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makka-setan posted:I built a USB-charger for my bike! That's brilliant. I have a cig charger, but by now all my chargable devices are USB in so I should mod it.
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Aug 7, 2011 16:20
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So are you just plugging that straight into the battery via a battery tender cable? Does the charger step down the voltage itself, or how does that work? If so I have half of this equation done already, maybe I'll have to give this a shot and make use of some old GPS unit it I have. Usually I know where I'm going, or at least I have a good idea. Not too long ago I found myself farther out than I'd been before, and with a quickly emptying gas tank. .9 gal in reserve on a 40mpg bike, and I think I was at 36.something miles on the reserve count before I luckily found a gas station right outside Maysville, KY. Right up until then I was eyeballing which farm houses looked friendly enough to sell me a gallon, and I was accelerating like a granny and cutting the motor on downhills. Maybe it's time I catch up with technology instead of driving in circles in the middle of the country. nsaP fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Aug 7, 2011 |
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Aug 7, 2011 18:19
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nsaP posted:So are you just plugging that straight into the battery via a battery tender cable? Does the charger step down the voltage itself, or how does that work? That's right. The tender cable goes straight to the battery, so using it in reverse is just like adding a 12v outlet straight to the battery. Normally you install a 12v cig outlet and to that you connect whatever devices need power. To simplify things I just cut out the 12v outlet part and soldered a 12v USB charger directly to the tender connector. That means I get 5v for any device that can be charged from USB. And yes, the USB charger is really a step-down transformer from 12v to 5v. Now I can charge my phone, my Gopro, my DSLR and probably any GPS I may or may not buy in the future. I can also use it for USB crapgadgets like mini vacuum cleaners, light-up christmas trees or cup warmers. Life is good!
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Aug 7, 2011 18:45
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Ola posted:That's brilliant. I have a cig charger, but by now all my chargable devices are USB in so I should mod it. 
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Aug 8, 2011 15:46
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KARMA! posted:That's basically what I use now, although my GPS has a dedicated cig plug with a mini USB in the other end. Mounting a USB socket makes for a less bulky, cleaner installation and less bukly cables to bunch up in the tank bag.
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Aug 8, 2011 16:53
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Today I did a little work on the old GSX again. I checked float heights and discovered that the needle valve had jumped off the float tab in one of the carbs. The float height was therefor set like 13mm off. No wonder it ran like crap! I synced the butterfly valves visually and re-set the pilot screws too. Everything should be pretty factory default and ready for assembly as soon as I get my intake boot O-rings in the mail. Excitement! I also found some inspiration. Some guy had taken on-board video from this type of bike. 400cc at 11500rpm zipping through the Swedish country roads  https://vimeo.com/3406878
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Aug 8, 2011 20:51
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well... technically the bike isn't MINE but my buddy and I did work on it. also it technically wasn't today, it was sat/sun (still within the span of 14 contiguous hours though)                    The biggest problems we ran into: 1) the forks that came on this thing were off of a cb350. I didn't realize how different the fork lowers were until we went to put it all together, my later fork tubes and springs would NOT fit it. so if anyone wants a set of freshly rebuilt and painted cb350 forks let me know  2) We planned to throw the wheels and tires from my K7 on there but didn't realize that the early and later K's had different hubs. So, after about a million different tries with different acles and spacers and drums and whatnot we finally realized the left side of the hub was larger on the K7. Probably to make up for the wider swingarm and greater offest on the later F and K bikes. So we would up cleaning 2 sets of hubs. The hardest part of all of this and probably of the entire build was that farking bearing retainer. Using TWO spanner wrenches it still took forever to get off. Joe came to the rescue when putting it back on and helped by holding them in place with a board and his weight. The added leverage of turning the board also helped greatly. 3) The center stand spring. That thing is a mother effer. Joe also had another stroke of genius though. (see below) for anyone wondering how the wide world of sports you get that drat centerstand spring back on... here's how:   
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Aug 8, 2011 23:59
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:for anyone wondering how the wide world of sports you get that drat centerstand spring back on... here's how: I knew that  The real trick is to do that with the stand down, before you disassemble the bike. Fold the stand up and the spring falls right off. 
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Aug 9, 2011 00:57
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:well... technically the bike isn't MINE but my buddy and I did work on it. OMG so clean!  You have no idea how much I want to go at my CB400T with a jar of polish and the small brushes.
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Aug 9, 2011 02:23
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:well... technically the bike isn't MINE but my buddy and I did work on it. Excellent work. I think we're so used to looking at two halves, we sort of forget just how massive that motor is. Nice to get an unobstructed view from this perspective.
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Aug 9, 2011 05:48
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drat! I think my greatest talent is making non-running bikes out of running ones. Thursday afternoon, I was going to take the DRZ down to a local dealer to see if they had the new CBR250 to drool over, and to compare it to the VFR1200. Now, my DRZ is a 2000 'E' model, with the Baja Designs street-legal kit on it, for headlight, blinkers, etc. But the PO that installed it didn't really do any kind of amazing job wiring up the front end. Not a super lovely one, either, but lots of unlabeled heat-shrinked quick connectors, and the 'ignition' was a simple DPDT switch placed inside a ziploc bag, and duct-taped shut for waterproofing, and zip-tied to the fairing. So, I get on the bike and get *almost* further than I'd want to push it home, and it dies, and relights, and dies, and sputters, and dies. I coast to a stop, and it relights immediately. I check that there's gas, and ride it back home almost uneventfully (two more brief episodes of dead....RUNNING!....dead.........RUNNING!) It acted *exactly* like you'd shut off the bike at speed - so the first thing I did was pull the fairing/headlight assembly off. I found that the PO had done the SHITTIEST job wiring things up. At least he chose a decent color of wiring to use *everywhere* - that being 'seafoam green'. (Makes for a decent reminder what to do in October, I suppose!) He used this thick (12 ga) wire to connect the switch to the wiring harness of the bike - and did the worst soldering job *EVER* where he'd twisted the end around the contact post on the bottom of the switch. It immediately became clear that I'd found my culprit - an intermittent connection between the Main Power Switch, and, you know...the rest of the bike! The bike came with a TON of parts (to include everything I need to put in a 440 cylinder and head), and in the bin is an ignition with key, and 4 leads. Even with the help of the wiring diagram in the Chilton Manual, it took me three days working on the front of the bike to figure out how to get power from the (obviously red) Always Hot 12v line at the front of the wiring harness to the (orange? WTF?) hot line at the CDI. I blew the 10a fuse at 9:30 at night at one point. 5 minutes after deciding to work on it some more. *sigh* The next day, I bought 4 boxes of fuses from Autozone. Fortunately I only blew 3 more fuses before I figured out that the (unmarked, naturally) TINY LITTLE ORANGE WIRE provided 12v to the CDI. Strip a little of that off, connect everything with waterproof crimp connectors (there's a spare headlight/fairing, too - I want to be able to switch them at some point), and bada bing, bada boom, three days later and I'm off and riding again. The turn signals still don't work (but that should be fairly easy to reconnect properly), and I'm still not sure what's causing the bike to feel...vague. They feel like they want to slide out from under me in corners sometimes, other times, they feel like they don't have enough air (though I've checked over and over - dead on 15 PSI every time) and are all wibbly wobbly (though they are not timey-wimey) Could be aging tires, but I'm not in a place right now to go buy some Distanzias, and I'm not sure I want to put the "new" knobby tires (coded from the very end of '08, but always stored inside) on as an interim (even though I ride 99% street), or sell them to someone on CL for $50. *shrug* I know I don't want to put Kenda K761's on - that's what I had on the KLR, and the back end felt similar after probably 1200 miles or so - right turns especially. It's a very disconcerting feeling (even though it feels like the lateral motion (if there is any in reality) is less than 1/4 inch), and I tense up, which doesn't do anything but make the 'slidey' feeling worse. *Ugh*
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Aug 9, 2011 06:15
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Jabs posted:drat! not a single one of the bikes that I actually own is running. When I can manage to string a few hours together for "me" time I manage to get one running long enough to have another completely unrelated problem blow up in my face. e.g. clean carbs; break tappet adjuster, gently caress up top end. restore goldwing, ride for weeks, then have mystery bike death and can't figure out why the gently caress it won't time properly. Other peoples bikes though? no loving problem. Sunday I handed off 4 sets of carbs I restored from shitpiles for someone else. Every time I try to do that to something I actually own it turns to loving dust in my hand. I also managed to piece together a decent wiring harness for that previously posted beast. The PO did some hosed up hack job including:
I pulled it all apart and using wires and stock bullet connectors I salvaged from other controls/battery baskets/bikes I pieced together a pretty decent wiring harness. I eliminated the starter motor safety unit entirely. Which should be fine unless my friend is a complete fuckwad. I still need to get some relays to relays to reduce the current through the start button. Those loving things are hard to find nowadays and I'd rather not burn through another one.
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Aug 9, 2011 17:16
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Diagnosed the problem with my blinkers on the vespa. Seems the blinker relay was kaput. Luckily the Canukistaniantire had 1, and I mean one. Unfortunately, I forgot the positions the wires had to go on it and it took 3 times as long to get it installed that it should have (yes, it was the last possible position for the wires). That having been said, it is working much better now for that then it used to.
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Aug 9, 2011 23:44
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Since I had the day off, it was time to find out where my oil leak on my GS500 was. I assumed it was the shifter seal, so I took off my sprocket cover and cleaned under it thoroughly, which wasn't perfect, but close enough so I could see if it was indeed leaking from that seal. Took the bike out for a 15 minute ride to warm her up and took off the cover to confirm my suspicion. Unfortunately this is what I saw. (Cell phone quality pictures ahead)  Hmm, no oil leak, well, lets see where it is leaking then.   Well crap, hopefully this won't be a tough fix, but I can put it off for a little bit since it's a very slow leak.
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Aug 10, 2011 02:06
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Finally connected with a craigslist "free goldwing stuff" seller. It was weird and also a jackpot. The guy who answered the door was a big Samoan dude who didn't know who I was when I said I was there for the bike stuff. Then he directed me down the hall. The seller was curled up in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him and seemed to be possibly in a morphine haze. There was a TV, an electric wheelchair like a quadriplegic might have, and various bits of "you're going to die" equipment around. He perked up and rasped to the big companion to take me out back and let me take whatever I wanted. I half (3/4) expected to find a smashed Goldwing with pieces of the seller's spine hanging off it. In fact there was a nice late 90s Harley chopper that was also being sold, with the Goldwing parts residing in various cabinets. Next to the final drive was some sort of anti-coughing therapy machine; the seller must have had lung cancer or some awful respiratory ailment, as opposed to dying a slow death following a horrific Goldwing crash. Anyway, I got a nice radiator, a set of Progressive Suspension shocks, all three brake calipers + lever, a final drive, a cherry set of solid feeling aftermarket (too clean to be original) headers, both exhausts, some electronic thing with a heat sink and a rear fender. All for $0.
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Aug 10, 2011 06:19
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AnnoyBot posted:Finally connected with a craigslist "free goldwing stuff" seller. It was weird and also a jackpot. Your story kind of went from to  then to  . Guiltiest free parts ever.
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Aug 10, 2011 07:12
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AnnoyBot posted:Finally connected with a craigslist "free goldwing stuff" seller. It was weird and also a jackpot. oh my god. what year / model goldwing? I've got some GL1000's and would be willing to throw some $$$ your way for good parts.
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Aug 10, 2011 20:07
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AnnoyBot posted:
Dude. I am so incredibly jealous right about now. Nice haul.
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Aug 10, 2011 20:27
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Not today but last night my battery finally arrived for the CRF...never order directly from Trail Tech, order from a middle man. Took three weeks for a battery pack to go from WA to TN, would have thought $11+ would buy quicker shipping. Got everything wired up and soldered. Everything works as it should. Tonight I'll mount the battery mount and take it for a test ride. Thanks for the reminder Crayvex, installed a new air filter on the SV. Sadly the new brake pads I ordered at the same time didn't arrive with the filter. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Aug 11, 2011 |
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Aug 11, 2011 16:04
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Installed a K&N air filter in my YZF-R6 due to not trusting my re-riveting job on the foam filter cage. Some say it decreases horse power, but all I noticed is that the bike sounds better. Butt dyno says the bike is the same. At least now I don't have to worry about a piece of cheap rivet getting sucked into the engine!
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Aug 11, 2011 16:09
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ReidRansom posted:Dude. I am so incredibly jealous right about now. Nice haul. Well, I can feel an empty gnawing karmic blackness on my soul that grows by the minute, but thanks! I think this stuff was from a '79. I probably don't need the brakes, since I my '82 has dual piston calipers and these are single. The radiator is going to be used as a cooler on my TIG welder. The muffler/headers may or may not fit, I don't know yet; I'll use them if they do, but my old ones will then be available. I doubt I need or can use the final drive or ignition module. The shocks appear like these, I have VTX1800 shocks now so probably don't need them. I don't need what I think is the airbox. I doubt I'll be using the footboards or the rack. I definitely do need the fender. I don't need the old license plate :-) I'm in San Jose. This project will probably run into the fall at least so I'll update this thread as things proceed. Here's the haul:   
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Aug 11, 2011 22:27
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I can say with absolute certainty that if I were dying, I'd want the parts left in the garage to be of use to someone, rather than getting scrapped or tossed in the trash. When you're losing everything, to be able to give something freely is more meaningful than ever.
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Aug 11, 2011 22:34
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Z3n posted:I can say with absolute certainty that if I were dying, I'd want the parts left in the garage to be of use to someone, rather than getting scrapped or tossed in the trash. When you're losing everything, to be able to give something freely is more meaningful than ever. It's more fun if you're around to enjoy it. My buddy managed to weasel a front and rear wheel, good tires, brake caliper/lines/mc/pads/etc, sidecovers, tank, wiring harness, dummy lights, carb rebuild set, and god knows what else out of me for free. Did I mention that I'm also building his bike for him? haha. It feels good. AnnoyBot, does he happen to have a spare front end (forks, calipers, axle) to get rid of? My parts gl1000 is donating one to my cb750 since my buddy took mine. If that works out I could use another for the other CB GnarlyCharlie4u fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Aug 11, 2011 |
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Aug 11, 2011 22:48
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:AnnoyBot, does he happen to have a spare front end (forks, calipers, axle) to get rid of? My parts gl1000 is donating one to my cb750 since my buddy took mine. If that works out I could use another for the other CB I don't think so, the only stuff I left was bits of the false tank assembly. There was no evidence of any frame, engine, wheels, etc. I'm trying to get a link back to the craigslist ad for the Harley now. I think it was a mid 90s bad boy, but I'm not an expert at H-D identification.
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Aug 11, 2011 23:08
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Today I finally fixed my K5 SV650's front brake issue. I was having trouble with the brake lever continuously being loose even though I bled both calipers with SpeedBleeders installed in them. I saw some fluid coming out of the MC's banjo bolt. So I loosened that, then tightened it so it was more tight than before. Then I tackled the MC's bleed nipple, and bled that motherfucker. Finally the bike's GSXR brakes came to life. They brake loving hard with the merest pull. Yay!
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Aug 11, 2011 23:44
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AnnoyBot posted:I probably don't need the brakes, since I my '82 has dual piston calipers and these are single. The radiator is going to be used as a cooler on my TIG welder. The muffler/headers may or may not fit, I don't know yet; I'll use them if they do, but my old ones will then be available. I doubt I need or can use the final drive or ignition module.I have VTX1800 shocks now so probably don't need them. I don't need what I think is the airbox. I doubt I'll be using the footboards or the rack. I definitely do need the fender. I don't need the old license plate :-) Haha so you get a massive haul of free stuff and the only thing you're probably going to use on your bike is.... the fender!
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Aug 11, 2011 23:54
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Z3n's dying words will be: Post...my...brake...discs...on craigs..liiiiist
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Aug 12, 2011 00:37
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Ola posted:Z3n's dying words will be: Post...my...brake...discs...on craigs..liiiiist fooorrr....freeee.....
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Aug 12, 2011 01:16
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More like what I did with my ride's workspace: finally got around to organizing it. Put up a free piece of pegboard, hung an old shop light and sorted out the pile of tools, fasteners and other crap just hanging out in the top shelves of both toolboxes. Pictured is the TS400 stuff I still haven't gotten around to rebuilding.
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Aug 12, 2011 02:23
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Forty Two posted:Haha so you get a massive haul of free stuff and the only thing you're probably going to use on your bike is.... the fender! Totally guilty over here. Sadly the radiator was the thing that really got me there. My TIG torch is water cooled and sucks without a cooler.
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Aug 12, 2011 03:54
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Mounted the battery on the CRF and took it for a spin around the neighborhood...almost looped it in the process. drat that bike is a monster. Brakes need to be bled badly though so that gets added to the list for this weekend.
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Aug 12, 2011 13:07
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NitroSpazzz posted:Brakes need to be bled badly Why, don't you like stopping?
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Aug 12, 2011 13:53
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ReelBigLizard posted:Why, don't you like stopping? Ok bad wording...they need to be bled so I can stop. Could pull the lever to the bar last night with little effect. All braking was with the rear.
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Aug 12, 2011 15:01
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AnnoyBot posted:Totally guilty over here. HAHAHAHA WHAT?!!!?!?! are you at least using the stock fan?
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Aug 12, 2011 15:13
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:HAHAHAHA WHAT?!!!?!?! Not sure what you mean here. Please clarify.
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Aug 12, 2011 19:23
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I installed my new intake O-rings on the GSX but it just sent me back to square one. Just like before it runs weird but at least I can't find any air leaks. I sprayed the area around the carbs with quite a lot of starter fluid but no change in rpm. When I sprayed some directly into the air box the rpms dropped however. Rich idle perhaps? Next stop pilot screws... for the 7th time. I also discovered that the fork seal leak have completely disabled the front brake on both rotors. I sense a brake teardown in the future.
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Aug 13, 2011 11:46
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Bled the brakes on the CRF, it now stoppies properly. Also tested out the new headlight in dark conditions...legal but not very bright.
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Aug 13, 2011 12:35
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makka-setan posted:I installed my new intake O-rings on the GSX but it just sent me back to square one. Do a bench synchronization. Remove the carburetor block and place it on your workbench. Set the idle adjuster to not engage. Then adjust all butterflies to a point where you can just slip a cigarette paper under them. No more no less. makka-setan posted:I also discovered that the fork seal leak have completely disabled the front brake on both rotors. I sense a brake teardown in the future. Did you fix the fork leak yet? Anyway, fork oil won't destroy anything but your pads. There's no need to rebuild calibers unless there already was a reason before the fork leak.
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Aug 13, 2011 14:26
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Huge McPunch posted:Do a bench synchronization. I did something similarly, but I used a small flashlight to see when the butterfly valves closed all the way. I'll probably just take the calipers apart enough to clean them thoroughly. It's pretty scary to see how fast a leak develops. Last time I actually rode the bike in April you could just about make out a drop of oil around the fork seals. Since then the leaks have made quite a large puddle under the front wheel. Inspect your seals often, people!
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Aug 13, 2011 15:14
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makka-setan posted:I did something similarly, but I used a small flashlight to see when the butterfly valves closed all the way. That's probably where you failed. It's pretty easy to synchronize all butterflies to close out light. You can do that in a matter of wrench-seconds. They'll probably bind with less than equal force, and they won't open synchronized though. Do what I told you. Your butterflies will never close all the way during normal operation (or at idle) and they should never be synchronized to that point. makka-setan posted:I'll probably just take the calipers apart enough to clean them thoroughly. Absolutely no reason to take the calibers apart. That'll create problems rather than fixing them. Just change the pads and fix that goddamn fork leak. Bleed the systems if you've got an attack of hyperactivity, but don't loving tear the calibers apart just yet. Also fork seals leak for a good reason. Is the upper-fork chrome pitted or is the fork bend or misaligned? Anyway, get it fixed. We'll walk you through it. It's pretty simple and, assuming nothing but the seals are fubar, all you'll need is an impact screwdriver with metric hex-bits ($10) and new seals. Huge McPunch fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Aug 13, 2011 |
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Aug 13, 2011 16:08
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