eavega
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,377
So, when I stumbled across iboats some number of years ago, I knew absolutely nothing about motors. I've slowly progressed from small two-strokes, to my current I/O 3.0L Mercruiser. Apart from boat engines, though, I have learned enough to attempt repairs on yard equipment, and have managed to bring a leaf-blower, a lawnmower, a generator, various string trimmers, and a small tractor back to life.
My current crowning achievement is now my wife's 1998 Honda Shadow ACE Tourer. Back in 2002, when we lived in Arizona before kids were part of the picture, my wife and I got motorcycles. We loved riding and did so as often as we could. In fact, my motorcycle became my daily driver for about a year. My wife got pregnant with our first kid in 2004, and after a threatened miscarriage scare, we decided that perhaps she should stay off her motorcycle during the pregnancy. After our first was born, we tried to start riding again, but wouldn't you know it? She got pregnant again 7 months after the first one. The motorcycles went back into storage and we have been moving them around since 2006 through two states and three houses without riding them. Fast forward to last month, I asked my wife what she wanted for her birthday, she said "Get my motorcycle running again". Needless to say the bikes were not winterized or prepared for their 10-year nap. Gas tank was thick with rust and old varnish, fuel system was a complete mess. No worries, I took the "How to awaken a sleeping outboard" and applied it to a motorcycle. Got a shop manual. Cleaned out the tank, a little Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders, changed all the fuel filters, new spark plugs, rebuilt both carburetors, link and sync (also balancing the carburetors), new engine oil, new final drive oil, change out the coolant, new battery, check the brakes and tires (still remarkably good after all these years, but we had just put a new rear tire on her bike when it went to storage).
I'll tell you, there was no finer feeling in the world when I re-assembled the carbs, pulled the choke, hit the starter and within 5 seconds, the bike roars to life. I didn't even have to do much adjusting on the carbs!
Thanks to all the great folks here at iboats forums and the things I have learned from them about engine repair, I had the confidence to tackle each system in turn, find the problems, and get the bike running again!
Rgds
Eric
My current crowning achievement is now my wife's 1998 Honda Shadow ACE Tourer. Back in 2002, when we lived in Arizona before kids were part of the picture, my wife and I got motorcycles. We loved riding and did so as often as we could. In fact, my motorcycle became my daily driver for about a year. My wife got pregnant with our first kid in 2004, and after a threatened miscarriage scare, we decided that perhaps she should stay off her motorcycle during the pregnancy. After our first was born, we tried to start riding again, but wouldn't you know it? She got pregnant again 7 months after the first one. The motorcycles went back into storage and we have been moving them around since 2006 through two states and three houses without riding them. Fast forward to last month, I asked my wife what she wanted for her birthday, she said "Get my motorcycle running again". Needless to say the bikes were not winterized or prepared for their 10-year nap. Gas tank was thick with rust and old varnish, fuel system was a complete mess. No worries, I took the "How to awaken a sleeping outboard" and applied it to a motorcycle. Got a shop manual. Cleaned out the tank, a little Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders, changed all the fuel filters, new spark plugs, rebuilt both carburetors, link and sync (also balancing the carburetors), new engine oil, new final drive oil, change out the coolant, new battery, check the brakes and tires (still remarkably good after all these years, but we had just put a new rear tire on her bike when it went to storage).
I'll tell you, there was no finer feeling in the world when I re-assembled the carbs, pulled the choke, hit the starter and within 5 seconds, the bike roars to life. I didn't even have to do much adjusting on the carbs!
Thanks to all the great folks here at iboats forums and the things I have learned from them about engine repair, I had the confidence to tackle each system in turn, find the problems, and get the bike running again!
Rgds
Eric
