Stuff I work on, a maintenance thread

Congrats on the new job 

how much for the bike ? 

just a swag here but if you have to turn the idle speed up to keep it running, ie the throttle blades are not closed, you're using more than just the idle circuit, which is why the needle affects it.  that's how it works on cars, anyway.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

That would support my thoughts then. I'm going to play with it again today and move the needle another notch leaner. 
 

Mr2: Thanks! I'm not sure on the price, it's my wife's money lol but if you're serious I can talk to her and get back to you. To be up front, we are trying to get as much out of it as we can. Everything is going back into the bikes. Budgets and all that

spandak said:

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

That would support my thoughts then. I'm going to play with it again today and move the needle another notch leaner. 
 

Mr2: Thanks! I'm not sure on the price, it's my wife's money lol but if you're serious I can talk to her and get back to you. To be up front, we are trying to get as much out of it as we can. Everything is going back into the bikes. Budgets and all that

If it is a rider, and clean condition, PM me, I am always looking to pick up bikes. If it needs work, ain't my cup of tea :) 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Then I'll stop you right there. It's a project in every area lol

I updated my CB175 thread and I don't really want to parrot it here so essentially, I think I'm close. Adjusting the air mixture screw lean about double the factory spec has it idling reliably. Take off is rough though and the bike likes to stall. I believe my next step will be a smaller low speed jet and retune and see where it ends up. 
 

In other news I bartered some brake work with a coworker and he made me this skid plate for me for the Subaru. 
 

It's 3/16 aluminum and stiff as. I haven't bolted it up yet but I'm hoping to get to it shortly. 
It's a little poser as I don't actually get out into the dirt that often and it's my better half's daily driver, but it's fun and the peace of mind is nice to have. 
 

Happy 4th everyone! Our country isn't perfect but I'm grateful for what we have and I hope we can all take a second today to think about that. I hope you can all see your families!

I keep forgetting about this thread

The last two weeks have been busy but nothing terribly interesting. I've been baby sitting my dads Mazda 6 to make sure it gets some use. It's been nice having a quiet commuter for a little bit. That has gotten some cleaning and conditioning but not much more. 
 

The Subaru got an oil change and some cleaning. I put in injector cleaner in the last tank and ran Subaru carbon clean and top end cleaner through the engine. That was a little scary as it kept stalling when I opened the vacuum hose to suck up the cleaner. After clearing the codes it seems to be a little smoother and it starts a little quicker. It's still in my head that I smashed a piston ring or something but until I notice a large change in performance I'm going to try and not worry about it. I'm keeping an eye on average mileage, that seems like a good indicator or engine health and whether or not the cleaner even did anything. I drive the car a little harder than the average Crosstrek owner so carbon might not be a big problem anyway. 
Im still floundering on the skid plate. I discovered the oil drain hole is on the wrong side and it needs some trimming around the exhaust to bolt up. I'm bummed about that and I'll need to talk to someone to get the hole cut, swapped and welded up. 

The Boxster started making a rattle noise in the front end at low speed. It's the same symptoms that the rear "tuning fork" control arms made when the ball joint loosened up. Since I'm cheap I pulled them and compressed the ball joint crimp a little more like I did in the rear and put them back in. It's a little hack but the arms are over $100 each and this doesn't seem to really have a downside. Whatever. I'm fine with it. 
Ive also been getting vibrations at 3k rpm which is supposed to a sign the front motor mount is bad. I was planning to swap that out last week and press in/out the bushing at work but the part didn't show up in time. FedEx got delayed. I'll be taking care of that this week. 
Oh and it also got an oil change and a once over. I'll need rear brakes in the next few months probably but everything else is surprisingly tight and in generally good condition for a car of this age. I'm quite grateful for that, hopefully it will put up with my shenanigans for some time. 
 

I have been casually chasing a floppy shifter for a while and narrowed it down to the linkage at the trans. The bar on the center of the photo seems to be the slight side to side looseness I feel. The shaft in the back (circled) has 1/4-1/2 in much of play in and out of the transmission. I don't think there's anything I can do about that which is a bummer, but it doesn't seem to inhibit function so I'm not really going to worry about it. 

I'm going to try and repair a broken mount on the windshield wiper trim panel as well. It's lifting up on the passenger side and driving me crazy. That's coming soon. 

The wife and I took it out to Malibu last week and got a sun burn from the drive. It's a fun little car 

I came across a quote from Seth on an old thread that I couldn't help but laugh at. I relate to it strongly. "What are we born for it not to balance our existence between the automotive tragedy and ecstasy of Porsche ownership?"

I couldn't have said it better. For me it's been the latter and I'm surprised by how good it's been so far! 
 

No time for the bikes lately but I'm starting to feel impatient. The 175 is top of the list to get going and get it gone. I need space for my next bike. Soon I hope. 
 

See? It's a maintenance thread. If you've bothered to follow along and read all of this, thank you, sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll try harder next time. 

Honestly neons suffer from the same balljoint issue and that's the fix per a SB to them also. 

Wrapped up the mount today. I had to make a run to Lowe's to grab a pipe to press the old bushing out. I thought I could find a socket at work but there wasn't anything big enough. A 2" section of pvc was enough to get it done. The press at work has about 3 inches of movement so I had to put this sketchy masterpiece together. 

But it did the job and out came the bushing. 
 

Pressing the new one in wasn't too clean. I ended up hacking the old bushing apart and using the ring to fully seat it. The end of the bushing got a little chewed up from an attempt to use a punch and a hammer... dumb. But it's not bad, should be fine. 
 

I got it all back in the car and wrapped up the oil change too. It was hot and I was focused and completely forgot to take pictures. 
 

I started it up to finish the oil change and was greeted with a high idle, about 2k rpm. Great. So I guess lowering the engine to get the mount bolts out broke something. I'm guessing a vacuum line or intake hose isn't where it supposed to be. I ran out of daylight so I'll have to check that later. Pretty bummed about that, I was hoping to take it to work tomorrow. 
 

So this week I'll need to find the reason for the high idle, get the 175 running well enough to get it posted on Craigslist and then get back to the Boxster to repair the windshield cowl. 
The 360 still needs an oil change and, well, everything else. And I'm hoping to get the Subaru skid plate on sometime soon too. 
Im sure by the time I finish these things I'll find something else that needs doing. 
 

In reply to spandak :

For the loose shifter linkages check out the upgrade from Function-First. I did the upgrade on my 987 before I sold it and improved the shift quality significantly. 

http://www.function-first.com/products/engine-trans/shifter-cable-ends

In reply to newold_m (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks for the suggestion! 
That would help the side to side movement but I can't do anything about the forward/backward movement. The shaft inside the transmission is where the play seems to be coming from. 
Having it solid in one direction and floppy in another might drive me more crazy

Started digging into the Boxster trying to figure out why it's idling high. 

I ended pulling off every panel and spraying the whole thing down with carb cleaner trying to find a leak. I MIGHT have found something. Under the drivers side intake manifold is a small...thing. It looks like a sensor and it has two vacuum lines going to it. I kinda got a response with the spray in that area. I ran out of time and couldn't dig in further but at least I have a direction. I'm not sure how this happened with a motor mount and oil change. I didn't lower the engine very far, juuuust far enough to pull the drivers side bolt. Weird. 
Note: Pulling the oil fill cap makes a huge difference so I take that to mean the oil fill line is okay and that the leak is in the intake side post throttle body. So that's where I'm looking. 
If anyone knows what that sensor is or anywhere else to check I'm all ears. 
 

edit: I make these posts on my phone so excuse grammar and spelling errors. My phone hates me. 

It fixed itself.... somehow. No codes, it's idling normal, I don't get it. 
It's not the first time it's done something like this either. 
I poked around for a bit, the vacuum lines all seem to be fine. I pulled the crossover pipe and found a little oil so I'll keep an eye on the AOS too. I don't have any smoke or oil consumption that I've seen yet so that's good news. I have records it was changed at some point too but I don't remember when off hand. 
Hopefully it stays that way. 
With the cars working well it's time to get back to the bikes. 

We sold the 175 last week. The new owner is really excited to fix it up and I'm glad it went to a good home. Easiest sale I've ever had!

The motor mount went fine but I needed to retorque the studs. I just hand tightened them and then torqued the nut. Looking back I think that was unnecessary. The bolt torque should equally tighten the stud too if I'm thinking about it correctly.

Now I've noticed a vibration in the back end under sharp hard turns on power. Think mid 2nd gear hairpins. I thought it was a problem with the motor mount but I think it's "axle hop" in the lateral direction. I had been looking at the Technobrace from Pedros site and coincidently this is a phenomenon he describes that apparently the bar eliminates. I ordered some aluminum off of eBay and I'll be using the mill at work to make my own brace. The material should be here this weekendish so hopefully I can get to that next week. 
 

Im happy to have my car back! This whole process took a few weeks and while I really like the Crosstrek as a commuter I was getting bored of it too. 

3 months... that went fast

But I havent stopped maintaining, just taking photos and posting. 

The Crosstrek is as it was. It rolled 40k miles recently and thats about all there is to report. Its needed nothing in that time, even the tires look new. Its truly an appliance and I fully recommend it to anyone looking for something like it. Thought maybe get the 2.5.. I would have if it was an option. 

Now that I think about it, there is a small clunk Im getting from the front right on certain bumps. Its not consistent but I notice it on angles when Im turning, like entering a driveway. Im guessing a swaybar end link but I havent gone looking. We'll get there. It needs a brake bleed too but Im not in a hurry on that one.

The Boxster has been running pretty well too. That dice roll has turned out to work in my favor, at least so far. Ive had it over a year now and put 8k miles on it, alot of them on windy back roads. It just rolled 90k miles in the last week or two.

 I signed up the Track Night in America last month and ran it as is. It did great! I was pleased and suprised that it not only survived but excelled. I didnt even kill my tires!

I put some part store pads on the back to pass tech but really it needs new pads and rotors in the back sometime soon. Rockauto has centrics and OE quality Brembo pads for ~$100 all in. Perfect. Probably gonna happen in the next few months. Im also chasing a minor coolant leak. I have suspencted the heater core has a leak for some time now but I havent pulled the cowl to check. It actually isnt a big deal on these cars to swap them out, the whole job can be done from the outside so at least that wont be a big deal should it need it. I pulled the cover panel under the coolant and oil caps and found evidence of the bleeder cap leaking and possibly the tank cap as well. I tightened the bleeder cap screws and replaced the tank cap with the latest revision. It seems the caps go bad often. $24 later and Im watching the level. It looks like its still dropping... Im going to play the long game though and top it off until I find a leak.

Im squirreling away some cash for tires ($700) and a clutch ($800 w/flywheel) since both are on the horizon. The clutch is original and im the 4th owner so my expectations are low. Im surprised its made it this far. This raises the inevitable question with this car, should I replace the IMS at the same time? Im debating the merits of it. $600 is alot for a part that shows no signs of failure but Im already in there and while Im not worried about it the next guy might be. I have no plans of selling the car but everything has its time. We'll see. My ethos for this car is to give it what it needs and take all I can while I can. The IMS fix doesn't quite fit that thinking.

The CB360 is still a work in progress. My wife is getting much more confident and really enjoying riding. Its been fun! We did a 50 mile loop yesterday with both bikes without issue. That feels like quite an achievement for these things. 

We are still moving down the maintenance list on Honda. It needs suspension work, a seat (badly), a chain, and some oil seals. Oh and the front brake rebuilt. It blew out its piston seal on a short ride a few months back. The front brake doesnt do much on these bikes to begin with but that wasnt fun. I cleaned up the caliper and put in a fresh seal to get us around. I have a rebuild kit sitting at home that we will install shortly.  Im also trying to find a clean way to shorten the kickstand. Honda put a ridiculously long kick stand on this bike. We have to bre really choosy where we park it or its going over. Its already tipped once... I have heard a rumor that the CB350 stand is a little shorter and bolts on. If anyone reading has a CB350 and can measure the kickstand for me (bolt hole to base) I would really appreciate it.

I also put on a H4 headlight with an LED bulb. How did people survive with sealed beams? My goodness, truly garbage.

We also found, rather suddenly, that high temp silicone doesnt stand up well to gas. The PO sealed the float bowls with copious amounts and a string of it ended up in the main jet abruptly ending my spirited ride to work. ..... ugh

Cleaned that up and put on proper gaskets. Cmon PO, you could have found $5. 

Well, thats done.

Now onto the latest purchase! (youve already seen it, poor editing on my part) I was on the hunt for something interesting after selling the FZ6 and not finding much. I tried a Monster 900 but quickly realized I am not talented or brave enough to own one of those. That would kill me in short order. I tried a BMW K75 too, it was okay. Kinda tall and awkward with uninspiring feel. Meh.

Enter Italy

This popped up for a price I could comfortably fit in my budget. I rode it, and within a block I knew I was taking it home. Im the 3rd owner for a somewhat rare 24k mile Guzzi. 1982 V50iii. The first owner put on V65 fairings, Monza mufflers and electronic ignition. The second owner just rode it and maintained it. Im going to take it back a little closer to stock but with an infusion of cafe. All of it will be reversible. Its worth noting too, since I feel a little bad, that its really not as nice as it looks cosmetically. Im not changing a grade 1 bike or anything. 

So far Ive pulled the side fairings and changed all of the fluids and plugs. Next is a valve adjustment, timing, and general upkeep. The suspension needs adjusting and those turn signals must go. The front fairing will be on its way as well, not quite my style. Oh and a brake hose. The front left hose has a bite taken out of the sheath. Thats going to happen over the next few months. My wife got me Guzziology for my birthday so Ill be going through that as well. I have a hunch some of the longevity mods have already been done but I wont know for sure until I lay eyes on everything myself. All coming soon...

Did you figure out the seat problem?  I bought fake GT3 seats from eBay that held up great for 7 years of daily driving (they're still in great shape) and they lower the seating position all the way to the floor (if you want to go that low). I love the seats and they're like $500 for the pair   .I few years ago I pulled them from my Boxster and put them in the 911, can't recommend them enough   

In reply to Box4VIR :

Wow I like those a lot

Not exactly. The rollbar has some very stiff padding so I know Porsche thought about it at least a little bit. Once I realized that I sort of let it go. It's not ideal but I'm living with it. 

I'm continuing the maintenance baseline/catch up on the Guzzi. Today I decided to tackle the valve adjustment. This was my first experience checking and adjusting valves and it really couldn't have been any easier. Between online resources and the Guzziology book I had both sides done in less than 2 hours. I took it slow and double checked everything as I went along. Having the valve covers hanging off the side was a huge bonus. Like I said, it couldn't have been easier. 
 

Before starting I had a suspicion I wasn't going to be happy with where I found them. The right side cylinder head had a loud "tink tink" noise and the left side did not. So something needed adjustment. I found the intake valve on that side was quite loose and the exhaust valve was way too tight. On the other side both were a little tight. I set them to the revised service manual specs: .006 for the intake and .008 for the exhaust. Not both sides are happy tappy and so am I. 

Now for the bad, the rear brake reservoir hose has split and is leaking. Boo

The hose is soft and slightly too large so I found the rear reservoir empty and the master cylinder wet a couple weeks back. I zip tied the hose down and refilled it. I think the zip tie cut the hose. Whoops. I'll have to find a new one. Good thing I didn't take it in to work on Thursday like I had planned!

Next weekend I'll be removing the fairing and making some other small tweaks. Hopefully I'll have an update that's good news. 

The Porsche has developed an inconsistent water leak. I'm topping up the coolant take every couple of weeks. The trunk feels dry and I haven't found any drips yet but I also haven't really gone looking. I replaced the coolant cap hoping that would be the solve. It helped but it hasn't fixed the problem. It seems to stay at the same level for a week or two and then in a single trip I'll notice the level drop. Odd. 

Just read through part of this... if you'd like I can cut and shorten and resell your kickstand on the cb. 
 

also your adventure with the press from months ago: you can raise the platform easily which would have reduced or eliminated the spacers you employed!