Sunday, February 24, 2013

The reason it has been so quiet.

Well...
Crawler did fine for a while.
I did get me a trailer...you know for 'just in case'.
Didn't really need it though.That was until....we made a roadtrip.

So I traveled from up here around Chicago down to see my folks in Louisiana in early July. I wanted to bring the Crawler to run 'round with my old man and his True Blue Harley Crew, so onto the trailer he went.
Got down there fine...riding around went great, even 'converted' some Blockheads into possibly Foilheads.


On the drive back my ole tired van soiled the sheets and died on the road about two hours out of my folks driveway.So...my trailer got towed back the the ol' Homestead while The Wife, Cub and I made our way home via Amtrak.


A few too many weeks later (around Sept 30th) I was able to procure a new vehicle capable of towing my rig and trailer home....however....The rig had sat for a bit on trailer....out in the weather. In the Louisiana Rain...with the added benefit of Hurricane Issac. Crawlers guts got a lil wet...enough to seize the top end and royally crud up the carbs.
So far I have pulled the jugs, and checked the pistons(surprisingly they look fine)if ya don't count the rings....rusted. 

Cylinder sleeves had some rusting as well...a pass with some scotch-brite and a hone....all looks well.Oil in the pan and tranny are shockingly unwatered down.

The carbs though...oh woe be the carbs.


I can't even get the slide to move on the left side carb after three days of soaking...gawds only know what is in the pilot passages.Sooo...the Mikunis are well and truly dead.
So I picked up some Pekar carbs off of FleaBay. They should have bolted right on, but what was I thinking...no such luck.Out comes the tap and die set to retap the heads...

While digging at that...I found one of the rockers was getting pretty worn, to the point I have basically no adjustment. 
I have spent the last lil bit(the frozen months) scrounging parts and planning.
Hopefully in the next few weeks I am gonna start a total rebuild and update, from cylinders out.
Items to be done.

  • Clean and Hone the cylinders.
  • Mount new carbs.
  • replace fuel tank with an older tool box style.
  • redo the exhaust...going to go to dual fishtails.
  • possible redo the alternator block plate in something tougher than plywood.
  • think about actually mounting the seat...