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What did you do in the garage today?

So you thought I was finished. My 2012 Strom has been leaking oil again. Seems like the same leak I fixed before (sprocket shaft and clutch shaft seals) and of course that wasn't it. So I put it on the lift and took a look. The oil pattern was a little different but came running down the lower shield and the drip looked the same. So I got to looking around and behold, the fat monkey (that would be me, Pee Paw) didn't get the front valve cover gasket in there right when I did the valve checks on the bike. So I took it all apart, put the gasket back it, ran it for 40 minutes and so far no leak. I had oil on the exhaust, so I ran her long enough to burn all of that off. So, hopefully, I fixed it this time. I also ordered a new gasket or two since I am sure this could happen again.

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Looks better when she is in the groove
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Typing up a therapy style self help story here... I'm working 12 hour days in the "garage", cleaning, organizing, and preparing to remodel it into our main house to live in. I'm posting regularly to remind myself of the trials of having too many bikes, too much stuff, too much baggage, and a mild hoarding style personality. This is kind of a log of what I need to do to sell off my stupid decisions of past years, haha. In the last 72 hrs I got a lot done:

96' Nighthawk 250 welded the tail light bracket back on my cafe racer. Have everything working 100% except top end jetting. Considering ditching the cool guy look of the pod filter and installing the factory Honda airbox and calling it a day. Need to lace the front spare hub to a 16" rim and mount tire. Matching 16's will make it look long and low. But I need a spoke kit. Can I cut old spokes down and re-thread?

12' S1000RR rode a hot neighborhood lap, Yee ha!!! Changed oil and filter. BMW did this right. No repairs to date, 3200 miles.

12' CBR1000RR. Haven't ridden it for a fat minute. Battery took a dive in the last 6 months, bummer. Warmed it up and took it for a couple circuits of the neighborhood to move gas thru it. So smooth. Ordered battery. Cried at the absolutely perfect bodywork nicely crash tested by Sid on 3 panels at Mextrek - The Rundown a few years ago, going knee nearly down over topes. Topes win. Ordered Honda touch up paint on ebay.

15' CBR500R. Warmed up, shut off. Lubed chain. Set PSI to 32 for highway. Honda!!!!!

08' CBR1000RR race bike...battery charged and ran around the hood. Needs exhaust leak at the manifold fixed. 18,000 mostly track miles and she's still purring great on her 4th oil change (one per 5,000 miles). Reminder, install fancy TBR full pipe on this old ugly beast.

08' KTM 450 XCRW started without issues. Same battery for 5 years now. Same carb clean as 5 years ago. 250 hrs without mechanical issues of any kind, other than one top end refresh and oil changes. What a great, reliable, kick butt 95 MPH enduro. Too bad its only comfortable for 2 or 3 hours in the saddle.

04' DR650 Fired up in anticipation of Uncle's and MexTrek in April. Reminded myself that, once again, I left the parts motor at Everett's in Houston and have no easy way to repair the failed 2nd gear now. Rebuild carb, cleaned petcock, charged battery. Still running rich from previous owner. Time to order a new air filter and take carb off again and figure out what jetting it has versus what is should have.

09' Ducati has been sitting for 12 or 18 months. Fired it up and it will only idle for 4 -5 seconds. Sadly, I think the fuel pump is the issue. I guess I better call Charles Schwab and see about retirement funds. Did I mention it is a Ducati, lol. Ordered a battery.

85' Honda Spree 50 for 20 miles looking at investment properties in N Phoenix. Took it over a sweet jump (has knobbies)

06 gsxr race - dead fuel pump, won't start, needs extra fuel pump installed, fluids, and fresh race glass

08 gsxr race - warmed up, shut off, needs fluids, fresh race glass

03' CRF230F - pulled out parts buckets and sorted everything in order on work bench to finish project.

and those I didn't get to...

03' CRF150 / 230F - mused about mounting up a set of 12" YSR 50 wheels with Grom sized knobbies and putting it all together for a pint sized "ladies" enduro bike.

01 WR426 - needs carb rebuild and fuel tank flush

00 WR426 - needs carb rebuild and fuel tank flush and output shaft seal,

05 XR250R - needs assembly after new Acerbis tank and new seat cover

Monkey - Install uni pod filter

Italika 125/200 - need to install grips

Aprilia RS1000V - part out this wrecked behomoth on ebay, lol

Used Christmas light 2-strand wire and plug and play female plug clips (aka Embra's to my latino friends) to make a custom 110v wire that stretches across all the bikes and has a receptacle to plug a charger in front of each and every bike. Next step, visit harbor freight, to buy 8 or 10 more battery chargers.

Hung up "Edison Lights" in workshop to replace energy intensive 8 foot shop lights. I love it, 100 points of warm white light illuminate every inch of every project. Then I demolished my workshop kitchen and storage shelves and relocated my key rack to a blank wall. Now have all keys color coded, in order of vehicle parking order, which is in the order I intend to sell down the junk I've collected.

This life overhaul is long overdue. My next updates will have pictures...
 
Got a good start on installing heated grips on my FZ 07, red wire is power wire picked up from front running light, the ground will be on the frame in front of the voltage regulator.
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well before breaking out my blasphemous chain saw and doing some tree trimming I tested out the new tire pressure sensor system, I was a bit worried at how well the temperature function would work with the valve cap external sensors, and I was right. the rear sensor showed a bit of a increase and the front sensor actually did a very good job showing the ambient air temperature while riding.
 
Any advice on heat shield tape? Which brand, where to purchase? It needs to stick to plastic.

My husky 701 exhaust melted the factory rear blinker so new, smaller blinkers are on the way. They weren’t cheap so I’d like to protect the new one from the same fate since it will be mounted in the same location. (Hopefully the smaller size will clear the exhaust, but don’t want to chance it)
 
They weren’t cheap so I’d like to protect the new one from the same fate since it will be mounted in the same location. (Hopefully the smaller size will clear the exhaust, but don’t want to chance it)
Can you post a link the the units you purchased? TIA
 
So you thought I was finished. My 2012 Strom has been leaking oil again. Seems like the same leak I fixed before (sprocket shaft and clutch shaft seals) and of course that wasn't it. So I put it on the lift and took a look. The oil pattern was a little different but came running down the lower shield and the drip looked the same. So I got to looking around and behold, the fat monkey (that would be me, Pee Paw) didn't get the front valve cover gasket in there right when I did the valve checks on the bike. So I took it all apart, put the gasket back it, ran it for 40 minutes and so far no leak. I had oil on the exhaust, so I ran her long enough to burn all of that off. So, hopefully, I fixed it this time. I also ordered a new gasket or two since I am sure this could happen again.

View attachment 252821

View attachment 252822

Looks better when she is in the grooveView attachment 252823
Been there done that. Sucks to have to re do a job.
 
Finished install on heated grips on FZ 07, they work fine, and they are not intrusive or ugly.
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Still leaking, I guess it is either the stator cover gasket, the shifter or the gear position doo dad. It is blinking neutral at odd times, so maybe it is there. Running out of places to fix. Hopefully we will get her done soon.
 

Looks like very nice units. Did you just buy the stock unit, or did you need the diode and/or flash unit? Does your dash light still flash? I really don't want to lose that capability as I've been known to go down the road a ways with my turn signal still going. :headbang:
 
Looks like very nice units. Did you just buy the stock unit, or did you need the diode and/or flash unit? Does your dash light still flash? I really don't want to lose that capability as I've been known to go down the road a ways with my turn signal still going. :headbang:

haven’t got the delivery yet, but according to the site it comes with everything . I’ll be sure and give a brief review. First I need to find some heat shield tape to protect them.

I also ordered the SAS delete kit which apparently does nothing for performance but takes 2.5 lbs off the bike.
 
What's this for? Easier cleaning or preventing buildup during the race?
Both. Slick fenders wont hold mud as much. Atleast so I've been told. Raine a good bit around bastrop so just trying to prepare

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Still leaking, I guess it is either the stator cover gasket, the shifter or the gear position doo dad. It is blinking neutral at odd times, so maybe it is there. Running out of places to fix. Hopefully we will get her done soon.
Sounds like it’s time to clean it all off. Add floral die to the oil and watch it with a black light.
 
Both. Slick fenders wont hold mud as much. Atleast so I've been told. Raine a good bit around bastrop so just trying to prepare

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Pledge, Pam cooking spray, Armor All any of these work great for keeping the plastics slick for a while.
 
Pledge, Pam cooking spray, Armor All any of these work great for keeping the plastics slick for a while.

Learning new stuff all the time. Just last weekend I was struggling to get some baked on mud off the underside of my fenders. This ought to help a bit.
 
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