Condenser ... but still no love

After I got back from Austria, Lizzy decided to take sulking to a new level. She won't start anymore. Both Gabe and I couldn't walk for trying to kick her over so much. I have only a few ideas left. One was replacing the condenser (really old word for capacitor that for some reason hasn't kept up with the times). The other was to check out the timing. The condenser was easy. But it didn't work at all.

We pulled the plug and I held it against the engine fins while Gabriel kicked it over. She has spark, so I don't think that is the problem. What *was* the problem was that Gabe didn't *listen* to me when I said 'enough' and kicked over after I pulled the plug off the fins (of course my hand was wrapped around the part that is supposed to be grounded). Well it found a way back to the bike through both my arms and Gabe's sweaty leg (which I was holding onto with the other hand, belatedly trying to stop his kick). Fellas - you want to be on the wife's good side? Yeah? Here is some advice...

Start by *not* putting thousands of volts across her body. That will increase your chances.

Dramatically.

At least he got zapped too.

Anywho - I have spark; I have fuel and air (plug was wet when pulled); I even checked the compression (150psi). What is wrong with my baby? I am starting to feel out of my depth...

I even asked the Honda dealership *if* I brought it in 'would they let me watch and learn?'

The answer? "The guys don't want you back there."

Nice. Far be it for me to make guys feel uncomfortable.

So any ideas out there?

Hot German Babe in Austria

So it has been a very busy few weeks. Work has been totally all consuming and Lizzy hasn't seen any action. In my defense, I did spend the last week in Austria (no not for fun - for work). One evening, we pulled into the garage and found 6 enduro bikes (5 BMW and 1KTM) that were parked all together. They were covered with awesome stickers from past rides - Transylvania, the Arctic Circle, Chernobyl... I got to talk to the Brits who owned them the next day and turns out they were on their way to Greece. I was really excited because I would LOVE to do that with hubby at some point - get two bikes and go around the world.

I tried to engage them in conversation about Lizzy (hoping to get some advice) but one of the guys said "When my bike has problems it just goes into the garage." .... OKaaaaay. Maybe I would do the same thing if I were riding a +20K machine. But I hope not.

Got to go past KTM (which is an Austrian company) and see a bunch of crossbows stacked on top of one another. Weird car. I like their motorcycles much more.
On our last day there, I ran in a race in Graz through the woods. It was a relay race and it was quite last minute that I joined in. It was mostly populated with thousands of students that dress up in crazy kit. It was my first race and I finished, but that is the most I can boast. Now if I dressed up as a Smurf and ran the course while chased by some dude in black with a net, then I could say something about how awesome I was. Sadly, this honor goes to 6 guys, that I didn't even know.


But I can down the Wiener Schnitzel and Almdudler well enough to kick it in an Austrian beer garden while watching the world cup. Now that, I can handle.
On the way home I kicked back and read the new Nook that Gabriel got me (huge surprise present before I left!) And you know what??? My coworker didn't have a clue I that I was reading some seriously steamy stuff - 8 hours of seriously steamy stuff. Most excellent. Put me in the right mood for a homecoming with hubby. Nice move, my man. Well done indeed...

It's not the size that counts

Me and the Viking - Rock...Rock...On!

Tune Up Miscellany

A few Saturdays ago Chrissy's man, Newton, came by to help me out. I prefer to call Newton the Viking because he is a huge man of Scandinavian decent that should be wearing a horned helmet and conquering parts of Europe. Anyway - besides being a beast, he is a motorcycle wiz and he also owns a KTM that makes me seriously jealous. Sorry Lizzy, it is true.

The viking came equipped with tons of tools, which was very nice. And yes they do make bent feeler gauges! Imagine my excitement!

I cleaned my first petcock (restraining myself from making dirty jokes here) - the thing that turns the fuel on or off on the base of the tank and slightly filters it. It had a huge booger in it. Nasty. I replaced the gaskets while I was at it.

Then it was time to adjust the breaker gap. It was hard to decide when it was open to its greatest extent, but I just winged it. Turns out it was *way* too big. So that was dialed down. I need to check the timing now... another thing on the "to do" list. Changed another gasket. Keeping this girl in gaskets isn't cheap!

Next I got to play with the compression tester Gabriel bought me. Thanks honey! Big sloppy kiss for you... I did a compression test with the engine cold (yeah I know it should be hot - maybe next time I will do it right) and got 150psi which is a bit lower than the allowed range 153-187psi. That's not bad, right? She is old. And I really, really want to ride this summer and not hone my cylinder and piss with my rings. Am I lazy?
At long last - the carb was in, the engine kind-of tuned, and the tank and seat put back on. Took a few kicks and she turned over. Beautiful sound! That is me sliding my motorcycle license into my back pocket.
The Viking and the Ox followed me down the street and watched me zip around and blaze up and down the block. Lightning quick. Gabe took the best picture ever of me and the Viking - it is so good, it is getting its own post. The tune up worked wonders, but Lizzy is still having some problems. If everything worked the first time, I wouldn't have anything to blog about, right?

carb take 2

Yeah - so I am a little behind on the blogs. Had a hellish week at work followed by a heavenly vacation. Back to the real world now, which means not nearly as much time to read smutty books. Which by the way, Nalini Singh is my top paranormal romance author right now. Hot stuff - the covers, however, make me hang my head and blush like a fire-engine when I go up to the counter to buy them (sometimes you just cant wait on the mail!). Hostage to Pleasure - yes please!

Besides being well read - I finished my carb before I left for the beautiful South. The ultrasonic cleaning did wonders for the jets. The slow jet was completely clogged, and it looks nice and clear when held to the light.

I was already to plop everything back where it belongs and measure the float height and call it a day when I realized one of the float balls was wicked lower than the other. Hubby assures me this is ... natural. But I have trouble accepting anything less than the best from Lizzy. Look at how much it is torqued! I think this was done when someone tried to adjust the float tang previously. Shame on you!

I lovingly bent it back to where it should be. Now that's better.

Lastly I spent a shameful amount of time adjusting the float height. It took me a long time to realize that the tiny little nub you see touching the tang is springy! Who knew? You want to set the height when the two are just touching and you are not depressing the spring. Lots of bending and rechecking height, all the while making sure I didn't torque the floats out of whack again.
I was a little unsure of how much to put in the air set screw and the idle adjust screw, so I just did the former flush with the carb body and the other somewhere in the mid range of its travel. I put the float bowl on and called it done. The carb looked great! Then on the bike it went.

carb take 1

I took the carburetor out so it was time to clean the thing. All the books tell you do it one of two ways. One - buy some dip solution and leave it in there for 30min and then wash and blow it dry. Two - get the spray cleaner, coat it, then wash it off and blow dry. I wasn't satisfied with this for multiple reasons. I didn't have carb cleaner, dip or spray, and Pep boys (the nearest thing to me) is *evil*. Doesn't it seem weird that there is no agitation or rubbing or something? How is it supposed to get squeaky clean that way? Lastly, what is in that cleaner if just sitting on gunk for 10 min makes it magically go away?

I decided to use an ultrasonic cleaner. The bath order was as follows (each warm and for at least thirty minutes)
*50% Simple Green and %50 DI water (to get rid of the oil and gas junk)
* 100% DI water (to rinse)
* 100% Isopropyl Alcohol (cleans and gets any trace of H2O out and dries up fast)

I had to separate everything because I didn't want the fragile jets getting scratched. I used little bags to label and keep track of everything.

All went really well except when I was blowing the carb body dry and the choke assembly shot out across the room. Serious "Oh Shit" moment. The book says not to touch the thing and to leave it in there. But I got it back together and it seems to go up and down just fine.

All and all I think this was a successful alternative.

Two points to me for giving cleaning advice!

Valves

Now that the screws are ancient history - I can get in to see the goods. With the markings on the rotor, I can tell when the engine is at top dead center (TDC) so I could adjust the valves! Isn't that the most fun thing ever? Not so much.

Turns out it was wicked hard to get my feeler gauge in the tight space. And with a gap so small (0.002in) it was really hard to tell if I had "slight" friction because of the spacing or if the curve of my straight gauge was causing the resistance. Bahhh. Do they make right angle feeler gauges? I didn't have the heart to bend mine.

I only had time to adjust the exhaust valve and then I had to jack my tail into a dress to go down to see a dance performance with Gabe. A note to the boys out there - if your wife rarely dresses up (and especially if your wife wears a bodice with no fewer than 6 bones pressing and squeezing her into place AND an *under-wire* strapless bra with even more bones!) you should, maybe, say - "hey you look nice" or "different" or "like a girl" or SOMETHING! Nine hours in that damn thing and not one word! Yeah the impact driver makes up for it... but still!

I may wrench like a boy but I can bitch like a girl.