Is this thing on still?

Good News Everyone!!
I'm not dead yet.
Although ya probably couldn't tell from the frequency of updates huh?

Soooooo...where were we?
Let me sum up...wait...there is too much.
I'll just start talking again like nothing happened...don't look at the fish.

Ok...so we finally made it to Wasteland Weekend. There's not a ton of evidence of that in pics but there is a few.
Like so....

A professional type snap from a fella who snaps for a living.

I actually took this one MYSELF.

Looks pretty good by torchlight huh?
Ya should see what Melee looks like by torchlight...it's something for sure.

Mah HEART!! It's STOLEN!!!

Here is me and Melee getting ready to roll outta camp on a cruise...

I'm trying to look all stoic...Melee just looks like we're late.
Hint: We are.

Me and the Crawler not only got to hand out Free Rides, but we also worked for our supper.
A buddy of mine went to be a Vendor and rather than have a stationary booth, she wanted to do a Mobile Merchant Cart.
SO after we built that...we figured out a way to attach it to the homemade trailer hitch me and Melee fabbed...did I forget to mention that?

Stress Testing the Hitch with one of my Road Trailers.

Of course the first time we tried to hook it up was AT Wasteland....it failed. You're shocked right? I know you're shocked....ya shouldn't be.
But guess what? We UnBroke it. And got to work, which again I got like no PICTURES of myself.

Me and Neal working to UnBreak stuff.....

Putt Putt.

SO...overall what did I think of Wasteland Weekend?
It was fun...I have things I missed. The fact that I spend most of my time in the MidWaste with the Milwaukee and Indy Crues, in which there is MUCH Hooning made the 5mph Wasteland Speed Limit feel especially heavy.
Add to that...it IS FAR!!

My trip mileage upon my return...

5MPH!!?? BUT I NEED TO HOON!!!!

The Crawler did have Temper Tantrums...mostly due to the CV Carbs not enjoying the dust...so...much...DUST.
I will be doing another upgrade to the Raceway Flatslide Carbs soon...like parts ordered soon.
Stay tuned.
I'll update more.
Promise.
In the meantime...go eat bugs.

Or eat sand.....whatever just GO RIDE IT!!



Links to Photos.
Cormac Kehoe and his Wasteland Album
Mark Matcho's Wasteland Album
Q Phia's Wasteland Album

Video Evidence!!!!

I'm doing some prep for the Indy Mad Max Run in a couple of weeks, and I want to run some cameras on the Rig. So I gathered some of the cameras I use for SCA Combat footage and tried them out on the Crawler. Some things I learned today...you need stuff around close to show the chair flying.
I do a full turn from 20 sec to 40 sec with the chair up...and you can hardly tell, cause the only reference is the horizon really. And while the shot of the driveshaft is cool...and ya can see the chair wheel lift...I don't think I'll use that angle much.
The next fly at about a minute LOOKS better...but I think it is cause there is more stuff to 'see' the angle against.
The final 'out the back' angle will likely only get used on group rides and such.
I need to dampen all the mount points against vibe better and hope that cuts some of the 'watery' effect.

Here is another angle from today as well...
It is still hard to tell when the chair is up(Hint: it happens around 20 secs)

All in all...should be fun when I am surrounded by Wasteland Fooligans.

Keep your shiny and chrome...RUB RUST ON IT!!!

It has Been a WHILE huh?

So...sorry about that.

Yeah...me and the Ural 650 had...disagreements.
Not that I didn't love him...just we had different intents.

I wanted to GO...he wanted to be broke.

I was determined to get hacking...so I contuined to source parts for the rebuild...but THEN...well then...I found a 2007 Patrol.

And the Crawler (Ver 1.8) kinda got overshadowed.
And I spent too much time doing stuff the recall I even HAD this blog.
Yes...I forgot about you.
I'm sorry.
So Sorry...
Can you forgive me?

So...that Patrol.

It was shiny, blue, chromed.

I had to 'fix' that before I even took good pics.





I also found a crew of Mad Max Mayhem up in Milwaukee...


Mr Max is enthused...


They also let me ride the way I want too.


Anywho...expect more outta me, now that I found a way back into this Blog....

Parts Trickle In...Part II

Well, parts trickle in and little stuff gets done.
I now have the Inboard and Outboard Exhaust hooked up as well as the new Pekar K68 carbs mounted and cables run...


As well as my supercool new Red Star Grips. Represent!!


One of these days the new rockers I ordered will show up, and I can get the valves set...mount the new tank up and get back to adding to the clock.
Today I will be redoing a couple of electrical connections between the bike and sidecar, I am going to add some molex plugs to make it easier the remove the car in the future.

Parts are trickling in...

Well, some stuff is starting to show up!!

So far, I have received
A brand new in the box set of Pekar K68 carbs...the kind used back at the Russian factory.

NOS fuel tank

'New' header pipes
'New' Fishtail Mufflers

Granted both of the last items are manufactured in China for the Chinese copy of the Russian copy of a German sidecar rig...so they kinda-sorta fit.
After a quick check I established the fuel tank mounting tabs line up perfectly, so off to hang from my basement shop ceiling it goes to get a new coat of rattlecan paint. (Chalkboard paint...makes it easy to record start/end odometer readings...directions  yada yada)

The bad news is so far confined to the intake/exhaust side of things.
First I found that my heads didn't line up with the carbs...even using the aftermarket mounting plates where no help. So did I what I often do in these situations.
I screamed.
I cursed.
Maybe I cried a lil bit.

Then I got to thinking..."What would Ivan Do?"
So, since Ivan is a smart guy....I asked Melee(da wife) for help. She and I(mostly she) figured at way to get the carbs lined up and mounted with only having to tap ONE new mounting stud in the head.
Of course....I have no pics of that in process...but here it is all mounted up like it goes there.

Next thing I discovered is that while the headers fit the jugs fine...the frame mounting tabs on them are off by about an inch or so (2.5ish centimeters). So I did the only reasonable thing I could think of...I sawed the tabs off and plan to make do with clamping them to the frame.

Again...no good pics of the mocking up process...but here are a few shots of what I managed to do to the inboard side.

This pic has a bonus shot of the inboard carb!

Hoping to get the last parts...mostly the rocker arms I need to complete the top end rehab...this week.

If I do, Crawler should be back on the road by me and Melee's Spring Break.

Just need the rockers....

and rewire the fender on the sidecar.

and rebuild the throttle housing.

and run new throttle cables that I hope match up to the carbs.

and replace a couple of bodge connections with molex clips.

crap i got a lot to do.

BTW>>If anyone cares to see larger copies of any pics...Melee is hosting them in her Flickr account.

Second World Problems

Well...maybe Second World is a bit harsh.
There are a few things I like a great deal about owning and wrenching on a Ural 650 from the 'Dark Years'.
Everything is pretty straight forward...no complex computer controlled Dyno-tuning chipsets that require me to use the odd skill I have of being able to read machine code/binary.
When all else fails...quite often enough cussing and hitting it with hammer has a [usually] positive result.
For those times it doesn't...replacement parts are surprising available for a nearly 20 year old, no longer manufacture supported machine, based on a 70 year old design.
I mean...have you tried to source parts for a Shovelhead lately?
Parts are easy to find through the wonders of the Interlink.
Some are NOS[New Old Stock: means stuff we found in the warehouse left over from back-in-the-day], some are Breaker parts[meaning someone bought a wreck/non-live bike to part it out],
and some are currently manufactured parts.
Regardless of their pedigree...here is a surprising fact about this Smörgåsbord of Ural 650 parts.
There are all affordable.
I mean...I can get my digits on a full top end for around $300-400US.
This includes:

• Cylinders, 2pc.
• Heads w/valves & springs
• Head Covers
• Pistons
• Ring set
• Wrist pins (2) and Circ-Clips (4)
• Push Rod Tubes and sealing caps
• as well as gaskets for all three mating surfaces at the cover, head and cylinder base.

So...what you ask is the Second World Problem I am referring to?

Shipping.

Most of these parts are in the Ukraine and Russian Federation, with a smattering coming from China.

Shipping cost are at times a bit steep, so it is best to try and get everything ya need from one shop in one big order. The shipping actually gets easier to stomach when you are looking at a pretty good haul.

That's not the worst part though....

Shipping is S L O W.

To be fair, I don't hold this against of the retailers/sellers, and I understand I am ordering parts often from the other side of the globe from me.

Still nothing is worse that thinking you know what parts you need, to fix what you figure is wrong with a rig, laying out the funds....and then waiting 3.5 to 5 weeks for your goodies.

Especially when for the first time in months, the weather forecast calls for 50 degrees (F) and sunny rather than mid-20s and sky-slush this coming weekend.

GRRRRRRRRR!

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...