Well, kinda. But not the one you expect. I’ve never run out of gas.
But when I was a salesman, I sold a bike to a guy (who was obviously a somewhat experienced rider, we did a test ride and all that) who came back to the dealer after a day or so, and was kinda pissed that his bike kept running out of gas… All the time! He was putting in a half gallon at a time, or something, and would run out shortly, but hearing gas slosh around in the tank. He thought there was something wrong with the bike.
I explained the reserve tank function on the petcock and how it worked, and he was cool, and I never saw him again.
That reminds me of when I was tricked into buying my brand-new, previous year-model YZF-R1. The salesman told me about a guy who bought a bran-new Honda GoldWinnebagowing. (Must have been at another dealership, as the one where I bought the R1 sold Yamahas and Aprilias.) The guy rode to the street and stopped to check for traffic… and forgot to put his foot/feet down. Motorcycles tend not to remain upright at a standstill without a third point of contact.
Don’t want to Shit the Bed here, but some of the biggest regrets from my time in the motorcycle Biz was hearing about the deaths of two people I personally put on the road. One other person came into the dealer all beat the fuck up, getting parts, after an accident. That one was hard, because I kinda knew that person should never have bought a motorcycle, but what can you do? They would have bought it from my scumbag coworker.
I ordered a cylinder block from a seller in Lithuania, and the package just arrived from the shipping point in Poland. Oh, boy!
I opened the box and removed the several thick layers of protective wrapping. There was my… cylinder head? Yep, it’s a cylinder head all right, complete with valves and camshafts. Just before starting this post, I used Contact the Seller on eBay to let the seller know of the situation, and asked how we can resolve it.
In actuality, a ‘new’ head is probably not a bad thing to have. But I really need the jugs.
She doesn’t know about the engine parts. The jugs, including shipping from Poland ($80) and sales tax were $191. So not too bad. If I hadn’t passed on the NOS cylinder block ($750), then a NOS head might have been warranted. (But way out of line for this bike.)
That new head gun I bought at Harbor Freight was a double-sawbuck well-spent. The cowling had four (painted-over) graphics on it, one on each side, and two on the front. The heat gun is much hotter than my wife’s hair dryer, and it allowed me to peel the graphics off – even without sanding off the paint around the edges – in minutes. My epoxy repair to the crack in the cowling sanded down well. I’m waiting for the epoxy-filling experiment in the crack (caused by my chain breaking in the '90s) in the sacrificial side fairing to cure. ‘Cures in an hour.’ Yeah, right.
I’d like to get right into sanding, but it’s a quarter past noon, and I should probably have lunch first.
Back in my desert racin’ days, it wasn’t uncommon after the Bomb to have a few riders blaze out ahead of me, only to hear them quickly die and grind to a halt.
My bike had the “Turn the Gas On, Dummy!” sticker in plain view.
I tested the paint on the sacrificial (damaged) fairing. After prepping the whole fairing, I used Rust-Oleum automotive primer on about a third of it yesterday. I sanded it with 1,500 grit paper today, and tried the OEM paint. Good news! The paint didn’t attack the primer (or vice versa), so I can use the inexpensive primer instead of the special primer from Color Rite. I put down two base coats, followed by three colour coats, followed by two clear coats. I’m very happy with the smoothness of the finish. But…
The colour is just a bit lighter than the OEM side fairings. It’s just slightly lighter than the OEM fuel tank. It should be acceptable though.
I’m not seeing the ‘pearlescence’ that gives the ‘reddish’ (in certain light) of the Reddish Yellow Cocktail original paint.
I wonder if I should have used fewer colour coats? I assume the base coat is where the ‘pearlescence’ comes from. I’ll have to call Color Rite’s technical person on Monday or Tuesday. Anyone have any experience with this?
I still have ⅔ of the damaged side fairing for experimentation.
I’m not a paint expert, but I highly doubt anybody can replicate that stock Yamaha look. That was one of the best-looking colors they ever came up with in my opinion. Yellow from one side, Cherry from the other. It was sublime.
It may come down to timing. The shop I go to can’t strip the frame for painting until Winter. I don’t have a paint shed. I could move the MGB and the R1 out of the canopy garage for a couple of days, but the only way I have to heat it is with a tank-top propane heater. I’m not too keen on spraying paint in an enclosed space with a propane heater on. So I’d have to take the frame to a paint shop. If I have to take the frame to a shop, then I may as well have the cowling repainted. But I’ll see how I can do on my own for now.
I took another look at the test panel. I do see the pearlescence. I’m still going to try another test, using fewer colour coats. Would’ve done today, but my wife made me go to her church.
Another box from Poland today… this time with the correct part (cylinder block). I have approximately zero experience to tell if it’s any good. It’s clean though, and the bores look smooth. Maybe I’ll run it down to the shop tomorrow so the mechanic can take a look. I’ll take the mistakenly-delivered cylinder head too, why not.
Yep, it’s a cylinder head all right, complete with valves and camshafts. Just before starting this post, I used Contact the Seller on eBay to let the seller know of the situation, and asked how we can resolve it.
The jugs, including shipping from Poland ($80) and sales tax were $191. So not too bad. If I hadn’t passed on the NOS cylinder block ($750), then a NOS head might have been warranted. (But way out of line for this bike.)