Uh oh...
#21
09-26-2006, 06:48 AM
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Roswell, NM
Posts: 5,432
RE: Uh oh...
ORIGINAL: FuryofGreen
thats a beautiful ride. congratz man, i hope it works out, shes gorgeous!
thats a beautiful ride. congratz man, i hope it works out, shes gorgeous!
awesome!!
#23
09-26-2006, 05:46 PM
RE: Uh oh...
You want to try that again in engrish?
I think you were asking about the hoopty in the garage. I'm cool with that. While I wouldn't shoot it purple, I can appreciate a guy who has a hoopty ride. I myself have a 92 Continental that is my hoopty car. Of course it is no longer a daily driver... but when I want to roll up in something that looks sharp and classy... I break out the Conti...
I think you were asking about the hoopty in the garage. I'm cool with that. While I wouldn't shoot it purple, I can appreciate a guy who has a hoopty ride. I myself have a 92 Continental that is my hoopty car. Of course it is no longer a daily driver... but when I want to roll up in something that looks sharp and classy... I break out the Conti...
#27
09-29-2006, 05:45 PM
RE: Uh oh...
Truck - check
Trailer - check
Straps - check
Directions - check
Money - check
Everything is in order... after work I am heading to Lansing...
I'm on the edge of my seat here...... so anxious I could **** myself. Been bouncing off the walls all week (thank god for Zoloft! Imagine how I would have been without it! hahahaha).
Picked up the truck last night. One guy at work showed up with his trailer this morning... of course the rails will only fit a 155... so a 2x4 in the rail will have to take care of the rear. Another guy brought his Reese bar and ball. A third guy brought straps. Hooking it all up after lunch... woo hoo. Less than 23 hours to go. Heading to Lansing after work, then first thing in the morning heading to Detroit. Wish me luck, kids.
Trailer - check
Straps - check
Directions - check
Money - check
Everything is in order... after work I am heading to Lansing...
I'm on the edge of my seat here...... so anxious I could **** myself. Been bouncing off the walls all week (thank god for Zoloft! Imagine how I would have been without it! hahahaha).
Picked up the truck last night. One guy at work showed up with his trailer this morning... of course the rails will only fit a 155... so a 2x4 in the rail will have to take care of the rear. Another guy brought his Reese bar and ball. A third guy brought straps. Hooking it all up after lunch... woo hoo. Less than 23 hours to go. Heading to Lansing after work, then first thing in the morning heading to Detroit. Wish me luck, kids.
#30
10-01-2006, 05:31 AM
RE: Uh oh...
Ok... here goes...
Leave work early on Friday, find out my buddy is going to be waaaay late. We end up leaving his house just a few minutes before 5pm, and the only way to get south of Chicago from where we are so we can go under Lake Michigan is to go THROUGH Chicago. Yes, at 5pm. Between the parking lot on Lake Shore Drive and the morons on the Chicago Skyway tollroad, we didn't get to the other side of Gary until almost 8pm Then we get halfway between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo and traffic locks up cold. After half an hour of sitting there, I talk to one of the truckers and he says there is a 5 car accident about a mile up the road.
A half hour later, we finally get moving, and the rest of the trip to Lansing is un-eventful. We stay with an old college friend who is there. We spend the night, my travel partner fending off allergies from cat and dog. We get up at O-dark thirty, which is an hour earlier than it is in Chicago, and we hit the road. We got there about 840am and the guy brings us to the garage and un-covers the beautiful bike. Not a spot of rust, not a lick of dirt. The white thread-lock on the rear sprocket is still a bright, clean white.
Hook up the battery - dead. I guessed this would be the case, and was expecting it actually. He hooks up a charger, and while letting it charge I start inspecting more things around the bike. The front tire is low and there is no coolant in the tank. Try to get it started several times, it cranks, sputters briefly, then dies. He says he hasn't started it in months. We let it charge again, and it becomes clear to me that the battery isn't really holding a good charge. While waiting for another round of charging, I open the oil fill and take a closer look at the condition of things inside. I find some oil and get a fingertip-sample. Looks just a bit milky and feels a little thin. I take a sniff and I smell gasoline.
Crank it some more, finally get it started and running... let it warm up while choked, running at about 3k. Oil is flowing good in the window. Radiator fan kicks on about 5 or 6 minutes into running and the tank fills up less than 1/4 way. Cooland looks good however. Temps stay normal, starts running less rough, but still a little bit. Finally keep it running with choke off after adjusting the idle a bit.
I do incremental revs... seems just a bit sluggish in zipping up to about 8k, so I started holding it at 1k increments. Starting at 6k it started running strange... not mis-firing, but almost as if the timing were off at the higher RPM. The fuel tank was low and attributed it to bad gas. Went and got 5 gals of fresh premium and a can of HEET. Dumped both in there and got it started again after shaking things up. Let it run about 10 minutes before resuming rev check.
Started running a little bit smoother, but still not perfect. Told him I wanted to take it around the block and put it under load to see if it bucked and complained in that rev range. Mounted the bike, started walking it backwards, put it in gear to walk it forwards and turn it out of the garage. Letting the clutch out did result in forward motion, but I could tell right away it wasn't enough. I rolled it back and turned again and got it lined up straight for the driveway and let out the clutch, leaving it idle. It moved forward - ever so slowly. I reve it a tad, carries the same forward motion.
I stop the bike, hold in the front brake and let out the clutch. Bike doesn't die, keeps idling. I release the brake, place both feet on the ground, grab the bars hard, and slowly rev it to about 4k with it in gear and the clutch out. It surges forward EVER so gently, and I re-tighten my legs to hold it in place. Plates never engage.
Shut it off right there, tell him his clutch is shot on top of everything else and my buddy and I head towards the truck to leave.
I was so pissed all I could do was laugh for the first hour heading back to Chicago from Detroit. Keep in mind this guy even went so far almost a week ago saying the trailer was not necessary, it was ready to ride "to florida and back". He hadn't started it in months.
I pulled multiple resources together to make this happen... borrowed a truck from one friend, a trailer from a co-worker, and a reese hitch from yet another. People in this forum helped me to validate the VIN and this guy's name. A good friend of mine went with me and even footed the gas for a truck pulling a 3-place bike trailer.
All this **** and all the guy had to do was go outside the night before, charge it, start it, and try to take it around the block and email or call me and tell me not to come out.
Hope that ZX9 is still available...
I love wasting my time, money, and that of my friends.
*goes to bed pissed and with a very sore back from a rough riding truck with a badly shaped seat*
Leave work early on Friday, find out my buddy is going to be waaaay late. We end up leaving his house just a few minutes before 5pm, and the only way to get south of Chicago from where we are so we can go under Lake Michigan is to go THROUGH Chicago. Yes, at 5pm. Between the parking lot on Lake Shore Drive and the morons on the Chicago Skyway tollroad, we didn't get to the other side of Gary until almost 8pm Then we get halfway between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo and traffic locks up cold. After half an hour of sitting there, I talk to one of the truckers and he says there is a 5 car accident about a mile up the road.
A half hour later, we finally get moving, and the rest of the trip to Lansing is un-eventful. We stay with an old college friend who is there. We spend the night, my travel partner fending off allergies from cat and dog. We get up at O-dark thirty, which is an hour earlier than it is in Chicago, and we hit the road. We got there about 840am and the guy brings us to the garage and un-covers the beautiful bike. Not a spot of rust, not a lick of dirt. The white thread-lock on the rear sprocket is still a bright, clean white.
Hook up the battery - dead. I guessed this would be the case, and was expecting it actually. He hooks up a charger, and while letting it charge I start inspecting more things around the bike. The front tire is low and there is no coolant in the tank. Try to get it started several times, it cranks, sputters briefly, then dies. He says he hasn't started it in months. We let it charge again, and it becomes clear to me that the battery isn't really holding a good charge. While waiting for another round of charging, I open the oil fill and take a closer look at the condition of things inside. I find some oil and get a fingertip-sample. Looks just a bit milky and feels a little thin. I take a sniff and I smell gasoline.
Crank it some more, finally get it started and running... let it warm up while choked, running at about 3k. Oil is flowing good in the window. Radiator fan kicks on about 5 or 6 minutes into running and the tank fills up less than 1/4 way. Cooland looks good however. Temps stay normal, starts running less rough, but still a little bit. Finally keep it running with choke off after adjusting the idle a bit.
I do incremental revs... seems just a bit sluggish in zipping up to about 8k, so I started holding it at 1k increments. Starting at 6k it started running strange... not mis-firing, but almost as if the timing were off at the higher RPM. The fuel tank was low and attributed it to bad gas. Went and got 5 gals of fresh premium and a can of HEET. Dumped both in there and got it started again after shaking things up. Let it run about 10 minutes before resuming rev check.
Started running a little bit smoother, but still not perfect. Told him I wanted to take it around the block and put it under load to see if it bucked and complained in that rev range. Mounted the bike, started walking it backwards, put it in gear to walk it forwards and turn it out of the garage. Letting the clutch out did result in forward motion, but I could tell right away it wasn't enough. I rolled it back and turned again and got it lined up straight for the driveway and let out the clutch, leaving it idle. It moved forward - ever so slowly. I reve it a tad, carries the same forward motion.
I stop the bike, hold in the front brake and let out the clutch. Bike doesn't die, keeps idling. I release the brake, place both feet on the ground, grab the bars hard, and slowly rev it to about 4k with it in gear and the clutch out. It surges forward EVER so gently, and I re-tighten my legs to hold it in place. Plates never engage.
Shut it off right there, tell him his clutch is shot on top of everything else and my buddy and I head towards the truck to leave.
I was so pissed all I could do was laugh for the first hour heading back to Chicago from Detroit. Keep in mind this guy even went so far almost a week ago saying the trailer was not necessary, it was ready to ride "to florida and back". He hadn't started it in months.
I pulled multiple resources together to make this happen... borrowed a truck from one friend, a trailer from a co-worker, and a reese hitch from yet another. People in this forum helped me to validate the VIN and this guy's name. A good friend of mine went with me and even footed the gas for a truck pulling a 3-place bike trailer.
All this **** and all the guy had to do was go outside the night before, charge it, start it, and try to take it around the block and email or call me and tell me not to come out.
Hope that ZX9 is still available...
I love wasting my time, money, and that of my friends.
*goes to bed pissed and with a very sore back from a rough riding truck with a badly shaped seat*