That in turn cools the engine more efficiently. I zip tied the blue spacer in place so it won’t be forced out with wind pressure while I’m riding. With both front mounting brackets tightened, my gas tank is back on my motorcycle. 

Next, I’ll check that both battery cables are tightened securely. I don’t want them rattling loose in the middle of the desert. So, they are tight. Next, I put on the seat and tighten both side bolts. I will now put on 2 ea. side covers. Two bolts per side cover and we're done. My motorcycle is starting to look like a motorcycle again. All I have left is to put on my two saddle bags. That’s pretty easy. Insert the two mounting tabs over the bottom rail, slide it back till it’s in the correct position, push the saddle bag up against the top rail and screw in the M10 bolt until tight. Your saddle bags are mounted. There is a word of caution. When you position them forward or aft…….if they are too far forward they will interfere with the passenger foot pegs. If they are positioned to far aft, they can affect how your motorcycle handles. I set them far enough back so they don’t interfere with the passenger foot pegs and call it good. I have never had any handling problems with the saddle bags in that position. My motorcycle is back in one piece again and ready to ride. 

Next, I will gather up all my tools and put everything back in their respective places and tool bags. With that completed I will put my tools and spare parts back in my saddle bags. I am going to hook up my gas line to my gas tank. I’m going to adjust my rear chain now that my motorcycle is setting on its tires. I also need to check tire pressure. Then I’m going to take my motorcycle out and drive it to find out if my gas tank is operating correctly. The gas in my tank is pumped up to another level where it flows into my carburetor. I want to make sure that this is happening. Off I go for a ride thru the neighborhood. I will ride 10 or 15 minutes to burn several float bowls of fuel and if it doesn’t stall out, my vacuum pump is working ok. The gas tank seems to be working correctly. I’m going to wrap up this bike work for today.

Waiting For The Nut – Walnut, CA – 20 June 2018

20 June 2018 – Today we took the drain oil, oil filter and old tire down to automobile repair shop and recycled everything. I didn’t want to leave a mess for my brother. We also went to the auto parts store and purchased a gallon of Shell Rotella ELC Extended Life 50 /50 Antifreeze. They did not have this antifreeze in the 1 qt / 1 liter bottles so I had to buy 1 gallon bottle / 4 liter container. This is unhandy but I needed the antifreeze. This is what I use in my motorcycle and it’s available all over the U.S. I noticed my reservoir bottle is about a 1 Inch / 3 Centimeters low. I will be traveling thru the desert in a few days and it will be hot. I don’t want to have any issues with my cooling system. I filled it to the upper level and closed up the bottle. 

I called Bert’s Mega Mall again to check on my “J” nut for my top motor mount. The parts guy is confused about the part. He can’t find it on the shelf, doesn’t know if it came in and hasn’t been checked in yet, or if it’s still on back order. I will call tomorrow morning and perhaps the guy that ordered it will know if it has come in yet. It’s just a matter of too many cooks in the kitchen. I will call in the morning or drive down to find out if it arrived yet. It should be here.

Battleship Observations – Los Angeles, CA – 19 June 2018

19 June 2018 – Today Larry, Tonya and I are going to visit the Battle Ship USS Iowa (BB-61) nicknamed “The Big Stick”. It presently is operating as a museum, docked in a harbor. I doubt if it will ever move again under its own power. SAD. A few facts about the ship: It was the first ship in America’s newest class of large and agile battleships that were built for World War II. The Iowa class of ships were large, fast battleships that would be built for the World War II effort. She is 887 feet 3 inches long and at the tallest point it is over 187 feet over the water line. I’m just speaking for the 16” inch guns. Typically there are nine 16” inch guns on the USS Iowa. Each gun would have between 100 – 120 projectiles and propellants bags. That meant around 800 - 1000 rounds were carried on the ship just for these guns. That does not include all the ammunition for the smaller guns. Simply put, one mistake and it’s a watery grave forever. It was commissioned 22 February 1943. It’s crew in 1984 was 65 Officers and 1501 Enlisted. It weighed approximately 57,000 tons. How can that much steel float? Another thing that amazes me is that entire ship is welded together. And it can’t leak. That is one hell of a bunch of work anyway you look at it. If it would have been possible, I would have like to have seen the engine room. It was truly a great experience to walk thru this ship. If I was a sailor that served on this ship during WW II…….I would walk up and give it a big hug. She would definitely be an old friend of mine. To have heard her guns rattling and banging away would have been music to my ears. 

Reading the short blurbs along the passageways was very informative. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. If you want to see the difference between what an education will do for you and what your life is like without an education, walk thru a ship. My opinion applies to both the Navy and Merchant Marine Ships. Check the officer’s quarters first. They have a nice bed, closet, desk and share a toilet and shower. Two junior Officers to a room. Their mess is a large table with chairs. Compare this to an enlisted man. He has a narrow bunk bed in a room shared with six other guys and a small locker, that’s it. A shared latrine and shower with the rest of the ship. Their mess facilities were substantially less desirable. They may be standing alongside a wall with a shelf on it that they can set their tray on while they eat. That’s how they eat morning, noon and night meals. I wonder if I’m the only person whoever sees that.

My brother, Tonya and I left the USS Iowa deck and walked around on the waterfront looking at other old military vehicles and anchors etc. etc. and then went home. I checked my e-mail tonight and I have not heard back from my Broker. They seem to be struggling with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Declaration Form & Declaration. The EPA has not released my motorcycle back into the United States. There is no more info for them. They have it all. All fees and charges have been paid. What is the delay?

 

More Refreshing – Walnut, CA – 18 June 2018

18 June 2018 – I’m still refreshing my motorcycle. Today, I’m going to start with changing the oil, oil filter and adjust the counter balance chain. That’s hardly noteworthy other than I did it. The second thing I’m going to tackle is trying to straighten the right-side saddle bag mounting frame. It got bent by falling over three times during my trip to South America. This frame has never been taken off the motorcycle since I put it on in 2008. Hopefully I will be able to get the nuts and bolts loose without twisting them off. News flash, I was able to get all the fasteners loose without damaging them. Here comes the funny part. I have nothing to hold the frame where it needs to be bent (no vise) and no hammer large enough to bend it if we beat on it. We devised a plan. We supported the frame where we didn’t want it bent and left the area unsupported where we wanted it bent. I had my brother stand on the supported end of the frame and I would stand on the area where I wanted it bent. I would drop down with all my weight and spring the frame. I did this till I realized if I’m not careful I could twist or break one of my ankles. My feet were slipping off the frame at odd angles and sometimes I almost turned my ankles. If you ever cranked an old kick start Harley-Davidson, that’s the way it worked. You bump the piston up on compression, then stand on the kick starter crank, drop down and at the same time straightening your leg out turning the engine over one compression. It was all about dropping my 200 lbs. /91 kg., straightening my legs some and forcing the frame to bend. Our process wasn’t very scientific but it bent the frame back to near original shape. That probably took 25+ tries. The saddle bag hung much more vertical than before. Before we semi-straightened the frame, the bottom of the saddlebag was visibly closer to the rear wheel than the top. I bolted the frame back on the motorcycle and used Blue Loctite to lock the nuts. I was happy how that came out using our caveman tactics.

Next, I have to repair the lower left gas tank mount. Somehow the mount cracked off my radiator frame during my travels. I suspect vibration was culprit. That 10 gallon gas tank is great for having gas in remote areas but it has some draw backs. I will list a few: It makes your motorcycle 30 lbs. / 14 kgs. more top heavy. I also affects your kickstand negatively. You have to use a right side kickstand to keep it from falling over to the right. That’s really is unhandy. Parking on uneven roads and surfaces is horrible. Anyway, I remounted the gas tank so I could start thinking how I could make and remount a new bracket. It took some thinking but I came up with a plan. I drilled a new hole in the radiator frame which lined up with my existing bracket. I went down to the hardware store and purchased a nylon spacer, bolt, washers and nut. I bolted the bracket on and lined it up with the tapped hole in the gas tank. I shimmed out the gas tank end of the bracket with washers and tightened it down to the gas tank. It looks like it will work. I removed the gas tank again until I receive my “J” nut from Bert’s Mega Mall. Then I can put on my top mount. Once I get my top motor mount in place then I can put my gas tank back on. That pretty much wraps up today.

Motorcycle Refresh – Walnut, CA – 17 June 2018

17 June 2018 – When I got up, I ate breakfast and got right to work on my motorcycle. I double checked that I had all the openings to the crankcase plugged with rags. I then released the cam tensioner screw loosening / freeing up the camshaft chain. I then removed the 2 ea. caps off the top of the exhaust camshaft, being careful not to drop anything into the engine. I tried lifting the end of the camshaft up and it was quite stubborn. Once it broke free, I then could remove the shim out of the bucket. That’s a little tricky too. I actually blew air under it to pop it out. The hardest part of the job is now over. 

I went into my spare parts bag and pull out my 35mm film canister. It contains a variety of shim thickness. I measured the thickness of the old shim, wrote it down and set it aside. I then measured all the shims till I found one that was .002 in. / .0508 mm thinner than the shim I took out. I double checked the shim thickness against the old shim and it was exactly .002 in. / .0508 mm thinner. I’m guessing your wondering how I measured the thickness of those shims. I knew when I left to go on this trip that I would check the valves twice. The first time in Walnut, California before I left and the second time when I returned to Walnut. So, before I left St. Paul / Minneapolis I found a cheap micrometer and wrapped it up carefully and stored it with my spare parts so till I needed it. I cleaned the new shim and put it in the bucket under the camshaft. I oiled both camshaft journals before putting camshaft back into it. I also oiled the caps before put them back into place.

I screwed in the 4 ea. bolts and torqued them down. When Mary visited, I had her bring along my SnapOn Torque Wrench so I could torque these bolts down in In / Lbs. When she went thru Airport Security in St. Paul / Minneapolis the metal detector rang off. The Security people wanted to know what it was. So, they checked her luggage. They were baffled. Some thought it was some kind of secret weapon. They were going to confiscate it till someone figured out what it was. He must have read the directions on how to use it. They were in the box with the torque wrench. Mary told them, my boyfriend uses it to work on his motorcycle and that’s all I know about it. They said she couldn't take in her carry-on luggage, and she would either have to leave it or check her carry-on bag. So she had to go back to the ticket counter and check her luggage, then return through security. Luckily she was early enough and the airport wasn't too crowded so she was able to do this and get to her plane on time. Tense situation for Mary, though. In any case, my torque wrench made it safely to Walnut, California.

I torqued down the caps over the camshaft and oiled them again. I screwed the bolt in on the cam chain tensioner and torqued it. Now I’m going to spin the engine five or six times and then check the shim spacing again. I engaged the transmission and then turned the engine over five or six times and rechecked the valve spacing. All four valves checked on the high side of the tolerance. It’s exactly where I want it. Yeah!!!! I go to my top box and take out my new gasket for my valve cover. I clean up the valve cover gasket surface on the head, oil it up and lay the gasket on top of it. I get the valve cover out and double check that it’s clean. Now the battle starts. With a little pushing here and little pulling there the valve cover dropped onto the cylinder head. I juggle the gasket and the valve cover around and eventually get everything lined up. I get out the valve cover bolts, put new seals on them and drop them in their holes. I turn them in with my fingers and then torque them. I check the photographs I’ve taken, then put the cables and electrical wiring back in the correct location and zip tie them into place. I mount the fan back into its spot and zip tie down all wiring for it.

I can’t put the top motor mount in place yet because I haven’t received it yet. I have it on order at Bert’s Mega Mall. But what I am going to do is put a small funnel into my gas line and fill my carburetor full of gas. I’m then going to start the engine and listen to it. I fill the carburetor till the gas was standing in the funnel. I steadied the gas line, choked the engine and pushed the starter button. It fired right off and the engine was quiet as a church mouse. I let the engine run until all the gasoline was drawn out of the carburetor and the engine stalled. Everything is good here. This task is complete.

Bert’s Mega Mall called and said my parts are in. Larry and I are going to drive over and pick them up. They have all my parts in except for one nut. It’s a special nut that you can’t put a wrench on. It’s designed like the letter “J”. The hooked end doesn’t allow the nut to turn or spin. It bumps up against a shoulder and stops rotating. Then you tighten the bolt. So, that’s not good. They said, they would call me when it came in. Now I’m going to have to hound them till it comes in. Well, I can change the oil, straighten saddle bag mounting frame and repair the broken gas tank mount. That’s something I will tackle tomorrow.

More Wrenching – Walnut, CA – 16 June 2018

16 June 2018 – Mary’s leaving today. She’s collecting up all her carry-on luggage etc. etc. As soon as she’s ready we will be leaving for John Wayne Airport. My brother prefers this airport over Los Angeles Airport because of travel times to get there, parking and traffic. He has talked about taking 5 hours to get to LAX while his guests sat there waiting his arrival. There was no joy in that trip. Anyway, we're on the road to the airport and the traffic is flowing smoothly. Mary and I said our goodbyes. I also told her my plans are to be home before or on the 30 of June. She popped out of the car and we waited till she was inside the airport before we left. I was sad to see her leave. 

I still have hours of work to perform before my Kawasaki is ready to ride and roam. When we got back to the house, I started work on my bike. First, I took pictures of the location of all the cables and all the wire ties that hold them in place. Those pictures are handy when it comes to putting everything back in place. I went into my top box because I have a detailed set of instructions on what to remove and what not to remove. It’s the best I’ve ever seen. First, I remove the fan, time the engine correctly, reposition any electrical wires and cables out of the way, remove the top engine mounting bracket and remove the coil. I also cleaned as much dirt as possible off the valve cover and surrounding area. I don’t want any dirt falling into the open engine if possible. I remove the four valve cover bolts. I wiggle the valve cover off the top of the engine. It was a struggle like it always is but we removed it.

I got out my feeler gauges to check the spacing on the valves. I checked the intake valves first. The spacing on those were exactly the same as when I checked them in October 2017. I checked the exhaust valves. One valve spacing never moved but the second valve had changed by .002 in. / .0508 mm. It looks like I have only one exhaust valve to adjust. I will clean up the valve cover and all the bolts / fasteners so they will be ready when I complete the valve adjustment. I will also clean up the gasket surfaces on the head so it’s spotless, and fill all the opening with rags where small parts could fall in to the crankcase. You just don’t want that to happen. Then I covered up the engine to keep the dust out. I washed all the parts and the valve cover up. I wrapped them up in clean towels to keep them dust free.  

I texted Mary to see if she made it home ok. She said she did and Little Hiss is just fine. We talked some and then called it a night.

Tune Up Day, and I Miss My Cat! – Walnut, CA – 15 June 2018

15 June 2018 – Today will kind of be a lazy day. I’m going to check on line for Galfer’s website. Then I’m going to order 3 sets of front and rear brake pads for my Kawasaki. They only last about 7,000 miles so I never like to get caught short without any. You never know when they will wear out. I got them ordered and if I’m lucky I should have them in 5 days. The other thing we’re going to do is go back to Bert’s Mega Mall and get my tire balanced. We left after 1:00 p.m. so everybody at Bert’s will be back from dinner. 

When we got there, I went to the service area and Larry, Tonya and Mary went to the showroom area. I asked at service counter if they had time to balance my rear tire. They typed up a work order and took my tire. I figured I’d be waiting hours for it to be balanced. I was waiting maybe 15 minutes and one of the techs came out and asked about my tire. Something about the balancing weights I wanted to use. I told him I wanted the weights that clamped onto the spokes. He left and in about 10 minutes he returned with my wheel balanced. I asked him how much my bill was and he said there was no charge. I said, free…….are you sure?, he said yes. I said, I don’t want you all to be calling the police on me when I walk out the door. He said “never happen.” I thanked him for balancing the tire and left. That was sure nice of those guys to do that for no charge. I have paid up to $30 for the same balancing if you can believe that.

I walked over to the show room and found Larry, Tonya and Mary. They were looking at the different motorcycles, boats and 4 wheelers. Tonya told us she found the motorcycle she wanted. It was the Polaris “SlingShot”. Well, imagine that. We talked a little more about the selection of motorcycles and then left. Mary and Tonya were genuinely impressed by the number of motorcycles and stuff they had setting on their show room floor.

We drove home and I unloaded my wheel. To install it, I got out all my cleaned parts and axle. I wiped off the swing arm again so it was immaculately clean. I put the steel side shields in place on the swing arm and inserted the chain adjusters into the swing arm. I put the sprocket assembly back into the wheel along with all the wheel spacers. Everything is greased up so nothing will rust. So, we get the wheel in place and put the chain on the sprocket. With all the spacers in place we then push the axle thru till the threaded end is just visible. Then I put the brake caliper support arm in place and push the axle all the way thru the swing arm till it comes out the right side. I tighten the axle up until it’s wrench snug. I tapped the axle forward till the chain adjusters are snug inside the swing arm. I now can adjust the chain out. I wrote down the number of turns I backed the nuts off when I took out the wheel. I will now adjust out the axle in equal amounts till I’m within one turn of the correct adjustment on the chain. I spun the wheel a few times to make sure I put everything together correctly. I didn’t want to hear any grinding noise. I tighten the axle a little more till I make the final adjustment when the motorcycle is fully loaded. I check the brake pads and they look ok. So, I can put the brake caliper back on the brake caliper support arm. With the brake caliper in place I use Blue Loctite secure the bolts with the correct torque. With everything assembled I spin the wheel several times and step on the brake. I wanted to see and hear if the brakes were working correctly. Everything looked and sounded good. This task is complete. I will start the process of checking the valve adjustment next. That’s always a fun job. 

Mary will be leaving tomorrow as she needs to get back to her job. She’s also going back to check on “Little Hiss” our black cat. She was a rescue cat that someone kicked out of their house. She lived on the streets in a small town in Western Iowa. She’s declawed, that why we know she was someone’s house cat. We believe she lived outside for at least 5 years maybe more. She a pretty wily critter. She seldom gets caught off guard. She hates dogs and dislikes you if you associate with the enemy (DOGS). In the last few years, she has lost her hearing. She still is ever vigilant. She still enjoys the outdoors during the summer but during the winter she prefers the inside. Just a sniff of the cold air coming in an open door is all the closer she cares to get to winter, after living outside for so many years. She routinely patrols around the house chasing off other cats, dogs, chipmunks and mice. She’s just a silly “Hiss”.