So...it's been awhile.
Classes have been crazy, the Miata has gone through another motor, and I've acquired an SVT Focus to bum around in and carry motorcycle parts.
The motorcycle has been neglected, sitting in the garage (although not quite becoming a shelf), but no more! The main reasoning for the neglect was due to a "spontaneous loss of compression." I was merging onto the highway and felt a sudden drop in power, but limped it to my girlfriends home (20 minutes away at 70mph) then rode it back 20 minutes the next morning to go to work, then another trip to school, then finally home, all the time wondering why the bike was so extremely sluggish. I figured my head gasket, which had been weeping for about a month or three, had finally given out...if only I had been so lucky.
Yup, that's a friggin hole in cylinder one. I was shocked at how well it ran with a gaping wound to the piston. Yeah, there was a little smoke, but seriously, this isn't close to what I expected. So she sat while the Miata got sorted, every now and then with me cheating on her to ride my roommate's 550. Finally enough was enough, my roommate emailed me a Craigslist ad from a guy selling a 550 motor at a very good price with a rebuilt head this Saturday. Today after work I drove out in the faithful Focus to pick up it's first motorcycle part. Got there and the guy explained to me that it was a motor for a project him and his father started but never finished and has sat for the past five years.
She is a beauty.
So with all of zero knowledge of what all entails swapping a 550 into a 500 frame I had a 550-4. Turns out, not much, and after getting home around 9, having dinner, then inventing a few new curse words with a friend of mine, she had a fresh new heart.
So now, I need to attack the little differences between the bikes, mostly accesory pieces I don't have. I need the chain cover, clutch cable (they
might be the same), clutch cable/right side, upper, engine mount, and some other little odds and ends. Needless to say I'm pleased with the work so far. The exhausts between the 500 and 550 are the same as far as fitment goes, and I need to rejet/rebuild the carbs, but should be running before too long.
My goal is to be running late May/early June to do a roadtrip from Orlando to the Keys with my roommate/friend of the past 15 years who will be moving to Seattle shortly after to work for Boeing.
I'll try to bring the quality of the pictures back up, but for now I'm sore, tired, filthy, and 110% pleased to have my bike coming back together.
