Thoughts from our trip...

Ok, so this isn't going to be my typical projects type of post, but more some thoughts and observations from the trip to Honduras my family took..

I'm sure these observations aren't unique to the Honduran lifestyle, but probably pretty much any "under-developed" country.

The biggest observation and probably the starkest contrast with what I'm used to, and even practice myself, is the frugality (is that even a word?). I didn't have to look far to see items that we here in the states would call "trash, garbage, useless." Yet here were people using the items, beyond their "usable" life. A wheel-barrow bent totally out of shape, rusted through where the supports attach the wheel to the bucket, yet welded metal back into place to make it usable again. Vehicles in various states of disarray, bent, wrecked, but still being driven and not worried about what others think.

Case in point as well, at the orphanage where they recently dedicated a computer lab some donated laptops. Apparently written off by an American company, but here they were being used by the children to learn about computers. I changed settings, told windows to be less pretty, removed some applications that are unnecessary for the usage of the computers, and took a "donor" laptop to replace missing keys. All in all they ended up with 6 laptops that have been abused, and now are in a usable state for the children to work with. I should have taken some pics however Jodi had the camera and I didn't think about it til now. Also, the orphanage had one computer that they have been using for 6 or more years where they keep their records, photos of the children etc. It had some issue, however where an American company/individual would have written it off and just purchased a replacement, they were interested in getting the issues it was having addressed so they could continue to use it.

It just got me thinking about my life, how comfortable I have it, and yet my mentality that matches the typical American of replace it even if it is still usable, or could be made usable again, but in poor shape. This permeates life here, and while I can honestly say that in actuality I could be worse (My home personal computer is actually much older than the main system the orphanage uses..) I still see room for improvement. How much could be saved by taking care of things properly, and truly using them to the end of their life, and if possible beyond..

How much better could we live life if we, as Americans, learned to be content with what we have learning to save money by repairing rather than replacing items. There lies a problem with this though, in that the society we live in doesn't agree with this mentality. As such we live in such a throw-away society that items are not really made to last, let alone be repaired for a reasonable cost. Have we also lost the skilled labor to do repairs at a reasonable cost as well? Do these things combine to make the "low cost" of replacement more likely than attempting a repair?

As far as computers go, I guess I'm lucky in that that is what I love to do. I've milked years out of my home systems, and also been able to take bits and pieces from systems that others have decided were easier to replace than repair to manage to keep a system that is still reasonably fast enough for 95% of what I need/want to do on it. Had I needed to take it to a "skilled" shop to keep the system going, I'd probably have not been able to justify the cost long ago. $65/hr for labor (at one shop that is fairly local) would add up quickly, when a replacement system that is faster and newer would only cost in the area of $500.

I guess that is part of why for friends and family I do computer work to keep systems running well past the "end of life" as much as I'm able. It really does help them to save the labor/replacement cost.

So what do we need to do as a society to get back to the point where we repair as fast as we replace? Is this even possible as far away from the concept as we have moved?

Something to think about I guess..

Oh, to have time

Ok, not a whole lot to post, but just a couple random thought of some activities I used to enjoy that I wouldn't really mind getting back into. That is if I had time..

Geocaching (www.geocaching.com) is a fun pass-time, just a high tech treasure hunt really.

And fishing. I really used to enjoy just getting out and tossing a lure in the hopes of pulling a fish back in.

My best bet for either of these activities is probably Sunday mornings, but that takes from family time then.

Must make decisions..

Things..

Well, I haven't posted in a while, so here's just a "what's going on" type post.

The bike has been ridden very little so far. Needs some tuning done, and it's just been too cold. I'm thinking tomorrow I may ride her to see how she likes the warmer weather (below 45 she seems to run lean, which means too much air, not enough gas).

I've actually been focusing my garage time on the old bike. Hoping to get it back together (borrowed some parts off of it to get the 550 running right) so that I can put it up for sale. Hoping to get a fair price for it which should open up cash for some other things I've been wanting to get.

Garage doors had a spring break this past weekend. Decided that it is high time to just spend a little bit on them to get the hardware updated so made an appointment for a company to come out Monday to replace all the springs and pulley's (which should also include the guide wires which I know one of them is starting to frey).

So, with them coming to do that, I have to re-arrange the garage to make their work go quicker (they charge by the quarter hour after the first half hour). So, hoping to get that done Saturday morning.

Other than that life has been keeping us busy otherwise.

That's it I guess.

It's Home

Well, she's home... Now for the details.

Went down yesterday morning to work with Dude on the last bits and pieces and hopefully fire her up. So, first things first.. Lets mount some Rubber.

Started with the front, and changed the rubber. While we had the wheels off, and all that jazz we decided that it would be a good time to clean the forks up and all that fun stuff. So we set about that with emery cloth and fine sandpaper, then put a layer of clear. I think they look pretty good. Well, after that we went after the rear tire.

Dude isn't used to GS chain drives so I was able to demonstrate the easy way of getting the rear wheel off. (Admittedly, he claims the shafties are still easier.. Oh, well).

Well, while he was attacking the rear tire (literally.. ) I worked on re-routing some cables (or did I do this while he was attacking the front.. at any rate, re routed some of the control cable lines etc). Then I dumped some oil into the engine, and put about 2 gallons of gas in.

At this point we both attacked getting the rear tire back on the bike and the chain adjusted and all that fun. Approaching 4:30 in the afternoon by this time, so it was time to turn it over. Primed the carbs, pulled the choke.. Turn the key.. Crank.. Crank.. Crank.. let off to not overload the starter.. pop.. No lights.. Something isn't right.

Well at this point I had to get back as my Kitchen pass was a little overdue. Dude said he would attack the electricals today and give me a call with the results.

So, I get the call around 4pm today, found the issue, but we have another issue.. No oil pressure (look for post in tech section coming). Decided that at this point it is time to get the bike back into my garage and I can attack it at this point as our guts are telling us the oil pump is shot (was in the bottom end I picked up on ebay for $1, and if it was bad it may have caused the original engine to eat it, thus why the bike was parted out). So, I'm going to study some diagrams and see if there might be a clog elsewhere, but like I said, our guts say it is the pump is shot. Good news is I have at least 3 of them sitting here.

So, now were talking 5:00 pm and I am ready to load the bike.

Picture time..

Here it is sitting in Dudes driveway waiting on some lovin..



And here I am Smiling that my baby is back together, and coming home:



And here she sits in the garage, next to the beast..

Better angle (can't quite see the ripped seat):



Another angle.. (where you can see the seat):



So, next chance I get I'll dig through the boxes to find the oil pump from my original engine, then drain the oil and attack.

Hopefully I'll be riding her come spring (I don't doubt it much).

Dude's been busy

Well, as the title states.. Dude's been busy. He actually has the bike all together now, and sent some pictures my way so I figured I'd share them. There is still work to be done, brake lines need installed (calipers and master cylinders need cleaned as well), chain needs installed, exhaust needs securely fastened, and a few other small items. But here are the pictures:

Front fender installed with fork brace:


Front end Headlight and turn signals:


Guages:

And here is the bike all together, like I said, the exhaust isn't secured here, but mocked up, and there are some bits that need some attention to detail, cleaned etc, but it's rolling on it's own wheels at the moment:


I'll update as further progress is made!!

Update (with some back pictures)

So, Wednesday I have the day off and go down to Dude's place. And here is what I'm greeted with:

He's been a little busy, to say the least. But he's been enjoying it. (I really owe this guy.. )

Anyway, now for some backup. Here are some pictures he took of the assembly process, though not too many or any details as he was probably paying attention to them rather than taking pictures of them.

So, here is a close up of the cylinders ready for assembly:

And here is the lower half with pistons installed:

He also did a bit of cleaning of surface rust on some parts and here are some pics:

Peg mounts:

Passenger peg mounts:

Intake boots (the bolts have been replaced with some allens I bought for the purpose):

The wiring harness and electrics all run nicely:

Airbox with K&N dropin waiting for oil:

Just a couple more of what greeted me:

Ok, now for what actually got done on Tuesday. It really won't look like a lot, but it was. We pulled the side covers and tank to put asside for safe keeping. Then went to town. Worked together with a spare swingarm pivot bolt I had up here to remove the rotor from a spare crankshaft then installed it onto the bike along with the starter clutch and gears:

While Dude was buttoning all that down, I went through the electrics and hooked everything up that would normally be hooked to the front of the bike (controls, guages, headlight, etc) so that we could work on testing with the battery I brought from the 650. So, we did that testing, and discovered the replacement signals I have for the front of the bike are wired for running lights. Woohoo.. hold on.. my bike isn't wired for them. So Dude took a look at the wiring diagram and determined where we could pull some power for the running lights from, then went to work putting in the connections, as well as cleaning some PO (Previous Owner) hacks. So, as Dude was doing this I was working on cleaning the exhaust system, Not a pretty or fun job really, but they did clean up pretty well, though I forgot to get a picture. (oops).

At this point we needed a little garage break and needed to pick up a couple of small items, so off we went to pick up fuel line, vent tube line and a couple of small connectors.

When we got back I kept Cleaning them Dude also worked on putting the Carbs onto the bike, and buttoning all of that down.

Well, by this time it was getting close to time for me to head home, so I started boxing up extra parts to get them out of his way. In the process I found a bag of bolts and we decided to see if any of them were long enough to support the stock grab bar (rusty as it is). So I went through them and found a pair that were the perfect length. And here are a couple of pics of the bike how it sat when I left (we removed all the wiring stuff from the front for safe storage):

More Progress..

Well, I went to my builders place on Friday and though his wife didn't seem to notice any progress, we actually got a lot done.

I went through parts and organized into piles according to function/location. My builder was able to clean some more parts up nicely, and I assisted with getting the engine back together.



By mid-afternoon (around 3ish) we were ready to start getting the engine mounted in the frame. Which is easier than it sounds. Easiest way to do this is put the engine on it's side, then drop the frame over it. Well, things were going well, then we realized just how thick powder coating was. So we had to spend some time grinding away at that in order to clear the engine, actually had to do this in several locations. Oh, I had also earlier cleared powder coating out of some of the orifices that needed to be cleared for parts to make it through and operate smoothly (namely the rear brake pivot joint, and Swingarm pivot joints).




When all was said and done though, the engine is mounted in the frame, and the frame (with engine) is loaded onto his motorcycle jack and tied down.



I brought carb parts back home to finish the rebuild there with new bolts (that I need to go pick up). And he has the rest of the bike there. When I left he claimed he was going to have some fun cleaning and putting thing together, but I told him not to have too much.

That is it for now.. Pictures will come either tonight or tomorrow sometime.