Jump to content

timgray

Expired Membership
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    816

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by timgray

  1. timgray
    First ride out this spring, 1 hour in a lady with a cigarette in one hand and a cellphone in the other swerves into my lane at me without looking. Luckily I installed a wolo airhorn and was ready for it. I swerved hard and layed on the horn, she freaked so badly that she dropped her cellphone out the window at me. I had the brakes locked up and I was on the centerline looking to dodge oncoming traffic as well, she came over fast and almost out of control. Me and the wife were unharmed and really shook up, she was mad that I made her drop her cellphone and was yelling at us at the next stoplight. My completely harmless wife who is a perfect churchgoing saint flipped up her helmet at the stoplight and flipped the lady her IQ. I was then smacked in the helmet on the way home every time I started laughing.
  2. timgray
    I would be concerned as to why it has no oil in it. It is not normal storage procedure to drain the oil.
  3. timgray
    Air up the tires, I do this a day before I want to ride. if your tire will crack it wont show up for about 24 hours. Then I inspect the tires for cracking and holding air. I then check lights, and other basic safety items. I then dont choke it and run the starter for about 4 revolutions without it even trying to start. I want some oil in the moving parts before it actually fires and stresses the internals. I then warm it up a bit and slowly drive to the gas station with a bottle of seafoam. I store the bike nearly empty with a 1/2 a bottle of seafoam in the gas and run it until I know it's in the carbs. I then go fill it with fresh gas and the other 1/2 bottle of seafoam and go for a ride running higher RPM's than normal. I want to get as much fresh gas+seafoam through the carbs as possible then go back home. Oil change after that along with a carb sync and fluids check. check brake fluids, etc.. If it's been 4-5 years then I flush the brake and clutch fluid and replace with new. Check brake pads, if they look like they will need replacing in 500 miles then I just replace them. check the rotors for abnormal wear. I also check over my helmets and gear at his time. look for any problems, if I find anything wrong then the helmet or gear is thrown away and replaced. This year was not so bad, the bike has been undergoing upgrades so I have been face to face with nearly every part for months now.
  4. timgray
    One thing that might be really good for this though is a "newbie" 101 class about ignition timing and what a timing map is and how it works. Cover basics about tuning the map (Although the map we have now is pretty darn good: my spirited ride today told me it's running better that it did with the stock TCI) and about timing in general. I'll start off... These describe it far better than I can about ignition timing... Yes it's a bout a car, but it's the same as out bikes... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm4OmiVH2J0]YouTube- Vintage VW Training Film - Ignition Timing Part 1[/ame] [nomedia=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIrA4iWkhbE]YouTube- Vintage VW Training Film - Ignition Timing Part 2[/nomedia] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbX-oC1WSbs]YouTube- Vintage VW Training Film - Ignition Timing II[/ame] First you can ignore the part about the points and dwell. I remember having to replace points and setting dwell, but electronic ignition has eliminated that. Those are the absolute basics of ignition timing. All engines run on that same principal from a Old Studebaker to the newest Ford GT supercar as well as our bikes and yes even harleys use good ol common ignition timing. Our bikes use a electronic "brain" to handle timing based on pulse signals coming from sensors that are attached to the crank. these tell the Ignition box where the pistons are. it can then adjust firing of the sparks based on RPM, and signals from the crank sensors. as the engine runs faster the ignition box adjusts the spark timing differently to try and keep the maximum efficiency and power. That is what you see in the spark timing "curve" spark advance versus engine rpm's.
  5. timgray
    no updates yet as I have not been able to get any test riding in to map out Vac at different throttle positions and loads. That info is needed before we can even start to think about building a spark map. I have the GM 1 BAR sensor in place on mine. It's really simple to install. the hard part was finding a good source for a vac line that is not too thick to run from the sensor to the sync port after the carbs.
  6. timgray
    First, DON'T get limewire. Most computers I have to fix from viruses were infected through limewire. AND downloading music from limewire is illegal in the USA. Many people that were sued by the RIAA were tracked through limewire. Stay far, far, away from limewire. Now, what you want to do is not really hard, it just takes software.... a commercial program I have used is http://www.imtoo.com/dvd-audio-ripper.html this works well. Problem is DVD's are not like CD's they are not seperated into tracks, you will get 1 long mp3 file that is the audio from the whole DVD. The above program will let you cut it into tracks. http://lifehacker.com/322151/rip-audio-from-a-dvd-to-mp3-with-free-dvd-mp3-ripper The above is a free version that is much more "finicky" and requires someone that is computer savvy. Sometimes it's not easy either, because some DVD makes put protections on DVD's to make them not work on a computer. if that is the case then you need to buy a program called ANYDVD to fix what the dvd company broke on their dvd to make your computer not want to read it. That is because companies like Disney and MGM think all people are thieves and want to put the DVD on the internet... Almost nobody wants to do that, most want to do what you want, to listen to the audio or watch the video on their own time in their own way. good luck!
  7. timgray
    I'm all fine for budget minded just give me a screen that is usable outdoors, I replace my car gps yearly... It's cheaper than buying the map upgrades.
  8. timgray
    My wife wanted to listen to something different that I do. so I picked up a Monster iEZClick remote for Ipod. This straps around her wrist/arm over her riding jacket and has huge rubber buttons. http://www.monstercable.com/images_350w_225h/computer/iEZClick_glam001.jpg She simply plugs her ipod into the mp3 input on the Scala Q2 and can easily change tracks from her wrist with gloves on. she is going to add velcro to her jacket so we can simply velcro the remote on. This is coming together very well. If she wants to listen to my music she switches to fm radio, if she wants to listen to hers she can switch away. Plus we can communicate on the intercom and she can make a phonecall and yack away on the back of the bike.... $240.00 for the Q2 multiset off of amazon.com. and the Monster remotes are $15.00 each. I spent more than that for my 1st gen radio system and headset cables. I'm thinking of selling my refurbished and complete 1st gen stereo+intercom cables
  9. timgray
    I need a set! put me down for 1!
  10. timgray
    Moving foreward.... Using a belkin tunecast as the transmitter, you can get far more signal out of them by doing the following modification..... http://sonic.net/~n7moe/BelkinMod.htm Hooking the GPS and ipod (or Sirius radio) to the mixer cable and then to the Belkin tunecast I now get a solid stereo signal on the headsets. I set the volume for the GPS to be 2X the volume of the music source so I can easily hear the instructions over the music. Mine will be a bit more powerful, as I have a 1 watt FM signal booster kit I found on ebay. I will be driving the FM antenna on the back of my 1st gen with a full watt so the entire riding group can listen to my radio station plus GPS directions if they want to. The Q2 also allows to do rider to rider communication. I can talk to a buddy on his bike within 500 feet of me. if he get's farther than that away then I simply call his cellphone with voice dial. Works suprisingly well on my nokia phone. What I need to do is find a way to power the fm transmitter from the bike. I dont want to keep track of batteries.
  11. timgray
    way overpriced. get a refurb older unit for less and have more features. "budget" means under $299.00 they need to get to that point.
  12. timgray
    I finally came up with a solution to having a fully modern setup for the bike. I did not want wires and I dont need CB. I do need to be ablet ot talk to the wife, take a cellphone call, and listen to music+GPS instructions. I landed on the Scala Rider Q2 multiset. for the helmets. $250. at most amazon.com retailers. This gives me headsets that will talk to my Phone and each other for intercom. bonus the wife can connect to her own phone and chat away on the back of the bike to whoever she wants to call without bugging me. I needed GPS and my ipod, wanting to stay wireless I came up with an idea. I need to mix 2 audio sources... so I need to make the following cable.... input 1 is the ipod, input 2 is the GPS. hook them to a FM transmitter for an ipod. Now set your volumes and you are almost all set. All I need to do is to set the scala Q2's to that FM channel and it's all done. Stereo sound, GPS alerts, Intercom and Cellphone. This allows me to use a cheap GPS, plus a cheap mp3 player or ipod with the wireless control on the handlebar. Far less than the cost of a used bluetooth GPS and near the price of a new set of headsets for the bike. Plus I get current technology instead of 1983 technology and best of all.... no wires for the wife to forget to disconnect and rip out a connector.
  13. timgray
    I was wondering if anyone installed heated grips for the passenger on the grab bars? is there any way of adding such a thing? when my wife and I ride colder days her hands get really cold and she ends up riding with snowmobile mittens, this eliminates her ability to grab anything. I figured that if I could give her a heated grip that would solve a lot of issues. Any ideas?
  14. timgray
    These bikes are incredibly cold blooded. it's 30 degrees out right now and if I were to go start mine it will take it at least 5 minutes before it would start to run right. even when it's 75 out it still took a minute for it to warm up enough to atomize the gasoline so it would run smooth at all throttle levels. also check the line going to the boost sensor for plugging.
  15. timgray
    Mobil 1 15W50 without friction modifiers. works great, no clutch slippage, transmission shifts smoother. you have to make sure you do not have any friction modifiers in the oil, those will make the clutch slip.
  16. timgray
    Home depot and other home shops have an adhesive foam rubber that works great for this, cut a piece and stick it to the top of the filter. replace it every time you replace the filter. one bag of this stuff will last about 30 air filters.
  17. timgray
    If you have the bike torn apart, get the upgraded stator and a FJR regulator. makes a HUGE difference in power output.
  18. timgray
    you need one for a 83-85 as condor says. Good luck getting one, it took me a year to find one in like new condition with all the mounting parts. If you buy one make sure you get the mounts, without them the backrest is useless.
  19. timgray
    Good luck. From my testing and fighting with TCI's for my 83 it seems that when a Diode fails it takes out another part of the TCI. I had no luck fixing a TCI that had a diode failure with new diodes. I just wish someone would find a schematic of these things.
  20. timgray
    That's my worry, we wont get a useable voltage out of it at 5V to run it. and I really do not want to risk having it fail and dump 12V into the Ingitech and frying the input. I'm abandoning the stock Yamaha sensor and will be using a GM one as even it was to fail cant dump more than 5V into the new TCI and therefore cant damage it. Now all we need is a few readings of what the vac is at the vac port with the engine running and at closed throttle, 1/4 throttle, and WOT. then a reading at highway cruise.
  21. timgray
    http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260367822392&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT Basically is this a even better version of the upgraded stator or is that all marketing hype and I should get the one from one of the sources listed here? I'm spoiling the bike now that I have a new job. I figure that if I have it apart, I might as well upgrade the stator as I am upgrading the Voltage Reg so I dont have to worry about it on the road this spring and summer...
  22. timgray
    We could use the stock Vac sensor except there is a possibility when it fails to dump 12V into the ingitech blowing out the sensor input. Anyone know if it will run off of 5V?
  23. timgray
    Most fleabay 83 TCI's are junk. I have several that I bought before going to the Ingitech.
  24. timgray
    I used to use FRS a lot with friends on my 83 with a stock radio and my custom wire that plugs into the CB port, but now I have a voice dial phone so I call his phone and we talk when I ride with my bluetooth helmet. I get about 6000 mile range from cellphone to cellphone. If you phone is bluetooth and has voice dial even the cheap Scala team rider setup works great. Although you don't get your music on it, which I can see some people not liking, but it's one of the cheapest setups for rider + passenger. Note: He has a iPhone and those phones are garbage for motorcycle helmet use. The Nokia phones work the best as well as the Motorola Razr. their voice dial works every single time with the bluetooth helmets. and yes there is stereo bluetooth. some of the higher end bluetooth helmets or helmet setups do the stereo audio from the phone or the GPS/XM radio http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/02/garmins-streetpilot-2820-gps-with-mp3-player-xm-and-bluetoot/ for example Look for A2DP bluetooth helmets or helmet adapters and A2DP capable Audio sources. My Nokia phone supports it so I can play the mp3's from it into my helmet and answer calls. If the Zumo 660 or other GPs that will link phone,gps,XM together has A2DP it will do stereo audio as well. Or do what one of my buddies does that thinks insanely loud pipes are cool so he wears earplugs that are also headphones. Bluetooth for intercom/phone, earplug headphones for music. On the other hand, Some of my most enjoyable rides are when I forget to bring thignsthat make the intercom work with my wife on the bike. a 200 mile ride with nothing but engine and wind to listen to and only taps on the shoulder and pointing at something is the only communication I get from the back seat.
  25. timgray
    I dont have access to their forum so I cant get that info. If anyone else does, please find it and post it here. But numbers from a vac pump are only 1/2 the information. I need to know what it puts out on a actual bike at the throttle positions with it running to get real engine operating conditions. If I could get vac numbers of the engine I can cross them with your numbers and get what I need as well.
×
×
  • Create New...