Finally! The BMW is Home!!!

Last weekend, I went back to the seller's house with a bag of tools and a new plan to get the car out of the driveway. During the week leading up to the visit, I also upgraded my AAA membership to the "Plus" package, allowing me to get tows of 100 miles. My wife also did some legwork, reading that many people have gotten tows from AAA for old unregistered project cars with no problem, so I was feeling pretty confident about the outcome of the day.

When I arrived, the seller was already unloading her garage space, freeing the car up for access. I jumped in to help finish, then we were onto the game plan! The right rear tire had lost some air over the week, so I gave it a charge before getting under way.

First, I jacked up the front of the car to see if those wheels would spin. Nope. Okay, now I've got work to do. I started with the right side. I opened up the nipple to relieve what pressure was there, then I unbolted the lugs. That front brake caliper was stuck on the disc pretty good, so I squirted it with a healthy dose of Liquid Wrench, then started banging on the brake caliper with a hammer. Soon enough, I had that hub turning! Success! I went to the left side, loosened up the nipple, but when I started removing the lugs, the wheel started turning already! This was going to be easier than I thought!

I let down the front of the car and proceeded with the rear, but first, I let the emergency cable slack all the way, so that I knew that couldn't be the problem holding up the brakes. I put the jack under the pumpkin, then lifted the rear end. I started with the right side, unscrewing the nipple, and again, this wheel was ready to turn all by itself! I went to the left side, and the same thing happened to that wheel! Okay! So we've got a free rolling vehicle now!

I jumped in the cockpit to get the wheels straight only to find that the steering was locked! Umm...yeah, because there's NO KEY IN THE IGNITION! The seller had lost all the keys, even the half key that she swears has the other half in the ignition. Okay- time for an amended game plan. I had to jack up the back of the car again, so that we could align the car in a path down the driveway, so that it wouldn't hit that big-ass palm tree on the left! We finally got the car out of the garage- the clouds parted and the angels sang. That was hard work! So we took a break and got some lunch.

The next phase of our day began. I called AAA and successfully got a tow truck driver out to the house. When he pulled up, he looked at the car and asked me for the registration. Of course I this car isn't registered! Again, we were refused a tow! He offered to tow it privately for about $260. I said forget it- I'll just get the registration completed this week, then we'll take another whack at it next weekend.

Fuck! So we were able to get the car out of the garage, which was a good thing, so that the seller wouldn't have to dig the car out anymore- all her crap could sit peacefully in its newly freed up space. I figured, well, as long as the car is accessible and we've got a little time on our hands, we might as well call down a peace officer to get the car "verified" for the DMV. We called the local PD and it really didn't take long, before a squad car pulled up. He was happy to help, but after looking over the forms that he had to fill out, he backed away, when he realized that he wasn't "properly trained" to verify vehicles and that his name would be on this legal binding document.

At this point, the seller was feeling nervous about leaving the car unlocked in her driveway for the upcoming week's time. She felt that I had put a tremendous amount of work into trying to get this car home, so she said that we should just call for a tow and that she would pay for it. I graciously accepted and we were off to the phone banks making calls. Three of the tow companies just plain hung up on us after beginning conversations- most of them wanted $250-$300. I finally found a nice tow company that said that they would tow it for $125!! No fancy hookup fees, no special fees for a flatbed. Yay!

Amazingly, this guy only took about half an hour to come along! I was kind of expecting some total piece-of-shit tow truck, since they weren't on the AAA preferred tow list and since the price was so low. But no! This was a legitimate tow that showed up- big flatbed truck, all shine and new with all the bells and whistles on it! The driver, Bobby, was absolutely fantastic! It didn't matter that the car couldn't turn its steering wheel- he knew just what to do. He took his time and got my little BMW on the truck with little issue. The seller slipped a wad of cash in my hand and hugged me good-bye, and I was off chasing the tow truck down the freeway!

Half an hour later, we were at my residence. I asked Bobby if he could put the car inside my garage- he said no problem. Bobby was so good about being careful about everything! He had to take two stabs and lining up his truck, since my car wanted to roll to the left, but he got it done. Soon enough, the car was safely parked inside my garage! The seller already built in a $15 tip for the driver, but I was so pleased with the job he did, I ran upstairs and grabbed another $20 for him!

Anyway, what a long day! I'm glad the whole episode has come to a close! Now I just have to start my discovery process and see what kind of trouble I'm getting myself into! This project is going to be pure joy!

The Deal Is Done!!! (almost)

It's been a could of months since I last talked about the possibilities of buying this BMW 2002 project car. Well, so much has happened since....slowly albeit, but at least we made some real progress.

After I returned from vacation, it still took weeks before I was actually able to see the car. Apparently, the garage from where it sits houses tons of garage sale treasures, as the owner is somewhat of a hoarder and just can't keep from picking up a real bargain! After another month of prodding, I finally convinced her to let me come over and help her dig out the car for my viewing.

The car, for its age, is in very good condition! The car has been sitting registered in non-op for 30 years! There's only 50,000 miles on the odometer! The interior is in great shape- a little weathered, but looks great nonetheless. The body is in good condition with a couple of areas where it might need a little work. There is very little rust. None of the windows are cracked and the sunroof works. It is an automatic, but that doesn't bother me. The car has been positively identified as a 1974 car, which means that it will never have to be smogged once running. We agreed on a price of $1500 and she went to find the title.

A couple more weeks have passed. I've already started buying parts for the car, parts that are very specific to that car and year. At this point, I'm thinking that if I don't end up with the car, I'm going to be screwed. I've already named the car Holle, which means "beloved" in German.

Today was going to be the day for the transaction and pickup. I asked my friend, Ross, to help me move the car. We met the seller at a nearby restaurant to grab some lunch before doing the work. Afterwards, we headed to her house and got to moving shit out of the way.

I used my newly purchased Ryobi handheld air compressor to pump up the tires and we were good to go! or so we thought.... I put the car into neutral, but the car wouldn't budge! My first inclination was that the brakes were frozen, but later moved to the notion that the transmission was stuck in park. After a few attempts at trying to move the car, we decided to try and just call AAA for a tow. Apparently, AAA will only tow a car if it's registered and insured! Go figure!

I tried calling another tow company. They wanted $290 for the one-way tow- add $100 if "special equipment" is needed, since the car won't roll.

So we exchanged money for the title and we agreed that I would take a week to get the car's legal stuff in line.

The Hints of a New Beginning....Here Comes the BMW 2002!

So one day at work, somehow in casual conversation, one of my coworkers mentioned that she had an old BMW 2002 tucked away in her garage. Then she told me that it had a blown motor. Basically, her engine was doing weird things, then she parked it in the garage and there it's been sitting.....for the past 30 years!!!

Once it got parked, she didn't really know what to do with it, so she bought another car and left it alone. Well, since then, she's bought another six cars. I asked her if she ever thought about selling the the BMW and she said yes. I went home and the dreaming began....

I have not seen the car (except for vague pictures just demonstrating that she actually has this car). The good points are that since it's been hidden away for so long, I'm assuming that the car doesn't have much wear and tear- on the engine, the interior, the body and suspension. The bad news is that since it's been sitting for so long, lots of work will need to be done just to get the car roadworthy again, plus the motor still needs to be repaired!

Two weeks have gone by. I don't want to appear too eager (desperate) to buy the car, but she still hasn't given me any idea of what she wants for the car. The car is registered non-op, so that's good- no back reg fees are due. But the car has also an automatic transmission, which is bad and good- the manual tranny is what actually gives the car more of a sporty spirit, but then again, my wife doesn't like driving manuals, so having an auto might help win her over with this car. The car is a 1974, so it's got the nice square tail lights, but it also comes with that big ugly plastic steering wheel.

In any case, to my estimations, the car will need the gas tank and radiator boiled and sealed. All the fuel and brake lines will need to be flushed/replaced. At the very least, the carburetor will have to be rebuilt. The mechanical fuel pump is probably f*cked. All tune-up parts will be needed, specifically with the ignition system. All the fluids will have to be replaced. The battery will need to be replaced. And then there's the motor itself- as much as I know, the engine still turns, but it's smoking like crazy. So either at least one piston/ring is gone or it's the valve train that needs to be rebuilt. If it's just the top end, the labor shouldn't be all that bad, but if it's the pistons, I'll have to pull the engine to replace the bad parts. Only a compression and/or leak down test will show what's really going on. Soooooo....we're looking at around $2300 just to start and drive the car! and that's on top of the cost of the car itself! I'm really hoping that she doesn't try and gouge me on the price.

Being real, I've got way too many toys in the garage. I wouldn't be reasonable for me to keep the Mazdaspeed Miata, the Harley 883 Iron, the Suzuki SV650S track bike, and the Yamaha RD400's- I'm going to have to start culling on the fleet. When I get back from vacation, the first thing to go will be the Suzuki- at this point, I just want that bike gone. Then I'll have to start reverting the MSM totally back to stock. It will need some bodywork and paint from the incident at Sears Point, but other than that, it's in very good shape and I should be able to sell it off without much trouble. The RD's are another story- in order for me NOT to loose my shirt on those parts, I think I will actually have to get that bike built up, so I can sell it whole. The leftover parts, I can sell on eBay. When all is said and done, I imagine a life with just my Harley and my built-out and restored 2002.

But first things first. After I get back from my vacation, we'll see if I can actually see the car in person. Then maybe we can talk numbers.

The Smashster is Back!!

A couple of years ago, when I was regularly riding this bike, my back was killing me! So I made a lifestyle change and decided to try a different riding position- I bought a Harley 883. It was somewhat of an impulse buy. When I bought it, I wasn't really expecting to just stop riding the SV, but that's exactly what happened. I needed more room in our small garage, so I tucked Smash away on the side of the house and covered him up. It just so happened that I had just filled up the gas tank with a fresh tank- I didn't even give it much thought....until it was time to start him up again, this past September, one year later...

The only reason I had to start up the SV was so that I could move it 5 miles down the street to my new house. The bike took a very long time to start, as expected. I actually started the starting process a few days before I needed to move the bike, because I knew it was going to be a bitch. Well, the bike eventually started, but it ran like shit. I was able to limp down the road on one cylinder firing. It got the job done, but it was a little frightening.

Now another 6 months have passed. It was time to get the bike ready for a possible sale. Shit! That means I had to address that bad running motor situation. I figured it was just a fouled plug, so I purchased a couple of new plugs on eBay. When they arrived, I put them in. The bike ran a bit better, but was still stumbling a bit on idle. The bike still seemed to be missing on one cylinder until I put some gas into it, then it ran better in the upper revs. I was thinking that it was just stale gas. After consulting the web, I decided to try switching out the pilot jets- perhaps all that sitting around clogged one of the jets.

I ran down to my local Suzuki dealership and picked up a couple of new 17.5 pilot jets for only about $5 a piece! I could have sworn they cost twice that much- maybe they went down in price over the years?

The job didn't take long, but working on that part of the bike seemed so unfamiliar! I can remember a time, when I was trying out different main jets, when I had to pull those carbs out routinely! I was so good and practiced, I could have the fairings off, the tank propped up and the carbs on my work bench inside of 20 minutes! This time, I had to actually check on the web to remind me of what to do next!

The swap of the jets went without incident. And indeed, the rear pilot jet was stuffed with crap and was 100% clogged shut! I reinstalled the carbs and stitched the bike back together. I started the bike and it roared like a lion, just the way it should!

I took Smash out for a test ride and the bike was STRONG. It idled smoothly and reliably. I've fallen in love with that bike all over again! Now that the registration is all paid up again and there's insurance on it, I'm actually considering keeping it for a little bit longer. We'll see what the wife has to say about that...

Hello, Santa Cruz!

Some El Niño we're having. It was like 73° F today in Santa Cruz, CA! I happened to have the day off, so rather than go work on stuff that really needed to get done, I decided to go for a really nice mountain bike ride. I called up my friend, John, yesterday to secure his day, so we were good to go!

I thought we were getting jump on the day, by me meeting up with him at his house in Hayward by 9am, but I got a little behind schedule due to some very heavy traffic. We shoved off from his place around 9:30, but still didn't arrive to Wilder Ranch State Park until 11:00! I brought my old trusty 100 Best Mountain Bike Rides in the Bay Area book, (yes, the one that's 20 years old and has gottem me lost numerous times) and we were good to go! Well, it's been over 10 years, since I was last at Wilder and things have changed a little, starting with the parking lot area. Immediately, we set off in the wrong direction and got a little lost.

Eventually we found our way to the "tunnel" and we were somewhat on our way. The book had a shitty map and we weren't really in the mood to keep trying to decipher what it told us to do, so we just picked a loop and started riding. We first headed up the Engelmans Loop until we got to the Wild Boar Trail. There was a bit of climbing to do, but it wasn't too bad- very manageable. It was great that the sun was out and there was a slight ocean breeze breathing down our necks. The ground was a little gravely and sandy with ruts, but not unridable. It was nice to actually have some trees to ride in!

Then we took the Old Cabin Trail to hook up with the Eucalyptus Loop. The climb up Old Cabin got a little tougher, but it still was nothing compared to the Pine Mountain Loop on Mt. Tam. (That was so steep and exposed, it wasn't even fun!) Finally, we got to the top of Eucalyptus, where we took a break on a park bench and ate some fig bars. After that, it was almost all down hill :)

We took Eucalyptus down until we found the Wilder Ridge Loop. It was totally the payoff! This ride was basically 4 miles up, 4 miles down. Lots of ruts and hardpack single and double-track. With it raining not too long ago, the dirt was nice and packed- very little dust. The trail dumped us out on Highway 1, where we had to struggle to figure out where to go next. Eventually we figured out that we just needed to ride South for about a mile until we found the park entrance.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic ride! No one crashed! No one cramped! The perfect starter climbing ride for what I hope will be an equally smashing season. We packed up the car, took down the top and headed into town for some Pizza My Heart! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my Wednesday!

SV Time Again!

So the time has finally come to start preparing for the departure of my dear old SV650S. I've had this bike for 15 years and she has been nothing but fun and dependable! For the past year and a half, I've been riding the Harley. It's more of an "I'm getting old thing", because my lower back starts screaming at me after an hour of commuting on the SV. If I was going to continue commuting on motorcycles, I had to make a change. So the SV sat in my backyard under cover.

I did have to move her back in September, when I moved to the new house. Thank God it was only 5 miles down the road, because the bike wasn't really running well. I was able to get her to start, but I could tell that she was only running on one cylinder. On a V-twin, that is a major issue, since you only have 2 cylinders! I figured that all the sitting and the stale gas, plus the long time it took to try and start the bike again probably fouled a plug.

I ordered some new plugs off of eBay. Yesterday, I finally had a chance to get in there and change them out. It had been so long since I last really worked on that bike that I had forgotten all that it takes just to get to the spark plugs! I had to rip off both front side panels, plus drop the radiator! And for the rear, I had to pop open the gas tank! The plugs weren't difficult to replace, once I had access.

I also did a little cleaning, while I was in there. I ripped out the airbox and made everything all shiny again. Plus it was a good chance to pick off all my upgrades off of the bike, like my speedo healer, cigarette lighter accessories charger and trickle charger pigtail.

When I put her back together again, she started up without a fuss, running on BOTH cylinders now! So now I'm just tasked with trying to work that old stale gas through the system! It sucks that I filled up the tank before putting her to bed :(

Next on the list- syncing the carbs, changing all the fluids and lubing the chain. I just paid the registration on her and got some insurance going again. I had forgotten how much I love this bike! I'm thinking that I might ride her a little bit before putting her up for sale...

Beware of Free Web Hosting!

So over the past week or so, I have been consolidating all of my seven or so blogs into this one dogpile. The idea was to just have one place to go to to post whatever I needed to post. I've been scouring all my old blogs, trying to import each individual post to this blog.

At one time, I had used Wordpress, then I purchased my own domain name. I shopped for some free web hosting, importing all my Wordpress content to their servers. I have used 000webhost, Free Hostia, but worst of all, Byethost. It seems that I have evacuated all my content from 000webost and Hostia, funneling everything into Byethost. But a couple of years ago, my website died on their servers and I didn't have the time to keep up with their shitty email support, so I just let it be dead, never to revive itself again.

Well, this week, I've been trying to get back into my Byethost account. Apparently, they've changed their name, wiping out their accounts database. I've tried to contact them, but they don't even recognize my email address! Their login screens are all broken- every time I try and log in with my original credentials, it automatically changes my usrname in the textbox.

Thankfully, there's not much of anything in there on that blog, so it's not that big of a deal. I will just let it go and build up around it anyway.

In any case, shopping for free hosting is really a crapshoot. Make sure you back your stuff up, because one day, your host might just change their name, db's and blow away your credentials, and not even email you about the changes! I'm sure I've got that Wordpress backup somewhere on one of my backups. Now I have a new project do do- hunt for remnants of my old Wordpress!

Taking Advantage of the Weather

So....it's the middle of February. We're in an El Niño. There's more snowpack base at all the Tahoe resorts than there's been in eight years! But lately, the rain has disappeared. The weather is in the upper 60's. For the past two days, I decided to take advantage of the dry weather, before the rain starts up again. And boy! was it glorious!

I put some air in my tires and made sure my battery was topped off. I forgot how much fun it was to split lanes and rip through all that traffic standing still! Getting on the bike actually inspired me to do a little much needed work on it- last night, I took the throttle grip off and gave it a lube job. I also tightened up the throttle play a little. Last week, I did a slight clutch adjustment, since the clutch was engaging too late on the clutch lever release. Now, everything feels great!

How I miss riding! And the with the Bay Area commute, it's the best way to get to work on time!

Responding to the 2nd Amendment

After the 2015 San Bernadino "terrorist" event, I started thinking about how firearms would suddenly again be on the chopping block. I remember when Obama first took office- I thought for sure that handguns would be outlawed- that's when I bought my first gun. Well, after the Fedral Assault Weapons Ban didn't get renewed, I figured it was just a matter of time before it would come to the forefront again. With Sandy Hook and now San Bernadino on everyone's minds, the President could try and make it harder for those weapons to be available. I started looking into getting an AR-15.

Well, it just happens to be that the AR-15 is America's most popular rifle. Maybe because it's so easy to shoot. Maybe because parts are readily available. Maybe it's because it's so customizable. I've heard it described as the Barbie-doll for men. Whatever the case, there are thousands of options out there on the web. You can buy the rifle complete and assembled or you can buy them part by part and put it together by yourself. Some buy the firearm complete, then swap out parts customizing them to their particular liking. There's plenty of help out there on the Internet on how to choose what's right for you.

After doing my due diligence, I elected to buy the parts separately and build the firearm myself. After careful calculations, I figured I could build my custom AR-15 for around $600. Buying a built rifle, then modifying it would've cost over $2000. Most all the parts can be shipped directly to your house- only the lower receiver (the part with the serial number) has to be shipped to an FFL, where they will do the DROS. Here in California, I had to wait my 10-day waiting period. Currently, there are only nine states (and DC) that have a waiting period.

I decided to buy a stripped lower from Palmetto State Armory and put it together myself. I bought an Anderson Manufacturing Magpul MOE lower build kit through Toms Tactical and a complete upper receiver assembly from Midstate Firearms. I also decided to to go with iron sights, since I was pretty much building a range toy, so I bought an inexpensive red dot scope through Cabela's, then a 3X magnifier through Amazon. Magazines I purchased through eBay.

The lower receiver build was easy- I found a few YouTube videos for reference. After that, it was a matter of snapping parts together!

The rifle is a pretty nice shooter. For my first purchase of ammo, I bought 55gr .223 Federal American Eagle FMJ. My barrel is a 1:8 twist and I know this bullet was a little light, but it was cheap and I just wanted to make sure the rifle would fire. After that, I bought 62gr FMJ through Freedom Ammunition. The rifle shoots to 100 yards with no drop! The red dot is a little fuzzy with the 3X magnifier, but I'm slowly getting it tuned in.

My buddy, John, taking a test drive

For my next cheap mod, I already purchased a lighter spring kit for the trigger and an adjustment screw. I'll do a little polishing on the trigger parts and I should be able to smooth out the pull and decrease it to about 4 lbs. with very little creep.

I'll keep you posted on the trigger project.....