Ripping into that Black Magic

It's been almost two weeks since I've been done with finals. Finally, I'm able to get around to evaluating that SV650 that I bought back in September! Looking back on it, I would've been more careful. Everything seemed okay at the time of purchase- the seller was a nice guy and all, but still, I should've checked things out more thoroughly. C'est la vie. I'm movin' on now.

The bike had been sitting in the side yard, under a cover, for months now. Of course, when I was ready to drag it into the garage, it started raining. I charged the battery and took some pictures to archive its original condition. Handily, the bike already had spools, so it was easy to pop it onto the rear stand. Unfortunately, the new triples have a 13mm hole and my Woodcraft pin is much too large for that, so I'm going to have to spend another $20 to get a pin to fit that fork setup. I hooked up the battery and gave the electrical a quick check. Amazingly enough, everything worked okay, with the exception of the front brake not activating the "Back Off" brake light. All the keys fit and the motor freely cranked over. Yay! It would've sucked if something turned out to be messed up, because the transaction happened so long ago, I would have zero recourse.

I did find minor things wrong with the bike, like the front brakes were rubbing somewhere and a couple of fasteners were missing, but all in all, it was a fantastic deal! There are so many great new parts on the bike- a barely used 525 DID chain, new tires front and rear, the GSX-R forks with working steering stops, frame sliders and rear spools, the Suburban Machinery handlebars and the Givi windshield.

This afternoon, I got pretty far on the bike. I yanked out the carburetors, loosened the rear exhaust manifold clamp and removed the cam chain tensioner. Things were really tight, not having being worked on for quite some time. Plus the bike was extremely dirty!!! There was so much gunk and grime built up everywhere. For instance, I was trying to remove the rear shock mud guard. I knew that it was spec'ed to have a 10mm bolt in place, but it the socket wouldn't fit! I tried an 11, 12, 13, even a 9mm! Finally I took a small screwdriver and worked around the bolt. There was grease, mud and pebbles impeding the seat of the 10mm socket! That's why I couldn't get it in there!

Tomorrow, I just have to set the timing and pull off the head. I'm hoping that it's going to come off without having to remove the entire exhaust system! Wish me luck!

Not a Great Week…

Next week are my finals. I’ve already begun studying since my physiology exam is going to an absolute bear.  I have no idea what to expect from the professor, being that she’s a passive aggressive control freak and won’t tell anyone what scores they got on their labs, so I have no real accurate measure of where my grade is heading into finals. My physics final shouldn’t be quite as hard, but I’m figuring that in both classes, I’m riding the borders of getting A’s, so my exam scores need to be strong. I’ve already established that in my communications class, I’ve got so many points built up that I don’t even have to show up for the final (phew!), so that’ll free up some more time to study for the other classes.

While I’m walking the dog this morning, I get a call from my mom, the seventy-something world traveler. She told me that a few days before, she found a lump in her breast. Today, she got the results of the biopsy- the news was not good. Next week, she’s going to have more appointments, so they can make a plan.

She’s a strong woman. I have high hopes that everything is going to be okay. Mom, don’t let me down!

Woodcraft Update

Yesterday in the mail, my Woodcraft accessories finally arrived. I just couldn’t stand the sight of having non-matching heel guards, so I went ahead and purchased the one for the right side, as well as the rear brake spring, so I can get better action and feel for the brake pedal. I was also able to convince Woodcraft to throw in a couple of delrin buttons for the rear set pegs, since one of them got picked off and the other got damaged in a tip over.

I had to unthread the brake pedal from the master cylinder to get the spring on over the piston screw and rubber boot. After I slipped the spring retainer in place, I put the nuts back on and adjusted the pedal height. Lastly, I dripped some blue Loctite on the master cylinder bolts and screwed the new heel guard in place.

The whole installation process for everything took about half an hour, due to dark garage conditions and my puppy running away with parts. All in all, it went quite smoothly. The set up now looks complete and it’s beautiful!

What a Great Sunday!

Well, I finally finished off my sister-in-law’s PC this morning. Getting McAfee to install was a real bitch, since some weird files were stuck in the registry and took me many tries to get the correct tools downloaded and run, before the system would snap shut and fail. Nonetheless, perseverance prevailed and I can check that project off my list. It only took two months to get around to it :)

The day was looking so nice and sunny out that I just had to jump on my motorcycle and take it for a short jaunt into the hills. The temperature was a gorgeous 70 degrees out with nothing but blue skies. After just a half an hour of riding, I found myself on top of Patterson Pass, in Livermore, looking down on the valley of windmills. It was windless today, which was fine by me. Fifty one miles took just over an hour, then it was time to get ready for the trick or treaters.

Emily left me alone with the puppy to pass out candy to the kids. I grabbed my rubber skull mask and my skeleton gloves. The kids just love that kind of stuff. Between the rings of the doorbell, I was able to get in a chapter of physics reading. On top of that, I got to watch the San Francisco Giants handily beat the Texas Rangers in Game 4 of the World Series, shutting them down 4-0! That was awesome!

Tonight, I started working on reviving an old Dell Precision 340. I think I’m going to tool around with a couple of old Palm Pilots I have sitting around. They’re worth practically nothing on Ebay, so I figure I can just write some fun apps for them and possibly work up to iPhone versions, if the applications are good enough. That’ll get me back into the programming swing of things. But so far, the Dell has been less than cooperative. I had to change the CMOS battery, but then, it’s still returning NTLDR errors. Hmmm. I’ve been trying to reinstall the OS, but it’s not taking the CD. We’ll work on it more later…

Fog Lamps for the Prius- Getting Ready for Winter

Wow! It’s almost been a whole month since I bought those fog lamps for Peaberry, our new Prius. I found them on JuicyHybrid.com. They look exactly like the OEM lamps that come on the Prius V model, but they’re $300 cheaper! I finally had a break in my school homework schedule, where I could get these things installed, before the weather gets bad.

The kit was quite complete and the quality is excellent! Fortunately, I downloaded some .pdf instructions from one of the Prius forums, because the included instructions were absolutely useless. I didn’t have any ramps, so I had to do the installation flat on the ground, and let me tell you, that front end is mighty low! I think it’s only about eight inches high and it was a total bitch trying to get my head under there to see what was going on! Even worse, I couldn’t find my floodlight, so I had to use a headlamp, which didn’t work well, trying to sneak my head under that bumper.

The installation went fairly smoothly, but there were some questionable steps in the instructions and I really had to figure them out. I had issues trying to get through the firewall- on my first attempt, I tried to use an old spoke as my fishing tape, but it was way too short. My wife was able to produce a pretty decent clothes hanger for me, so I went with that. Everything about that car is tight, so I got a descent amount of scrapes. Working under the dashboard was no fun either. With all my little breaks and difficulties, the installation took me almost five hours. It should have taken me one hour :(

All in all, I am very satisfied with the product and the installation. We took it for a test drive tonight and the light intensity and pattern is fantastic. I feel much better knowing that my wife will have better visibility on those dreary, foggy days.

Rainy Day Projects

Well, I finally got a little breather in my semester- my massively important physiology exam went better than expected, so I’m taking the weekend off to do some much needed safety projects.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been shopping on FleaBay for some LED signals to replace my current setup that I have deemed “unsafe”- I just don’t think that they’re bright enough or visible enough from their mounted positions. The front ones that I picked out have little side marker windows, so drivers from your side have an opportunity to see your signaling as well. The two sets together cost me about $45 total. I stopped by my local Tap Plastics shop to pick up some scrap plastic to prefab some signal adapter plates. I grabbed some lock washers of different sizes to help the new signal stalks stay secure.

Also on the agenda was to fix those darned dashboard lights. A while back, I did an LED dashboard light mod, but I never liked it much- the bulb lighting was never as bright as the OEM ones and eventually, they went on the blink. As much as I hated to do it, I went down to the stealership and just made the purchase, and OUCH! they were costly!

One last thing I needed to do was to bleed my rear brakes and install the rear brake pressure sensor. Apparently, the Woodcraft rear sets are so racing oriented that they don’t provide compatibility with OEM brake switches. I paid an extra $16 for the banjo pressure switch, but didn’t have time to install it, when I installed the rear sets.

Installing the front signals turned out  to be slightly trickier than I had anticipated. One of the signals had a third wire, which caught me off guard. I looked it up and apparently, some bikes have marker lights. Not mine. I just soldered it to the ground wire. When I tested them out, only four out of the fourteen LED’s wanted to fire on each side! It took me a while to figure out that I needed to start the motor to load up the system a little more, then all the LED’s worked and they were bright!

Since my old rear signal setup were integrated into the tail section pieces and now they’re going to be flanking the license plate, I decided to change out the tail plastic. I had purchased a couple of spare parts off of Ebay in anticipation of this, so I was ready to go. They’re a little scratched, but I’m planning on getting the bike painted someday, so it’s no biggie. They took a little while to get washed up and waxed, but they went on with no incident.

I got the brackets set up on the license plate. I had to drill some smaller holes in the brackets, since the stock holes were larger than I needed. One more trip to Home Depot for more washers and I was good to go.

It seemed such a waste to flush the brake system, since it didn’t really need it, but it was a necessary evil in order to get swap the banjo screws out. I was happily surprised to find that I did not have to cut and splice the connector from my old brake switch- the new one happened to have the same connector as my Suzuki setup, so despite what the instructions said, I ignored them. I got it back together, fired up the bike and everything was peachy! Well, almost…

After testing the system a while, I determined that one of the rear signals wasn’t quite functioning right- only the outer LEDs were lighting up, leaving about six bulbs inactive, otherwise, the installation was a success. I contacted the Ebay seller about the problem, sending him a picture, so he’s going to send me out a replacement. When the replacement arrives, I just have to send the bad one back in the included prepaid envelope. Such service!

Update: A few days ago, I called Woodcraft and ordered the rear master cylinder brake spring and heel guard. I know they’re not absolutely necessary items, but they’re definitely nice to have and it’ll help with the feel of the brake pedal.

Collecting Parts

Once again, the project has come to a crawl. Not that it's not going to get done, it's just stalled for the time being. Over the Summer, I got wrapped up in Summer classes, which really consumed my time. Now I've got this Fall semester keeping me busy. This change of career stuff isn't all that easy!
I did, however, get a chance to acquire a bunch of cool parts! I had a friend work on my triple-crown and fill in the holes and give it a sweet paint job to give it that classic race look, since I'm going to go with clip-ons. I also put in some fairly big orders to finish up restoring the carburetors- now I just need to get the proper size main and pilot jets. I bought some new intake joints and a crossover pipe, while a very nice friend donated a brand new Y-boot and Uni-Filter setup. I also bought all brand new control cables- most of them are still available through Yamaha, so don't waste your money on Ebay, buying those aftermarket replacements. Also, I found a front master cylinder in really usable shape, so I'm in the middle of tearing it down to marry the parts with my original cylinder.
One of my favorite gets for the season was a brand new (still in the box) Hella halogen headlight and bulb that I found on Ebay. It was a total score- I bought it for less than $30!
Also I started working on refinishing the Daytona head. I tracked down some phosphoric acid from my local Home Depot and gave it a nice overnight soaking. Then I began the wet sanding portion, but decided that I need more grit. Then things got busy.

Impulsive

Okay. I was cruising Craigslist on Thursday and found someone posting a 2001 SV naked for $1500! complete with a complete 1997 GSX-R front end! The catch was that the spark plug pulled right out of the rear head, threads and all. Heck, I can change a head on that bike and the part would only cost me $50 on Fleabay! The bike also came with a Corbin seat (plus the OEM seat), a Vapor Trail Tech gauge, Givi windscreen, Throttlemeister cruise control bar-ends, frame sliders, rear spools, a brand new Dunlop Sportmax rear tire and Delkevic shorty exhaust, to name a few things.

After emailing the seller, he got back to me late that night. I plugged him for pictures and an honest evaluation of the bike and he was happy to oblige. The seller had dropped the bike off at a local shop to have a heli-coil job done to the cylinder, just to get it operational again. But if the work was done, the price would go up. I told him that I would prefer to get the bike in its current state and I would do the work myself. He agreed to call the shop and halt the work, so that I could see the bike. We exchanged cell phone numbers and we were all set up for the next day.

Friday morning came and there were decisions to be made. The bike was a good 55 miles away. Should I just go out on expedition first to do a viewing? If I liked it, I would have to make a second trip with a rented trailer, since I don’t own a pickup truck (or know anyone else who owns one). Or do I just presume that I’ll like the bike and head out with a trailer, so I don’t have to waste time and gas going out twice? I made a hasty decision believing that this was a deal too good to pass up! I could probably pick the bike apart, selling off the pieces, and still make more money that I spent. I quickly went to the U-Haul website and made reservations for a trailer at my nearby location. But I still didn’t have a ball for my trailer hitch! and I needed to find tie-down straps! And I had to drop my wife off at the Hertz rental, since some a-hole just took her car out of commission the day before! The time was 10:00am and I had to meet the seller by noon. STRESS!!

I skipped the shower and my second cup of coffee (against my better judgment), threw some sloppy clothes on, grabbed my stuff, grabbed my wife and out the door we went. I dropped my wife off first, then I headed to Walmart for a ball and a wrench (since I forgot the wrench). U-Haul was actually quite stellar and had me set up in no time. A little gas and I hit the road!

I was only fifteen minutes late! The seller, Brett, was very cool. He rolled the bike out of the shop and gave me the low down. On top of all the stuff I mentioned above, the bike just got a new 525 chain, clutch cable and battery. Everything went smooth. I agreed to buy it, so he helped me to strap that puppy in and we ran off to the bank. Afterward, he took a short drive to his place, where he had the title. (I’m pretty sure that he was keeping the title and bike separate, just in case I tried to jack him, just like I didn’t show up with cash in hand, in case he pulled a piece on me.) We filled out the paperwork and it was a done deal!

I rushed home, since i had to have the trailer back to U-Haul by 4p, or they were going to charge me an extra $150 for being late. But first, I need FOOD! It was 2:30 and all I’ve had so far was one cup of coffee and three toasted baguette slices with peanut butter on them! A quick Taco Bell fly-by did the trick. I got home to discover that my straps didn’t do a very good job of keeping the bike upright. Maybe it was the speed bumps…who knows? Lifting 375 lbs. off its side with Taco Bell in my stomach was NO EASY feat, but I got it done. The late charge was huge motivator! I managed to scratch the trailer floor and break off the shifter pedal, but no biggie- I’ll have an extra, as soon as my Woodcraft setup arrives.

So that was my Friday! I made a rash decision and ran with it! With a little stress, I managed to get out to Lodi to grab that bike, and I got the trailer back in time! I’m still checking the bike over, figuring out which parts I’m going to pick off of the bike and how I’m going to assemble a desirable working SV650. I’ve got all Winter to deal with it.

Parking Accessories

The $12 Solution

I (finally) decided that it might be a good idea to get some simple devices to remind me that I put a disc lock on my bike, when I park, for the seldom occasions that I do use the lock. I found an orange curly lanyard for about $5 and a "Remove Before Flight" keychain streamer for $2.50 on Fleabay. After shipping, the total cost was still under $12. Not a bad deal, considering what it cost me, after I dropped the bike. Ouch!

New Rear Sets are a Comin'!

Well, it serves me right. Last weekend, I rode LB to Alameda to meet up with my physics class on campus. Being that it's actually Oakland, I thought it might be prudent to lock up the bike with the disc lock. Even though I do have an alarm on the bike, it would really suck if she got stolen. I almost never use that thing, so after class, I got my stuff on, started up the bike and drove her right into the pavement. Luckily, the damage was pretty minimal. The right mirror got a new scratch on it, my fancy HVMP bar end got a new scuff. But worst of all, my brake pedal got smashed in about an inch.

After shopping online for a new brake pedal, I discovered that they are fricking expensive! A new OEM lever will cost about $85, even going through Oneida or Babbitts. And I couldn't even find an aftermarket one. After much deliberation, I decided to bite the bullet and buy those Woodcraft rear sets that I've been eying for the past five years. I had considered some other brands, but for the price, the Woodcrafts can't be beat. Plus the product support is excellent, both trackside and through customer service.

There's a local guy who posts his wares on Craigslist, selling rearsets, basically Sato knockoffs, and he does have some rave reviews on BARF, AND his prices are very good (1/3 cheaper than the Woodcrafts), but in the end, I realized that by going with him, that would've been a hasty decision made strictly on dollars. I've been checking out the Woodcraft rear sets for years and I know they're a solid product. I've got some BRG Racing rear set plates that I can sell to help buffer the cost of the new hardware, so that should help out a bit.

I purchased the brake light accessory as well. Since my bike is a daily rider, I do want the rear brake light to be functional. I will fabricate a return spring mechanism, since they don't come with one, and I'm not in the mood to spend another $16 on their spring.

With any luck, the gear should arrive by tomorrow and I'll be testing out over the Labor Day weekend! Maybe I'll see you out there! Ride safely!

DIY Project- Saving Money

Here's my Friday afternoon project that is creeping into Saturday. My front tire has had quite a bit of use. This time, rather than taking it to the shop and pay them, I decided to purchase a few simple tools and learn how to do this myself, since I have many more tires to change in the near future for the other bike. Getting the tire off was the hardest part. Today, I'm going to install the new tire.

Hmm....Cylinder Work

I found some nice inexpensive tools on Ebay. I bought some electronic calipers and a set of bore gauges, so I can measure my cylinder holes. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, since I've never torn down a motor this far before.
I meticulously measured the cylinders and found out that the bores were two different sizes! One hole was at 66.0mm and the other one was 64.5mm! My guess is that one of the previous owners burned up a cylinder, so he just grabbed a jug and piston from friend, who just happened to have a spare part on hand.
So I can either bore the smaller hole out to match the bigger hole, in effect doing a "big-bore" kit on my RD, busting the displacement out to 427cc, or I can find another matched set of cylinders with more lining, or I can re-sleeve the larger hole. Re-sleeving will cost too much money, so forget that. I found that even at 66mm, there is still a little room to bore, if necessary, so the first choice is probably the way I'm going to go. I found an automotive shop in San Jose that will bore out the hole to the larger size for $90. Not bad at all!
At least now, I know what size pistons to buy!

Time for a Break!

Ughh!  I just finished my long and tedious semester full of anatomy and chemistry.  Looking back on ALL my years of going to college, I can honestly say that I have never had a semester this challenging- and it was only two classes!  Besides going to class and all the labs, I easily put in at least another 30 hours of studying per week, always trying to stay on top of the upcoming quizzes and tests.
Between the two classes I had 35 quizzes, midterms and finals!  And then on top of that, there's the biweekly homework assignments in both classes!  I overcame the long hours of studying (sometimes till 2am) and the situation of getting the new puppy.
In the end, I was able to achieve A's in both classes.  Yay!  I've got three weeks to catch up on everything I've neglected around the house, then Summer session begins.  In two weeks, I'll be starting a new volunteering position at the Kaiser Walnut Creek facility in their radiology department.  I'm fairly confident that I can find a real paying job within their system.

My Frames- Amazing, But True...

I was actually wondering what the status of my frames were, since I dropped them off at the Frame Man six weeks ago. I called the shop this morning and those frames just happened to be on today's schedule to get jigged up and measured. I was just hoping that one of the frames wouldn't be too out of whack, so I could start building on it right away.

I just got a call back from Pat, one of the main technicians at the Frame Man. After the evaluations, as it turns out, BOTH frames were "well within serviceable specs", meaning that they were in great shape! They checked all the measurements and the angles and everything was fine. As a matter of fact, he told me that there wasn't even a whole lot that they could do to either of the frames. I was totally surprised, since one of the frames took a pretty good pounding, when I rear-ended a car coming down Highway 17, through the Santa Cruz Mountains on my way to San Jose. I guess the forks took all the energy- thank goodness!

Both frames have their steering stops knocked around- one of them is missing entirely. Pat offered to weld on a new stop at a nominal fee, which I am considering, since checking the frames came at no cost to me.

Jennfer Behaving Badly

Okay, now that the cat's out of the bag, let's just state the facts.

Jennifer came over to my house to join in on a collaborative effort in making dinner for Mom's birthday and Mother's Day. During the shopping phase, one day earlier, we had talked about if we need to get mixer for making margeritas. Jen said it wouldn't be necessary, because she was planning on getting drunk the night before, so there was no need to get more than the wine that we had planned on drinking with dinner.

Well, she didn't get drunk the night before Mom's dinner. During the food prep, I offered her a shot of tequila and I poured a beer for Emily and me to share. Everything was all honky-dory until Jen said, "I'm ready for my next drink!". At that point, I told her that she wasn't welcome to everything in my liquor cabinet, so she threw a fit. She lectured me on social etiquette and that when I invite someone in my house, as a guest, they are welcome to drink anything they want. So I told her that she should ask and not be so presumptuous. At that point she threw a tantrum and said she was out of here, but rather, she went to sulk in my backyard, calling a "friend", checking to see if her brother was totally out of line in cutting her off from the liquor. I went outside and told her she could have her drink, and we would fight about it later. Again, she flew into an outrage and screamed at me that she was on the phone. A minute later, Mom and Dad arrived, so after welcoming them in, I went back outside to tell Jen. I told her she could have her drink, but that I have some rules she should listen to. She blew up at me and said that she had it with me and that she wasn't going to listen to any rules. Luckily for me, I have Dad as a winess, so he can verify my story. She apologized to Emily for "marrying such an idiot", then stormed out of the house without wishing Mom any happy occasions.

What an incredibly angry horrible drunk! Brent and Charlene, please take note that she views being a guest as having carte blanche, so do not be surprised if she tries to take advantage of your good nature, which I'm sure you've already been subject to, during past visits.

Jen, I'm sorry you're having such a miserable life. Go find someone else to dump on. I've had it with you and you're not coming back to my house again.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Thanks for all you do! Hope you're doing something just a little special today. You should at least get breakfast in bed today!

Paying Our Respects

It's that time of the year again. Emily and I went to visit her father today with some of her other family members. While were were there, we visited Goong-goong and Po-po's grave too to pay our respects. We spent a few minutes trimming the grass around the stone and Emily picked some nearby flowers to put on the grave. The weather was beautiful and warm. It was the perfect day for a visit.

An Excellent Friday

Well, this week was tougher than most, but with a lack of sleep and an overdose of studying, I was able to muster up some good test grades, so it was all worth it in the end. That combined with the fact that I found some awesome buys on motorcycle part last weekend made for a great and exciting week.
Today, deservedly, I am taking a little time to relax. I'm spending part of the day ripping and rebuilding some old carburators, taking Cookie to the dogpark and having dimsum with Emmy and Jennifer. The sun is out and the wind is low. What an ideal Friday!
~ Eddy
Sent via CrackBerry

Banksy Hits San Francisco

I Love Mondays!

This afternoon, there was a knock at the door. The mailman had brought my parts. Here's a picture of that awesome swingarm I got from Dave. It's been blasted, painted and rebuilt with cool parts! It was powdercoated in a fashion that it follows the finish of the factory paint. sadly, it's going to be a while until I can bolt it up.

A NOS throttle cable also got delivered today. I found it on Ebay for $25! I don't think anyone was looking for it, since it was labeled as a Daytona cable. Yay, for me!

Struck Gold!

I found a promising ad on Craigslist with someone selling an RD400 for $800. In the picture, it was kind of a basket case, but I did spot some pretty nice looking chambers on it, so I tried calling the phone number posted, as there was no email address on the ad. I left two messages, but I didn't get any calls back. Later that night, I spotted someone on a 2-stroke forum drawing more attention to the ad. So I figured that the guy had already sold off the bike.

The next day, as a last ditch effort, I called the number again, and unexpectedly, someone picked up the call! The bike had not been sold and he had two sets of pipes available. The chambers I was interested in were first thought to be Spec II pipes, but after more careful examination, he reported that they were actually Factory Products. I gave him my email address and he sent me a few snaps of the pipes and they were good! We made arrangements for me to drive out and check out the goods over the upcoming weekend.

On Saturday, I drove out to meet the seller. He was putting his house on the market in a few weeks and his wife asked him to liquidate his pile of bike parts, since he hadn't riden any motorcycles for years. Basically, he had three RD400's, all in different phases of decay, the worst being he one stripped to the frame and was about to chuck the frame. He had boxes and plastic crates of parts, some parts had never been used before! The Factory pipes were in pretty good condition- some minor dents, but no serious rust, and the silencers were in excellent shape. One of the silencers got bent in a little at the end of the pipe, but it was no big deal. He was happy accepting $125 for the pipes. What a great deal!!

We got talking about bikes and other stuff. As the conversation lingered, he kept pulling parts out and offering them to me. He gave me a bag of new engine gaskets (minus a few gaskets), so I kept asking if he had other parts. The end result was I drove home with the chambers, a stator (with that rubber plug that I was missing), a practically new headlamp with the undented, uncrashed ring (it will need to be replated), and two NEVER BEEN USED VM28 Mikuni carbs!! These carbs have never even touched gas! There are a couple of jets and gaskets that have corroded, but that's not a problem. He was going to give me all this "extra" stuff, but that would've been like stealing from him, so I offered him another $40. He was pretty indifferent about the cash, but I felt better that I gave him something.

In summation, for $165, I got everything you see in the picture, plus a small green container full of extra miscellaneous carb parts, like main jets and the such (again, never been taken out of their bags).  I was due for a little luck coming my way- I have nothing to complain about here!

Another Weekend...

This week (lucky me), I have four tests to study for! One 2-part midterm exam and two quizzes. How ridiculous is that, considering I only have two classes?? So, needless to say, I'll be spending a lot of time preparing for the tests. In all my years of school, I have NEVER had a semester that was this labor intensive- I must spend minimum 55 hours per week on these classes, between class time, labs, homework and studying! I had better get A's for all my effort!

Last night, we had dinner at Mom & Dad's. Dad barbecued an excellent steak and chicken parts (Mom did the great marinade). They gave us instructions on how to clean Mimi's litter pan and the such, since they are headed off to another European vacation. Thanks for a wonderful dinner! And have a awesome and safe trip!!

A New RD Friend

A funny thing happened, while I was cruising the web, looking for parts.  I just did a general search for "RD400 parts craigslist" wondering what I might find across the U.S., hopefully within recent times, and I found a very intriguing posting from Cresent City, California, which is a ways up the coast from me, but nonetheless, still in California.
The posting had all sorts of assorted goodies listed, so I emailed the author to see if he had any chambers.  Dave emailed me back and responded that he did not, but he had some cool Goki air caps, which he sent me pictures of.  The emails went back and forth, as we shared our enthusiasm for RD's and 2-strokes in general.  We talked about the old staple RD400 stores, like Moto Carrera and Spec II, and where the industry has gone to.  He used to live here in the Bay Area, owning a motorcycle shop at Sears Point Raceway, back in the day, before they sold their name to Infineon.  He got to work with some of the first roadrace bikes, as Yamaha TZ's were coming and going through his shop with regularity.
One thing led to another and I bought a very sweet RD400 swingarm that has been powdercoated and refurbished, pressed with bronze bushings, fitted with a TZ350 spindle with some other custom work done for $110 shipped!  This thing is ready to bolt up and go into service immediately, which is going to save me money in buying all the parts separately, plus having to get the old swingarm blasted and painted.  It's something that I wasn't necessarily looking for, but after Dave read my blog, he felt that the swingarm would be a perfect match for my project.  In addition to the swingarm, he threw in a 2-stroke vintage tuning book, something that I'm sure went out of print long ago.  I know that he could've sold the piece for a whole lot more, so for that I am SO appreciative.
I find it interesting how my long journey in trying to get this bike restored/built has introduced me to a lot of nice people who share the love for these crazy 2-strokes.  I wonder what new surprises are in store for just around the corner....

My New Dog-Sitter

Cookie got a new toy called the Tug-a-Jug. It's a food puzzle. You put some food in through the bottom of the plastic bottle and it gets dispensed through the other end by pulling the rope piece back and forth. So far, it has literally kept her busy, trying to figure this thing out, for at least an hour straight! Finally I can get some uninterrupted studying done! Yay!

Bread Machine Bread

Testing out Mom's breadmaker today. We made some cheddar and onion white bread recipe. It turned out quite yummy. That thing is pretty amazing!
~ Eddy
Sent via CrackBerry

Moving Forward

Having this past week off gave me a little time to work on one of my longest standing projects, my old vintage Yamaha motorcycle. I bought this bike in 1986, while I was attending Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. This bike has sat in a number of garages over the past decades, including Mom and Dad's for a good number of years. I've been collecting parts off of Ebay for the past ten years or so. Over the last year, I've been picking the old motor apart, while trying to come up with a good reliable engine design, so it will be usable in the streets, after the restoration is complete. Last night, I did a quick mock-up, just to see what the motor might look like, when it's done. I've been waiting about seven years just to see this image! Finally, I'm able to see this thing come together!

Clutch Time

After trying a few different methods, I finally got the clutch apart.  I didn't want to hit it with an impact wrench for reasons that  1) I don't own a compressor nor an impact wrench and  2) I didn't feel like buying them items.  Since those old-time clutch holder tools aren't readily available anymore (unless you want to spend $40 on one from Motion Pro and I've read that the fit is kind of iffy), I ended up bolting together a couple of steel and friction clutch plates together, which worked terrifically!  Once the clutch was locked down, it hardly took any pressure to break that nut.

Hoping I Have a Straight Frame (or Two)

After a very long break, I'm finally starting to get some more work done on the bike.  My main sticking point, besides work and the new puppy (and everything else) has been getting that damned clutch apart off the bike.  I tried getting a strap wrench at Sears, but that couldn't get enough purchase on the clutch boss and it kept spinning, when trying to crank off the nut.  My next attempt will be bolting a few plates together to keep the primary driven gear and clutch boss together.  I can then shove a rag in the gears and the whole assembly should be stable enough to work with.

Today, I finally got around to taking my frames in to get checked out.  One frame, I purchased off of Ebay, complete with a clean California title that was up to date at the time.  I quickly put that into non-op, so I won't have to pay registration fees, while I'm building up the bike.  I had let my old registration go for so long that it would take a LOT of money to bring it up to date.

I took both frames to the Frame Man, in Sacramento, as suggested from many local shops and friends.  Apparently, they are the place to go.  I met Pat, who wrote up my ticket.  We chatted for a while and traded stories about 2-strokes and whatnots.  There is no charge to evaluate the frames- with any luck, at least one of them will be straight and good to go.  They're a little backlogged, so it's going to be a while till they get back to me.  Heck! I've waited this long to get it done- what's another four weeks?

Happy Easter Everyone!

Here are pictures from our Easter brunch. We had spinich, mushroom,
cheddar fritatta, banana bread, sausage, fruit, orange juice, and tea.
(and Easter eggs, including one for Sammy, Mimi, and Cookie)

Spring Break Begins!

Yes, I survived my brutal midterms! We're celebrating by having White Russians, Johnny Walkers and my famous fish tacos! A new episode of Fringe tops off the night!

My Little Cookie Monster!

Here's Cookie after she eats... So much energy!

Fish Taco Night!

Finally, I had a chance to take a breather. This past week has been all about studying for a two-part anatomy midterm. I've been studying since last Thursday. The exams went well. I'm just about to dig into studying for next weeks tests- two quizzes and a chemistry midterm exam. But for tonight, after taking Cookie to her puppy training class, I actually had time to cook some real food! On the menu, we had blackened spicy tilapia fish tacos with a special spicy horseradish sauce. That and an excellent Pinot made for an very satisfying meal!

A Walk in the Park

Jen suggested that I take the pup out for some fresh air, so I took her to our local dog park, where Cookie met some new friends! I met a friendly crowd, who meet at the park regularly- a very close group of dog lovers. They brought some red wine, so they poured me a glass, while we watched the dogs play. What a great experience!

A Smart Cookie

It's been one month to the day that we brought our Cookie home. It's been a fun and somewhat trying path to teach her what's acceptable and what's behaving badly. Looking back, it's remarkable how fast she learns things. From one week to the next, her habits and behaviours change drastically, mostly for the better. This past week, we completed the second week of our Puppy I series classes. She's doing so well in class, more in tune with her handlers than most of the other pups. So the time spent with her is really paying off! She's such a sweet puppy!

Cookie Gets the Spa Treatment

Last night, we were successfully able to cut the nails on all four of Cookie's paws, which was dramatically different than the last time we attempted it. She was practically asleep- I'm sure that helped a bit that she was that relaxed, but I feel that the main difference was that she felt more comfortable with us (and trusts us more), now that she's been with us for a few weeks.

This morning, we cleaned up the basin in the garage and gave her a nice warm bath. I installed an old stereo in the garage yesterday, so we put on some soothing music to help calm her. This time, she rather seemed to enjoy all the lathering and attention.

I'm just glad that it's getting easier, because the last round was so stressful for both parties.

Another Puppy Morning

Just another morning at the laptop with the puppy on my lap. She's so affectionate. Sometimes when she's wild, holding her will calm her down. I have to cherish these moments, as I know that one day soon, she will be too big to hold. She's learning a lot every day...socialization, tricks and right from wrong.

Side note- last night I cooked a quick and easy Turkey Pot Pie, something I found while watching a Food Network show. I halved the recipe to scale it down for Emmy and me, and still had enough for a second meal. I made some changes, like doubling the turkey, replacing the chicken and changing the mixed vegetables for something more suitable to our tastes. The total cost of the meal was around $11 with leftover ingredients to spare. Preparation time is about 15 minutes! (Since my life has suddenly gotten busier, I'm always looking for a meal that is simple to prepare.) Brent and Chal, this might be something you'd be interested in trying.

It tasted AWESOME. It was a great way to polish off a bottle of red wine!

Sit, Cookie!

This puppy learns FAST!! She learned how to sit on command in two days!

Wow! My Life is a Whirlwind!

Just a quick update on how much things can change in just one week...

Well, first of all, that Chemistry exam went great- I topped the class with a score of 99. Nothing to complain about there, but with the addition of a new house member, my study time has been decreasing. I had two Anatomy exam this week, one written and one practical. With the new pup settling into the household, it takes about five times longer to get anything done- translation, I only got 20% of my studying done for those tests. I think they both went fine. I'm estimating B's of some sort for both of those exams, but we'll just wait and see.

Cookie is coming along fine. In less than one week, she's learned that the crate belongs to her and that she can feel comfortable going in and out of it. Her biting has already improved, not being quite as hard, as well as her chewing on furniture. She rarely has any accidents in the house (only when I don't read her signals) and she has not yet once soiled her crate! We're teaching her some simple commands already. She already knows how to sit on command, but only more reinforcement will really solidify it for her. Yesterday, she got a bath, so she smells like baby powder now, all fresh and new. Next week, we'll get her to a vet for some more shots. She might start puppy classes too.

Cookie Being Cookie

Separated at Birth?

Meet Cookie!

She's our new baby and she's so sweet!  We found her today at the Humane Society- just in time to mess up my study schedule for my Monday's exam!  It's her first night, but she's doing a good job!

Update

Things are going well for me right now. My illness seems to be getting better. My balance and thinking is nearly back to normal. Once a week, I still get some flu-like symptoms (fatigue, sore skin, etc.), but I would say I'm about 98% recovered. I've been getting back on the motorcycle, riding to school- that has been great.

I'm just concluding my third week of classes and so far I've been getting A's on all my quizzes and labs. In the next couple of weeks, I'll have some midterms, so we'll see how I'll do on those. I see lots of reading in my future.

A couple of days ago, my desktop PC went on the blink. It got the Blue Screen of Death (bsod) and wouldn't stay on. I had to rebuild the operating system. I reverted from Windows 7 back to Vista. I narrowed down the problem to either 1) bad RAM  2) a bad hard drive or  3) dust on the motherboard. Yesterday I took the computer apart, reseated the memory and ran some tests. Luckily, it just took some blowing on and checking the connections and all turned out good! Saved me a hundred bucks in memory!

Chains Required

~ Eddy
Sent via CrackBerry

Rendez-vous at Northstar

Hey all, I'm on a bus to Tahoe, heading to Northstar with my good friend, Ross. If anyone happens to be in the area, meet us at mid-station for lunch, say about 12:30p? Have a safe drive, because there's going to be snow all day long!
~ Eddy
Sent via CrackBerry

Life is But a Dream...

Well, well, well...Talk about a 180! I knew this year would be a year of change, but I never imagined just how much change. The segway from last year into the new year was through some mysterious viral illness that my doctors never really fully identified. It put me in slight a disoriented stupor for about three months. During that time, I elected to take time off from work, feeling that I wasn't up to snuff, having needed to perform at such a high caliber in mission critical environments. I had a lot of time to be introspective about my life, my career and my employer.

The end result was that I never went back to work. Rather, I quickly enrolled in some classes at a nearby junior college and decided to start heading into the health industry working as a radiological technician. I had about one week to scramble with registration, finding the right classes and getting into them, before instruction began! But it must be fate, because I got exactly the classes I needed! It's not going to be easy and the path is long, but I feel great about my decision, that this is the right direction for me to go.

If that isn't enough, one weekend, my wife and I ran down to a nearby Humane Society and adopted a puppy!

Emily's Apple Pie

~ Eddy
Sent via CrackBerry

Seafood Penne

Ingredients
2/3 lb. Whole Wheat Penne Pasta
One bag Trader Joe's Frozen Scallops
12 Frozen Raw Tiger Prawns 21-25 ct
1/2 Yellow Onion
1/2 cup EVOO
1/2 cup Sherry Wine
1 Tbs Butter
Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cups Spinach Leaves (washed and dried)

Thaw out 12 shrimp s and the bag of scallops.  Hydrate 12 shiitake mushrooms.  Slice the mushrooms into 12" slices.  Cut the yellow onion into strips. Boil 2 quarts of water in a large pot.  When the water is boiling, add the pasta.  Heat 1/2 cup of oil in a 14" skillet over medium-low heat.  When pan is hot, lay out the scallops and cook till done (3 minutes on each side).  Set the scallops aside.  Pour the wine into the pan and heat until boiling to deglaze the scallop residue.  When the pan is finished deglazing, turn the heat to medium-high and add the onions and mushrooms.  Add garlic powder, salt and black pepper.  Cook until the onions are soft.  Sprinkle raw peeled shrimp with garlic powder and a little salt and pepper.  Saute in butter until cooked through (3 minutes each side).  Add the scallops and the shrimp to the mushroom mixture.  Add the rest of the oil to the sauce and toss.  Add the cooked pasta and toss.  Add spinach and toss until the greens are wilted.  Serve while hot.

Reception: Emily thought the recipe was too dry.  I told her that in the next rendition, I will add a chicken stock base.  Corn starch could be added, if thickening was needed.

When she reheated it for leftovers, she added oyster sauce and more spinach.  It was pretty good.

Sili Valley Car Show

Every Thanksgiving, my wife and I would go to the big San Francisco Auto Show. It's been a tradition for many years, but this past year, I was a little under the weather and we had relatives flying in from all over the US, so we had to take a skip on it. Luckily, not far behind is always the car show in San Jose, put on by Motor Trend magazine.

We were able to find some tickets online for $4 each (what a deal!!). It's nice that there's a venue where we can check out the new cars, but it doesn't hold a candle to the SF show. However, they did have a nice display of Corvettes and Camaros showcasing some of the local talent from the nearby clubs.

I'm Back with a Vengence

Well, I decided that I've got so many blogs that I never tend to, mostly because I have so many and they're so specific, that I should just pick one and make it my catch all. A journal of sorts, if you will. It's been a long while, since I've done any entries, so here it goes.

For some reason, I have been struck down ill by something that, so far, my doctor can't diagnose. It's been with me now for about eight weeks. And it's entirely possible that it's just a string of illnesses, in succession, keeping me down. It started out seeming like a mild flu, but it dragged out for three weeks or so, complete with exhaustion, mild fevers and body aches. Later, it moved into total exhaustion, uncontrolled coughing (the kind that keeps you from sleeping) and dizziness. My doctor thought it might have been mononucleosis, but the blood cultures came back negative. As I am nearing the end of my eighth week, I am left mostly with mild dizziness and disorientation. Headaches assist. And the constant physical exhaustion is killing me.

I can describe the light-headedness somewhat akin to as if you were seated and you suddenly stood up- blood would rush to your head and your orientation would swirl for an instant. That is how I feel much of the time. It's just bad enough that it's not safe for me to drive for any real extent of time. I regularly kick and bump into things. I often find myself stumbling, checking my balance. My concentration is only around 90%, as I am often distracted and forgetful.

Since the doctor diagnosed me with mono, I was sent home from work to get rest. Now that we know it's not mono, I'm in somewhat of a conundrum- my dizziness and lack of concentration is still with me, but if I don't get back to work, I'm in danger of losing my job. Since my job is so physically demanding, it's something I'm ready to return to. They could try and work me into a less physical position until I get "better", but who knows? Since I'm one of two required engineers in order to get our company partnership status with one of our vendors, they might try and keep me on somehow. On the other hand, they might just find a suitable replacement and be done with me. I will probably have to lie and say that I'm okay to work again, just to ensure my employment. If I get terminated, I'll just have to find another job.

The next step in diagnosing my malady is a brain MRI. The good doctor has already ordered one for me. I'm just waiting for Imaging to set up a date for me.

The one nice thing about staying home so much is that I get to cook! Tonight on the menu is barbecued beef brisket. Actually, it's not real barbecue- I'm cooking it in a crock pot. I've got some a great barbecue sauce I made a while back. Paired with an Emil Villa styled coleslaw and some baked beans, it's going to be a winner tonight!

Apple iPhone...My Way

I just happened to have an unused iPhone 3G sitting around in my office closet. It was once my work phone, back when my VP thought it would be really cool if we ordered a whole bunch of iPhones for the office. But the plans eventually proved too costly, so my employer asked all the users to either ditch their current [work] AT&T plans (where my company would just suffer the buyout costs) or take over the contracts. The end result was a bunch of unused iPhones sitting around. In most cases, when employees terminated their AT&T contracts, they were told to just keep the phones.

There it sat in the back of my closet for months. Lately I've had some extra time on my hands, so I thought I would explore the iPhone's capabilities as a stand-alone wifi gadget, playing games on it, basically using it as an iTouch. First I did the jailbreak thing and began installing all sorts of third-party applications that were banned from the iTunes Store, for whatever bureaucratic reasons Apple could drum up. And there are some cool apps out there!

Then I started reading about the compatibility of iPhones on the T-Mobile networks...and I got intrigued. All I had to do is "unlock" the iPhone and get a new sim card. But what about the phone rates for a non-T-Mobile phone, especially in the data plan area?

I called T-Mobile twice over the phone and got two different responses. One gal quoted me some ridiculously astronomical rates that didn't coincide with what I had gathered on the net. The other rep quoted me a rate that was cheaper than I was expecting! So I headed down to my local T-Mobile store.

Chrissy, at T-Mobile, had no idea how I got quoted such a low plan. It was $10 cheaper than she could calculate, no matter how she cut it up. I told her that I already spoke to two T-Mobile reps earlier that morning. She checked my account and there were no new notes posted to my account. (Funny how that happens.) I convinced her to call up Customer Service- they should have my account timestamped proving that I made contact with the reps. No new timestamps! Unbelievable!!

But Chrissy was determined to get to the bottom of things. She must've spoke to four supervisors before figuring out how I got that quote. With all the new year's rate changes, information wasn't available to store employees on how much micro-management could be done to the plans. She gave me a new sim card, I popped it in the phone and right away, the phone told me that it was activated on T-Mobile!

Apparently, the phone was registered to activate three weeks later, so she had to have someone back that out and get it activated that day, and that took FOREVER! All in all, I was at the store for over two hours! and Chrissy had a phone stuck to her ear for almost the entire time! In the end, I got my 1500 minute Family Plan and it only cost me about $30 to add the iPhone with phone and Internet, but no texting.

Although the iPhone isn't compatible with T-Mobile's 3G network, the Edge network is very functional. It's almost as fast as AT&T's 3G. I got it done, just in time to beat the release of Google's new Nexus One. We'll see how that fares.