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Post by mikebritton on Oct 18, 2010 16:33:49 GMT -5
NOW YOU TELL ME!!!!!!!  |
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Post by ShakerNorm on May 4, 2011 23:25:37 GMT -5
OK - I did a dumbf*ck today....... Been fighting with my carbs for the last couple weeks, and it seemed like things are FINALLY starting to work as advertised..... When my friend Jerry shows up on his Zook Boulevard that he's just painted.
I'm telling him how the jetting is finally starting to come together and go to show him how to change the main jets when - in a moment of utter stupidity - I wrap my hand around the left side exhaust pipe..... Oh yeah - did I mention that it had been running for the last 15 minutes.....?
I wonder how long it will be before I have fingerprints on my left hand again......?
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Post by pamcopete on May 5, 2011 5:54:42 GMT -5
shakernorm, Well, don't feel so bad (stupid?)  Years ago when I was young and dumb, I was looking under the bike for a leak with the engine running and when I went to get up off of the floor, I reached for the header pipe to steady me. It initially felt cool, but then it really hit...... .......took about a month for it to heal.  |
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Post by rawolf on May 5, 2011 6:23:56 GMT -5
Just to keep it going and knowing that I will never run out of stupid I was showing a friend progress on my bobber, a "71 special, a wrecked salvage bike I've been bringing back to life. I had already started the bike several times and was anxious to show off for him. kick, kick backfire putt putt..... No good it's not going to run right, he looks down and says, maybe you need to take those covers off the carbs.... Oh yea, I was keepin' em covered from dust gettin in around the shop and forgot to take 'em off in my exuberance to "show off". Stupid strikes again!
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Post by ShakerNorm on May 5, 2011 7:34:03 GMT -5
ra - we had just finished 3 months of work rebuilding one of our airplanes and had taken it outside the hangar to start testing and tuning the engines (a pair of PT-6 turbines).... The right engine started and ran normally, but the left one just wouldn't start. We cranked it as long as we dared, and it would start to fire, but wouldn't even make it up to idle (jets idle at pretty high rpm). After 3 days of trying to figure out what was wrong - someone finally noticed that the intake cover was still on.... blocking all the air from going into the engine....... We'd pulled all the covers off the outside of the cowling, but nobody had looked INSIDE to make sure that one was off........
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Post by weaselbeak on May 5, 2011 9:04:27 GMT -5
When I was 16, my brother and I pulled a motor swap on an old Dodge, and couldn't get it to run. We didn't know anything about carbs or electrics. We must have pulled that thing 20 miles trying to pop start it. We messed with it for a couple of weeks before our older brother showed up and grounded the motor to the frame.
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Post by weaselbeak on May 5, 2011 9:13:50 GMT -5
I was a road tech for Clark forklifts, and got called to pull pressure checks on a torque converter that wasn't working. Some genius thought it was a differential and put 140 wt gear oil in it. I've also seen gasoline in the hydraulic tank.
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Post by ShakerNorm on Jul 3, 2011 1:47:19 GMT -5
I found out something yesterday that you Americans might want to know before you take your XS on a parade tomorrow......
I found that my XS does NOT like parades..... I was invited to be in the parade for Canada Day yesterday, and, being a Veteran, was quite happy to accept. As per usual, the parade was pretty slow, - not even a walking speed, as the Mounties and other groups were stopping and going out to the crowd, and generally having fun. (It is a parade, after all!). Of course this means that I was off and on the clutch constantly for the whole 5 mile route. Yup - it got hot.... and when it heats up, metal expands.....
As you can imagine, the clutch started to get tighter and tighter until it wouldn't release at all. The only way to stop without stalling was to kick it into neutral, and my bike does not like to shift when the clutch isn't off..... Do you see a vicious circle starting here....? Can't shift into neutral + can't stop without the clutch = STALL! Around every 100 feet, I'd stall it and have to restart it. Of course, this just generates more heat and makes it even worse! I was getting nervous that I'd have to park the bike at the side of the parade and walk the rest of it while the bike cooled down.
after what seemed like the 100th stall - I had a brainstorm (more like a light drizzle actually....) that I have a CABLE operated clutch..... so I reached over and started cranking the tension onto the clutch cable..... I thought I was going to completely unscrew the adjuster, but it worked! And at least it got me to the end of the parade, where we both parked and cooled off.... (oh yeah - I DESERVED to have a hangover today, but I was lucky and didn't..... LOL). Of course, when I took it home (when I was still sober), the clutch couldn't even pull it's own shadow across the ground, but all that took was a little adjustment of the cable......
So if you're in a parade and your bike starts to heat up and your clutch starts to grab -- remember that your clutch cable adjuster might just save your bacon!
Oh yeah - don't use that Armor-All wash and wax on your bike - if it gets on your cylinders - it STINKS!
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Post by 10ecjed on Jul 3, 2011 8:57:16 GMT -5
I am very happy that you got through the parade. Good thinking. And happy belated Canada Day.
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Post by preston on Jul 5, 2011 17:25:38 GMT -5
ahhhhhh July 4th... America,,, home of the Free.
at 1 PM, you do not want to find yourself on RT 16, (Main St) in Waynesboro Pennsylvania,,,
(unless you are sitting on the sidewalk, with intentions to watch us go by)
AS with no warning, the 6 of us, were at the tail end of their nice July 4th parade,,,
Do you know how SLOW, fire-engines can go... ?
ALL I could think about , was ShakerNorms post, that I had just read on Sunday,,,
... and my bike over heating, and clutch slipping... and all the kids waving at us, with no candy to throw at them...
Ye Gads !
so with little room to make a u-turn,, we did so , and took a 15 mile detour, which was way nicer than Main Street to boot.
Best regards,
Preston
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Post by madmax on Jul 22, 2011 9:05:24 GMT -5
When your rear brake light switch shorts out internally and starts smoking, let things cool down a bit before trying to unhook the puller spring, I've now got a nice spiral pattern burned into my thumb & forefinger...... ouch!
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Post by dogbunny on Jul 23, 2011 12:01:15 GMT -5
I think I read about this on this forum, but don't remember in which thread. Today, I ran into the same thing.
So, I've been working on several master cylinders and calipers. Some PO thought the bleed valve was a zirc fitting, and shot grease into one of them. I can just see it: "Hmmm, my brake is squealing, must be time to grease it..."
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Post by ShakerNorm on Jul 24, 2011 2:31:35 GMT -5
Hmmm, my brake is squealing, must be time to grease it..." I wonder if it worked any better after he greased it....? Or if it stopped squealing.....? |
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Post by mistermoe on Jul 24, 2011 10:27:45 GMT -5
I think that's how Anti-Lock brakes got started.... with Anti-Stop brakes. |
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Post by timg on Aug 6, 2011 1:17:01 GMT -5
I just read Mikes story about being towed 60 mph down the expressway, then Tom's reply about looping the tow strap and holding it with one hand for a quick release. Well that doesn't always work out either. I ran out of gas about 2 blks from home and my neighbor was mowing his lawn with his John Deere mower. He noticed me pushing my bike and asked if I wanted a tow. I said sure. He had a rope so I looped it on the frount of the bike and pulled it up where I could hold the end with my right hand on the throttle. Very safe, what could go wrong. so were ready to go, so I say go. Little did I know he had the mower in high gear and cracked the throttle wide open which was fine but there was slack in the rope. Somehow in that moment, don't ask me how the rope looped around my little finger and the handle bar. Couldn't let go of rope. I don't no if you have ever had your little finger pinched to the point where you thought it was comming off its not a pleasant experience. Any way he's going like hell down the road (never looks back) I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, flayling the air with my free hand. We finally get there and stop, me and the bike just fall over and I flop around on the ground for about 5 minutes in severe pain. He just sits there and looks at me for awhile and finally says, what's wrong?
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Years ago when I was young and dumb, I was looking under the bike for a leak with the engine running and when I went to get up off of the floor, I reached for the header pipe to steady me. It initially felt cool, but then it really hit...... 
Aug 23, 2016 7:57:01 GMT -5
Aug 23, 2016 7:57:01 GMT -5