Topic: The Happy-ish Thread. Share your small wins and mixed blessings.

[Terry in Australia]

Spotty and I had some success getting the blinkers working on the DT250 yesterday. It was pretty warm (90 degrees) yesterday so not ideal weather but regardless we managed to work out that the indicators are single wire units earthed to the (rubber mounted) handlebars and the plastic rear fender, with no earth leads actually connected to the frame. How it worked so well originally on my 1977 DT250 back in 80/81 alludes me.

Time has obviously taken its toll, with 45 years of rust and corrosion affecting what minimal earthing Yamaha’s engineers designed into the system. We connected a jumper wire from the frame to the left rear indicator and suddenly the indicator idiot light started working, but no blinking at the blinker. Weird. I pulled the bulb and tested it and it worked fine, so connected Spotty’s test light to the bulb socket, and it happily blinked away. Put the bulb back in, the idiot light blinked away but the blinker bulb didn’t.

On Saturday we’re going to remove, disassemble and thoroughly clean the indicators and make up earth wires to run from the cleaned mounting bolts on each indicator to a nice clean spot on the frame, or directly to the negative terminal on the battery. As confusing as it has been, I’m happy-ish that we’ve worked it out. The new brake light switch arrived yesterday, so I’m happy that it’s almost ready to go back on the road again.

[jgger]

Spotty and I had some success getting the blinkers working on the DT250 yesterday. It was pretty warm (90 degrees) yesterday so not ideal weather but regardless we managed to work out that the indicators are single wire units earthed to the (rubber mounted) handlebars and the plastic rear fender, with no earth leads actually connected to the frame. How it worked so well originally on my 1977 DT250 back in 80/81 alludes me.

Time has obviously taken its toll, with 45 years of rust and corrosion affecting what minimal earthing Yamaha’s engineers designed into the system. We connected a jumper wire from the frame to the left rear indicator and suddenly the indicator idiot light started working, but no blinking at the blinker. Weird. I pulled the bulb and tested it and it worked fine, so connected Spotty’s test light to the bulb socket, and it happily blinked away. Put the bulb back in, the idiot light blinked away but the blinker bulb didn’t.

On Saturday we’re going to remove, disassemble and thoroughly clean the indicators and make up earth wires to run from the cleaned mounting bolts on each indicator to a nice clean spot on the frame, or directly to the negative terminal on the battery. As confusing as it has been, I’m happy-ish that we’ve worked it out. The new brake light switch arrived yesterday, so I’m happy that it’s almost ready to go back on the road again.

Yamaha seems to have issues with grounds/earth's, look up spider bite for an FJR sometime. That put mine out of commission last year and I did a major cut and rewire, all is good now.

[Terry in Australia]

Spotty and I had some success getting the blinkers working on the DT250 yesterday. It was pretty warm (90 degrees) yesterday so not ideal weather but regardless we managed to work out that the indicators are single wire units earthed to the (rubber mounted) handlebars and the plastic rear fender, with no earth leads actually connected to the frame. How it worked so well originally on my 1977 DT250 back in 80/81 alludes me.

Time has obviously taken its toll, with 45 years of rust and corrosion affecting what minimal earthing Yamaha’s engineers designed into the system. We connected a jumper wire from the frame to the left rear indicator and suddenly the indicator idiot light started working, but no blinking at the blinker. Weird. I pulled the bulb and tested it and it worked fine, so connected Spotty’s test light to the bulb socket, and it happily blinked away. Put the bulb back in, the idiot light blinked away but the blinker bulb didn’t.

On Saturday we’re going to remove, disassemble and thoroughly clean the indicators and make up earth wires to run from the cleaned mounting bolts on each indicator to a nice clean spot on the frame, or directly to the negative terminal on the battery. As confusing as it has been, I’m happy-ish that we’ve worked it out. The new brake light switch arrived yesterday, so I’m happy that it’s almost ready to go back on the road again.

Yamaha seems to have with grounds/earth's, look up spider bite for an FJR sometime. That put mine out of commission last year and I did a major cut and rewire, all is good now.

Thanks Jim, thank God I'm not farting around with the wiring on an FJR1300. My FJR was a magnificent beast, but if it had an electrical issue I think it'd be easier to just burn it and claim the insurance. Luckily the DT has the minimum of wires, (maybe a few less than common sense would dictate, how do you earth blinkers to rubber mounted handlebars and plastic fenders?) but anyway, I have plenty of wire, and I'll find some 8mm ring connectors to mount them to the indicator mounting bolts. I'm keen to getting this sorted, summer seems to have come a bit later this year, in the 90's again today, so looking forward to nice riding weather for at least the next couple of months, maybe more.

[Gurp]

This morning I put my two weeks in for my current position as a maintenance technician. In about a week and a half I start orientation at the steel mill as a millwright. For my orientation days I'm going to work my third shift job leave an hour early and then do my day shift orientation and class training. A step forward for the family and myself.

[grcamna2]

This morning I put my two weeks in for my current position as a maintenance technician. In about a week and a half I start orientation at the steel mill as a millwright. For my orientation days I'm going to work my third shift job leave an hour early and then do my day shift orientation and class training. A step forward for the family and myself.

Wishing you the best on your first day orientation 

I Know you're looking for steady first shift !

[jgger]

Congratulations Gurp on the new position and all it brings you.

[BenelliSEI]

Well done Gurp! Sounds like a real prize. You earned it.

[simon#42]

well done mate , all the hard work will pay off for you .

[Gurp]

This morning I put my two weeks in for my current position as a maintenance technician. In about a week and a half I start orientation at the steel mill as a millwright. For my orientation days I'm going to work my third shift job leave an hour early and then do my day shift orientation and class training. A step forward for the family and myself.

Wishing you the best on your first day orientation 

I Know you're looking for steady first shift !

Looking like I'll have to train on 2nd (ehhh) then I'll be positioned on 3rd shift. I work 3rds now and like it pretty well. So def not too bad.


Thank you everyone!
Sent from my LE2127 using Tapatalk

[Alan F.]

You go Gurp! Awesome.

[Kelly E]

Nice job buddy   

[Terry in Australia]

Well done mate, while I hate working after almost 50 years of full employment and am looking forward to retirement next year, a new job with (I presume) better pay and conditions is always good.

Today Spotty and I figured out the problem with the indicators on the DT250 not working by making up some extra earth/ground wires, so everything apart from the neutral light is working as it should. I got an “Unregistered vehicle permit” for it and Spotty made a bracket for the original number plate and mounted it to the rear fender, and I rode it home.

The permit is good for 7 days so tomorrow after a little more fettling I’ll take it for a ride, then as I’m having some more back surgery on Monday and working from home for the rest of the week I’ll take it over to see Jeff at Ace Motorcycles about getting a Roadworthy Certificate so I can get a club plate and ride it legally. I’m hoping he’s got a couple of 6V indicator bulbs as the two front ones were blown so we temporarily installed 12 volt bulbs which (like me) are pretty dim.

The bike’s running well with a bit of a stutter down low but once the throttle is cranked on, it clears it’s throat and runs really smooth. There’s no air filter in it so it might be running a bit lean down low. The actual filter is just a foam sock that goes over a plastic cage, so I harvested some foam from the old seat cover and tomorrow I’ll wrap a couple of layers around the cage and either glue it, or cable tie it in place until I can find a new one.

[PeWe]

That bike looks almost like a new, Terry!
Must be easy to sell when you have wilderness around the corners.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, it’s going to be used mainly for commuting to work on fine days, to save some tolls and parking fees, but will see some dirt road work on weekends. I’ll probably give it a cosmetic restoration over winter as it’s a bit rusty so the engine and frame and exhaust will get painted, but I’ll leave the original paint as is, because I like the patina. No powerhouse, but a fun little bike.

[PeWe]

Premiere for our 3 1/2 months young Siberian princess to sit on a bike!
She moved in 2 weeks ago.

I'm sure she is eager to help, very curious and must investigate what we are doing or have just done.

She has been very eager to walk into the garage every time I have opened the door.

Dangerous place with piles of parts and good junk. She has it in her DNA to find the most dangerous places mice would like.

She might find small parts before disappearing into the garage black hole when assisting me while working in the garage 

[grcamna2]

Nice cat 

[Gurp]

Premiere for our 3 1/2 months young Siberian princess to sit on a bike!
She moved in 2 weeks ago.

I'm sure she is eager to help, very curious and must investigate what we are doing or have just done.

She has been very eager to walk into the garage every time I have opened the door.

Dangerous place with piles of parts and good junk. She has it in her DNA to find the most dangerous places mice would like.

She might find small parts before disappearing into the garage black hole when assisting me while working in the garage 

Tis a fine garage kitty.
My youngest kitty loves coming to the shop with me as well.

Sent from my LE2127 using Tapatalk

[Terry in Australia]

That’s a good looking cat Per, all of ours love my garage too, the males like to piss on my bike tyres and the big fluffy female loves to hunt rats.

[PeWe]

That’s a good looking cat Per, all of ours love my garage too, the males like to piss on my bike tyres and the big fluffy female loves to hunt rats.

Thanks guys for the cat comments.
The cat will force me to clean up the garage.
Junk must go, one bike to be assembled instead of being all over the place in parts.

She is now in DAMP mode that will last an hour or two each time, like a tornado, indoor. Itching first set of teeth too.

If you will hear about a tornado called Romi, it must be a very strong one. Take cover!!
Romi the short of Romina plus more the breeder added.
Her pedigree papers make it easy to call her "Your Highness"

You''ll see the nicest cats on a Honda!

[Terry in Australia]

On Monday I had some more minor surgery on my back. (RF denervation of lower back) Yesterday (Tuesday) I had a "sick day" as I'm not supposed to work the day after having general anaesthesia so I cleaned the carb on the DT250 again (was a little bit of crap in it, but not much) and swapped in a new needle and seat, floats, and the main and pilot jets. Made no difference, either the coil is bad (probably) or there's a bad earth (probably again) today I'll try to remove the coil and give it and the frame a good clean, and run a separate earth to the battery's negative terminal, and I'll run another one to the engine, like I do on most of my bikes.

A guy on the FB DT page suggested that I check the wire from the neutral switch to see if it was broken, but after 45 years I couldn't even see the wires due to the buildup of old chain lube and crap. The good thing about a dirt bike that only weighs 50 pounds more than I do, was I could lay it on it's side, then blast it with my 5000 psi 6.5 HP petrol powered pressure washer, and now the underside of the engine is as clean as it should be. Sadly the wire was intact, so I'll keep looking. 

I sat and had a smoke, and remembered that I'd meant to install the new battery in my T350, so took a break from the Yam, and dragged the little Suzy out of the garage. I installed the battery, but didn't get a spark. Bugger. I started looking at the wiring, and spotted the 55 year old fuse assembly looked a bit too "Old school" with just two wires going into a plastic bag, with a fuse in between two uninsulated connectors. I jiggled it and immediately got spark, but as soon as I replaced the sidecover, it stopped again, so I replaced it with a modern, weather proof fuse.

T350 Tuesday 5 March 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Now that the spark had returned, I filled the tank with horrible old fuel that I'd drained from both Ducati's, ranging between 2 and 4 years old. Two stroke's don't seem to be too fussed at stale fuel, and it fired right up after 5 kicks, for probably the first time in 3 years or so. I do have a Youtube "Short" of it running, but for some reason can't post it here. If you want to see it running, do a search on Youtube for "Terry's Bikes" and look at the "Shorts" in my channel.

I really must spend a couple of hours sorting out the wiring, and take it for a ride, with almost twice the BHP, it might be a contender to the DT250 as a "nice day commuter". I'll give it a wash today and pump the tyres up, and take it for a quick lap.

T350 Tuesday 5 March 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[BenelliSEI]

Terry…. I have no idea how you keep so many bikes running! Well done.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks John, my grand plan for this year is to get them all going again, so far I’ve had success with my Z1-B, T500, T350, DT250, and Ducati 916 S4. Was hoping to get my BMW R100RS going as well as my of Ducati 916 S4 this weekend but temps are going to be in the 90’s (like today) so not much fun working on bikes with sweat dripping off you. No biggie, hopefully I’ll still get out on a ride on the weekend regardless of the weather.

Just gave the little green Rebel a wash, what a difference a bit of water and detergent makes!

[BenelliSEI]

Terry….. that is a very good looking machine. Is that seat cover original?

[grcamna2]

Terry,your Suzuki T350R is looking wonderful;I like that nice size original SS front fender.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry….. that is a very good looking machine. Is that seat cover original?

Thanks John, it's a repro, but original shape and stitching. The bike was laying in a field from 1973, and so I was only able to use the frame, swingarm, gauges (which were still fine, surprisingly) triples, and handlebar switches/throttle assembly, and a few more bits and pieces. The rest of it was absolutely corroded to death. The engine and paint set are 1970 originals.