Mustang Handover......The Do Over.

After I got back from my ride with Jenny, I called Pertronix and verified that they had found the igniter had failed and were sending me a new one.  I decided to go ahead and get one from the local Napa auto parts store just to have a spare handy.  I also got Napa to replace the voltage regulator for free (the second one), and bought another one of those for a spare.  I installed both parts and the car started fine, so I set the timing of the distributor and then did several test drives with no problems. 

My daughter Karen was up from her home in South Pasadena for a long weekend as part of her annual birthday/father's day visit, and it seemed like a good opportunity to take her for a ride in the Mustang to take the car to Brian and see her brother and his family.  We started out early to beat the heat:

Everything was going fine and we even had time to take a little side trip on some two lane roads just to get off the freeway for awhile.  Then after we got back on the interstate, and still south of Olympia, we came to a complete halt with a closed freeway due to an accident.  After awhile they opened up a detour around the accident and we began to creep ahead, but the Mustang didn't like the slow going and the temp gauge needle began to rise.  So did my anxiety needle.  However, the engine temp seemed to reach a steady state that was high, but not boiling over, and we eventually got past the jam and reached Brian's house, so I guess it was actually a successful test of the car handling a traffic jam on a hot day. 

I went over the procedures for replacing the ignition igniter and the voltage regulator, should those ever fail again:

Then Brian took us all to lunch, after which we drove to the Amtrak station for the return home for Karen and I.

Then Brian and Colin drove off..........the car was his, finally:

Listening to this video, I hear a little bit of fan belt chirp, but hey, it's not my problem now!  It sure has a beautiful exhaust sound. 

After Karen and I got home I went to my shop and reveled in the emptiness of it.

 

The Ride That Almost Wasn't

Jenny and I had been planning a ride for months.  I had scoped out a route that would take us over four passes in the Sierras and had it entered into my Garmin Zumo, but first I had to get to San Francisco.  Carolyn and I can drive there in one day by staying on Interstate 5 most of the way and taking turns driving, but no way can I do it in one day on a motorcycle.  So I had planned a two day route that would use I5 to Yreka and then some more interesting roads through the Trinity Alps to Weaverville where I would spend the first night.  Then I would head over to hwy 101 on some classic motorcycle roads and on in to San Fran.  Jenny was taking Friday off, so I planned to leave on Wednesday, June 17.  Tuesday night I carefully packed the bike and had everything ready for an early start to see if I could beat the rush hour traffic through Portland.  Wednesday morning at 0630 Carolyn took this pic of me about to push the starter button:

Then I pushed the starter, the gauges powered up and then............the screen went blank and nothing......no crank, no lights, nothing. 

It seemed to me that I had blown the main fuse.  I knew there were some fuses under the seat, so I took off the tailpack and side cases to get the seat off.  The fuses under there were minor fuses for lights, horn, instruments, etc, and they were all good.  I knew the main fuse had to be a much higher amperage, but where was it?  Out came the service manual, where I found the main fuse was under a side cover on the right  side of the engine.  Trouble was, the great Honda fit and finish meant that all the plastic body panels are held on with many types of hidden fastening devices, and it took further study of the service manual to find out how to remove the cover I needed to remove.  Eventually I got it done and the main fuse was.........good.  Just to be sure, I checked the battery and the voltage was 12.8 volts; plenty good.  Panic was beginning to set in.  By now it was about 0830.  I called Pro Caliber in Longview where I bought the bike and which is the only Honda dealer in Southwest Washington.  They opened at 0900, so with Carolyn's help I loaded the bike into the truck and headed up to Longview, hoping they could take a look at it right away.  No such luck; they were booked in the service department and would not be able to look at it until the next day.

I figured the trip was screwed. I knew Jenny couldn't change her vacation day to Monday. Despair, depression, anger, you name it, I felt it all.  I texted Jenny and told her the trip was off.  I felt terrible.  Remember from my previous post that the Mustang had quit and had to be towed home the previous weekend, so now I was disappointing another one of my kids.   I unloaded and put away all my stuff for the trip and proceeded to split firewood as a way to work off my frustration. 

Then, at 2pm I got a call from Pro Caliber.  They had had a cancellation and knowing I was anxious to get going, the mechanic took a look at the bike and found there was a short in the battery.  Sometimes it would test good (like when I tested it), and other times it would show only seven to nine volts.  He replaced the battery and the bike was good to go.  Despair turned to hope.  It was late, but I had to go for it.  Carolyn had left to visit her sister in Gig Harbor, so I couldn't get a ride up to Longview, but I repacked all my stuff and tried not to forget anything, and loaded it into the truck and headed up there.  By the time I got the bike and loaded my stuff on it, it was 3:15.  I headed south and promptly got stuck in the Portland evening rush.  Eventually I got through that and had clear sailing.  I planned to go as far as I could before it got dark.  It began to look like maybe I could make Grants Pass, which gave me the opportunity to take hwy 199 over to the coast the next day and avoid the worst of Interstate 5.  Fortunately, it was near the longest day of the year, so I rode until about 9:30 pm and covered 311 miles.  I estimated the next day was going to be 440 miles.......long, but doable.  I was back on the ride.  Dinner that night and breakfast the next morning was at this place:

Some of my old dirt bike riding buddies will recall eating at the Black Bear diner in Madras, until somebody got disgusted with the manager. 

The next day was familiar route over hwy 199 to 101 and then a little side trip through the redwoods:

I got to Jen's house just as she was getting off her bike after riding home from work.  The next morning we were loaded a ready to roll:

We headed south and then east across the San Mateo bridge, eventually getting to our first pass road, which was hwy 108.........destination Markleeville.  One of the features of Markleeville is a state operated hot springs just outside of town.  We were not too interested in a dip in a hot pool as we had been plenty warm all day, but we thought we would give it a look.  It was not too savory, but we walked up to the source of the hot water and Jen gave it a test.  It was supposed to be 140 degrees at the source and it certainly was too hot to keep your hand in it for very long:

The next morning we had a really nice breakfast outdoors at a little local market:

Then we headed down hwy 4.  What a road!  Surely I had been on it before when I lived in California, but I don't remember it.  A lot of it was too narrow to have a stripe down the middle and was basically a wide one-laner.  And curves! Some so sharp you had to look over your shoulder to see around them.  Combine the narrowness of the road, the sharpness of the curves, and the altitude of about 9,000 feet meant we were not going very fast.  But some of the scenery was outstanding:

Eventually we got down to the bottom of hwy 4 and then went north on 49 for a ways to catch the next pass road, which was hwy 88.  This leads to hwy 395 and the 89 over Monitor pass.  Here are some pics from that pass: (edit: this section was actually on the way to Markleeville)

I expected traffic to be a real hassle, since it was summer vacation time and a weekend to boot, but it wasn't bad at all. 

Now we headed down again, on hwy 50.  At some point Jenny had had to go onto reserve on her gas.  We had gassed up in Markleeville, but that was beginning to be a long way back.  We had both been getting about the same gas mileage (around 70 mpg) and with the same size tanks we were very compatible in when we needed to stop for gas.  I was keeping an eye on my gas gauge and when it was showing I still had about a quarter of a tank, I got a call from Jen over the intercom that she was running out of gas.  We were going slightly down hill and had just passed an off ramp.  I looked over and saw that there was a gas station at the bottom of the off ramp, but Jen was already past the exit.  She couldn't go back and the slope of the hill was not steep enough for her to coast downhill, so she got off and started pushing down to where I was near the on ramp.  It was probably close to 100 yards and with her helmet and riding gear on plus the warm weather, there was a lot of heavy breathing in my helmet intercom.  We ended up going backwards down the on ramp, which was steep enough for her to coast, with me leading with hazard blinkers on.  When we filled up, Jen's bike took the full four gallons and got about 60 mpg, while mine got 85 mpg!  I'm not lying, I checked it twice.  Here is my explanation:  My bike is fuel injected and the ECU compensated for the high altitude by making the mixture leaner and getting me the great mileage.  Jen's bike is carburetted and would have been running extra rich at altitude.  Whatever the cause, that was our only "incident" of the whole ride and it was lucky the gas station was so close. 

We stayed that night in Jackson, and because the day kept getting hotter and hotter as we descended, we were cooking by the time we stopped.  A quick dip in the pool got the core temps back to normal. 

The next day was our last on the ride and I had planned for it to be a short one so we could beat the traffic coming back into San Francisco after a weekend.  Since we were early, and Skyline drive didn't seem too far out of our way, I suggested we have lunch at Alice's restaurant.  It's always fun to check out the bike scene at Alice's.  I just missed getting a pic of a guy doing smoky burnouts in the parking lot:

More of Alice's:

Lunch.  First time either of us had actually eaten inside.  They made a good burger. 

After lunch we rode a curvy road with a bunch of slow traffic down to hwy 1 and home to Jen's house:

The next day I headed for home, while Jenny rode off to work.  She keeps her work clothes in the backpack and is probably the envy of all her cubicle mates:

We washed both our bikes the evening before and mine was looking spiffy too:

The route I took back home was some of the route I had originally planned to take to get to San Francisco, but reverse order............101 to 36 to 3 to Weaverville for overnight.  I had my only real scare of the ride on the section of 3 leading into Weaverville.  It's a great road, with lots of curves and very little traffic, but it has tar snakes.  While banked over on a sharp down hill right hander I crossed one of these that caused my front wheel to slip and I was instantly in the other lane.  Had there been a car coming it would have been real bad news, but I lucked out again. 

After my overnight in Weaverville I decided to head over to hwy 1 rather than go up I5, because it was predicted that temps would reach 100 degrees in Redding and I wanted no part of that.  This meant I would need an extra day, but that's the benefit of retirement, right?  That night I stayed in Newport, Oregon and got this privileged parking right outside my room:

I got home on Wednesday shortly after noon, with 2,659 miles on the trip odometer.  It was a safe ride on a lot of Good Roads with a fine riding partner.  And best of all, it actually happened. 

Good news/bad news

The good news is that Saturday Carolyn and I drove the Mustang and the Honda up to Longview to meet Brian and hand over the car.  Brian and Brendan rode the Amtrak train down from Tacoma:

There were last minute instructions about the car:

And then happy smiles and hugs;

Then we headed back south and Brian and Brendan headed north.  About the time we got home after some shopping on the way, I got the bad news.  Brian called and said  he was in Centrailia and the car would not start after getting gas.  I grabbed some tools and drove back up to see what I could do.  We worked on it all afternoon.  After replacing all the ignition components, including distributor, coil, and spark plug wires, we got the car running, but not good enough to drive anywhere on the freeway.  Then, as the final straw, the voltage regulator had a melt-down, with smoke and fluid coming from it even when the engine was shut off.  We gave up and left it there while I drove Brian and Brendan home to Tacoma.......a long day by the time I got home. 

The next day I drove up and met a tow truck and we loaded it up:

It returned to the roost:

A real, REAL bummer all the way around.  The engine had been running perfectly for almost 2000 miles and then when Brian finally had a chance to actually own it, it failed.  I think the ignitor in the electronic ignition failed and is the cause of the no-spark failure to start.  I have no idea why the voltage regulator had the melt down.  I've ordered the new part and I'm going on a motorcycle ride for seven days, so when I get back I should have some new parts to try.  And maybe a better attitude. 

Car Shows

I've taken the Mustang to a couple of car shows.  The first was in Vancouver and was sponsored by the shop that installed the exhaust system in the car.  I went with my friend Orv, who took his restored classic Triumph.  Here is how we set up:

The sign basically tells the story of the car pretty much like my post on April 4.  This is Orv's Triumph:

The judging for the show was done by the participants, with a vote for their favorite car.  This is the one that got my vote:

It looks like something straight out of "The Grapes Of Wrath", written by John Steinbeck about the Okies leaving the dust bowl and heading for California with all their possessions.  It was super cool.   

The next show was not actually a competition, but a "cruise in" at Portland International Raceway, sponsored by Beach's Restaurant in Vancouver.  All kinds of vehicles gather at the raceway on Wednesday evenings during the summer and there is a band, food, drinks, 1/8 mile drag races, and hundreds of cars, motorcycles, and trucks to gawk at.  This time, Orv drove his restored 1950 Hudson, and his friend Sid drove his 1950 Mercury.  Here was our set up:

Most of the time, like at the other show, I was not at our car but was walking around looking at other cars.  However, the short time I was taking a break and sitting in the shade by the car there were several people who stopped to look and liked the story of the Heirloom Mustang. 

I don't know how many cars were there, but it had to be several hundred, and many were spectacular customs or restorations.   I guess there are a lot of folks looking for something to do during rainy northwest winters.   There were so many I just couldn't get around to see them all, but here is some of the eye candy I did record:

When a trunk really was a trunk

 



                      Elegant

 





This thing was a monster.  Must have been a truck engine in there

 





The guy who painted that monster must have slipped this in

 

Brightest candy apple red I ever saw

 

Engine paint matches the car

 

Here is a selection of the 65 and 66 Mustangs I saw:

 





Note the hood prop.  Solves a lot of problems caused by the springs and hinges.

 



Nice cars, but I think the Heirloom Mustang held its own among them. 

Here is a selfie of the crew having dinner:



Left to right; Sid, me, Orv, Orv's wife Gail

 

And since this started as a motorcycle blog, and will soon return to one, here is a nicely restored mid-sixties Triumph Bonneville:

 

 

 

After two car shows, I think I have had enough.  I'm not really a car guy, but you knew that, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Big Motorcycle Changes

It has been a busy month, motorcycle wise.  I went on my first ride on my KLX dual-sport bike since last October........and decided I was done with it.  I bought it to explore all the forest roads in the National Forest nearby, and I had pretty well accomplished that, but mainly I was tired of trying to find somebody to ride with and feeling less and less comfortable riding by myself in such remote locations.  So the KLX went up on Craigslist and sold within a week.  RIP KLX, and end of an era.  I no longer have a dirt-capable motorcycle; street only for me now. 

My long range plan for street riding was to ride my Ninja 650 for the rest of the year and then next year buy a new bike in preparation for another ride across the country.  The Ninja was getting long in the tooth, with 114,000 miles on it.  I had been researching its replacement and had narrowed it down to a Honda CBR650F.  While listing the KLX on Craigslist I discovered a local dealer was selling a new 2014 CBR650 for $1100 off list price.  It looked to me like maybe I better not wait a year, so I went up to Longview to see if I could get a test ride on it.

Test rides are not easy to get on new motorcycles at a dealership, but since I rode my own bike up there wearing full gear, and had the look of a mature adult, they did OK a test ride after I signed some disclaimers.  However, after I rode it I was not too enamored with it.......it went all the wrong directions from my current ride; it was a little heavier, a little wider, and the seat was a little taller.  But it did have more power......maybe too much, as on the test ride it started to go sideways on me when I gave it a little gas in a turn.  When I came back from the ride I asked them if I could try a CBR500R.  I had like the looks of this bike since it first came out in 2013, but my main concern was that it only had 47 horsepower, compared to the Ninja's 63 hp and the CBR650s 80 hp.  During the test ride it just felt right, and the power seemed adequate.  Also, it was lighter than the Ninja with about the same seat height.  I was in the buying mode by that time, so buy it I did. 

One of the real benefits of the CBR500 is that there is an optional center stand for it.  This has been a disappearing feature of motorcycles in the last 15 years or so, and sorely missed by me.  I ordered one and here is my new little gem with center stand deployed (and a windscreen extension):

I have over 900 miles on it now and I am enjoying it.....it handles really well and is very "flikable", with a great front brake, and typical Honda excellent fit and finish.  Power still feels adequate if not overwhelming. 

So now the Ninja had to go.  It's hard to sell a motorcycle with over 100,000 miles.  Most people think a bike is worn out if it has half that many miles, but this is a myth left over from the early air-cooled Harley, Indian and British bike days.  A modern fuel-injected, water cooled bike is more like a car in that it can go well beyond 100K if well maintained and not abused.  But I guess anything will sell if the price is right, and so it has gone to a new home.  Here is the new owner loading it up:

It was a fantastic bike and took me (and Carolyn) on many great rides on many Good Roads.