Furbird

I don't think it's bent that far, but I will check that when I go back out again to fight with it.

Where to begin. First of all, this is on the dragbike, which has had at least 2 previous owners, been crashed, beat to hell and back, and now has parts off of probably 5 bikes to get it even close to acceptable for racing purposes. My problem is with the brakes though, so we'll narrow it to that. This bike had been delinked in the most assinine way I'd ever seen. Factory rear caliper and master cylinder setup, but the lines were two of almost identical length bolted directly to the master cylinder with a double length bolt, one going to the port that feeds piston 1 and three, and the second to the middle port. It works, doesn't leak, and bleeds out fine. So the rear is removed from this discussion. The front on the other hand was all kinds of screwed up. It only had a right side caliper on it and the main line from the master cylinder was about 3 inches too short, but that was ok for them because they had just lowered the forks in the triple tree 3 inches to make up for it. It was hell getting it on the trailer when I bought it, and that turned out to be the culprit. The main line dropped down to the port that feeds the first and third pistons. A shorter hose, approximately 4 inches in length was daisy chained from that line through another of those double length bolts to the second piston in the middle. There was no left side brake at all. Fortunately, I had a complete braking system off of a bird that I had gotten some time back that's been sitting on the shelf. I fabbed up a delinking bracket and used the original brake hose setup from the factory bird lines that has the two hard lines that drop down each fork leg to the calipers. The feed hose is plenty long to reach the master cylinder, so I assumed that it is the original line that actually feeds the front calipers on a factory bird. So at this point, I have all three pistons on the right side caliper fed with fluid, but only two on the left side caliper (the main ones, middle port is left open which is not a problem because it is still separated from the other two). I spent probably two hours the old school way trying to bleed the front, and the bitch just will not bleed. I can get pressure, and it locks the wheel up, but the lever is almost touching the grip. I went to Harbor Freight today and bought one of the Mityvac bleeders and spent another hour on it, making sure I got nothing but fluid out and it is all new fluid. It made it slightly (we're talking less than a 1/4 inch difference here) better, but it is nowhere near my still-linked setup on my street bird. You guys got any ideas? I'm thinking about pulling that daisy-chained hose off the right side caliper and just using the two main pistons on that side so that it replicates what I have on the left side. No fluid seeps out of the middle piston on the left side (remember I left that open) so it won't be of any concern. Short of that, I'm thinking I may have to rebuild or replace the master cylinder, because I really can't think of anything else to do. Is there some adjustment on it that I am not aware of (other than the lever adjustment, which is maxed out)? Suggestions?

I've sprayed them off on both my 99's. One of them had a fuel regulator fail and filled all 4 cylinders up with gas, two of them were above the throttle plates. So I figure whatever I sprayed on them was not near as bad as sitting in gas for a weekend. The other one was an outside, ragged-out stunt bike that had so much crud built up on them that you would have thought it was ridden with no airbox at all for 15,000 miles. Neither bike exhibits any issues from throttle body cleaning, so I would say don't worry about it.

Not too tight of a schedule, as long as I get them before March 12th (season starts the next week). PM'ing you now.

Pretty does not matter as they are going on the drag bike. Shoot me a PM with shipping estimate to 36618 and I can paypal you tomorrow.

I'm looking for the four inner fairing panels, gauge surrounds, I have no clue how else to explain it. The two pieces that go around the gauges and bolt in up top through the windscreen, and the two that go from the steering stem area around the sides of the tank and pop into the tank. It's for a 99, so I know the 97-2000 will work.

Plastic is cheaper, easier to mold, and does not heat soak like metals do. That's why most companies that make a cold air intake make it out of ABS or plastic and not metal, that way underhood heat does not soak in and increase air temperature like the nice, pretty, chrome ones do. Intake manifolds that do not have coolant running through them seem to hold up well on an engine and make for a more consistent air temperature going into the engine, which increases horsepower and fuel economy.

I know you're anger is at the situation, but don't take it out on the truck! Nearly everybody now uses aluminum radiators with crimped on plastic tanks. I don't know if you're aware of that, but from Kia to Mercedes you will find that same design. The radiator failing has nothing to do with the vehicle, it's whoever made the replacement radiator you put in. I'd put that frustration towards the radiator manufacturer. Go whoop ass on the guy at Autozone or wherever you bought it! You'll really be pissed when you have to put a fuel pump in it. It's about 3 times the cost of that radiator and probably twice as long as a radiator install. If it makes you feel any better, I have a 1998 Astro that has had to have a lot done to it in the last few years. Fuel pump Rearend A/C compressor, expansion valve, accumulator Thermostat Both window motors All shocks replaced Center link, pitman arm, idler arm, tie rod ends All of those were failures, not replaced due to maintenance. But, I only bought the thing for $500 to begin with, so go figure it would need that kind of work. I've also replaced the radiator and changed it over the electric fans, cold air intake, and a 200 amp alternator for the massive stereo system. I can put that sucker on the road and pull a trailer cross-country if I wanted to, even with the 280,000+ on the clock on the original engine and transmission. Dexcool kills parts and GM fuel pumps are vulnerable to overheating if you don't keep at least a 1/4 tank of gas in it. It's just one of those things. Kinda like Ford can't build V10's and Dodge can't build an automatic transmission. I'll take my chances with fuel pumps and radiators.

You're supposed to go back to front. I would suggest having a brake flush done, where they use a machine that sucks the fluid out. It eliminates air bubbles and also replaces all the fluid with new stuff. I had this done on my van and it made a world of difference just with the fluid swap.

Haven't heard anything back on PM, everything OK?

Slipons

Send me some pics of the Smuggler (although the bike shows a stock seat on it? Guess it's an additional part you picked up with it). Also, any update on the clear signals and taillight we discussed earlier?

First I've heard of this problem. My best suggestion (not trying to sound like an ass or anything) would be to avoid stations with 10% ethanol. I try to stay away from them, but it can be difficult. My dad absolutely will NOT run E10 in any of the garden equipment, but not because he's had any major issues. They just run better on real gasoline.

I know several people that have used these at my local track long term and never had a problem. The only issue I've heard of is legality. It forces you to go over 60" wheelbase on Birds and Busas, which takes you out of a lot of "streetbike" type races. The reason is that your rear axle cannot start until about an inch past where your current adjuster bolts are on your stock swingarm. That puts you at about 3.5-4" over stock chain adjustment range as a minimum. The bird is 58" stock wheelbase if I remember correctly, so you're at 62" approximately on the tight end. The breaks are 60, 64, and 68, with 68 being around Kent Stotz' bird range.

Didn't think of that. I have an air hammer and I'm pretty sure I have an attachment for it that will do the trick.

That does show me what I needed to know. The problem I'm having is that the pivot shaft will not come out of that collar. Looks like it's time to whip out the 10lb sledge and get to pounding on that pivot shaft. It must be seized in the collar.

Here is my post that is now in the useful links section of the board: Fuel Filter

OK, I'm removing the swingarm on the dragbird and this thing is being a major PITA. I made the spanner wrench out of a socket, so that nut is off. The left side nut is off. I made a 14mm allen out of a bolt, double nutted, interference thread nuts AND mushroomed the threads. It gets to a certain point (where that is I can't define because it won't come out) but basically there is about an inch of threads exposed on the right side of the bike (making that 14mm allen opening about flush with the side of the frame) and maybe a half inch of exposed thread on the left side (which means about 1/2 inch inside the opening on the frame). The first 14mm "tool" I made I was using a 3 foot cheater bar with a wrench and it broke the bolt. Upgraded to a grade 8.8 cylinder head bolt and it's rounding off the double nut. With the impact at 120ft/lbs of reverse threads it is pounding away so hard that it is actually RETHREADING THE DAMN BOLT where I mushroomed it. I've even tried the BFH method, and with a 5 pound sledge it's not budging either. I'm really at a loss at this point as there is no reason why the pivot shaft should not be coming out of the frame. Any ideas? I'm going to borrow a real 14mm allen socket from one of the guys at work tomorrow, and hose every exposed section of the swingarm at the pivot I can find with penetrating oil. Does anybody have a picture or a diagram of how this thing is supposed to be assembled? I have a manual, and there is not a picture of the pivot shaft at all. Is the threaded part where the spanner nut goes on a sleeve and the shaft goes through it, or is the actually outside diameter of the shaft threaded? What am I missing? I've looked here and on other bird and just general Honda sites, and everybody seems to be in agreement that it should take little effort to remove this shaft once the spanner nut and lock nut are off, but it just will NOT come out. I can jiggle the swingarm and watch the locknut side of the pivot shaft move, so it's got to be close. But 120 ft/lbs of reverse force and it won't come out has got me scratching my head. The Captain Obvious stuff isn't it either, spring/shock is out and rear wheel is off, no weight on the swingarm, blah blah.

If JB4XX backs out (which I highly doubt) let me know.

I would check the other end of your power and ground wires. My bike did this a couple of times, and when I regrounded both ends the problem went away. I have since upgraded to an additional ground and have never had another issue.

12 gauge would be more than enough for 100W of continuous usage, but I'm talking about spikes. 100W is only 8 amps at 12 volts, but a 12 volt car system actually runs from 13.5-14.5, so now you're talking more like 7 amps and the Nautilus pulls more than that by itself. Besides, you're not running GPS, heated grips, heated gear, and all that other stuff he's talking about off of 7-8 amps. You need to have a wire capable of a 30-40 amp spike, and with everything but the horn running would probably be closer to 10 amps continuous, which is going to put you at max electrical load, which will not charge the battery properly. In the winter, you are going to have charging issues with all that stuff on, because the heated gear is going to rob a lot of power (depending on how much gear we are talking about). I would suggest switching to an HID if you already haven't, and convert to LED turn signals and brake light bulbs. This will free up some power. But you are going to have to decide what of all that stuff is most important to you. If you run all that stuff at one time, you may end up with a situation where your battery never properly recharges and the bike might strand you. I'd cut down on some electrical accessories, or run them off of their own batteries. You might also consider an upgraded stator to provide you with the current you need.

With that much load, I would seriously look into 8 gauge or possibly even 4 gauge. 8 gauge should probably cover it, even if you had nearly everything running. The biggest problem would be if you laid on the Nautilus while the heaters were running, IMO. I would upgrade the negative cable at the battery to a 4 gauge regardless as to which route you go to eliminate any ground problems. I have a single 10 gauge running to the front of my bike solely for the Nautilus. I have twin positive and negative battery cables on my bike as well. I plan on adding heated gear this year, but the real reason for all that was for the strobes that I run during my Patriot Guard missions. No sense in having questionable electrical connections.

No sir, that was on a Shinko. The rider might weigh 135 soaking wet in full leathers. As a matter of fact, they've had to rework the shock several times to get it to hook because he's so skinny. It's been 4.60 on the local 600 foot track (shortened because they didn't have enough shutdown room).

It is definitely for show, unless you have some serious, and I mean SERIOUS horsepower. I think the longest you can run is 68" overall wheelbase and actually compete in a class, but you are talking about 450HP and up to need to have a bike that long. These guys you see running around on chrome wheels with $5,000 paint jobs on a 12 over swingarm more than likely run slower than your bone stock XX. It's all for show and to do burnouts to show off for the women. The only exception I've seen to this rule is a guy around here that, in all seriousness, ought to be riding professionally. He had a stock engine GSXR1000 with an 8 over swingarm that ran 5.60's all day long in the 1/8th (quicker on the juice). It looked like a limousine and still toted the front tire, but he was smoking nitrous Busas with it and ALWAYS took the money home on heads up races. He now has a turbo Busa, built by guys who run them professionally, and I have personally seen him make a 4.80 pass in the 1/8th and this bike is still street legal.

Hmm, too bad it's too SMALL for my big ass head!