Took my first ride of the season today

[Gadjet]

Well, I finally did it.

The zook is back together. Got all my extra wiring done yesterday and troubleshot, so my extra brake lights work, my driving lights work, and my electric vest plugin works.

All I have left to do now is mount my sidebags.

Got the bike fired up today after finally completing the rebuild yesterday. Took a bit to get it going, but when she finally lit, she ran nice and smooth.

Sounds real good too with the Harley mufflers on it. Took it for a quick run around town and then a short blast on the highway to see how well she ran up through the gears.

What a blast!

I'd forgotten how nice it felt to be out in the elements, screaming along at 120kph.

I'd also forgotten how heavy this beast is, but I got a quick reminder when I got home and had to back it into the garage. yergh! ~530lbs wet and a helluva grunt.

Owen

[zarakand]

Feels great doesn't it? I just got back from a nice 100 mile run myself It was the first time I'd taken this bike on the interstate out of the downtown area. Nothing like flying along at 80mph! Though the five layers of clothing didn't feel like it did anything, my fingers are very numb as I type this.

Out of curiosity what is

electric vest plugin works

[Gadjet]

Out of curiosity what is

electric vest plugin works

I have a heated vest that plugs into a socket I installed on my bike. I had it hooked up last fall, but it was a direct connection to the battery, so as soon as I plugged the vest in it started to heat up, and I had to unplug it to shut it off. I've now completely redone the wiring so the socket is easier to disconnect and it is switched - this way when I get on the bike, I plug the vest in, and then when I want heat I flip a switch mounted on my handlebars, and vice versa when I want to shut it off. Only have to unplug when I get off the bike.

Widder and Gerbing both make electric clothing for riders, from chaps to vests to gloves.

Very nice on those cooler, just above/below freezing, days

[Gadjet]

An update:

Riding season got off to a somewhat less than spectacular start.

Took the bike to work today, and when I got there, I found that my head gasket had decided to puke oil all over my boot and pantleg.

to say that I was not impressed would be an understatement.

to say that I was depressed and down would also be an understatement.

Got through my day, spent 10 minutes trying to get the bike to fire before it finally kicked over, then booted home.

Got home, tossed the bike on the centerstand in the driveway, tossed a drainpan underneath and pulled the plugs. While the oil drained out, off came the seat, then the gas tank, followed by the spark plugs, breather hose, clutch cable, etc....

My dad rolled into the driveway on his bike just as I was pulling the carbs out.

Within half an hour, the carbs, cam chain tensioner, cam cover, and both camshafts were lined up on the workbench.

then came the exhaust and finally the head. Pulled the headgasket off, cleaned it up, put it back on and replaced the oil passage o-rings, then on went the head again.

got it torqued back on and the exhaust put back on before I rolled the bike into the garage to work on it in nicer conditions.

Then I took a break for a snack and a drink. I'll head out later to finish the reassembly job. There is no way that I'm not riding my bike to work tomorrow.

elapsed time from leaving work to rolling the bike into the garage - 2 1/2 hours, and it's a 20 minute ride from work to home.

Owen

[Sev]

But you can at least do all that stuff. If my bike puked oil, I'd probably just start crying.

Teach me!

[Gadjet]

But you can at least do all that stuff. If my bike puked oil, I'd probably just start crying.

Teach me!

Bring me your bike and a shop manual (Haynes/Clymer) and I'll walk you through it.

and just for an update, it is now 11:30pm and I just finished another 3 hrs of work putting everything back together again.


only to find the bike wizzing oil out of the filter cover. I wound up having to re-use my old o-ring because the new one that came with my new filter wasn't the right o-ring.

15 minutes of cleaning the old o-ring off as well as the filter cover, then applying some gasket eliminator and back went the cover. I'll find out tomorrow if the leak has been "eliminated"

on the plus side, it fired up right away once I got it all back together.

[BuzZz]

So was it your head gasket leaking or the oil filter leaking all along? It would be a drag if you did all that work on the top-end when it was the filter cover all the time...... not that I would know from personal experiance or nothin'....

[Gadjet]

So was it your head gasket leaking or the oil filter leaking all along? It would be a drag if you did all that work on the top-end when it was the filter cover all the time...... not that I would know from personal experiance or nothin'....

No, was definitely the head gasket initially. I replaced a couple o-rings around the corner studs (main oil passages to the head), but the filter cover started to leak after I got it all back together and fired up again. culprit was the old o-ring I had to reuse.


'should be' fixed now though

[Skier]

You can re-use headgaskets? I know on cars, they're a one-time use only thing, but I haven't delved into my bike's motor enough to learn about it.

[old-n-slow]

You can re-use headgaskets? I know on cars, they're a one-time use only thing, but I haven't delved into my bike's motor enough to learn about it.

You can... but not recommended. Most people don't want to risk it when faced with a five hour tear-down if it's turns out not to be successful. On the other hand usually you can shave a good hour off the second tear-down.