I'm back! I feel a bit guilty for not doing any rides in over a month, but the weather's been horrible, and Spotty and I have been busy fixing my various bikes so I can do more riding, and less wrenching, once the weather warms up. I've just been looking at the previous pages to bring me up to date, some great rides guys, and some great pics!
On my last post about my last ride, on the white BMW, I said that I hoped that my next ride (#27) would be on a Honda. I'm happy to report that yesterday, I did. Spotty and I had to trailer the K0 over to his place (and surprisingly, after 2 years it started right up and we both took it for a ride around the block before we started to pull the engine out to fix a leak from the slightly warped cam cover, and the alternator and gear change cover, using the age old "Sandpaper on glass" method. as an added insurance, I put a thin smear of Permatex sealant on each of them before reassembly. We installed a new filter and then discovered that the sump plug hole was stripped, so we stopped work for the weekend and I had to find another sump pan that wasn't fcuked during the week, was happy to find a good one in my tubs of parts. We installed it, filled it with oil and bolted more parts on, and were happy that when we started on it again the following weekend, there was no pool of oil underneath it. Yay!
Many months ago I bought a set of new Yamiya pipes from a mate here in Oz, so we installed them, along with a set of OEM rear shocks (black tops) to replace the Ebay copies I'd put on it during the build in 2020. OK, so after several Saturdays, we finally got to start it, and I'd love to say that it fired up right away, but I'd be lying. It popped a few times, but nothing. OK, I remember that I'd installed a "Chyna" (Chinese Dyna S ripoff) when the bike had started running on 2 cylinders on my last ride in December 2022 when I thought that the Tokico I'd originally installed had somehow failed. It made no difference, so I parked the K0, and forgot about it. Instead of having a blue and yellow signal wire, the "Chyna" has just black and white wires, so I swapped them around, and it started right up, but idled at around 5000 RPM! Fark!
Another week went by and this time we checked the carbs and discovered that the slide on #3 was stuck at the top of the carb. We re-routed the cables and made sure the slides were in correctly, and then fired it up again, and this time it started, but was missing and farting, and #3 pipe was as cold as ice. We checked plugs for spark, we swapped plug leads to see if there was any difference, but still there was nothing. We did a very crude compression test (finger on, or near the plug hole) and it had compression, so we dropped the float bowl and found the main jet, and holder, laying in the bowl. Well that'll do it......... We popped the other bowls off, and the main jets were all loose, so we tightened them up. This time, we were rewarded with it running on all 4 cylinders, yay! I rode it over to the storage facility with Spotty following me in his car just in case, and I had a lovely ride.
Yesterday, I did some work on the wife's old Hyundai to use as a spare car, as today I have to change the cam belt in her other Hyundai. Once finished, my oldest sister called me "just fo a quick chat" that went for over an hour. I hadn't had breakfast, it was almost 1 pm, so I made a grilled croissant with provolone cheese. Delicious.
K0 Saturday 28 September 2024 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Eventually I terminated the phone call, jumped in my truck and rode over to the storage facility. I took my multimeter with me, because I'd meant to double check the charging system, and had forgotten, after Spotty and I compared multimeters and discovered that both of his were crap, including his new digital one. I fired the bike up, and was happy to see 14 volts @ 3000 RPM. Excellent. I rolled it out into the sunshine, and the first thing I noticed was this. Thanks again, Bud and Kevin, it's even the right colour!
K0 Saturday 28 September 2024 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I'd only just rolled it out when a young guy in his thirties came over for a chat, loved the bike and told me he had a couple of bikes. I fired it up again and rode to the nearest gas station and filled it up with 98 RON fuel. I took off again, and did a similar ride to last time. I stopped for a cigarette at the same spot as on my last ride, I'd done around 50 miles and found most of the potholes, so it was nice to give my back a rest for a few minutes. Of course, I had to take some pics.
K0 Saturday 28 September 2024 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
K0 Saturday 28 September 2024 6 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Yesterday was a big day for football fans, the AFL Grand Final was on, so the roads were pretty quiet. I only saw one cop car, but as I entered the Freeway for the last 10 miles or so back to the storage facility, I noticed that there was a big car crash (at least 3 cars involved) and there were cops, ambulances and fire trucks in attendance. There were miles of cars trapped behind the incident as all 4 lanes were blocked, and as it is the main road to the airport, I wondered how many folks would be missing their flights? Anyhoo, I arrived back at the storage facility safely and was overjoyed to see that there were no obvious oil leaks! There was a tiny bit of oil mist on the #1 carb floatbowl and airbox/sidecover, but it wasn't even really wet, and I just wiped it off with a tissue. Happy days! I even remembered to remove the 8 year old black Motobatt battery from the Triumph, to bring home and charge, to see if I can get anymore life out of it.
K0 Saturday 28 September 2024 7 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Anyway, I better go out and start on the wife's car, if it's a nice day tomorrow and I've finished the car, I might have to go do ride #28, and you can guess what I'll be riding!
K0 Saturday 28 September 2024 5 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
