just cleaned and re-oiled the air filter pods, man were those dirty! I used the cleaner 3 separate times! Finaly on the third time, it came out almost clear when rinsed. I let them dry and re-oiled them well, the oil is now drying and I will install them in the AM and see how she breathes now!

200 mile drive to and from Orlando tonight. Reeeaallly need to adjust that drive chain... or better yet, replace it!

some photoshop work

just mocked up my first ideas on the bike in Photoshop. What do you think? also I am in love with my 550 logo I made

Ride Day

So before I start on today, yesterday, Joe helped me tighten up the cam chain that has been rattling around in the engine head. I think we tightened it up pretty well, seems less noisy. So today Joe, Carrie and I went on a ride about 50 miles north of Tampa. We drove all over these awesome curvy roads, and then stopped at a really old Cuban restaurant for lunch.

We saw some pretty strange animal behavior as we drove, Joe hit a black racer (a snake, not like an Olympic Kenyan) A big vulture also cut Joe off and flew in front of his face for a few seconds. We saw a horse with its head inside the window of a nice big country house, and also saw a little tiny dog I thought was a squirrel till I get about 5 feet from it, just sitting in the middle of the road!

Back to bike stuff. I put 2/3 of a quart of high mileage oil in today before the ride and MAN that with the valve adjustment and cam chain tightening really quieted the rattly engine noise in the top end! Just to see what the bike could do, on a long straight road with almost no cars on it, I got the bike to his 115 before I thought I would get pulled over. But hey, thats 10MPH faster than it says in the shop manual, and that's damn good enough for me. Any engine mods from now on are going to be either to smooth out the power band (still have a mini bog down spot around 5k RPM) or to help make the engine more efficient.

Am starting to plan a summer complete rebuild project. Really clean and take almost everything apart from making custom gauge faces to painting the frame, to porting the engine head a bit with the dremel. I am getting quite a lot of inspiration from this Triumph on style and color scheme actually, yes Joe, I am leaning a bit more towards white painted fenders... But I LOVE that fairing, and the red frame with oll the white. I'll get some photoshopping done sometime soon to get a few options going. Till next time!

ya, I know it's 4am,

But i just adjusted my tappets and replaced a cracked left hand control switch because the clutch lever was starting to work the crack bigger. kind of a big job because the little screws inside didnt wanna come out of the inside of the controls, plus my mirror that mounts there didnt want to screw back in in the right way. Finally got it all done, and wanted to make sure i didnt mess up my clutch engagement adjustments, so i took it for a literally 45 second trip around the tiny block, and wouldnt ya know it? cop stopped me and asked where my eye protection was. I explained how i had just done a tn of work and was in the parking lot checking the clutch. He said he believed me, then asked more questions about what I was doing to the bike than most of my friends put together hahaha, he had me talking to him about it for 20 mins! Weird night.

Also Thanks a ton to Jorge for helping so much and so late!

Side cover

Mounted the left side cover, and it looks MUCH better. Now I just need a matching style right one to hide the battery. They have them for sale new for about 40 bucks, but I'm going to see if I can find one cheaper. As soon as I have both, I'm going to try to paint them myself. White, with a red stripe down it to match the tank. If that goes well, then I'm going to set my sights on repairing the dent in the tank, and then stripping the paint off of it and repainting it white with the same red swoosh, only outlined in black instead of gold.

Also got the new left control and clutch pivot in the mail, I'll try to put that on tomorrow, and possibly the chrome covers I got for the rusted area of the front forks. Let ya know with pictures tomorrow!

Wash Time

Got to new tires put on today! What a change. Amazing new feel. Also had the carbs synced and they are sounding amazing. The guy at the shop said that one carb was way off the scale, and the other 3 were not even registering on it, so ya that was a big problem. Tomorrow morning I'm going to wash out the engine fins and tank while Jorge cleans out his car, then I'm going for a nice cruise over to Clearwater to my mom's house. Can't wait for the ride over the bridge in the morning.

Where to start?

So, lots lots lots to talk about today. Last week I finally finished getting my permanent motorcycle endorsement! (Before I only had my permit)

So with that done, I got a new push of power to fix things, and here they are listed.

1) I took off the front and rear fenders to sand off the rust and polish them. They are a bit less shiny, but have a more brushed aluminum look now, which I really like. I also got brand new bolts for them, and the rear was missing 2 bolts anyway! Got them cleaned up and back on the bike.

2) So when I put the rear fender back on, the tail running light wasnt working, but the brake light was (so the big filament, but not the small one in the bulb was working.) After much cutting of old tape off the wires to test with the volt meter, I figured out it was the fuse, duh. Lesson learned, never do electrical work at night, even with a light, because when you check the fuses, you won't be able to tell they are blown. Also re-wrapped all the wires in much better black duct tape.

3) Tomorrow I am getting it all tuned up, and new tires. While it's there, I am going to see if the guys at the shop will help me put these 8 inch chrome tubes I bought at Lowes over the rusted part of the front forks. If not, might be a project for another day.

4) Ordered helmet speakers so I can listen to music on the road legally from ebay for $0.11 and a new left side control and clutch lever pivot off ebay for 10 bucks. Will install those when they arrive.

5) Last and probably least, got a big tire brush to clean in the engine fins to make her pretty!

Well thats it for now, will be keeping you updated!