The preparation…..
Well I sent her out to the shop for a once-over after the 4750 mile trip to Utah and back. I described the bucking/stalling problems and also the intermittent hard shifting that I was experiencing. Turns out, the smoking gun was a ton of gunk in the carburetor. Possibly gas tank liner disintegrating, or a batch of bad gasoline. Nonetheless, he installed an inline fuel filter to prevent that from happening.
Over the winter, I will pull the tanks and have the liner removed. I need to pull them anyway to replace the bushing in the seat’s t-bar. For now, the filter should buy me time.Fluid changes, primary gasket replaced, new clutch plates that will be more tolerant of primary fluid. After a pretty detailed conversation, it seems the issues may have been more like a death from 1,000 paper cuts, rather than one major problem.
Got the bike back today, and tomorrow I have a few fixes to do myself before I leave for the ShovelHead ReUnion on Wednesday. The windshield bead had loosened on the way home from Utah, and I held it in place with packing tape. On the ride home today, it was really gusty and the bead popped loose again, but worse… I had nowhere to stow it on the way home, so I held it between my teeth like a horse’s bit all the way home! Ya do what ya gotta do. Tomorrow that will get siliconed in place. I was avoiding that, but it appears inevitable.
My left saddlebag doesn’t seat snugly against the post on the bracket, so I have to put a spacer in there to keep it snugged up. That was part of the reason the fender bolt and left turn signal loosened up.
The last fix is the most important. I have to mount a secondary starter button so that I don’t have to bridge the solenoid under the battery to start the bike. I am still not sure why the starter button on the handlebar is not working, but I don’t have time to chase that down. My suspicion is that the button can’t handle the juice from the starter, and if that is the case, there is no point chasing it or trying to fix it. I have already replaced it once. I picked up a heavy duty momentary switch that should work reliably. I just have to wire it in. Much to do tomorrow, plus organizing and packing! Milwaukee bound!
And the next day: Very long day getting the Atomic Shovel and myself ready to scram tomorrow morning. I added a new, heavy duty, better-not-shit-the-bed-dammit, starter button today. It took me a while to sort out where to locate it, and I got some advice on how to wire it, and that I should fuse the circuit. I also used 12 gauge wire instead of the standard 14 gauge. It is a pain in the ass to solder, but the wiring will be sturdy enough to handle the current.
After I got the button installed, but before I replaced the frame cover, which is where I located it, I gobbed silicone on the terminal screws. Two reasons. One, in case something metal does find its way underneath the button, it won’t arc. Two, to prevent those screws from backing out due to vibration. That would be a real problem if the power wire were to shake loose, and it would not be easy to access quickly.
My next task was to silicone the windshield bead back on. I used these little metal clips I have to hold it in place while the silicone cured, and it looked for all the world like the bike had pin curls! Maybe it’s just me…
Finally, I put the saddlebags back on, and added washers to where the spring steel goes over the top posts inside the bags. These attachment points were all a little loose, so the bags moved around more than they should. I got them tightened up now, so they should be good to go, and not cause the fender bolts or turn signals to loosen up.
Once all the maintenance was done, I packed the saddlebags, then got my clothes and stuff packed. I head out tomorrow to meet Marjorie Kleiman in Toledo, and then we head to Milwaukee for the ShovelHead ReUnion. Hoping for decent weather….
The Atomic Shovel 