Scooter troubles

So, I was going home on Friday, and there was this change in sound, and I knew my scooter had something wrong with it. A good friend helped me get it home by putting it in his truck.

So, when I started taking it apart, I found that the spark plug was out of the cylinder.

I took a before picture so that I could attempt to hook up the hoses correctly.

Sorry about no "action" shots, seeing the valves/cam/cam chain and everything is pretty cool. My hands were pretty greasey whenever it would have been a good idea to take a picture.

I adjusted the valve clearance while I was in there. (where do you measure! (between the valve stem and the rocker arms)). I also reset the cam chain adjuster (just to see how it works). My cam chain adjuster is "automatic" because it uses a spring to move a ratcheting piece against the cam chain plate.

I took off the exhaust (pain in the ass!) and just finished painting it with some bbq paint after sanding away (most) of the rust (no more rust for meeeeee (hopefully)).

Interesting to figure out where top dead center is, the spark plug is not at the top of the cylinder, so you can't just stick something (chopstick?) into the hole to figure it out. Turns out there is a marking on a flywheel like piece that has a "T" which is evidently for when you are checking timing stuff. I also verified it by reasoning through the sequence of valve opening/closing.

So, the bad news:

One or both of the following threads are done for:

the sparkplug (easy, just buy a new one)

the sparkplug hole (hard, must tap the hole for larger threads and install inserts)

If the sparkplug hole threads are dead, then I am hoping that I can install a helicoil without taking the engine block out (suggestion is fabric jammed into the cylinder through the hole, some grease to catch chips, then heavily greased tap to also catch chips).

Any of the spark plug work is going to have to wait until after the 4th of July. I might order a battery also, my current one has been dead since at least last summer. Stupid walmart doesn't carry my sparkplug nor my battery.

Well, no dog it seems

We decided against getting a dog for the time being.

Relieved and disappointed at the same time.

Relieved: Allergies with the dog hair, needing to worry about his bowels all of the time, boarding the dog while on trips.

Disappointed: No squirrel/rabbit dog in my future, no dog to run with, more fun than a cat.

Yeast experiments

I had picked up an old book on home wine making at the library (they have donated books that they sell for really cheap) and decided I would eventually make some wine.

I finally got off my butt and started a gallon batch of wine.

I bought an airlock,

I used a glue gun to attach it to the cap of a milk jug in a pressure holding manner.

And used an old milk jug to hold the grape juice (3 concentrate cans + 6 cans of water), 1/2 cup of sugar, and some champagne-like yeast. I started the yeast using the directions on the packet.

Primary fermentation should be about finished by this weekend, I am thinking of racking it over the weekend. Some people say that in primary fermentation you should not use an airlock but loosely cover it, I decided not to listen to them. I agitate it a bit every day. The plan is to rack this weekend (end of 1st wk), then re-rack three weeks later (end of 4th wk), then 3 months later(end of 4 months) it should be ready to drink (I am not sure when I will put it into wine bottles, maybe at the 4 month mark?).

The yeast seem to be doing their job.

remember kids, every thing that you use for wine needs to be VERY clean. I used diluted chlorine bleach (although, the book actually has a line that told you explicitly not to use it, because most people do not rinse enough and it kills the yeast).

Stuffed to the brim

So my family went to a buffet lunch place (Rusan's) for lunch today.

We all ate so much, then we went home and had ice cream.

We turned on the tv, started watching the Brazil/North Korea game, and everyone except me and my mom (who was reading upstairs) fell asleep.

Anyway, we all ate too much and are sleeping it off.

Some puzzles we did last night

My sister bought some puzzles at walmart when I was looking for other stuff.

I haven't done a puzzle in years!

We were pretty quick at these, we were watching random stuff on tv and managed to get these two done.

Fun birthday bbq by the river

We went to a local picnic/hiking/kayak landing area inside the perimeter for a birthday bbq.

I think everyone had fun. So much fun though, that no pictures have survived.. (except from Elizabeth? I'll try and get some).

We grilled pork chops, brats, hot dogs, burgers, chicken wings, and other things. I used the lump charcoal, non of that clay + carbon dust briquette crap. It took me a while to start the fire though. I finally learned my lesson and set up some twigs over some paper towel then layered the charcoal on top of that.

We went swimming in the river, which was a lot of fun. I messed around pretending to fish, but it was mostly standing around talking to people (the fishing). Skipping stones, and all that.

Anyway, it was nice to be outside and forget about stuff that we have to get done.

I am going to try and get posts up about what I have been up to the last month, I will probably write those tomorrow, but then have them come out staggered over next week.