Weekend Full of Motorcycle Stuff

Last weekend was full of motorcycle stuff for sure.  I have two friends that needed MSF cards to get their M endorsements so I did a free class for those guys.  Ed and Glen came up from Texas. Glen has a sweet Panhead and didn’t need to take the class. Ed brought his 100 inch Shovelhead with a foot clutch. Jason and his half@ss shovelhead still ain’t quite right so I lent him my 1500 Kawasaki. Both of these guys have ridden motorcycles way longer than I have, but that’s beside the point.  We were doing the one day Basic Rider II course. I’m really glad that I was doing the course for two very experienced riders, because the heavy dew on the still pretty freshly sealed asphalt made the range really slick. Did I mention that Ed was on tires so new that they still had the nubs on them? Anywho, the class went fine. Both Ed and Jason passed, and no bikes were dropped. I did discover that my Kawasaki had an intake leak though.

We got home about noon, and Ed and Glen were dying to get my shovelhead back together and running. Russell had sent me a nice stator, so basically I had everything to get it together. We got the primary back together. I had been somewhat concerned that the primary belt was too tight, but not sure. The belt was indeed too tight and the transmission was all the way forward.  The experienced guys being there to help was good. My front pulley is 40 tooth, so I decided to order a 39 tooth version. The 39 will lower my highway rpm a bit and hopefully not lug the motor from a stop. It’s frustrating because I just bought the 40 tooth in January when I blew out my last one when things got loose.

I would have stopped working on my bike when the belt decided to be too tight, but Ed and Glen were having no part of that. “It’ll start and run with the belt tight like that.” So onward we went. We got it together and I got to kicking on it without any results. I had left the plug in the oil pump vent and crankcase from when I had pressure checked the crankcase. I fixed that, but still no fire. The battery and ignition were good, so that left the fuel situation to be evaluated. Did I mention this pig had sat since May? The petcock was flowing well.  The carb and gas in the tank were nasty. The pilot was plugged and the main was almost plugged. The accelerator pump wasn’t squirting at all. This motor has to have the pump squirt to prime and kick start. The little o-ring on the end of the accelerator pump had turned to goo.  That tiny o-ring is another deal breaker.  Ed and Glen went to the parts house and the gas station. They got a HELP! assortment of fuel o-rings  and one fit just fine. I got the jets cleaned and the pump working on the bench, and then put everything back together. Still no light off. The pump wasn’t pumping again. Ed threw a cap full of gas in the carb intake and blam-o, it fired right off. And the accelerator pump starting working again.

We took a little ride.  I’ll fix a primary sprocket and intake o-rings for the Kawasaki when those parts get here.