Happy Independence Day!

It's the 4th of July! Fireworks galore!

I'll tell you what really bugs me. I don't mind if people light off fireworks, if the make a constant nuisance of themselves for a couple days, but I do mind the piles of burned out fireworks husks left behind in the street when they are finished. Pick up your garbage, people!

I took the bike out for a run today. Very happy with the way it's running. I do still need to tweak the settings a bit because I am still running lean, even after turning them out a 1/2 turn. I'm out to 3 now, and think if I take it to 3.5 that should do it.

I've decided that tires will be my next big expenditure for this bike. The front tire is from 2002 (if the date is correct) and the back tire is from before that (possibly 1997). A 12 year old tire just will not do. The scary thing is, the treads are still good on them, and no sign of cracks, but somehow riding on tires that are that old is nerve-wracking.

I also plan to start putting the shine on the front forks. Viragoking has done his, and in keeping up with the Jones's, I must also shine mine to a mirror like finish. I've heard you can use aircraft stripper to start, then polish to finish them up.

I'll post pics as I go. Taking the tires off might be a good time to do it.

It's been a long time since I had a good running bike. I've worked for hours and hours tearing the carbs apart, checking valve clearances, oil changes, adjustments here, tweaks there. Finally, the bike is complete.

At least as far as the carbs are concerned. Roll Tape!

The pilot jet arrived today (pretty quick shipping if I do say so myself). and I quickly installed it. Due to previous injuries to my hands, it took me a little longer to get the boots installed, but I finally got everything hooked up and tank put back on.

It runs like a completely different bike. I took it out on the highway and quickly zipped to 70mph. Handles well, accelerates like it should, I did have to adjust the idle screw because after running for a bit, it was idling at about 3000rpms, but that was an easy fix. I have a little more tweaking to do, it seems I am running a bit lean. That, my friends, will be cake compared to what I've dealt with the last couple of weeks.

Now, new tires are in order, as well as possibly replacing the back brake. I am going to pull the tires off myself once I've saved enough cash.

Shouldn't take me too long.

I'm very happy with the way things turned out.

Sometimes, it's the little things.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Why, you ask?

Well, I stripped out one of my pilot fuel jets. Normally, doing such a thing would really send me over the edge. Do you know how hard (and expensive) finding a replacement is?

Let me start at the beginning.

After stripping said pilot jet, I jumped online, seeking a replacement. After getting a response from one of the fellows over at xjbikes, I found that the order of my mains and pilot fuel jets were all out of whack. The pilots were in place of the mains, and the mains were in place of the pilots. (The schnozzberries taste like schnozzberries, as my sons would say). THIS is the reason I could not, for the life of me, get my bike tuned, no matter how much I cranked out my pilot screws. Only one of the carbs were tuned, and wouldn't you know, it just happened to be the one who's spark plugs were the least fouled, and whose pilot to main configuration was correct.

I never, in a million years, would have thought to look at the little tiny numbers, so carefully etched, on top of these jets. I assumed the PO and all those who came before would never have touched these holy of holys.

Never assume anything when it comes to the mighty Maxim. That it ran at all was amazing.

Now, after spending nearly $15 on one tiny, little, insignificant, minuscule brass screw I am hopeful that this will be it. This will restore my bike to it's former glory, to it's mind numbingly fast state.

Waiting on the postman...

Making Progress

It's been a rough couple of days for the old bike. I finally removed all the pilot screws and cleaned out the passages (some black gunk bubbled out... carbon?) and now only 2 of the 4 plugs are fouling, and even one of those 2 that are fouling don't look as bad as before.

Results:

Cylinder #4 is near perfect, if not a bit lean. Cylinder #3- worst of the 4. Heavy carbon build up Cylinder #2 cinnamon brown Cylinder #1 still a bit sooty, but not as bad as before.

I'm getting closer. I checked my fuel levels in the bowls (on the bike... not nearly as easy as it sounds) and they all appear within spec, but then my eye isn't nearly as skilled as someone who has done it before.

It's been a few days of frustration. The bike has poor throttle response, fouls quickly, and isn't much fun to ride. I know sooner or later I'll get everything set right, but it's a shame to miss out on this nice riding weather.

I've been pouring over the manuals, and I have a few more things I will need to do soon. Brake lines are original. I need to replace those soon. Rear brake probably needs to be changed soon, although the tang on the rear drum still has some room to move.

Oh yeah, also need to replace the tires soon. While I still have decent tread left, the tires are old... I know there is a way to tell how old. I'll have to look that up. I am going to remove the front and rear tires myself and take them in. It's cheaper than taking the whole bike in. The user manual shows you how to take them both off. While that's being done, I'm also going to change the wheel bearings.

I hope to have this bike done before the end of the riding season!