It's freakin' chilly here in New York State, -12°C. That's way below the cutoff point for riding, so the bikes are hibernating. There's still a bunch of stuff waiting to be done to the red bike, but the motivation just hasn't been there. I mounted an ammeter and made a bracket for a Delco-Remy 575 regulator, and that's about it. The lack of enthusiasm might be related to the season or something. With only a couple days left before shipping out for Norway, I'll need to force myself to get some work done.

A few weeks ago, I sent my vintage H-D style fenders to a body shop for repairs which I hoped would be finished by now. As it stands, they haven't even been started so it will be late January at the earliest before I see them again. At least I got the brackets refinished, and they turned out really nice.

I sure can't wait for spring!

November 28, 2010

Sidecars lend themselves nicely to winter riding as we already know, especially people living in PRC where automobiles aren't always an option. But, some of us do it by choice rather than necessity. I was out in some pretty heavy flurries yesterday, and the only thing that detracted from the enjoyment was how much those little buggers sting when they smack your face. Next time, I won't forget the ski mask.

Most M1 owners are aware that the generator will whine quite noisily if it's not positioned just right or the straps are too tight. Mine sounded like a siren before it was adjusted. Overtightening the strap deforms the housing to the point that voltage output is significantly diminished. If your dyno is whining, it's probably not producing sufficient voltage. The best way to fix this problem (and get it right on the first try) is to have the bike idling while you're fiddling, and that's what I did a couple days ago. What you might find surprising during this procedure is the amount of oil pressure you've got working against the front of the generator. You'll also understand how engine oil can find its way inside the generator once you're aware of the pressure differential. Without a guage, it's impossible to know how much oil pressure we're running, but I'll hazard a guess that it's at least 10 psi at idle. It's no wonder you'll have oil leaks if this isn't taken into consideration when assembling stuff. Gaskets without sealant are practically useless.

November 23, 2010

Today I'm stoked. The tan bike just got a good shakedown (although sleet brought a premature end to the ride.) For once, the bike performed perfectly after I did a whole bunch of stuff to it. Usually, I find myself making all kinds of adjustments, sometimes even redoing the things I did wrong. Tomorrow, I'll take some pictures of the ammeter installation. It's kind of funky, but it serves a valuable purpose. Being able to monitor exactly what's happening with the charging system is an eye opener, and you can adjust your driving habits to improve how the system performs. The Delco-Remy regulator seems to be just what the doctor ordered, too. There's even juice to spare should I ever want to add a running light, or whatever. The headlight is now brighter than ever.

There's one thing that I'm not too stoked about, and that's the estimate I got for body work on the Harley fenders for the red bike. Filling the holes, pounding out the dents and priming would run about $500, and that's with me doing all the paint work. Luckily, there's a few more body shops in town, so if I can get the work done for $300 or less, it'll be a go. If not, I'll have a crack at some panel beating. There's nothing to lose.

November 15, 2010

I'll be home in three days and will then get cracking on CJ projects, starting with generator seals and bearings. (See below, October 17.) Half a dozen new shielded bearings are there waiting for me, and possibly some new felt seals from Luke. (If not, there are sources for F1 felt stock from which new seals can be punched.) Stopping the intrusion of engine oil is the first priority since the total-loss electrical system is not a good way to go. I'll also be testing a four-terminal Delco Remy 6V cut-out regulator I picked up on eBay, part number 575 which I believe was a farm tractor application.

A painting project will also get underway starting with body work on some new fenders. There are holes to fill with metal, and two large contours to pound out. These "contours" are something frequently done by Chinese builders to create additional clearance for the engine and frame (on the front and rear fenders respectively.) IMO, they pretty much ruin the fenders this way, especially since it isn't necessary. You can tell them until you're blue in the face, but the message doesn't get through.

Anyway, I made crude renderings with Paintshop Pro to see how two-toning might look, and the idea below will probably be used. The fenders are painted in the style of vintage Harleys while the tank is done in a quasi-BMW motif. The color separator will likely be white pinstriping. The taillight will remain chrome, and there will be a Harley front fender running light, also chrome. I've never had so many opportunities to screw up a perfectly good bike, at least not with a paint gun.

CJU is now in its tenth year. I wish the same were true for all the vendors and enthusiasts who had sites when this one was started... well, maybe not all of them. Some vendors were destined to fail, and they did, partly because of their pricing and partly because they believed their own nonsense. At the time, however, they had sort of an information monopoly. Thanks to the Internet, that's no longer the case.

Nowadays, online CJ forums are available for setting the record straight. Their members have loads of experience with every aspect of owning a Chang, all of which is readily shared with anyone who's interested. It's entirely up to the new guy to do his homework before plunking down a few grand on a bike that will either bring loads of enjoyment, or nothing but grief. When a guy ends up with a lemon, it reflects poorly not only on the vendor, but the marque itself, and we know perfectly well that under the right circumstances, these are wonderful machines.

Meanwhile, CJU is shooting for another ten years.

November 3, 2010

Greetings from the Atlantic Ocean. Our ship was in port (Las Palmas, Canary Islands) for the first ten days of the hitch where she was undergoing rebuilds on the main engines. Now, we are underway to Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo. Due to delays, we will arrive there in about 13 days, just in time for our scheduled crew change. So, in that respect, this has been an easy hitch since we, the crew, have very little to do.

October 17, 2010

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Spain, then on to Angola, and then the Congo where I'll spend the next month earning a &%#$ living. Today, I took the last ride until late November, and the bike decided to act up. It was the old "total loss electrical system" chestnut again, and the reason it happened showed itself after I got home. (I had to switch off the lights and cross my fingers to get home. It worked!) Anyway, I metered everything and determined that the generator wasn't outputting anything, so I pulled it off the bike and opened it up to check the brushes and wiring. Well, that baby was absolutely flooded with engine oil. Once it was cleaned out, it worked okay again, but it very quickly re-flooded, and then it stopped working. I've got to figure out why it's happening and what can be done to stop it.

October 10, 2010

You couldn't ask for a better day than the one we had today. The foliage is near its peak, and the weather was just perfect. The better half and I headed out on the tan bike once again. I wanted to show her McChesney Road over in the Canisteo River Valley as a possible location for our retirement homestead. It's a secluded seasonal road that runs through dense forest, right up the side of a mountain. Unfortunately, we didn't quite make the road's entire length due to bike trouble. As we climbed the twisty trail, the bike started to cough and lose power, definitely electrical. So, we stopped for a leg stretch and I had a look under the distributor cap.

Bingo. The contacts for the points had somehow become misaligned, so bad, in fact, that when closed, they were just barely making contact. I had never seen this before, but no worries, I'll just swap the points out and we'll be on our way. Oops. To change points on this particular 6V Chang, you need a 6mm wrench. Guess what wasn't in the toolbox? And, for that matter, neither was a feeler guage. Crap. I was able to re-align the points somewhat, and then clean them up with some emery cloth. A single-edged razor blade served as a feeler guage, and we were outta there. The roadside repair took maybe 15 minutes, tops. But, since I wasn't too sure how long the repair would last, we opted to turn around and head back down the mountain. As it turns out, the repair held up just fine, all the way home. We could have continued up McChesney Road, but better safe than stranded. (I'll change the points tomorrow morning, and mount the condenser the way it is on the red bike.)

So, add those two items to your toolbox checklist. (Note: I noticed while scrounging around a pile of 6V distributors that some use a 7mm screw instead of a 6mm. Also, some use a cir-clips and some don't. Stock your toolbox with whatever your bike requires.)

And one last little thing. For anyone who's never had the opportunity to do roadside maintenance, be advised that these motors get nice and hot. Fiddling with the points on a hot motor is like playing hot potato. Had I been by myself, I would have waited until it cooled off a bit before trying to work on it.

October 9, 2010

We rode the tan bike to a car show in Penn Yan today, following the scenic route up and the super scenic route back. The sun was out, but it was still pretty chilly, so my wife had a big quilt in the sidecar, a lesson learned from last year's ride. We saw roughly 300 cars, the majority of which were rods and customs. But, for the first time in the show's history, there were Edsels on display, two '59s. (One was a convertible!)

What a superb time of year. There's hardly anything left to do in the yard, and the old battle axe is usually at work. That means I get entire days all to myself. Even though we get some of the finest fall foliage in the Northeast, October weather here varies between miserable and crappy, but we still get the odd day that can only be described as perfect. As long as there isn't a steady drizzle, I'll spend a few hours on a bike every day. It's especially nice when the machines are behaving well, but it's still wise to carry tools, a few parts, the phone and the Triple-A card.

Since retirement is on the way, I've been scouting real estate for a cabin, and the Changs are superbly suited for this purpose. The place we have in mind will be secluded, way off the beaten track. It'll be in some woods on a mountainside overlooking the Canisteo River Valley. During the winter, it will probably be accessible only by snowmobile or some other tracked vehicle. (We're also looking at enclosed Argos and Tucker Sno-Cats.) I've always daydreamed about getting some old buses and coverting them, but the old lady isn't exactly keen on that. She does seem to embrace the hillbilly lifestyle, though, and that's perfect. We're talking about having an outhouse, wood heat and being off the electrical grid. Throw in a half dozen dogs and cats, and you've got something.

Let's get back to reality for a few minutes. I wanted to mention a cool experience I had last Sunday while riding the red bike. I was on Gibson Hill Road, a mud road west of Addison, where I was snooping around for some real estate. There, an old fart wearing a Harley cap flagged me down from the end of his driveway. He wanted to show me his bike. In his garage was a late model Road King with a Dnepr sidecar! And across the road, at his son's place, was the Dnepr that donated the hack—a 650 OHV that had seen far better days. I ended up shooting the bull for over an hour, and his wife took pictures of me and the bike. After leaving and heading further east, I came across one of the things that makes our area so nice. It was an Amish one-room school house with a couple little out buildings, a picture straight out of 1900. And just up the road, I passed a big Amish farm where there were perhaps 50 buggies parked around the barn. Just as I passed, a bunch of Amish men and boys emerged from the barn, and the kids seemed pretty excited to see the bike. Although I don't know, my guess is their Sunday meeting was just wrapping up. Without even realizing it, the Amish contribute immensely to the beautiful scenery around here.

Another recent experience involved a trek on Catatunk Road Extension which, as I found out, is a private logging trail. Oops. It was revealed to me on Google Earth, and it passes through an area that fills every one of my criteria for a retirement homestead except one—no babbling stream. This road is on the south side of the valley, high above Brown's Crossing which is a ways east of Adrian, NY. So, there I was, chugging along this path through the woods when I noticed a feller straight out of Deliverance up ahead. He had a 16 guage shotgun, so when he waved me down, I thought it best to stop. We spoke for a few minutes, and before you knew it, he was in the sidecar, directing me to his cabin. (I used the opportunity the crack a little joke. I told him he was "riding shotgun". Guffaws filled the air.)

We pull into a clearing, and there stood a log cabin with wood smoke pouring out the chimney. The feller's wife was out front, putting stain on a picnic table, and a little mutt ran up to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out, this guy wasn't a hillbilly at all. These were semi-retired middle class folks from Olean who spend most of the year at their cabin, and what a cabin! For one thing, there are no utilities. Electricity is provided by a generator and batteries. Water has to be hauled in, and they even have an outhouse. But, the most striking thing was what Gary (the owner) called his "million dollar view". From their front porch, you can look down from about 600 feet and see the farms, river and railway line running through the valley. As with the old dude with the Harley, I ended up spending at least an hour with these folks. Upon leaving, I told him to give me a call if the place ever goes on the market, and I thanked him for not shooting me.

Tomorrow, the final antique car show of the season is being held at the Windmill, a really neat flea market mall near Penn Yan. The old lady and I will ride up on the tan bike. I hope she learned from last year's run that October riding requires several layers of warm clothing. Film at eleven.

September 24, 2010

The tan bike hauled my baldheaded carcass around for close to four hours today. Yesterday's ride was cut short by rain, but even so, I managed just over two hours. During today's adventure, it was evident that the rear brake needed some attention since it didn't want to disengage after each application. I planned to do nothing more than re-clock the lever, but the job turned into a bit more, and it was also educational. Of course, as is usually the case with a Chang, nothing is ever simple. When I pulled the rear wheel off, I discovered that four of the short spokes were broken, and that's a first for this bike. Up until now, she has never broken any spokes. Consequently, I never inspected the rear hub very carefully. So, before going to work on the brakes, I replaced the spokes (and started thinking about some of Jimbo's M5 wheels on this bike as well.)

Onto the brakes. The reason the rear brake wasn't disengaging was wear. The linings were so thin that over time, adjustments had resulted in the actuating shaft becoming totally perpendicular to the shoes whenever the brakes were applied. In other words, they were more or less locked in their fully expanded state. I had to use my toe to lift the brake pedal. (Remember, I have additional hardware on the long rod that forces it back when the pedal is released. It's stuff I added a few years ago to address a similar problem. Without it, I would have had to manipulate the long rod by hand to un-stick the brakes.) The obvious solution was to replace the shoes, and then use the opportunity to do a little cleaning inside the drum and final drive. With new shoes, a freshly sanded drum, nicely clocked lever and a proper adjustment, we're once again ready to pound the pavement, gravel, dirt and mud of Steuben County's terrific back roads.

While all the tools were out, I decided to adjust the valves and change the plugs, too. Three of the four valves had gone out of adjustment. Two had lost their clearance completely while one had gained a little extra. With these things taken care of (and no more dragging rear brake), the bike should be a little peppier. We'll find out tomorrow.

September 19, 2010

What is it about buying stuff that makes you feel good? (I should ask my wife. If anyone knows, it'll be her.) I'm feeling extra good right now having just purchased some really cool fenders for the red bike. They came from Thomas Koehle's bobber which, until recently, looked this this. Now I'm shopping for a prewar H-D style fender running light. I owe a huge thanks to Jim Bryant for assisting with the shipping.

Yesterday, we got off the ship in Cartwright, Labrador and flew down to St. John's on a charter. From there, everyone went home... except me. I'm sticking around town in order to get a medical exam done on Monday. That means lounging around a swanky Holiday Inn all weekend, an ideal situation for messing around with the website, which is what I've been doing. In the process, I'm finding loads of spelling and grammatical errors, some that have been out there for all to see for years. It's a little embarrassing, especially knowing that there are plenty more that I won't find.

I'm making new pages dedicated to the guys who send loads of pictures, but don't have their own CJU pages yet. These should be finished in the next day or two.

August 31, 2010

Here's a bunch of Edsels lined up in front of the garage. (Six more sit behind it.)

Yesterday, I shopped around the Internet for spare parts. A couple excellent bargains were found:

Airtex-Wells 6V condenser, p/n 5H1075, only $1.51 from Rockauto. (Specify 1965 VW.)

Wagner 6V sealed beam, p/n WG6006, available for $5.47 from Discount Auto Parts.

August 15, 2010

I'll be back to work on Tuesday, but we're only doing a month this hitch. You'd be amazed by the difference a few days can make.

At any rate, I was reading about ways to test condensers since, over the years, I've actually had a couple bad ones straight out of the box. The obvious tool is a capacitance meter, and some of your better multi-meters include this function. But, for the everyday schmo, you can tell quite easily if a condenser is good or not by simply reading the resistance between the lead and the casing. Here's how Ed Stoller explains it:

"...the needle should jump towards zero then move towards infinity as you make contact with it. Then switch the meter leads and do it again. This time the needle should jump about twice as far. The first time you are putting a charge of 1.5 volts on the condenser. When you reverse the leads, you are reversing the charge so the needle will jump further. If the needle stops at a resistence value other than infinity, it is leaking the charge and is bad."

He uses an analog meter, but you can duplicate the test with a digital.

Also, you can easily check a coil, too. Click here to read about that.

July 30, 2010

Ever have a bike problem that took you half a day to locate and a minute to fix? That was time you could have spent riding. A couple days ago, I rode to the H-D shop in Gang Mills to pick up a wheel. The bike was A-okay all the way down, but upon leaving the store, it was a real bear to get started. Once she was finally up and running, I switched on the lights and boom, she died. Apparently, we were in "total loss electrical system" mode. (In other words, she was running off the battery.) So, I killed the lights and got her started again, then headed for home with the lights off. I fully expected to make it no more than half way home (and get a ticket), but by some mysterious quirk of fate, the bike ran just fine all the way, roughly 45 minutes. That ignition system must not use very much juice, that's all I can say. Repairs would follow the next next day, and I budgeted several hours for that purpose. When the time came, I went to work with a Fluke meter, looking for an open circuit or a short somewhere. (I had a spare generator and regulator at the ready, just in case.) I opened the headlamp and started poking around when low and behold, I saw that one of the wires in the terminal block had broken right off at the screw. It was just a simple matter of stripping half an inch, tinning the end with solder, and sticking back in the terminal block. Total time spent? Maybe fifteen minutes, tops. I wish the cause of every technical issue was as apparent as this one.

July 22, 2010

Hard to believe I'm already ten days into my vacation. I wish the time spent at work went as fast. The red bike is down for an engine overhaul so I've been relying on the tan bike. So far, it hasn't let me down, but the weather has. Specifically, the afternoon thunderstorms that just show up out of nowhere when you're miles from home... on a bike. When the roads are wet, the front wheel throws water straight at your feet and legs. And, of course, the sun comes back out just as you pull into your driveway. Never fails. Even so, I enjoy every second of it. I happened upon a new "circuit" which has a terrific stretch of twisty, downhill blacktop where I usually encounter other riders. Apparently, I'm not the only one who knows about it.

I've got a new crankshaft and camshaft on the way and have been tinkering on all the other stuff in anticipation of their arrival. The jugs had quite a bit of flaky paint and built up rust, so they got a good blasting today. That was followed by a hone job. The bores were seriously glazed, but not anymore. Now they've got a nice crosshatch that should bed the new rings in nicely. Once all that was was done, I went ahead with some black Rustoleum aerosol stove paint. It's the same paint I use on headers and fishtails. It's my favorite stuff. The more tinkering I can get done before the parts arrive, the less I'll need to do later on. Next up is cutting out some new gaskets for where the jugs meet the engine casing. Ideally, I'll have the bike back on the road the day after the shafts arrive... if I can get all the piddly stuff taken care of beforehand.

And finally, my new DOT helmet was here when I got home. It's a flat black skid lid with a load of padding. Compared to the old army helmet, it looks pretty ridiculous, but my skull will be less vulnerable to fractures wearing this thing (and the cops will need to find some other reason to write my next ticket. It'll probably be the tread condition of my rear tire. I've been holding out for a full day of rain to mount a new one.)

June 7, 2010

Earlier today, I had the tan bike out for one last ride until the end of July when I get home from work. It was shaping up to be a mighty good one too—except for one detail. A village cop took notice of my non-DOT helmet, pulled me over, and wrote a ticket. I've been stopped before, but nobody ever seemed too bothered about the helmet. Looks like I'll be getting a bill from village court next week. Meanwhile, I ordered a proper DOT helmet. I looked at hundreds of them and saw nothing that has the visual appeal of the old one, but they will protect my noggin.

June 6, 2010

The absolute worst kind of electrical problem is an intermittent one. How do you locate a fault that's only present 1% of the time?! The tan bike has just that. I've checked all the connections and the wiring where it gets flexed, and nada. But, when riding on a bumpy trail, the problem reappears for a few moments, then vanishes. It's definitely electrical because it also effects the lights. That, at least, narrows it down, and the solution will likely be to completely rewire that portion of the system. In the meantime, I had to resort to some jiggery pokery to continue with yesterday's ride. The bike died completely on one of those superb logging roads, way out in the middle of some woods near Hammondsport. That would have been the ideal time to pinpoint the fault, but continuing the ride was more important, especially since it was about to downpour (which it did on the way home.) In my rudimentary tool kit was a length of wire which was easily spliced into the system between the coil and the battery terminal on the regulator. In the parlance of car thieves, the bike was hotwired... and away we went. Of course, when you're done riding, you need to break the circuit as there would otherwise be continuous juice going to the ignition, not good for the battery or the points. As luck had it, my bike has a battery kill switch mounted on the sidecar, so that base was already covered. Since I'm about to leave for offshore, time is a commodity I don't have right now, so the repair job will wait until the end of July. For now, the bike remains hotwired.

Meanwhile, the other bike is torn apart for an engine rebuild. There's more about that on one of the other CJU pages. I'll be installing new bearings, pistons, rings, crank assembly and a camshaft. The cylinders will get honed out and the exteriors will be sandblasted and refinished. (Might as well make it pretty.) Having two bikes is pretty nice when you've got troubles. Nothing could be worse than having beautiful weather and nothing to ride. The project also gives me something to do, and knowing how well the bike will perform when it's complete provides something to look forward to. The red bike always was a good runner. It's not faster than the tan bike, but it seems to have a lot more power. It climbs steep hills with minimal downshifting where the other bike requires constant shifting. Must be those P28 carbs as everything else is virtually identical.

Thank you Miin and Shao for sourcing all the parts!

June 4, 2010

A couple years ago, I got some goggles with amber lenses, and they are really, really neat. If it's an overcast, grey day, they'll make it look like the sun is shining. It has some sort of psychological effect that makes the ride all that much better. When you get home at dusk, you won't appreciate how dark it is until you take them off. They're also very good for riding in rain. Visibilty is greatly enhanced. You can find them on eBay for chump change—about three bucks... money well spent.

May 28, 2010

One good thing about long term CJ ownership (and ridership) is how familiar you become with the quirky behaviors. Diagnosing problems is a snap (usually), unlike that horrific first year. Yesterday, for example, my bike started acting up about an hour into a ride. It was backfiring a bit and having sporadic power drops which got worse as time passed. Been there before... plenty of times. I knew it could be the result of any of a half dozen things, but experience dictated where to look first—the rotor. Bingo. A quick scrubbing with some 000 steel wool dabbed with a few drops of gasoline, and away we went. If you ride a 6V, keep your rotor spotless. Hint - it's better to do it in your garage instead of the side of the road.

May 25, 2010

For a while there it looked like I might be up the creek without a paddle again. I had the red bike off-road today, and neglected to carry my phone or AAA card, not that it would have mattered since I was so far from civilization. There's no way a rollback could have reached me, and the problem sure didn't seem like a roadside fix.

Here's what happened. I had just climbed 600 feet in the space of a mile, traversing a limited-access, seasonal road which was really just a logging trail. I made the entire climb in first gear, at a snail's pace. The bike was fine all the way up, but soon after it leveled off, the bike just farted, seized up and died. Smoke was pouring off the starboard jug, and you could really feel the heat. Poop. The kick starter wouldn't budge. I was sure the piston had melted. The symptoms were exactly the same as my piston meltdown in 2004. So, I began planning another bike extraction. (In other words, coast back down to the main road... and start walking.) But, after a few minutes, and for no logical reason, I tried kicking it again, and this time it turned over just fine. There was no unusual resistance, but there was absolutely no way it was going to fire until it cooled down. As I stood there, I remembered Tim Lagonegro telling me about some of the Chinese guys he has ridden with. He said they carry spray bottles full of water which they use to mist the jugs when their bikes run hot. Well, my bike was standing directly over a culvert, and laying nearby was an empty beer bottle. So... I decided to try the Chinese method of cooling the hot jug with water. I filled the bottle and very, very slowly dribbled it over the jug. There was a cloud of steam and the sound of frying bacon. After about five or six bottles, the bike fired right up and ran fine all the way home. The lesson learned? These bikes need air moving across the cylinders to keep them cool. Riding at a snail's pace for extended periods (on a hot day) is begging for trouble.

May 2, 2010

I've spent the last five weeks working offshore, but in three short days, I'll be home for a 35-day break. And oh baby, it's gonna be a busy one. You wouldn't believe the amount of stuff on my honeydew list. There won't be any time for boredom, that's for sure. Anyway, a few bike-related tasks are included, and they'll be reserved for the rainy days. I've got saddlebags and reflectors to install, plus some extended oil pump pickups that were made by master machinest, Dan Cason. They were made specifically for the deep sumps found on both of my Changs. (Barring heck or high water, this will become an item for the Toolbox.) The last bike-related task on the list is mounting bulb horns on my handlebars. (Yeah, it's true. Don't ask me what I'm thinking here since I don't even know.)

April 11, 2010

I've been doing research on products that neutralize and kill rust. Experience has shown that naval jelly and that Rustoleum stuff aren't really very good, and the specialty products that are tend to be expensive. Therefore, I've been looking into some of the products they use offshore. One is called Ospho. It's washed over bare, corroded steel or iron surfaces before they lay down the primer. The rust turns black, completely neutralized and completely sealed. It's like magic, almost. Ospho's active ingrediant is phosphoric acid, hence the product's name. Unfortunately, Ospho tends to be a bit pricey, and this is where the research really paid off. As it turns out, Home Depot sells 85% phosphoric acid by the gallon for only $27. (They sell it online, too.) If you've got a rust problem on your Chang, a proper treatment with phosphoric acid will take care of it for good. CJ sheet metal (especially in the sidecar) will rust in no time if it spends much time exposed to the elements. Also, if your jugs are coated with a heavy layer of rust, phosphoric acid is the answer. Just be sure the bike is outside the first time you fire it up as it's probably gonna smell pretty bad at first, and it's probably dangerous to breathe. Just keep that in mind.

March 26, 2010

Déjà vu... all over again. While out trail riding on the tan M1 yesterday, the bike coughed a few times. Your mind always starts racing when that happens. Is it electrical? Fuel? Will it develop into a roadside repair job, or worse yet, a ride home on a rollback? Luckily, it was neither. In fact, it seemed very much like something that happened once while riding the other bike when I first got it. Indeed, this problem would have developed into something worse, and had the bike been shut off, starting it again would have been less than fun. Experience dictated to check the rotor first, and sure enough, that's where the problem was. The contacts under the distributor cap will wear off on the rotor as it spins. A ring of conductive residue builds up on the rotor which, when there's enough of it, causes a short that gets progessively worse. Therefore, any 6V newbies out there, take heed. You should check your rotor from time to time. If it isn't spotless, give it a good scrubbing with mineral spirits and fine steel wool. You'll need a 14mm spanner for the front cover and an appropriate sized flathead screwdriver to remove the rotor. Use Loctite on the rotor screw as they have a tendency to back out. When that happens, you'll have a free wheeling rotor, and you won't be going anywhere. Trust me on that one.

March 24, 2010

&%#$. With less than a week to go before returning to sea, the weather forecast doesn't look very good for riding. Nonetheless, I did manage a week-long run of daily rides (in between the business of real life). I've been alternating which bike gets ridden and have developed a preference for the red one just because it's a bit more ballsy. Aside for that, they're equals in every other respect.

The rain has provided a chance to really get crackin' with car projects, mainly body work and paint. I'm getting pretty handy with fiberglass and an orbital sander. If you stand 20 feet away, you might be impressed. My newest Edsel is waiting for a re-cored radiator which should be ready this week. Meanwhile, I refurbished the rims and mounted new tires with NOS "dog-dish" hubcaps. Next up, replacing a rocker panel. That's gonna be interesting.

March 19, 2010

Back in January, I was messing around with some ideas in an effort to stop the &%#$ oil that was leaking from around the front of the generators on both bikes—once and for all. You might recall this contraption I made using a grille bracket from (yes, that's right) a 1958 Edsel. A couple weeks ago, I made another one for the other bike, and in the last ten days, I've tested them thoroughly with daily rides. Today, I'm just tickled to report that the oil problem has finally been solved for good. There hasn't been a drop of oil leaking from either bike since these babies were installed. If my wife asks, the moral of the story is simply this—you can never have too many junk Edsels out behind the garage.

March 17, 2010

Two days ago, another Edsel was delivered to the lodge via rollback, and this one brings us up to eleven. Since it's just a sedan, and not in superb condition, it will be used as a daily driver, along with the "light red" one. Meanwhile, spring has arrived with a vengeance, and the bikes have been getting ridden daily. Each day's activities are planned around the weather forecast. Riding takes priority over everything else (almost). What a life.

March 15, 2010

Know what looks really nice mounted below your license plate? A vintage 2" reflector made of glass. Heck, you might as well throw one on the sidecar fender while you're at it. I started searching for them on eBay a few weeks ago. There are some very interesting old reflectors out there, but not many in the desired size. The few I've seen so far would have been perfect except for the fact that they were NOS Schwinn bicycle items. I can't see paying $45 for a &%$#@ reflector. Can you? (It's just a matter of time...)

January 28, 2010

As you might already know, I like using an amber "beehive" lens in place of the standard flat lens found on the sidecar running light. Not only are they streamlined, but they also add a touch of color. They have a really nice vintage look, too. One of my bikes also has a red beehive lens for the sidecar taillight. (It's a NAPA after-market light.) What I didn't know until recently is that glass versions of these very same lenses can still be found. I just bought some, and if you'd like to have one, let me know. I'll post pictures of all this when I get home.

Speaking of lights, I finally found the correct size metal STOP insert to go inside the Model A taillight on my red bike. It should look pretty nice with the two-color red and amber lens. Finding it took some time, but we eventually prevailed. There will be photos of that, too.

Now I'm looking at vintage glass reflectors. There's a multitude of sizes and colors. The key here is to not get carried away. I love those little license plate reflectors, and every CJ seems to beg for fender reflectors. (I like the original CJ reflectors too, but they have plastic lenses and the bezels are seriously prone to rust.) Anyway, stay tuned. This might be pretty interesting.

January 19, 2010

Once installed on my tan bike, it sure didn't take long to realize how much of an improvement those giant handlebars are. (It took a while, but I finally got around to doing the same with the other bike.) In pictures of old motorcycles, you'll see that big handlebars were once the norm. The older the bike, the bigger the handlebars. Initially, they appealed to me simply because they look nice. But, after having spent a lot of time riding with big bars, I've found that they are infinitely more comfortable. The bikes are so much easier to maneuver, especially at low speeds. My arms and shoulders are no longer sore after an afternoon on twisty back roads. Big bars give you more leverage which is exactly what you want with a heavy outfit. I would heartily recommend them to anyone. Mine came from Luke's in Beijing, although I think other vendors have them as well. He also provided the longer throttle, clutch and brake cables. (Sorry, M1 riders, you'll have to make your own spark advance cable. I made some from old throttle cables. It's not difficult.)

And there you have it. I'm heading offshore tomorrow for five weeks. Let's hope spring arrives early this year. I'm dying to get out on the red bike.

January 16, 2010

Just got home from a nice ride. It's almost 4°C today, and the roads are fairly dry. Even so, the bike still managed to get pretty filthy. It doesn't seem to take very much. I am happy to say that a contraption I made to combat oil leaking around the generator has made a really big improvement, and adjusting it a bit more will probably solve the issue once and for all.

Anyway, I always think about stuff when I ride, and two things were foremost in my brain today. The first is rat bikes. As someone who's been crazy about old cars my whole life, it now seems like it took way too long for something to dawn on me, and that's the notion of having a beater, or in this case, a so-called rat bike. Let's say you have a beautiful, almost show quality machine. Right away, you're limited to using it only when the weather is perfect. And even so, you fret about dirt, scratches, or whatever. You probably spend an inordinate amount of time fussing over cleaning and polishing stuff rather than just enjoying it. That takes some of the enjoyment out of it. So then, why not have a second machine that's allowed to go out on a crappy day and get some dirt on it? This is what seems to be happening with my bikes. One has emerged as the "super nice" bike while the other is becoming a beater. This way, no matter what the weather's like, you can still head out on a CJ. I've done the same with my old cars by purchasing a slightly rusty, beat-up sedan so I can drive an Edsel every single day, year 'round. I should have thought of this 25 years ago.

The second thing has to do with riding a 6V CJ, specifically the spark advance. You 12V guys are missing out on a really nice feature that's only found on the M1. There was a time when all vehicles had spark advance mechanisms. Visit an antique car show sometime and look at the steering hub of any vehicle that was built before 1935 or so (and some after). There you'll see the lever for advancing and retarding the ignition timing. Unlike 12V Changs, the 6V model has fixed timing, but you can—on the fly—twiddle it a few degrees in either direction. What this means is you can adjust the timing for any type of riding conditions with a simple squeeze of a finger. It's pretty neat how easily you can locate a "sweet spot" that gives your bike some extra balls for getting up a steep hill, or a little more juice when you're winding it out on the level. And, if you have straight pipes and want to annoy people as you ride through their town, there's even a spot that generates more racket out the exhaust pipes. Indeed, a very nice little feature.

On a similar note, I sometimes find myself tweaking the choke on the fly as well. In theory, the choke should be fully open once you're warmed up, but in practice, that doesn't always seem to be the case. Here too, you can sometimes find a sweet spot that yields a touch more horsepower, and it's not limited to just 6V bikes.

January 14, 2010

One of the benefits of three wheels is having the capability to ride in ice and snow. In other words, our bikes are as much year-rounders as we want them to be. All it comes down to is the owner's willingness to risk freezing his nuts off. Today was the first day we had dry roads and reasonably warm temperatures (-3°C), so I was out there on the tan bike for a couple hours, and it was great! With layers of clothing piled on thick, I managed to stay completely warm, even my fingers which are what usually ice up first. (Some new Thinsulate gloves took care of that.)

The bike hadn't been started in a couple months, and to be honest—it really took some effort to get it running. I had to take a breather midway during the kicking frenzy. But, she finally fired and once she warmed up, she behaved exactly as I had hoped she would. We climbed Mount Washington, then descended into Keuka Valley, then up and over the hills into Mitchellsville, out to Wheeler, Kanona, and then home, all on back roads. These bikes attract attention under normal circumstances, but you'd really enjoy seeing peoples' reactions when you're riding one in the dead of winter. It's a trip. One fellow went to the trouble of rolling down his window to flash a thumbs-up. There were also friendly waves from the Amish buggies we passed along Route 53.

There's still some oil leaking around the generator, and that's gonna be the first order of business the next time I fiddle with the bike. Apparently, the new O-ring solution isn't working out so well. Sooner or later, it'll get sorted.

January 6, 2010

You'll never reach the point where there's nothing left to learn, especially if you have a Chang in the garage. Indeed, they can bring out the engineer in all of us. Whether it's grinding, bending, drilling, or even making some little doodad from scratch, you can figure out what to do if you have the time to mull it over. There's something satisfying about finding a good solution to a problem, no matter how small, and doing it completely on your own.

January 4, 2010

Oil. The oil in both bikes got changed yesterday as part of the winter maintenance regimen. This time, we used Castrol GTX SAE10W-30. Why? Because it was on sale. When it comes to oil, people have strong opinions. If a dozen motorheads have a discussion about oil, you'll hear at least half a dozen different opinions about what's best and why. (It's the same with fuel additives.) Well, the deal with Changs is simply this—you can use just about anything as long as you keep the level up. I wouldn't recommend really light weight or synthetic oils, but you could get by with them in a pinch. Ditto on the gearbox and final drive. Although I prefer heavy gear oil, motor oil also works just fine. Don't throw your money away on "specially formulated for motorcycles" oil, or whatever.

Paint. If you're tearing a CJ down for a beauty makeover, perhaps you can benefit from the following. Having done four makeovers thus far, I've learned some useful stuff—like paint color selection, for example. IMHO, Rust-Oleum makes the best aerosol paint you can get, and their colors are available in brush-on form as well. For painting small stuff like fork components, trunk hinges, headlamps, etc., spray paint is a good way to go (unless you've got the equipment and expertise to do a professional paint job.) I always send the big stuff to a body shop and do the rest myself, often using spray paint (albeit, on very carefully prepared and primered surfaces.) Therefore, the colors are selected from the Rust-Oleum catalog which is fairly extensive. A body shop can match it perfectly. My Rust-Oleum Sunrise Red bike was once painted Rust-Oleum Smoke Gray, and the other bike is Rust-Oleum Sand. Another benefit is having a readily available supply of inexpensive, fresh, easy-to-use and perfectly matched touch-up paint that can be brushed or sprayed, depending on the application. Obviously, if you were doing a restoration on an Indian or something, this approach is laughable, but since these are Changs, it makes perfect sense.

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