I've dubbed it MOTLM (Meeting Of The Lost Minds)
It all began due to a documented case of Motorus Grenadus for our fellow member Varnae. Another of those "I've never seen THAT before things" of the engine deciding to eat its young, namely a valve head, and then spit it out the exhaust port. Let me tell you, the pictures do no justice to seeing this first hand. Amazingly, the cylinder wall is spotless really Do not for the life of me see how, but it is!!
Ok, so Varnae got a new ("slightly" used) engine. So the SWOXS group decided to make a group effort of installing it. So, Lorax, DBeardslee, EGleaves, Steppenwolf, and QRFan were all set to go a week in advance. As the date drew near (the 20th, coincidence only that it fell the same day as the MOTM rally in Texas). Unfortunately QRFan had a family commitment come up, and Steppenwolf had some work issues to deal with so he was to arrive late but got tied up and could not make it. Both were missed.
Well, they say the fun is in the adventure and not the destination, and adventure did occur. Lorax and Dbeardslee both caged it the 2 hour ride so they could bring plenty of tools and such. Lorax also brought two canopies that were life savers in the heat we also had that day. So EGleaves and I rode up, meeting at my house and gassing up before heading out. Well, about an hour or so into the 1-1/2 hour ride, EGleaves starts slowing down, then he caught back up and then......stopped. 56 miles in and his tank is bone dead dry. No fuel at all. His towers must have come off and On now equals reserve for him. And yeah, he was getting some sucky milage. So... dead in the middle of what has to be the longest gap between gas stops in all of Indiana, we have a dead 11 on our hands. we loaded up on Thunderstruck with EGleaves riding pillion and headed out for gas. Passed three exits till we found one with a fuel station. Got can, got gas in can, loaded back up and headed back to the thirsty beast. Finally got back and it fired right up with the fueling. Rode back to the fueling station and filled up both beast as I was now over 90 miles into the Special fuel tank.
Much more aware of gas station locations, we made the rest of the 40 miles unscathed. When we arrived we found that Varnae, Lorax, and DBeardslee had been hard at it.
And our local electrical guru was hard at doing that voodoo that you do, so well, namely changing out the 79 timing setup for the 81 to match the TCI.
So, I found the carbs and started in cleaning them up a little and setting them up. Found some interesting main jetting, running 110, 120, mystery jet, and 120. So we reset them up like a stock setup for 81 guessing the mystery jet is a 110.
In the mean time, the (as Doug Calls it) Texas Tag Team Death Match of Motorcycle repair, continued. Here you see Lorax, EGleaves, Varnae's dad, and Varnae contemplating the next move...I think EGleaves was bolting on the exhaust, Varnae has a killer looking 4-2 exhaust for it.
Similar picture, but this time you get to see Dbeardslee deep in contemplation of the next step, that or if he should have more sweet tea or a beer.
So after we got everything buttoned up, fuel tank installed, we tried to prime the oil pump and the light would not go out (see my "No Oil Pressure" thread for details on this). Sooo....drain the oil...oops...stripped pan bolt on this new engine, so one more transplant part.
Here we see Lorax cleaning things up with the suspect oil pump at his feet.
Boy there is a bunch of those tranny pan bolts and they are no fun either.
So, at the end of the day, we had a completed install with a running engine just with no oil pressure. And we had plenty to eat and drink, wooohee is Varnae in trouble. His wife-to-be is a Louisiana girl, her parents are from there at least, and she cooked up some Shrimp Etouffee' (or however you spell it) that was 'some kinda good' let me tell you, even if he made her tone it down for us Northerners. I don't even like seafood and it was great!!
Lorax brought his son with him who proved Fred's point of riding without a rear fender for us. They rode bikes around and it had rained the night before, another reason for some of the cage plans.
So with a smile on all faces, and a mostly completed mission, we packed up our toys and let the city of Indianapolis sleep easy knowing I was no longer in town!! Ride home was uneventful as we planned 45 mile gas stops! Varnae has some great family and awesome friends that helped make it a fun and pleasurable day!
It all began due to a documented case of Motorus Grenadus for our fellow member Varnae. Another of those "I've never seen THAT before things" of the engine deciding to eat its young, namely a valve head, and then spit it out the exhaust port. Let me tell you, the pictures do no justice to seeing this first hand. Amazingly, the cylinder wall is spotless really Do not for the life of me see how, but it is!!
Ok, so Varnae got a new ("slightly" used) engine. So the SWOXS group decided to make a group effort of installing it. So, Lorax, DBeardslee, EGleaves, Steppenwolf, and QRFan were all set to go a week in advance. As the date drew near (the 20th, coincidence only that it fell the same day as the MOTM rally in Texas). Unfortunately QRFan had a family commitment come up, and Steppenwolf had some work issues to deal with so he was to arrive late but got tied up and could not make it. Both were missed.
Well, they say the fun is in the adventure and not the destination, and adventure did occur. Lorax and Dbeardslee both caged it the 2 hour ride so they could bring plenty of tools and such. Lorax also brought two canopies that were life savers in the heat we also had that day. So EGleaves and I rode up, meeting at my house and gassing up before heading out. Well, about an hour or so into the 1-1/2 hour ride, EGleaves starts slowing down, then he caught back up and then......stopped. 56 miles in and his tank is bone dead dry. No fuel at all. His towers must have come off and On now equals reserve for him. And yeah, he was getting some sucky milage. So... dead in the middle of what has to be the longest gap between gas stops in all of Indiana, we have a dead 11 on our hands. we loaded up on Thunderstruck with EGleaves riding pillion and headed out for gas. Passed three exits till we found one with a fuel station. Got can, got gas in can, loaded back up and headed back to the thirsty beast. Finally got back and it fired right up with the fueling. Rode back to the fueling station and filled up both beast as I was now over 90 miles into the Special fuel tank.
Much more aware of gas station locations, we made the rest of the 40 miles unscathed. When we arrived we found that Varnae, Lorax, and DBeardslee had been hard at it.
And our local electrical guru was hard at doing that voodoo that you do, so well, namely changing out the 79 timing setup for the 81 to match the TCI.
So, I found the carbs and started in cleaning them up a little and setting them up. Found some interesting main jetting, running 110, 120, mystery jet, and 120. So we reset them up like a stock setup for 81 guessing the mystery jet is a 110.
In the mean time, the (as Doug Calls it) Texas Tag Team Death Match of Motorcycle repair, continued. Here you see Lorax, EGleaves, Varnae's dad, and Varnae contemplating the next move...I think EGleaves was bolting on the exhaust, Varnae has a killer looking 4-2 exhaust for it.
Similar picture, but this time you get to see Dbeardslee deep in contemplation of the next step, that or if he should have more sweet tea or a beer.
So after we got everything buttoned up, fuel tank installed, we tried to prime the oil pump and the light would not go out (see my "No Oil Pressure" thread for details on this). Sooo....drain the oil...oops...stripped pan bolt on this new engine, so one more transplant part.
Here we see Lorax cleaning things up with the suspect oil pump at his feet.
Boy there is a bunch of those tranny pan bolts and they are no fun either.
So, at the end of the day, we had a completed install with a running engine just with no oil pressure. And we had plenty to eat and drink, wooohee is Varnae in trouble. His wife-to-be is a Louisiana girl, her parents are from there at least, and she cooked up some Shrimp Etouffee' (or however you spell it) that was 'some kinda good' let me tell you, even if he made her tone it down for us Northerners. I don't even like seafood and it was great!!
Lorax brought his son with him who proved Fred's point of riding without a rear fender for us. They rode bikes around and it had rained the night before, another reason for some of the cage plans.
So with a smile on all faces, and a mostly completed mission, we packed up our toys and let the city of Indianapolis sleep easy knowing I was no longer in town!! Ride home was uneventful as we planned 45 mile gas stops! Varnae has some great family and awesome friends that helped make it a fun and pleasurable day!