For the manner in which men live is so different from the way in which they ought to live, that he who leaves the common course for that which he ought to follow will find that it leads him to ruin rather than safety.
-Machiavelli

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Saturday, October 12, 2013

What to do now?

So, what does a guy like me do when he gives up a hobby? Well...he starts spending time with the other two overly time consuming hobbies.
I won't show pictures of the macaron incident from today. I'm sure I would be arrested for committing such a crime. Let's just say when you whip the meringue into your batter...don't mix in too much! At least the French butter cream turner out well. That stuff can be frozen until I try the cookies again. Not a total loss. To my credit, it was the first time I tried macarons.



After I was done murdering that recipe (which is not something I do very often, thank you very much) it was time to go and get myself covered in form-a-gasket and assembly fluid.
The bottom half of my Triumph engine is together for the first time in, well...a long time. The rotating assembly (crank, rods, pistons) is balanced. Instead of taking my chances with old aluminum rods, I elected to use a pair of steel rods from Crower.

The first time I built this engine I did something pretty trick to the timing gears. I punched out some lightening holes in each one, then I threaded three in each gear. The threaded holes make it easier to pull them back off.

This is the state that my baby girl has been in for nearly two years. I miss riding this bike.

This is a Morgo big bore. It ups the engine from 650cc to 750cc. Combined with a nice set of cams from Johnson Cams, this motor is going to HONK! The tubes in that picture are their own story...mismatching the years that your parts are made can create some issues. Nothing a stupid hot rodder can't fix, though.

This ought to give you a rough idea of what LaCucaracha will look like when she is (re)finished. This will be the third time that I've built this bike. Lots of red and LOTS of glitter. I have this thing for glitter...I don't know what it is...is that wrong? Am I some sort of weirdo? Don't answer that.
I doubt I will be able to kick this engine over and go for a ride before Nov 1st. That's when I stop riding for the year. I'm having some screws pulled out of my kicking leg soon and I need to let that heel first. It will be good to know that it'll be waiting for me in the spring. Once the engine is built, I just need to drop it into the frame and take care of some other minor details, then DONE!

1 comment:

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