More bike trouble

July 4th at Cerrito Vista Park in El Cerrito went well.
We did a live broadcast over KECG FM (The station I helped build in HS)
We took a feed off the main mix board and fed it to the studio back haul transmitter.
I brought a portable 25ft radio tower to support the antenna back to the school and
we were ready.

We will do it again in Sept for the Solano Stroll in Albany.

The highlight was being reunited with some one Ive been searching for over 20 years.
Jim & his bro were a couple years behind me in primary school and in middle & HS
we were in the same scout troop.
We filled each other in on everything thats happened since 1980.
Turns out he married the sister of one of the co producers of the event 3 years ago.
He was backstage the last 2 years too but if he hadnt worn the McCAulay Foundry tshirt
I wouldnt have placed him.

Marin Double Century (200 mi) bike ride went well.
The Holstein Hundred is this weekend (100 Mi).
Things are busy.

This week I finished reinstalling the carbs in the bike.
I was about to connect the test fuel tank (Need to work on the main one) when I realized,
it had been so long since I test fired the engine, it was stuck.

ARGH!
This means I need to drop the engine and tear it down from the top down.
Its probably stuck piston rings.
Considering its age, the bottom end (crank shaft & bearings) need to be checked.
Im am NOT equipped to do a bottom end job.

Its time to quit screwing around and either get rid of it or hire an overhaul.
Its going to run me a couple grand, but being a classic, Im going to send it out.
Ill do that just as soon as I find a shop willing to do the job....
Most shops equipped to do engine lower end jobs are reluctant to take on a 30 yr old
bike engine. SIGH

Back in June I was dreading the smogging of the car. It didnt turn out so bad.
A year and a half ago, the engine was running very rough and I was unable to get the
car home.
I spent the night in the parking area of a gas station in Union City in temperatures
below 40f.
I was certain I was not running on all cylinders, but the mechanic was convinced I
needed a fuel pump and new fuel line.
I paid $150 for a pump I didnt need and he assured me it was running on all cyls.
He swore that a 4 cyl engine wont run at all if any cyl is out.
I got the car in to work (barely running) and when the traffic was clear,
I left early and made a run for my home mechanic.
Sure enough, I had a dead cyl.
That jerk in Union City by not checking that cyl caused me to log close to 200 mi
on an engine with a dead cyl.
That means I was pumping gas vapor down the exhaust and poisoning the cat converter.
After that you could smell that the car had a bad cat.
I had just replaced it for the previous smog ($400).
I wish there was a way to cause him trouble on his smog license because his stupidity
CAUSED MORE SMOG when his job is to eliminate it.

The previous smog turned up a dubious EGR valve that just barely passed.
Id been unable to find a replacement for it because I had no way to test a used one
and the parts houses kept shipping me one that wouldnt fit.
I also became aware of a possible exhaust leak.
I had a muffler shop replace the bad section of line, replace the cat.
While they were at it, they also welded a bar around the cat to make it harder to steal. Because I drove directly from the muffler shop to the smog shop, I hoped that a brand
new cat would cover for the EGR valve.
Something has happened in the egr valve, maybe crud got bounced loose.
That car got its cleanest smog in years and the smog shop says the EGR is now fine.

In the internal combustion world, I won some and I lost some.