Operation Duc Hunt: Baby's first bath.

This post is going to be mostly pictures, as my brain is mush from driving to Maryland and back, plus being out in the heat all day spraying, washing, and a good once over.  Plus working on the Hurricane.

How she looked after being exhumed from her tomb, loaded in the van and taken back home. 

Some shots of the rust and crust. 

Baby needs a bath. 

This is one of my favorite features.

Always cool finding personal touches like this. 

Results of a battery spill, I'm guessing.

Something always breaks. 

Looks fast, sitting still.

Not too bad....

Well, shit.

The cylinder studs will most likely need to be replaced, they're very  rusty and a common weak point.  If we're going down that route (and we should), we might as well take a peek at the crank shaft oil galley plug.  That little silver sliver may be from it backing out and grinding away. 

Gotta do belts, and valve service, so I'm probably just going to pull the engine and do it on the bench. 

It's very surreal to have this motorcycle, yet it feels like, in some ways, it was always mine. Like I was just waiting for it to fall into place. 

Stay safe out there.  

Oh yeah, the Hurricane is running better. Not calling it fixed yet. 

Operation Duc Hunt

There are two main films that planted to seed of my love for motorcycles, Mad Max, and most prominently, the Japanese anime film AKIRA.  I saw a bootleg copy of the English dub prior to the US release, and from that moment on, the need for a motorcycle started spreading through my brain.

I've wanted many, many bikes, but there are three street bikes that have always stuck with me.  

1. The BMW K75s

2. Buell Ulysses XB12X

3. Ducati 900 Super Sport

I owned (albeit briefly) a 2006 Buell Ulysses, and loved it! Torquey and full of character. Unfortunately, I had to sell it shortly before my oldest was born.  I barely missed an opportunity to buy a K765s, before buying my XJ600.  About a month after I bought my XJ600, our local Ducati shop had a 900SS/CR that was about double what I paid for my Yamaha.  I made the mistake of sitting on it.  

All three of these bikes are quirky, have character, and in some ways, almost agricultural. I like my bikes with spirit and quirks.  New bikes are smooth, efficient, and refined.  You can keep 'em.  

 About 5 years ago, a fellow rider offered me his 1998 Ducati 900SS/CR but I couldn't make it work. So, he sold it to a mutual friend.  That mutual friend promised me first dibs if he ever sold it.  That friend reached out recently and made me a mindboggling offer.  So, I reserved a cargo van, made a plan, feverously poured as much Ducati info in my head as humanly possible, and have begun to count the days until the Italian Adventure kicks off, aka the "Duc Hunt".  

These 2v, belt driven, carbureted engines are high maintenance, with the complicated desmodromic valve trains, and aren't for the half-assed mechanic (wait, is that me?).  I'm not paying Ducati to do my work, I like getting my hands greasy.  And greasy they will get, as this is no hop-on and go bike, it's been sitting, and will need much tender love and attention to get back on the road.  

Will I keep the Hurricane, no, probably not.  I don't have a need for 2 street bikes, no matter how much I love the Honda. I will however, definitely keep the side cases (and maybe neon pink windscreen) for future use.  If my coworker buys it (he used to race them when they came out), I'll be stripping it down as he wants to bring it back to its former fairing covered glory.  That will leave me with a nice little surplus of bits and pieces for a future project (dual sport time?). 

Stay safe out there.... 

Project CBR600F: A little bit here, a little bit there.

 I'm slowly getting the CBR back to being road worthy.  The clutch cover has been patched, the oil leak on the pulse generator cover has been fixed (I think), the valve cover gasket and the radiator (and thermostatic switch) have been replaced.  I need a replacement coolant hose (between the water pump and the cylnders), then I can put some fluids back in and see what leaks out.  

Once the leaks are confirmed fixed, it's on to uh... well, firing it up!  Been wrenching on my wagon too, this time nothing as complex as the timing belt and HPFP.  Replaced the RCV and alternator pulley. Nice to finally have cold AC, and no more squealing at start up.  

There some changes coming to what lives in my garage....stay tuned and stay safe out there. 

Project CBR600F: Still in Storage

 The Hurricane is still in it's winter cocoon of garage junk.  I could have sworn I ordered the clutch cover gasket but I can't find it, so the replacement should be here end of the month.  I still need to replace the radiator switch, and hoses.  

So, what did I get done over the winter... NUTHIN.  I spent the first chunk of warmish days wrenching on my TDI wagon (timing belt, DPF/EGR work, CP3 HPFP swap, ECU Tune, etc).  I'm enjoying my sporty wagon, and look forward to upping the tune to stage 2 (maybe 3 with a turbo swap in the future).  

Riding has kind of taken a back seat, it's just hard to find/make the time for it.  Plus, the roads aren't getting any safer out there.  

One way or another, I gotta get off my butt and get the CBR back on the road.  

Project CBR600F: Hints from the Moto Gods

 Well, I found the source of my oil leak, in addition to the split timing plug. 

Pulling the clutch cover involves draining the oil, and since it appears the thermostatic switch (radiator temp sensor) is also bad, I need to drain the coolant.  I replaced the fan as mentioned previously, and got the temp up to >210 degrees, no fan.  But when I ground the wire from the thermostatic switch to the radiator, the fan runs, so bad switch. 

I get it, I get it, all signs point to pulling the engine.

To Do List: 

1. Degrease

2. Replace Valve Cover Gasket

3. Check Valve Clearance

4. Replace old coolant hoses and clamps

5. Replace Thermostat (just because)

6. Check Countershaft Seal

7. And so on... 

I did trim down the handguards, took all of 10 minutes. 

So, the 2023 riding season is officially over for me.  I think I logged maybe 100 miles. Better than none I guess. 

Stay safe out there. 

Project CBR600F: Blowin' in the Wind

 After trying a couple of different fans from Amazon (I didn't want to buy a used fan from eBay), I finally found one that fit perfectly, but did require a little bracket to mount.  

Ready to reassemble the rest of the bike, and hook up the test tank to, uh, well, test once the bike gets up to temp. 

Stay safe out there.  

Project CBR600F: Fallin' like the Berlin Wall *UPDATES*

 Some days, the universe gives you little hints that your day won't go as planned.  Others, it smacks you in the face and says in a stern voice, "NOT TODAY.".   Well, Wednesday was the latter of the two. 

Gravity tested, working as designed.

Behold my feat of strength! 

Free shorty lever!

$20 later, good as new.

With the new lever on, I realized my handguard was too bent.  To be honest, these dual mount guards have been a pain since day one. The angles are all wrong with my big switch sets, and long levers.  So, instead of dropping $100 on a single sided mount style, I gonna make my own. 

Surgeon, cut here.

When I get some garage time again, and it's not 150 degrees outside with 200% humidity, I'm gonna cut 'em down to size and mount them back.  

Stay safe, and hydrated out there. 

**UPDATE**

Took the bike out on a quick errand today, once it was up to temp, it ran great.  Picked up my groceries, and decided to take the fun way home.  I noticed my foot was slipping off my brake lever a few times but figured it was bad body position due to barely riding this year, or something on my boot.  

Pulled into the garage, to let the bike run the carbs dry since I don't know when I'll be riding again.  When I shut the bike down, there was a clunk and lots of gurgling.  I looked at the temp gauge, it was at 255 degrees! Then looked at my boot, it was coated in oil.  

So, I have two problems. 

1. My cooling fan isn't running. 

    a. The wiring got pulled/damaged when I was working on my headlight. 

            Check all wiring and connections.

                    Wiring was fine, but I did find some leftover wired bits from the switched circuit the

                    previous owner made.  Repaired the harness.

    b. The temp sensor got damaged (not sure how, it's on the left side).

            Test sensor.

                    Sensor is fine.

    c. The fan assembly itself is damaged.

            Test fan with power for functionality.

                Fan ran once with direct power, then never again.  Looking for more universal replacement.

2. Revenge of the oil leak, this time with spray action!

    a. Crack in the right crankcase cover.

            Close! The timing inspection plug was cracked.  It has been replaced.

    b. Damaged or loosened timing cover bolts.

    c. Bent side cover, and/or damaged gasket. 

            Speaking of damaged gaskets and leaks, I think it's finally time to just pull the engine, degrease,             and replace all the gaskets and seals, as well as the hoses.  No more leaky bikes.

The fun never stops! 

            Neither does the learning! 

Project CBR600F: Neon Nights

 Back in the early days of this build, a guy on the F@cebook Hurricane Group posted a vintage 80s Lockhart windscreen for sale, it was neon pink and I had to have it.  The price was a bit salty but man, it was like concentrated 80s.  I tried to come up with ways to mount it but eventually gave up and just decided to stash it for later.  

Well, today is later.  I printed up some TPU (flexible filament) spacers, ordered longer bolts and decided to just freaking do it already.  I was worried about getting the mounting holes lined up so, so I pulled the black fly screen, centered it as best I could, and clamped the two together.  I should have taken pictures, but I get excited and want to finish the work.  

I used a hot pick and made pilot holes, even starting with a small drill bit, I had some chipping on the screen.  Thankfully most of it is covered by the bolt caps, hopefully the cracks don't get worse. 

Behold the cherry on top of my Cyberpunk style Hurricane: 

I'm currently printing some taller spacers to test, with a higher infill so the don't crumple.  Probably need to get some shorter bolts too.  We'll see. 

The pictures make it look more orange, but I promise you, it is very very pink. Now, I need to get back to the idea of making a new warning light cluster, using an LCD panel and Arduino with some cool animations, but that's going to take a lot of time. 

Stay safe out there. 

**UPDATE**

I printed a different sized spacers, taller on top works better.

Project CBR600F: Eviction Day!

 

No mice were harmed in the making of this film!

I took the bike out for a quick spin, and at surface street speeds, the jetting still feels fine.  I hope to get out for more testing tomorrow.  At 40mph, with ear plugs in, and my visor closed, I couldn't hear the exhaust over the wind noise.  I love it. 

Project CBR600F: Quiet your can!

 When I purchased the factory exhaust system last year, I had hoped to have a quieter ride.  Unfortunately, someone had punched out the baffles, so while it was a bit quieter than the Delkevic, it was still loud and posed some jetting challenges.  I finally managed to track down a factory can with baffles, however, once I got it, I noticed some things didn't jive up.  

This new can had a different part number, was about 3-4 inches longer, and the mounting bracket didn't line up.  A quick search turned up that this can is from a CBR600F2, not a Hurricane.  The baffles are in place, so instead of starting a return process, I decided to just see how it goes. Some quick hack saw and drill work, and I had a flat bracket to fix the mount issue.  

Apparently, the junk yard gave my bike a name. I kinda dig it.

Now, I need to get my butt in gear and fix the coolant leak, and valve cover gasket replaced.  I didn't get squat done over the cold months but warmer garage weather is on it's way. 

I still owe a review for the LS2 Challenger helmet, but I also need to put more non interstate miles on it to rule out if my headaches were wind and strain related, or pressure from the size.  

Stay safe out there.