Tell-On-Yourself Thread

While in the process of transplanting the rear suspension from a 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 250 into my Maxim, I was making great progress fitting and welding the brackets for the suspension linkage. Having fun with my MIG welder, I was buzzing along despite intending to only tack weld the brackets. :bike:

After 10 or 15 minutes of welding bliss, I decided to stop and remove the suspension as it was no longer required to hold the brackets in alignment. A bolt here, a bolt there and... And the bottom bolt won't come all the way out. :eek: I had the bolt installed from the left to the right side of the bike. But now that I have the bracket mostly welded in, I discover that the bolt hits the side stand mount on the frame well before it clears its bracket. :doh:

An hour or so of grinding off my welds had the bracket loose and the bolt free. Free for about an hour while I cleand up the mess I'd made. Then I installed it from the right side and got back to welding on that bracket. And people wonder why projects take so long... :banghead:
 
So yeah I back on this thread with another duh!Over the winter when I had my carbs apart I didnt notice that when I had the fuel bowls off that a gasket had stuck on the bottom side of the one of them.So I had 2 gaskets on 1 side and none on the other.This came back to haunt me as I have been fighting a taunting leak on carb #1 for the last week:shrug:.I finaly fixed the drain screw only to notice gas leaking around the sides.Baffled I checked the fuel inlet on the carb.Made sure both washers were in place and snugged it down,still leaking.:banghead::wtf:So I take the other bowl off from the other carb taaaduh!No gasket!Run around all over town trying t find one at a local parts house nobody has them in stock.Tomorrow or the next day going to test for leaks again!
 
I was making jetting changes in an effort to get rid of a higher RPM miss. I was keeping notes, making changes and test riding. One of the changes I thought I'd try was to change the needle height, raising them 1 notch. I moved the clips, reassembled the carbs, wrote down the changes and went for a test ride. The miss was worse. Had to be running rich at higher RPM. Off came the carbs and smaller main jets installed. Even worse miss. Back and forth I went, moving the miss to different RPM's but not eliminating it.

In frustration I decided to return the needles to stock height. I removed one needle and the clip was 1 notch higher than stock. :wtf: Open up the other carb and find the same thing! :wtf: I had raised the clip when I'd intended to lower it, thereby lowering the needles. It was a lean misfire, not a rich one! :banghead: I moved the clips 1 notch lower than stock (down 2 from where they were), and the misfire is gone!

That was an afternoon of frustration because of a momentary lapse... :doh:
 
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Last week i put the kick start spring in backwards so it went down instead of up.i realized after i filled it with oil.:doh:

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I was working on a cb 750 for a friend last summer. it was running horribly.i spent close to a month pulling carbs, checking spark plug gaps and checking timing and then realized two spark plug wires were flipped around.:wtf:

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Back when i was 14 years old or so. i was washing my uncles jeep and aunts car for a little job to make some money. i sprAyed them down with some cleaner i found in the garage and let them sit. then sprayed them of. after doing so i realized the paint was looking funny not good so i show my dad. he asked what cleaner i used so i show him. needless to say that's when i learned that very strong engine degreaser is not good for paint.:thumbsup:

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I got lucky the other day, last week, I was sitting in my basement, cleaning my carbs, I pulled the chock rod out, of the holes they stay in, I totally forgot about the spring and bearing. I seen a spring and I guess the bearing was launched. I seen the bearing hit the carpeting, and bounce, It landed in the spider web. As I was trying to follow it, It hit the web, and the spider that was home there, moved towards it like it could have been lunch. The other bearing took longer to find, I did find it. Tobie
 
Trying to fill the oil after a change having put the filter back on but not the drain plug. Was actually a car I did that too. Collection pan got 5 new quarts!

But BY FAR my funniest was an '82 Honda CB650, the floats would get stuck and it leaked gas, but then one day it caught fire! I jumped off and since I was working on it anyway I yanked the loose tank off and put it aside thinking to keep what was in it from catching, but ended up catching the garbage can on fire (it was at the curb cuz it was trash day), because I didn't turn the petcock off! But that isn't even what's funny...

I went for water to put it out (the flaming airbox), and the hose wasn't connected so I saw a bucket, I thought was full of rainwater, but turns out that was the top, the bottom half was full f dog crap my nephew had shoveled from the yard. Take about STANK! Not to mention the maggots inside and then having to hose the bike down. Later I tried to do a valve job on that bike and didn't do a new timing chain and got it a tooth off. Bye Bye Honda! That thing was cursed!
 
Not motorcycle related but. A few years ago Neighbors invited us over for a small bon fire in their back yard. As the night wore on and the alcohol ran endlessly I got the idea to get my spud gun. We went about fireing what ever we had around the neighborhood. When we ran out of things there was this ratty furry dog toy. For 1 last blast we'd add some flammable fluid to the fur. With the last little shot of hairspray in the breech we set about the task. With a slow soft fwomp (best description I can find) the toy was barely airborne. It landed on the next neighbor (Kevin's) new garage rolled down the roof leaving small flames as it went into the gutter and lighting the dry leaves on fire. Ryan the one neighbor ran to grab his garden hose turned it on and headed to the scene only to find his hose too short.(story of my life) Looked like a dog hitting the end of the leash at full stride. I grabbed the beer bucket and tossed the ice water to the gutter. The small fire went out with a couple more water buckets right before Kevin & his wife arrived back home to join us. Me Ryan and our wives had all we could do to NOT let on what happened. Trying hard as we could not to crack up over the previous events. A week or 2 later I was asked if I'd seen anything odd lately since there was a few small charred spots on Kevin's new garage roof and an old ratty charred dog toy in the gutter. Oh the times we've had.
 
God damn guys. I just did the stupidest thing I have seen on this thread yet. I was changing my oil and tried to take out the oil bolt. I checked my ratchet before putting it on the nut and I was sure it was in the loosen position. I was positive it was set to loosen, so I put pressure to it and it seemed like it budged right away and then stopped. I thought it was gunked up threads so I tapped a rubber mallet to the ratchet and I hear a little pop. OH SHIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!! Cracked my oil element cover into three pieces. Turns out my ratchet wasnt set to loosen and the tightening pressure cracked it.

And it gets worse. Turns out that the cover is a discontinued part from yamaha. I couldnt find it anywhere, and then I found a website that had it in stock. I ordered it and I get an email saying it is back ordered and they are waiting for yamaha to send it, and then my order gets refunded. Then after hours of searching I found one on ebay. Thank God, but I wasnt to happy about the $60 price tag. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

What can you do?
 
Weather here in the netherlands has been a bit warmer over the last week. This morning it was a bit cold again.

So this morning I get out the door, wearing motorcycle jacket, pants, shoes, helmet, gloves, the lot. I try starting my bike, and it wont. Just wont. Check the fuel level, killswitch, plugs, etc etc. Sometimes it ignites one stroke, but it just wont go on. After 25 minutes of trying and getting frustrated, I curse my bike and go back inside to change out of my gear. I go back outside and think I'll try once more. Then I realize, maybe I should use the starter choke.

1 push of the button. On.

Crap. Sitting there, no helmet, no gloves, no jacket, no good shoes, no pants. Late for work already.

turns out I got used to the warm weather already, and totally didn't expect it needed the choke anymore.

:doh:
 
Put my new exhaust on and rode 10 miles and was quite concerned with avdrop in performance. When I parked it I noticed I never let the choke off!
 
i cleaned a set of cl350 carbs was trying to fight darkness and try to get a small test ride. . put the carbs back on. hit the petcock and gas everywhere....... wtf? ,, oh hey theres a float sitting on the work bench. spent the rest of the evening trying to get the gas smell aired out.
 
forgetting a float? :thumbsup:

some time ago I went for a test ride with a new carb.
At the fist stop light the maschine reved up to 7000. I wondered a bit controlled the choke and turned in the throttle stop screw to 1400. Next stop light the same thing, 7000 revs. I wondered more because the setting can not have been so wrong and turned in the throttle stop screw some more. Next stop the same. I decided to drive home...

A friend found the problem. I forgot to install the spring on the stop screw:doh:
 
I just finished painting my tank. Need to wet sand and polish it... Right after I touch up the ding I put in it already!
I checking the plug gaps and my socket wrench slipped. I know better than to work on the bike with the tank on but it just looked so purty!

Even withy the newly acquired ding, I decided to take it for a little spin to check the other maintenance I'd done on it, gapping plugs, new mufflers, clean petcock.
I screw the gas cap on, bolt the tank down in the back and start filling it up only to hear gas pouring out of the petcock onto the garage floor. I forgot to hook up the gas line to the petcock.
 
forgetting a float? :thumbsup:

some time ago I went for a test ride with a new carb.
At the fist stop light the maschine reved up to 7000. I wondered a bit controlled the choke and turned in the throttle stop screw to 1400. Next stop light the same thing, 7000 revs. I wondered more because the setting can not have been so wrong and turned in the throttle stop screw some more. Next stop the same. I decided to drive home...

A friend found the problem. I forgot to install the spring on the stop screw:doh:
I had just gotten the engine back in our 71 Monte Carlo and went for a test drive. We jusr fifnshed rebuilding it with new bearings rings valve job mild cam etc. When we started down the road I noticed a lite tapping noise from the engine. As we got further along I knew I would be tinkering with the valves again since the new lifters & cam need to be broke in. Got home pulled the valve covers and I found it. That socket I had dropped while in such a hurry to button it up and go for a spin. Laying right along side the exhaust valve spring rattlein away happily and causeing only emberassment and a severe shot to my superior mechanical prowess. (that'll teach me to brag):banghead::banghead::doh:
 
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