Sorry guys and gals, I am trying to make a concerted effort to check in. I thought I was going to be slowing down but no such luck.
Karen, it is not the trailer that is the issue it is that I have no where to put the trike just yet. I have been battling a coolant leak on the Valk. I changed the thermostat as I was getting intermittent high temperatures so I figured after 20 years, it was probably due to be change. That was my first mistake.
Since then I have had a small coolant leak. Figured that when I changed the thermostat I disturbed the coolant pipes from the thermostat to the heads. Those o-rings are 20 years old and through thousands of heating/cooling cycles. So I pulled the heads and changed the o-rings. It was easier to pull the heads than pull the airbox and carbs. The second mistake.
I put the heads on and fired up the bike and something was amis. A compression check showed no compression in the #1 cylinder. Off came the right head and I found the the boy's help that the intake value was not quite seating. It seems that when I put the head in, I did not back out the valve adjust quite enough and when I turned the cam to lign up the cam with the crank, I must have bent the valve stem.
So looking at parts which doing all the valves over (no sense in doing just one) was at about $750 I decide to just get a used head from pinwall. Installed the head and all good. Until the coolant leak showed up again.
So I broke down and pulled the airbox and the carbs and the deflector over the the thermostat. And pressurized the system an see a leak from the thermostat. Checked that and finally found that the thermostat came with a bad gasket. Pulled one from the other bike that is in a million pieces in the garage (another boy story) and put that in. No leak from the thermostat but now a leak from the coolant pipes into the thermostat. So I had ordered the orings for that and they were in stock in the shelves, to I changd those. Pressurized the system and no coolant leak. Finally!
Then life gets in the way and it is taking me a while to get the carbs all back in. Today the cable for the audiovox cruise control breaks. They don't make that anymore so I am trying to get a custom cable made.
Yesterday the boy and I went to Kentucky (La Grange) to pick up a frame for a race buggy that he wants to build. 25 hours road trip. He was using my truck and I wanted it to be not in a mangled condition so I went along to make sure that there was no sleeping and driving going on.
So all of these things have gotten me behind in getting $hit cleaned up in the garage so that I can get the trike in. I have a brand new 56" tool box that I moving all of the tools to and need to just do that an throw some $hit out.
Working at iDevices has been interesting. A few months ago the project I was working on was cancelled. So all of a sudden there was about 25 engineers with nothing to do. It was the right decision to cancel the projet as though technically it would work, it was way over budget. And a year and a half in development when it should have taken about 6 months.
So I was in a bit of depression I think as I had left my old job and now I had nothing to do in my new job. But i have found my way here and found my voice and my leadership and my "frankly I don't give a $hit attitude on speaking my mind" again when I see $hit being done wrong.
So work is okay again. The lunches and the beer were always great. But I am putting in quite a few hours again and have 2 hours a day travle.
I am also working for my old company as a consultant as they are lost. Seriously lost. So 15 to 20 hours a week I am doing work for them. But that does not leave much time when I leave for my day job at about 6:30-6:45 and get home 6:30-7:00 and then work for another 3-4 hours with my old job.
So that is where I have been. Don't see it letting up until sometime in July. Although I have unlimited vacation, I have to put in a week in advance for a day off, a month in advance for a week off, and 3 months in advance for more than one week of in a row. Not that there is a policy and procedure manual that they point at to let new employees know.
I have been listening to some country music and after a few coctails, this song comes on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB8Nkn3Xjesand I am pretty close to just doing that. Putting my toes in the water and my $ss in the sand.
So just for the disclaimer, this it the first real "mistake" I made with the Valk over the years. Costing me a bunch of time that I don't have.
So once i have the tools moved over to the new box and throw a bunch of $hit away, I will have room for the trike. That is really what is holding me up. The work on it will be less than a weekend to get everything done correctly. My neighbor just bought a nice trailer and I told him "I'm borrowing that" so transportation is a non-issue.
So bear with me on this
