Cooking Heads!

For me, this has got to be one of the best Ghetto Garages yet. Here in Phoenix, AZ, home of Motorcycle Mechanics Institute (MMI) where they train "best of the best," homegrown techniques are alive and well.

Just before Christmas vacation one of the projects in machine shop was a practice top end rebuild. Some of it was pretty awesome like boring the cylinder and measuring all the clearances.



MMI Class Room E2



Machine Shop E1 during a rare calm moment



My Favorite Part...Boring Cylinders...That, is serious fun.

That is not the best part though, that would be the "Turkey Pots." Certain machine parts, such as some valve guides, are actually slightly larger than the holes they fit in. A so-called interference fit. In order to remove or insert them the surrounding material must be heated. One would think that a place like MMI would have something high-tech for this. Ahhhh, but not so.



Behold the Turkey Pots!



Yep! That is a Wal-Mart hot plate under there.



It works though.

Parking Lot Suspension

Ghetto Garage has been on an extended adventure. One different than the usual. Usually we travel around and do stuff. I guess we have been traveling of late, sort of, looking for a new home and a new life. Things have been stressful, particularly financially, but our higher power has been looking out for us. Always at the last minute it seems but nevertheless looking out.

We have been in Phoenix for twelve weeks now and one of the things that has been particularly adding to our stress is the untimely death of the Wrench Wench's car. We bought it in good faith from my brother which was a mistake because he is a known scammer. Paid $1500.00 for it, put about an equal amount in maintenance and after getting a mere 6000 miles out of it it went terminal. Guess that serves us right, a snake will always be a snake. I am trying to limit the resentment here, but it just keeps pouring out. Not very spiritual I suppose.

So, you may be asking, what the heck does all this have to do with Ghetto Garage. The answer is it brings us around to the question of transportation for Wrench Wench. The only vehicle we currently have is the Beemer and I am the only one who can ride it as it is much to big for her. We do have a Suzuki SV for Patti but it suffers from some problems. Not the least of which is that it is too tall for her and also too top heavy. If she comes to any kind of stop on uneven ground, over she goes and she does not have the upper body strength to pick it up. So the answer lies in lowering that sucker. Which, up until a couple of weeks ago, seemed beyond my capabilities. However, after working for the last three weeks in the MMI chassis and suspension lab I think I have a pretty good idea of what to do now.



Just for laughs here is a quick, and blurry, peek into the chassis and suspension lab

Doing a swing arm lowering and front end drop would be easy there, but since we don't have time to work on our own projects there. Well, the only the left to do is use the apartment parking lot chassis lab.



Above is a view of our very fine Outdoor Chassis Lab

Battery Maitenance

Three things that kill batteries.

1) Improper Maitenance

2) Improper Setup

3) Vibration

While there is little one can do to prevent the third and the second is often out of our control number one, maintenance is the one thing we do have some control over.
One of the most common misconceptions is that simply riding your bike will keep the battery in a full state of charge. This is not necessarily true. Keep in mind that the charging system in the bike has a lot of chores to do other than charge the battery. Things like running the ignition system, the lights, the cappuccino maker etc. This often leaves only a little bit left over to actually keep the battery in a state of complete charge.



Above is an Old School or Standard Battery, Rarely seen in bikes today, but it shows the major components.

One of the things that can be observed from the above example is its six cell construction. Each cell, when properly charged will put out between 2.1 and 2.2 volts meaning that your average battery in a state of full charge will actually be sitting at about 13.2 volts. In a related issue the motorcycle charging system will be putting out more than the nominal 12 Volts to compensate.



Above is a more typical, modern motorcycle or Maintenance Free (MF) Battery

Although the above battery, and others like it, are technically maintenance free there still remains the issue of keeping the battery in a full state of charge in order to get maximum life, and therefore your monies worth out of it.

Keeping a battery strong shouldn't be too tough. A new battery should always be charged before use. And, an in-service battery needs to stay charged.

Keep it charged! You should never use a car charger for a motorcycle battery as it provides too much curreent. The proper charging current is approximately one-tenth of its capacity (see battery specifications chart above), or, about 400 to 600 milliamps for a motorcycle battery.

It is, however, possible to jump start a motorcycle from a car and vice-versa but you have to do it correctly.

To jump start a motorcycle from car use the following procedure.

1) Connect the batteries, positive to positive -negative to negative.

2) DO NOT start either vehicle.

3) Go have a smoke (If you don't smoke, start) Calm down, I am just kidding.

4) After about 15 minutes the bike should crank over. (UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES START THE CAR AT ANY POINT DURING THIS PROCESS) If the cars charging kicks in it will start killing components in the bike due the the cars much higher output of Amperage.


It is also possible to do the process in reverse.

1) Hook up both vehicles as outlined above.

2) Start and run the motorcycle, but NOT the car

3) Allow some time for the car battery to pick up some juice.

4) Then, and this is the important part, have someone else crank over the car and the INSTANT it cranks pull one of the cable. Because, as stated above, once the cars more powerful charging system kicks in it will start killing components in the bike.

Use a "floating" charger. Floating chargers shut down when a battery becomes fully charged and re-activate when the charge drops. Battery Tender makes several floating chargers. Many people purchase the Battery Tender Plus, but I recommend the Battery Tender Jr. because it's charging rate (0.75 amps) is much closer to the specified rate for motorcycle batteries.


Don't overcharge! A battery should always be charged, but overcharging beyond the battery's natural absorption rate will cause the electrolyte to break down and boil away. If you've ever left your bike on a trickle charger all winter only to find it dead in the spring then you know about this already. Trickle chargers continue to charge despite the battery's condition. Charging also corrodes the plates and connectors, so constant charging will cause premature failure.

Deep discharging will kill a battery as well. If a battery is discharged completely, some of the material inside drops off and falls to the bottom. This leaves less material behind to conduct the chemical reaction, and eventually it will short out your battery when enought material builds up around the bottom of the plates.



* Yuasa Battery, Inc.
* Exide Technologies (battery manufacturer)
* http://batterytender.com/

Those who know will tell you that a little extra care and feeding of your battery could up to quadruple its lifespan.

Diesel

Bikes the Run on Just About Anything...The Wave of the Future?



Kawasaki KLR650 Modified by Hayes Diesel Technologies

To try to predict the future...ahhh...now there is a concept! Those of us in the power sports industry would like to believe that our beloved two-wheeled machines are going to be a big part of the ongoing transportation revolution. Oddly enough, the good old U. S. Military may be helping us along in that direction

History




The Norton Motorcycle.

In the early 1950's Arthur Alexander Sidney developed a revolutionary high speed Diesel engine of 500cc capacity which was comprised mainly or Aluminium. Firstly to help prove the engine, secondly to simulate different loads upon it and thirdly to show it to potential customers he fitted it into a Norton motorcycle frame.
His son, Arthur Anthony Sidney joined him in 1956 at the workshop in Saltdean, Brighton, and together they tested the Diesel Motorcycle driving it as far a field as West Drayton, London where another engine had been fitted to a Dumper Truck owned by a company called Road Machines.
The bike produced 10-14 BHP at around 4000 RPM. It was possible to kick-start the machine with the valves lifted but on cold mornings it really needed to be pushed or towed behind a car.
Top speed was about 55 MPH using a standard Norton Gearbox and the engine had, as you'd expect, bags of torque. Getting over the hills outside Brighton was no problem but acceleration was relatively slow.
The large exposed flywheel could be dangerous at times but the very fact that it was exposed helped enormously when setting up the engines timing.

The Engine.

The engine itself was made from Aluminium to a: help dissipate the heat and b: save weight. Any loss of strength, considering the high compression ratio, was compensated for by the use of tensile steel rods which ran from the main bearings up to the cylinder head. The piston also carried a relief for the valve.
The combustion chamber was of the 'squirt type' being machined into the cast iron cylinder head. Fuel injection was by CAV pump with modified nozzle (to give optimum spray profile and combustion).
The crankshaft was pressure lubricated and ran in phosphor bronze plain bearings (a massive construction) and the cylinder block was lined.
Testing took place on a Heenan & Fronda water break Dynamometer. Only 4 engines were made and all parts were manufactured locally in the Brighton area. At one time Ford was interested in aquiring the patent but this was not followed up.



The Royal Enfield Taurus Greaves Diesel Motorcycle

I'm not sure which year Royal Enfield started to make their Diesel motorcycle but as the first major manufacturer to even take a step in this direction they deserve a mention on this page. Once available with either a 325cc or 436cc single cylinder 4 stoke Greaves engine these bikes are no longer in production according to the Official Royal Enfield website. Both versions of this bike have 12 volt electrics, 4 gears, 14.5 litre tanks and 18 to 1 compression ratios. This bike is no longer in production.



The Kawasaki KLR 584cc Diesel Motorcycle

The HDT-RMCS motorcycle is a collaborative venture between Hayes Diversified Technologies (HDT) of California and RMCS to develop a production diesel motorcycle. The engine was designed at RMCS and is being produced by HDT. Development has been undertaken jointly by HDT and RMCS. The bike uses a Kawasaki KLR 650 rolling chassis, modified for military use. Current status of the project is that pre-production bikes have been fully trialled and evaluated by the US Marine Corps. As a result of these trials, the USMC has now accepted the bike for service, and production is expected to commence next year. USMC currently has gasoline KLR650s in service and all these will ultimately be converted for the diesel engine. The UK MoD currently has several bikes under test, and other NATO armies, including France and Germany, have expressed serious interest. We are now looking at other applications, both motorcycle and non-motorcycle, for this engine technology. However, there are NO immediate plans to offer the motorcycle to civilian customers, as we are presently fully committed in satisfying military orders. It is possible that a civilian version of the bike will be made available eventually but this the cost would be about 20% up from a standard bike. For the forseeable future, while the Military are swallowing the cost of this machine, they are unlikely to want to see it sold cheaply to the general public.

Based on a Kawasaki KLR650 the 584cc engine is designed to run on either diesel or aviation kerosene. Some parts from the original engine, such as the generator, have been used on the new machine in order to save money but essentially this motorcycles engine is completely new. This makes this machine completely unique, it being the first purpose built diesel motorcycle engine ever built.





This D.E.R.A. / R.M.C.S Bike (above) produced in1995 has an Enfield Bullet crankcase (beefed up) and a specially made top end which boasts 4 valves! It is of 547cc and produces between 16-18 BHP. Diesel injector is a modified unit from a car while the gearbox has but 4 gears. Apparently the engines flywheel is lighter than you'd normally expect to find on a diesel. The bike clocks 156 MPG @ 40MPH and 184 MPG @ 30MPH. The engine is mounted in a frame supplied by Eric Cheney. This bike easily pulls away from 250cc petrol bikes on cross country runs according to test riders.

-----------------

July 18, 2005 The concept of a diesel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel motorcycle is not one that has occurred to a lot of people – at least not many have thought about it for long because despite a rich century of innovation in motorcycling, only a handful of diesel motorcycles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle have existed and until very recently, they have all been utility vehicles – bikes designed to get great economy on fuel of questionable quality in rugged and remote regions and said diesel two-wheelers had no performance pretensions. As we all know, diesel technology has come a long way in recent times and now the sans-sparkplug engine promises a renaissance thanks to its low emissions, good power output and low consumption ... and like so many aspects of technology, it was the muscle of the military dollar that brought the world's first modern production diesel motorcycle into being.

In the utility area of diesel motorcycles, one marque seems to have been synonymous with diesel motorcycles –Royal Enfield http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield – the marque manufactured diesel motorcycles both before and after its move from Britain to India, and as can be seen from this web page, people just seem to like the idea of shoehorning diesel engines into Enfield frames.

On top of that, one of the most utilitarian motorcycles of all time, the Russian Dnepr, is still offered with a HATZ-Diesel engine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_engine , and there is a small but enthusiastic group of diesel motorcycle enthusiasts who manufacture their own motorcycles using diesel engines of all types.

There’s also a strong following for the diesel motorcycle in Germany, some of which are producing impressive prototype motorcycles such as this Peugeot-engined Kawasaki. If you're interested in diesel motorcycles and developments in the area of diesel on two wheels, check out the DieselMotorcycles web site - a compendium of the very latest in the area.

Hayes Diversified Technologies (HDT) Kawasaki

But despite this strong groundswell of interest, there is currently only one modern production diesel motorcycle - a Kawasaki KLR650-based machine which is remanufactured with a diesel engine for military purposes in response to the new NATO requirements of "One battlefield fuel" with that one fuel being diesel. An initial order for 522 diesel motorcycles has already been placed by the US Marines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine and keen interest is being shown by the US Army http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army , the UK Ministry of Defence and other NATO forces.

A unique technology partnership between Cranfield University and California-based Hayes Diversified Technologies (HDT) created the bike – the first bike of any kind with a purpose-designed diesel power unit.

John Crocker worked alongside project leader Dr Stuart McGuigan of the Engineering Systems Department, Cranfield University at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire to design the diesel power unit.

The challenge was to come up with a low technical risk design that was sufficiently light and powerful, and with an engine speed (RPM) range wide enough to give the level of performance required for use as a tactical vehicle.

John said: “The motorcycle also had to meet strict NATO requirements for all armed forces to operate their entire inventory of vehicles and powered equipment on either diesel fuel or aviation grade kerosene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene .

“This capability has major logistic advantages in obviating the need to carry other fuels to battle. And their lower flammability, in comparison with petrol, also greatly reduces fire hazards.”

The engine configuration is a liquid cooled, normally aspirated, 584cc (36 cu in) double overhead cam single with four valves per cylinder. Diesel fuel supply is through a special Fuel Injection unit and single injector developed specifically for the task and the Kawasaki-based combat bike produces a respectable 28 bhp at 5500 rpm with meaty flat power delivery from 1500 and 7000 rpm.

Unlike its gas-guzzling counterpart, the engine has multi-fuel compatibility and can use commercial diesel (inc low sulfer fuel), NATO Military Spec Diesel Fuel, Bio-Diesel (B20 or B100), Aviation Kerosene including JP4, JP5, JP8, and AVTR and plain old Kerosene.

And it’s a real 28 horses too – the bike recently set the world’s first land speed record for a diesel fuelled motorcycle.

Fred Hayes, founder of HDT, who was in the saddle at the world famous Bonneville Salt Flats , Utah, said: “The event was marred by rain the previous week and by poor track conditions, which limited the top speeds due to soft, wet salt. The bike was officially timed by the AMA at 85.466mph, against our calculated top speed of 86mph with production gearing. The calculated speed was at sea level (4350ft) on hard pavement. We’re delighted with the result. If we’d had an option for gearing and more track time, we may have broken the 90mph barrier.”

Fred does not rule out that the motorcycle may be made available for the consumer market. “Although the motorcycle is about 20-30% more expensive than a comparative conventional motorcycle, there would be cost savings for riders and environmental benefits in that the diesel motorcycle can do 110 miles per gallon - a little over twice the range of a conventional motorcycle,” said Fred.

--------------------------



Production Version of Hayes Engine

Hayes Diversified Technologies M1030M1
M1030M1 - Diesel Military Motorcycle
M1030M1 - Diesel Military Motorcycle

After several years engine development at Cranfield University, the M1030M1 has entered service. It is produced by Hayes Diversified Technologies, and it based around a modified Kawasaki KLR650. Top speed is approximately 90 mph (145 km/h) and fuel consumption is advertised to be 96 mpg (US gal) at 55 mph (89 km/h). M1030M1s have successfully taken part at the British National Rally and the International Speed Trials in Bonneville.

The U.S. Marine Corps bought 440 of the M1030M1 model, under the name 'M1030M1 JP8/Diesel'. The M1030M1E AVTUR/Diesel Military motorcycle is sold to British and European NATO countries. A version made for the civilian market, the D650A1 "Bulldog," was originally slated for release in March 2006, but due to increased military demand for the M1030M1, production of the civilian Bulldog has been delayed indefinitely.

Busting the Octane Myth

When you think of Octane, what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you are anything like me you think of the proverbial "Tiger in the Tank." Well ladies and gents and other sentient beings, I am here to tell you that it just 'taint so.

Saving you the technical details, what the octane number is gas actually refers to is its "resistance" to explosion. Now trust me, this is a desirable thing. In high-compression engines there is a tendency for something called "detonation." Detonation is the spontaneous explosion of unburned fuel/air mixture after the actual spark event setting up a secondary shock wave inside the cylinder which slings the piston around in an undesirable manner causing knocking and ultimately damage to the edge of the piston crown and the rings.

A higher octane gas will explode more evenly combating this tendency. It will not, however, add any umph to your engine.

Removing Oil From Concrete

For those of you who follow Ghetto Garage you might remember a few posts back I related how a few weeks back I had my own minature Exxon Valdez disaster, which leaked significant amount of oil onto our small apartments even smaller patio.
Since then I have tried various methods to remover, or at least significantly reduce, the damage.

Here are some of the methods we have tried.

1) Dishwashing detergent and stiff plastic scrub brush. No Bueno.

2) Dollar Store spray on orange cleaner. No Bueno.

3) Plain old bleach. Had some effect, but mainly just spread the stain a little around the edges.

4) Carb Cleaner.



Above: my first test of the carb cleaner has had promising results.

Tomorrow I will continue the experiment and keep you posted.

BMWeerman...out....

U-Hauling Bikes

Couple of long overdue tips from the Ghetto Garage here.

Tip #1.

If you are going to tie down bikes in the back of a U-Haul or similar conveyance, PLEEAASE do a couple of things.

A) Take off any tall or non retractable windshields. The new Road Show Beemer had a beautiful after-market windshield on her, which was actually one of the reasons I did buy here, and it got trashed in the move from California to New Mexico.






Above, one of the few extant pictures of the Road Show Beemer with the windshield intact. There are no after photos because I just took the remains off threw them away and was too bummed out to even take a pic.

The picture and the caption above pretty much tell the story. You can see that she was torn down for a clutch replacement at the time, but you get the idea.

Point IS those floors are slippery and it is extremely easy to slide and get crossed up and have a little crash into the side of the truck.



B) Put the bikes in LAST! The Wrench Wench tried to warn me but NOOOOOOO.... Beemerman had to have it his way and put them in first. That is bad for a couple of reasons. Reason number one...see A) Reason number two, if you don't have to pack around the bikes then there is less likely hood of anything coming crashing down and breaking your freaking windwshield, or denting your tank or whatever...

Tip #2.

If you are going to be tying you bike down for hauling ...follow the link below and buy a set of these immediately!



'till next time....BMWeerman...out.....

Wrenching has been wrenching

It has been a while since I posted here, but certainly not from a lack of material. In fact, it has been exactly the opposite, too much has been going on on the wrenching front.

A whirlwind of activity started sometime last week when our next door nieghbors Corvette broke down. Long story short, from my understanding the steering columns on some 'vettes have a tendency to lock up and there is really no way to fix them except at a dealer. I was really suprised at this given that the owner is a graduate of UTI and a Toyota mechanic. Not just a Toyota mechanic though, he is pretty amazing with all cars and has saved us A TON of money on our little beat-up Saturn.



Tim, mechanic and grill-meister extraordinaire

After much debate and many phone calls, a team effort finally got AAA out and it took two rather impressive trucks to pull it out of the tight parking place, turn, it and eventually lift it onto a flat-bed. I am kicking myself for not shooting pix of the procedure.

In addition, over the last few days I have made some alarming discoveries regarding the rear-end of red. Most of this having to do with my state of mind at the time I reassembled her. Which was not good!

Most alarming of all was the slop in the swingarm bearings. I was able to do a Ghetto Garage style repair by removing the inside bearing journal (one of two large pins that holds the whole damn thing on) in its parking spot at the apartments. What is scary about that is I should not have been able to remove the journal without heating it because it should have been, and I thought it was, locktited in. Apparently not because I got it out by wrenching on the 30 mm locknut. Ironically the locknut and the threaded journal were locktited together so I had to take them out on the porch and heat them to get them apart.

Ultimately I got the thing back together the way it is supposed to be, although I think I overdid it with the red locktite stick...

A Rather Overdone Job

After wrenching on all of this I went into the pad to rest for a moment and ended up crashing. While crashed the New Mexico monsoon rains hit and when I got back out to the bike I found this....



The Beemers trunk box after being left open in the monsoon rain


So... the moral of the story is...

No rest while wrenching!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meeting With A Master

It has been an interesting few days. For reasons which are beyond the scope of this post let's just say the stress level has been through the roof. Since we are going to Roswell Tommorow the bike needs a little attention and there was also the issue of screening in our new micro-patio. What I am leading up to and the point being that I had to go to the hardware store for the first time here in Albuguerque. I was a little worried because I had a hard time finding metric hardware at anyplace but Budget Bolt in Bakersfield. I had heard though that ACE Hardware had a good selection.

Turns out that was a massive undersatement. They have some very impressive rows of hardware, including a section of chrome parts in locked drawers. Not my thing, but cool. I was barely able to comprehend what happened next-I was transported to Mayberry. Yep, in the hardware isle of ACE Hardware in Albuquerque, NM I met Ernest who I swear to God just stepped out of a time machine from somewhere in the great days of Americana.

I handed this guy a trim screw and asked him if he could match it. He took the screw from me and turned it over a few inches from his face and examined it thoughorly and SLOWLY. To say slowly is not even the right word it was as if two different planes of reality were running simultaneously. Mine, at warp drive and high stress, his at one third impulse and no stress.

So then this guy walks ever so slowly with a sort of odd meter gait to the measuring stick, finds the size of the screw, then again ever so slowly walks to where he thinks the most likely place to find the screws will be.

On my inner track of the world I am screaming inside, "can we just get on with this!"

This scenario replayed itself over and over again. It only dawned on me o the ride home that I had just been in presence of a true Zen Master.

(More to come on this post)

My Weirdest Wrenching Day Ever

Since our move to New Mexico a couple of weeks ago I have been delighted to hook up with some cool beemer people and more importantly the Survivors and these cats ride.

The reason I bring that up is because my bike needed some serious service and I no longer have a garage. Since we only have one assigned parking space here I have two bikes crowded into it and wrenching is frowned upon upon the apartment property I had a quandary.

Fortunately a new friend invited me over to his house to do a little wrenching, but it didn't work out.

So I decided to just go ahead and wrench in my little space and face the consequences.

So long story short, I go through the routine, valve clearances, etc, etc,.

Time to change the oil in the tranny and the engine...so I decide to do the right thing and go down to Auto Zone and bought one of those thingtymadoodabs that let you drain your oil and store it at the same time. OK, so far I am rockin'.

About this time, the wind kicks up to (and I am not making this up) about 50MPH which as I understand is typical for the area. Try as I might the freakin' oil is not entirely draining into the container, Dahmik! Nevertheless I continue one doing my best to shuck and jive and keep everything under control.

Oh Yeah, and I forgot to mention that the cat who has the parking space next to me has this Jeep with a really sensitive alarm that I kept setting off anytime I would come near it.

Bottom line, I got the service done and was quite proud of myself for prevailing
over such "obstacles."

So I get everything finished and locked down, started the bike and there was that sickening sound you get for an instant when the bike clanks with no oil in it for an instant and the oil pressure light comes on. Then that horrifying moment is over and all is well. Such was the case here, for a moment, then the light came back on and the clanking started again.

Look down and the damn oil filter had blown out.

Now keep in mind the wind has kicked up to 50MPH now making this all very surreal.

A couple of rolls of paper towels later the toxic mess was fairly under control.

Then we washed the parking pad down as best we could while the monsoon season weather continued to batter us.

Finally determined the cause of the blowout, it seems the old filter had left its rubber seal behind making my torque settings moot.

In the end everything got settled, but Geez......

Patching Tires-On The Road and For Real

Ok, I admit it. Much has been said over the last couple of years about being able to patch tires on the road; and yet have I ever done anything beyond give a cursory examination to the instructions on a bottle of all in one tire sealant, re-inflator stuff.

Well, as you may or may not know I recently purchased a cherry condition R1100R which actually has all the goodies it is supposed to have. Factory tire patch kit, full factory tool kit, owners manual. Wow! Cool and all that, but I have never had a flat tire on a motorcycle ever.

Well that is, of course, until a couple of days ago. A good friend of mine called me up and asked me to join him windsurfing at a local lake using his equipment. Perfect, the wrench wench and I could ride out there enjoy the new bike and enjoy showing it off.

Two blocks down the street and the bike is squirrely as all heckin the back end. We managed to pull over and it was then that it hit me that I really had no freakin' clue what to do about a situation like that in a crunch.


Heeeee Yaaaaa..........

So here ladies and gents and any other assorted sentient beings that might be reading this is the official BMW emergency tire patch kit.





Yeah...OK...so what am I supposed to do with all of that?

Oh, and dig this, here are the directions...

Mind you I put this on top of the keyboard just for a sense of perspective and there are 7 yes count em 7 languages represented...talk about hard to read.




So now you can watch the video and then report back for further instructions...yes there is a video there believe it or not. he he

OK so the Wrench Wench took off with the video camera so this is how the story ends told the old fashioned way.



So you take one of these little rubber circular things out of the condom-like packet.
Put some BMW blue gunk on it...then hook it on your hook thingy and stick it down in the leaky bit!!

Oddly enough, once you get some rubber stuck in there, you can take the three little compressed air canisters and attach them to the white adapter which also goes on the tire.



Warning, SCREW THE WHITE ADAPTER THINGY ONTO THE TIRE FIRST!! Once those little casisters get punctured they blow out an impressive amount of air.



After unloading the three available canisters there was, breifly, about 30 lbs of air in the tire. And temporary, emergency fix to be sure.

Next we will look at some other tire repair options.

BMWeerman...out

Road Show Journal

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The Dark Underbelly of the Ghetto Garage

This is what the Ghetto Garage looked like today....



I am not proud of it but thi is how it is - it is partially a function of my natural slovenlieness, partially due to the fact that we had had too many biked in for urgent surgery at the same time.

--------------------------------------------

Later now...and what I didn't say was that how much I hear my mothers critical voice in my head when I am wrenching. I fucking hate that.

Worksers comp and bad torque specsll

Of all the people I have had to deal with during this last year add half of stranges goindg on and odd recoveries, the one person I have been able to rely upon is Dr. Longwirth PH.d and clinicle psycholist. Someone that I have identified as Shark for his uncanalyabiliyt to cut through red tape. Even though I have been so mad at Dr. Memdoza I am grateful to him for turning me on to this guy.

The Ecstasy and the Agony

It always starts out something like the following...



Here is my buddy Randall starting to wrench on his pretty oilhead, oblivious to the destruction that lies ahead.

See how nice and clean the garage is...well

Oil Head Tool Kit

Here is an oil-head tool kit as packed at the factory






Here it is exploded

Spline Lubers Ball

Wisdom From The Ghetto Garage...

The four pillars of civilization are..

Duct Tape
Zip Ties
WD40
and...the magnet on a stick




More to come from the Spline Lubers Ball

Wrenching With Randall

It is interesting what "wrenching" brings out in people. For me it has always been inextricably linked to my self-esteem and has brought out in stark relief both my strengths and my flaws.

That, however, may be the stuff for another essay. The point of the day is that I got to pass on some of the knowledge I have rather painfully acquired over the last three years to my own student.



Here we have the airbox on Randall's bike with the filter removed showing the lovely crap that even lightly used bikes acquire in the lovely San Joaquin Valley


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What a nice pretty bike to take apart!



First step...remove seat



I'm so afraid!



Battery out next!

I have done this job serveral times before but alway on an RT...the RS provided some minor differences, but nothing really major.

The main thing was the footpeg plates. Very different.

There is also a starter cover which makes sense in the absence of a fairing.

Vindicated

From time to time the Ghetto Garage philosophy of "just making it work" has been criticized by certain parties. However, check out these "modifications" to Peter Lenz's Mini-MotoGP bike.

DMV

The California DMV is a notoriously Draconian place. Their power over your life is considerable since the privilege to drive is a life or death matter to most people.

Today I get to see if I can get permanent plates for the FrankenBeemer.

I really do not know about that one. Actually mechanically speaking she should be ok; except for the ABS brakes. Are the going to check on that? Hmmmmmm..I wonder.

BMWeerman's Ghetto Garage

Welcome to the Ghetto Garage.

This episode...Zen and the Art of the Frankenbeemer---making shims.

In Robert Persig's classic tale there is at one point a rather heated debate as to whether a much needed shim for a BMW motorcycle be manufactured from a beer can. The owner of said BMW motorcycle would have nothing to do with such a notion with the belief that nothing of the sort was worthy of his piece of Bavarian engineering.

We here at the Ghetto Garage believe differently. As long as it is safe and ahem.. relatively legal, why not.

In this case, after a front wheel change the ABS sensors on my R1100RT needed to be re-calibrated. The calibration is done with very thing aluminum or stainless shims. As it turns out after this wheel change we had to change the gap enough to where we did not have enough shims. Rather than waiting for BMW to send replacements we went ahead and manufactured them. All it took was patience and a steady hand.

In above picture you can see the hands of the lovely Wrench Wench using a factor shim as a template to cut out a new one from a Monster can. Rock on Wrench Wench!




Above you are seeing a BMW wheel with the ABS sensor detached. I need to get a better image in here so you can really see what is going on.