It Was a Perfect Ride Until.........

Recall from earlier posts that I had fixed up a motorcycle for our daughter Jenny and we took it to her home in San Francisco.  After we left her, I hatched a plan for Carolyn and I to do a ride with her down the famous California Highway 1, along the coast north of San Francisco.  The plan was for us to meet Jen in Garberville, which is about 210 miles north of SF on highway 101.  We would spend the night in Garberville and then ride south together down highway 1 back to her house.  The only weekend available for Jenny to do this was Memorial Day weekend.  This had me nervous, since I make it a rule to not ride at all on weekends, and certainly not on a holiday weekend.  However, since we would be meeting on Saturday and riding back to SF on Sunday, I thought we would at least avoid the mad rush back into the city at the end of the holiday weekend. 

Carolyn and I had a pretty long ride just to get to Garberville, and riding two-up, we don't like to do a lot of miles each day.  So we started on Thursday, and took a route which took us over the Cascades to Central Oregon and then back over the mountains near Crater Lake and over to highway 101 at Crescent City, California.  On the first day, riding over Mt Hood, we took a little detour to Trillium Lake for the classic photo of Mt Hood reflected in the lake:

The Cascades are beautiful this time of the year (actually, any time of the year), with lush new growth and lots of water in the rivers from snowmelt. 

After our second night out, which we spent in Crescent City, we detoured again to the city of Ferndale, California.  This is one of our favorite little towns.  It has lots of restored grand old homes and nice gardens.  This is a typical house:

 

 



We got to the motel in Garberville just minutes before Jenny arrived.  Since it was too early to check in, Jen and I went for a little ride back up 101 to the Humbolt Redwoods state park while Carolyn watched the luggage and waited for the rooms to become available.  Here is a shot of a bubble-headed alien checking its cell phone:

After we got back to the motel and the riding was done, it was time to kick back and relax by the pool:

The next morning we headed down the coast highway.  Highway 1 is always an iffy proposition, since it can be very foggy and cold at any time of the year.  But we lucked out and the weather was perfect.  There was a pretty strong wind, but generally, it was at our backs, which helps reduce wind noise in our helmets.  Before this trip I had bought some upgraded intercoms that allowed for up to four-way open conversation.  We could talk to each other just as if we were riding in a car together.  It helped immensely to make us all feel connected and be able to discuss what we were seeing. 

We stopped at Fort Ross, which is a fort established by Russians in the early 19th century when the unexplored west coast of North America was pretty much up for grabs by any country.  Here are some pics of the group at the fort:

We had absolutely cloudless skies the whole way down the coast:

 

BUT, as we were approaching the end of highway 1 in Mill Valley, we got into heavy traffic and I was not paying much attention to the gauges and lights on my bike.  We got stopped in a shady part of the highway and the voltmeter light caught my eye as it was BLINKING RED!  I had never seen it do that before.  It meant the battery was getting seriously discharged.  I tried reving the engine, but it made no difference.  Obviously, the alternator was not sending current to the battery.  There wasn't much I could do except hope the indicator was faulty, but it was not to be, and shortly afterwards the bike quit with a dead battery.  We were 15 miles from Jen's house, but no way to get there.  Time to call a tow truck:

 

We got to Jen's house late Sunday night.  Since Monday was a holiday, no shops or even online sources for parts were open.  I spent the day researching the problem and found that there had been stator failures reported on my make and model.  The stator and the rotor are two parts that make up the alternator, but the rotor is basically just a spinning magnet and not much can go wrong with it.  I got real lucky in that Jen's next door neighbor had a fairly extensive set of tools and he and I set to taking the bike apart to get to the stator.  This is what we found:

 

Note the crispy looking coils......not good. 

In addition to not having my own tools, I really missed my motorcycle lift.  It would have allowed me to stand alongside the bike while working on it, instead of doing it like this:

By Monday afternoon I had the old stator out and the gasket surfaces cleaned.  I managed to save the old gasket. 

 

Note the garden trowel used as a wheel chock.  The garage floor was sloping slightly towards the front of the bike. 

Tuesday morning I started calling around for a stator that I could get ASAP.  It wasn't easy, but eventually I found a shop in downtown San Francisco that said they could order one and get it the next day.  As a side benefit, it was made in the USA and cost less than half what a dealer part would have cost. 

They called me Wednesday around noon, so I borrowed Jen's bike and headed downtown to get it.  The shop was a funky little place called Tokio Moto:

 

But the parts manager, Michelle, obviously knew her stuff:

 

The new stator looked a lot better than the old one:

 

I got back to Jen's, had a little lunch, and then her neighbor Joe and I started the reconstruction.  By dinner time we had it back together, including an oil and filter change which Cathy recommended was a good idea after a stator burn-out. 

Not knowing how long it would take me to get the bike running again, Carolyn bailed on Tuesday and took a plane back home as her sister Lynda was coming down on Friday for her birthday celebration with lunch reservations. 

Thursday morning I took off on the solo ride home.  I managed to get in some twisty roads that I knew of around Weaverville, CA, where I stayed the first night.  The next day I jumped on Interstate 5 and got home after 12 hours and 520 miles. 

So, it was a bit of an adventure, but a lot of things worked out well......being close to jen's house when the bike quit, having a garage to work in and tools to work with, getting the new stator so quickly, and having great weather for riding the whole time. 

Some Minor Mustang Bits

We had a couple of rainy days so I cleaned up a few items on the 'Stang.  First, though, this picture of Carolyn in the car showing that the seat belts fit nicely:

I  found a solution to the windlace problem.  Recall from the last post that the standard windlace was too thin to fit over the thicker ABS molded plastic headliner edge........especially around the "A" pillar where the fabric covering had a rolled edge.  I found that the original upholstery shop I went to to see about getting the standard headliner installed had an old roll of wider windlace and he sold me 10 feet of it.  It fit the "A" pillar perfectly:

To be consistent, I used it for the roof edge also, but it was a little loose in that application.  A little weather strip cement fixed that. 

I also installed the passenger side mirror.  Back when the car was new, I don't think many cars, including this one, had passenger side mirrors.  We were taught to look over our right shoulder to check for cars in the blind spot.  This was made too difficult when seat backs got the high head rests, so side mirrors became necessary.  The side mirror I installed is also convex and provides a wider field of view. 

Just a few more things to do before putting it away for summer vacation. 

Headliner Install

Yesterday we spent way too much time installing the new headliner.  The part that I thought would be hard......getting the top part tucked behind the windshield and back window molding .....turned out to be easy.  And the part I thought would be easy.......installing the "A" and "C" pillar pieces and the windlace.....turned out to be impossible. 

Here is a pic of Brian installing the "A" pillar piece.  You can see it is tucked into the windshield molding, but the side window part has a rolled edge that was just too fat to get the windlace over.  The main top part of the headliner has what appears in the pic to be wrinkles, but they are indentations for the sun visors.  The headliner has what they call a "carbon fiber" pattern.  It might not have been my first choice, but I admit it looks pretty cool. 

One of the time-consuming tasks was to find the holes for the rear view mirror and sun visor screws.  I found them for the rear view mirror, but have not yet found them for the sun visors. 

Another job that took a lot of time was reattaching the upper seat belt brackets.  It was just my bad luck that I chose the spot for this bracket that was right at the overlap of the headliner and the "C" pillar piece, so that I had to locate the hole and drill/cut through both pieces for the bolt to pass through.  The headliner is made of fiberglass with a foam/cloth covering that was hard to get through.
Nevertheless, I eventually got it, and here is a view of the nearly finished job.  The windlace still needs to be installed above the door, but that shouldn't be too difficult as the headliner is thin in that area.  The part of the seat belt left hanging still needs to be attached alongside the front seat. 

 

Altogether a pretty frustrating day, but the headliner looks pretty good, and the color is a lot nicer than the original black. 

Edit:  This afternoon I found the holes for the sun visors:

The photo makes it look like the visors are grey with a black trim, but it must be some kind of trick caused by the flash.  They are really black, with no contrast from the trim. 

I also got one of the seat belts completed.  It works and fits pretty good, but makes the rear seats even more inaccessible.  I understand now why the Mustangs originally came with such thin and flimsy driver and passenger seats.  It was to help access to the rear seats. 

Busy Weekend With the Mustang

Remember in my last post about the Mustang where I said "There are still big, expensive jobs to do, but they are ....... going to be done by somebody else (carpet and headliner),...... "  Those were my thoughts, anyway, until we found out what it would cost to have somebody do the carpet and headliner.  The headliner alone would have cost over $600, and $400 of that was just to remove and re-install the windshield and rear window.  Then $225 to install the $40 headliner.  There had to be a better way, and there was.  I found online that there are a couple of shops making a one-piece textured ABS headliner that could be installed without removing the glass, and is an easy enough job for a do-it-yourselfer.  Strangely enough, the shop making the headliner that we ordered is located in my old home town of Corona, California where the Mustang spent many years.  The carpeting job we decided to do ourselves because there is an already cut-and-formed kit available for the car. 

So, this past weekend, Brian came down with his truck loaded with new parts, including new front seats and trunk carpet.  We spent Saturday afternoon after he arrived installing acoustic underlayment for the cab.  The stuff is called Dynamat, and is supposed to provide a great improvement in keeping down engine and road noise as well as providing a moisture barrier.  It had to be cut and fit to the curves of the floor, driveshaft tunnel and rear bulkhead:

 

I thought this was a pretty tedious and time consuming job, but the next day we tackled the carpet, which turned out to be the really difficult and time consuming job.  We sort of expected it to fit perfect by just laying it in, but it had to be trimmed a lot and the holes needed for the seats bolts, shift lever, and seat belt bolts were difficult to cut.  where possible, we located the holes by poking up from the bottom with an awl.  First came the rear section of carpet:

Then the front, plus the seat frame adapters:

 

The original rear seats, which were in really good shape, were cleaned up:

Then the sill plates were installed:

 

 

Then the front seats, which took a lot more bending and fitting of hardware than expected:

Note sexy floor mats, too. 

 

 

By this time we had been at it non-stop from 8 am to 3 pm.  We rolled it out into the driveway for a photo op:

 

 

And a test fitting:

 

 

That car is SMALL.  Brian couldn't even get into the back seats but I reminded him that he spent a lot of time there when he was a kid.  The side supports on the drivers seat, combined with the steering wheel, make it a bit of a squeeze to get in for driving.  Once in, though, the seats are very comfortable. 

There are two more interior items to install; the headliner and a console between the driver and passenger seats.  These are back ordered and are not to be shipped until late April, so in the meantime, the Mustang is taking a nap.  I need the shop space as my own vehicles are in need of some maintenance. 

A New Rider for the Good Roads

Last summer I made this post about daughter Jenny wanting to learn to ride; http://thegoodroads.blogspot.com/2013/08/another-potential-rider.html.  She was serious.  She took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) Basic Rider Course and got her license.  Then a friend loaned her a motorcycle, and a neighbor with a bike went with her on some rides from her house in San Francisco.  She asked me if I would help her find a bike of her own. 

I spent a lot of time looking on Craigslist and then one weekend Carolyn and I went to look at a couple of Kawasaki Ninja 250s, which I thought would be the perfect bike for her.  I used to own one before my current street bike, so I knew quite a bit about the bike.  It was hard to find one for sale that did not have a salvage title due to minor drops which broke the very expensive fairing.  I also had to find one with more than 7500 miles, so it could be registered in California without meeting CA smog requirements.  After a few false leads, we finally found this one at a car dealer, of all places:

It is a 2006 model, the next-to-last year they made these.  The bike was very clean, but had a somewhat clattery motor, which I thought was probably due to needing a valve adjustment.  It also needed a new front rotor and chain and sprockets.  We bought the bike and I proceeded to do a complete refurbishment on it.  Since I would not be able to work on it after we got it to Jenny, I needed to make sure everything was good to go. 

First order of business was a valve adjustment and spark plug replacement:

My motorcycle lift sure came in handy for this project.  Next, I replaced the fork oil and the front brake rotor and pads:

By this time I got the new chain and sprockets I ordered and installed those.  Here is a comparison of the old and new rear sprockets:

I also lubed and adjusted the clutch and throttle cables and put in new rear brake pads and new brake fluid front and rear.  I also changed the oil and filter, cleaned the oil screen in the engine sump, and balanced the carbs. 

After all this the engine was still too noisy.  I decided to check the cam chain tensioner and found these wear marks on the plunger:

 

I ordered a new cam chain tensioner and that solved the clatter problem.  The engine purred like a kitten. 

The next step was to get the bike down to Jenny in San Francisco.  I knew from experience with my Ninja 250 that it would fit in our Honda Odssey mini van if the fairings were removed and the van seats taken out.  I got it loaded and tied down:

 

We drove down to San Francisco last Thursday, and on Friday morning I put the fairings back on and then followed Jenny to the DMV to get it registered.  I did not look forward to this for a couple of reasons.  First, I knew dealing with the California DMV was usually an unpleasant experience, but mainly I was worried about the title transfer.  When we bought the bike from the dealer, we did not transfer the title but just got a bill of sale, because I didn't want to pay sales tax and license fees in Washington if I was not going to own the bike.  So my name was not on the Oregon title anywhere, but I did have the bill of sale. 

We got to the dreaded place:

 

And found the typical waiting line:

 

However, Jenny had made an appointment, so after we got the bike inspected, I parked it and went back inside to find Jen already waiting with a number to see a DMV agent and being chatted up by this guy.

 

Then we got to the agent, who turned out to be really friendly (she had only been working there for a month, so there is still some time for her to conform):

 

SUCCESS!  The title transfer and registration went really well and we even got the new license plate.  Much relief on both our parts. 

Up to this point, Jen had not ridden the bike, so we went back home and I rode it to a nearby parking lot for her to get acquainted:

 

 

 

Oh good! She liked it.  It has a much lower seat height than the dual sport bike she had been loaned, which is just what a newby needs  (Old guys too, it turns out).  The bike seems very proportionate to her size and she looks good on it.  I just needed to convince her the twin liked a lot more revs than she was used to with the single cylinder loaner and MSF bikes. 

The next day we went for a long ride.  She had never had to deal with a manual choke before (both the loaner and MSF bikes were fuel injected), so we went over choke operation on a cold start:

I brought along Carolyn's helmet so that we could use the intercom to chat while riding:

 

My ride was her loaner Yamaha XT 250.  It was a surprisingly nice bike and would easily keep up with traffic, even on the freeway.  (Granddaughter Adena in the background)

 

We ended up riding 230 miles on Saturday, including a stop at the famous Alice's Restaurant:

 

Note that volunteer maintenance sign on the left:

 

Alice's is a big biker hangout, like the Rock Store in Southern California.  Here is the scene across the street where we stopped:

 

We rode some really Good Roads and Jen did great.......not a threat to Valinteno Rossi in the curves yet, but she goes plenty fast on the highway and seems more used to traffic than I am.  After we got back to her house it was time to celebrate the ride with PBR and pretzels:

 

The next day we went for a shorter ride of about 100 miles up highway 1 to Point Reyes and then over to 101 to return to San Francisco.  I got this shot of Jen at the Golden Gate overlook:

 

That afternoon (Sunday), I rode the XT over to Oakland to return it to her friends.  She is going with them to Death Valley next weekend where she will ride the XT on some of the unpaved roads there.......another new motorcycling experience for her.  Should be fun. 

All the time Jen and I were riding, Carolyn was entertaining the grandkids.  They went to birthday parties, soccer games, and of course, shopping. 

Monday we drove the empty van home and had good weather all the way, as we had all weekend.  It was a great weekend and I loved the chance to ride with my daughter and help a new rider get started. 

Dash Is Complete!

It has taken some time waiting for parts, and lots and lots of labor time, but the dash is finally done.  The ugly hole in the dash where the radio mounting holes had been butchered has been fixed, and the radio installed and checked out with the new speakers.  We used a radio patch plate available for these old Mustangs that should have been welded in before the car was painted, but we didn't know any better then.  Brian came up with a way to fit it onto the dash and spent quite a bit of time cutting and finishing it. 

I also had to get a new wiper switch, a new fog lamp switch, and a new ignition lock tumbler.  The old tumbler was so worn that the key had to be jiggled just right to be able to turn it.  This means there are going to be three keys needed for the car instead of two.......one for the trunk, one for the doors, and one for the ignition. 

The new wiper switch makes the wipers run, but they do not self-park.  The problem is in the motor itself, but a new motor is over $100, and more importantly, is a real bitch to replace now that the wiring harness, steering column, and brake/clutch support bracket is in.  The wipers can be parked pretty well by using the switch to turn them off at the right time.  In my opinion it would be a crime to drive this car in the rain or even on wet roads and get that beautiful clean undercarriage dirty, so no wipers should be needed.  This is pretty unrealistic for a Western Washington car, though. 

Anyway, here are some pictures of the dash:

I feel really relieved to have reached this point.  We have got past what I consider the hard parts because I didn't have much experience with many of the steps that had to be done up to now.  There are still big, expensive jobs to do, but they are either going to be done by somebody else (carpet and headliner), or they are jobs that I have some experience with (engine, clutch, trans, drive line).  I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.