Long time reader, first time poster...Gee, that was original...

Slidaulth

New Member
Local time
7:37 PM
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
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3
Hello,

A little about myself, my bike(s) and motors as well as some 'funny' stuff that has happened so far. If you have answers (links to posts with answers) to any of these things feel free to let me know, I will be looking for them using the search function but I am still learning the lingo for part names and may have problems because I search for the wrong word.

Who am I? Well, I think I am a crazy person living in a Mad Mad World, but, this would make me sane by definition. My name is Robert (Slidaulth is a character name in an MMORPG) and I live in Saint Petersburg Florida. I am learning to be a bit of a mechanic (as I am sure most of you have had to do as well, those that weren't already). I am generally very handy and a very fast learner, so don't be surprised if I go from newbie ignoramus to full fledged knowledge base in a few short weeks. I study most of my hobbies to the point of becoming professional level experience.

My bike(s) is another story. See, I already built one of these motorized bicycles. Had a sweet set up. Bought a used 5 speed Huffy cruiser bike. Bought the motor kit and mounted it. Had it nearly broken in too. And, used this site for the information I used to determine the motor kit to buy and the bike frame to mount to. Well, she was a beaut. I had it running like clock work. See, I am using the motorized bike as a daily commuter, being as my motorcycle (1973 Honda Scrambler CL-450) is down due to an expensive engine replacement needing funds. Well, short story on why I have a different bike and motor now is, my girlfriend did not want the bike stored in the apartment so it was locked up outside the bedroom window (on the assumption I would hear anyone messing with it). This proved to not be the case and the bike was stolen.
:bigcry:

Well, I am out of work, money is tight and the holidays were coming. Bad things just piled up. My folks, and this made me cry, sent me a check so I could order another motor. I lucked out and got the same motor cheaper and found a bike for 20.00 at a garage sale. Unfortunately, it is an older straight frame bike and has a much less comfortable seat.

Christmas day I am assembling my cycle when, grrr, over torqued one of the nuts holding my muffler. First it just pulled the bolt out of the engine, that was interesting. I fed the bolt back into the engine (yes, I know now, I should have gotten a heli coil and tapped the hole...) and went to tighten everything down. Well, snapped that same bolt off inside the engine this time so, going to have to see what I can find here on how to fix this. But that is not the end of the fun that caused.

Yesterday, went to a job interview (luckily was dropped off with the bike at the place) and went to ride home afterwards. Engine kept flooding out, fuel running out the drain tube on the bottom of the carb. Well, I am smart enough I had all the tools I would need to work on the bike with me in my backpack. Took off the bottom of the carb and adjusted the float cutoff. I knew how to do this from working on my Honda. Okay, that is fixed right...?
Nope, had to do it again as I hadn't adjusted it far enough. Whee fun.

Now, this is where it gets to be really fun. See, the exhaust is coming out of the space where the missing bolt has allowed the muffler to gap away from the housing. Wonderful. Vibrating fun all over the place. I freak and grab my brake on the right side...and what is right behind the brake handle...the L shaped tube going into the throttle handle. So, snap goes the housing for that. I manage to screw the cable housing into the body of the throttle handle above the break so that it works. Couple of deep breaths to calm down so as not to panic again and I am off. Now for the real fun.

As most of you will have already figured, the single bolt holding the muffler on is vibrating so bad the muffler falls off the bike, with all the noise I don't even hear it happen. I feel it though, almost instantly as the vibration strength goes through the roof. I am sitting on a '90s era seat that has lost almost all of its cushioning and immediately feel the need to rise up and stand on the pedals. I pull off the road and examine the situation. Well, this is bad. I go ahead and start riding cause I just have to get home. The motor is working, it is noisy and painful to sit so I ride standing on the pedals. This is where it starts to get really dangerous.

As I am riding, the vibrations are so powerful, the carb backs itself off the air intake. The fuel line pulls itself free of the petcock. I now have no fuel to engine but I haven't seen what has happened, just that the engine is stalling again...flooding again??? How, oh god, quick shut off the fuel flow.... Whoa am I gonna start on fire from the gas running onto the motor body... Back off and assess the situation.

Good news, no fire. Okay, unscrew the carb, put it back on the air intake. Carefully tighten that down. Reattach the fuel line. Let's get home, still too far to pedal, and it is up hill. Yup, I risked it again. Twice more the carb backs off. Each time I reach down and shut off the fuel before doing anything else. How do I get the carb to stay on the air intake...??? Be creative. I had mounted my headlight bracket to the bike with a piece of bike inner tube under it for added security (it felt too loose and I couldn't quite get it to tighten down enough as the next full turn of the screw made it too tight for the quick release). I pull off my light bracket (it is daytime and, while it is always wise to use lights at all times for safety...well, it isn't required). I pulled a piece of the inner tube off and extracted the, looks like Teflon, two plastic pieces that go between the carb body and the air intake. Managed to fit the inner tube piece in between the carb body and the plastic piece and get the whole thing back on the air intake. This carb is going no where now, and is going to be kinda tough to take off even when I loosen that screw.

Finally I make it home. Covered in gas to my elbows and ankles.

So, I know this is much longer of an introduction than usual, but, I felt some of you folks would appreciate the humor of the comedy of errors that I experienced yesterday.

Now, I am off to find information on this site about how to extract that bit of bolt in the body of the engine at the muffler (may have to take it to a machine shop nearby).

I am ordering a replacement muffler and throttle set (with the dual brake assembly built in so I no longer will have a left and right side brake handle to worry about). I am probably going to JB weld the throttle cable housing onto the throttle body as a precaution until the parts get here.

Thank God for this site because, you guys/gals have already helped just by being here.

Robert McClary
 
Hi Robert, welcome to Motoredbikes!
To remove a stud you can get a kit of left hand drills and drill exactly in the middle of the stud with a drill slightly smaller than the threads. Usually the stud will get caught by the drill and spin right out.
OR, if there is a bit of the stud exposed, you can try to use a punch to carefully punch/ spin out the stud until you can grab it.

Invest in some Locktite- I rarely use the red because it is considered permanant, the blue is removable.

I forgot to mention Harbor freight has the left hand bits.
 
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Professor is right w/trying the L hand drills, you may also want to try what they call an easy-out screw extractor. If my Batteries charge, I'll throw up a picture latter!

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_1...xtractor&sid=ISx20070515x00001a&psid=21x60661

It's better to go with a smaller size in your predicament because you don't want to hurt the very soft threads that surround the broken bolt!

With a steady hand, use a small drill and drill a hole into the center of the snapped bolt, the pilot hole will give something for your removal tool to grab onto when you spin it in reverse to the thread (loosening it)!
 
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Well, if I hadn't already stripped out the threads partially when I over tightened the bolt the first time, it probably would be that simple. Hoping that will make it easier to get the shaft out of the hole.
Bought a drill bit to widen the hole, a tap to thread the hole to the next size up, and a bolt (gonna have to cut the head off of that) to go in the hole.

Gonna find the correct spot for the rest of this stuff (probably should move out of the Getting to Know You threads section) and post follow ups.

She is a ugly bike, but she is all I have and I love her.
 
Good Luck

Hi Good luck with the job interview, I hope you get the job then you can afford whatever it takes to get the bike fixed and be back on your "feet" to ride again.

Best Reards
Pat
 
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