| Author | Message | ||
     Jerry_haughton |
rust requires ferris metal... what (if anything) requires Ferrous Bueller???  | ||
| Court |
>>>Same thing happens to me, Lake. I often find the missing wrench stuck in my back pocket... It's a frickin' epidemic . . I usually find it when I slide into the leather seats in Vick's car! | ||
| Madduck |
Court, Findin the wrench won't get you as much trouble as finding the mostly full tube of "never sieze". | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Court, It's not the wrenches in the back pocket (I've finally got smart, when I can't find a wrench, it's the first place I look, not the last) that are the problem. It's the damn screw drivers! You immediately get the pit of the gut feeling when you jump into the car and hear and feel "that sound". Bomber, Regarding tools, funny thing about them, you know your own by feel. Even though your neighbor or buddy might have the same ones or brand, you can tell yours by feel and look. I have some old ones and some new ones. I have most of the original set I bought when I was 14 years old. I still have some of the 1/4" socket set I snagged from my day when I was about 10. The steel snap shut case is pretty neat. I learned a long time ago that you buy good tools once. Most of my hand tools are Craftsman although I too have a small number of Snap On items. My favorite "new" tool is the Gear Wrenches. They are the BOMB!!!! I hardly reach for a regular combination wrench anymore. Initially I was concerned about their strength and ability to take abuse. Time has eliminated that concern, I pull as hard as I want on them with no worries. If I need a tool that I will rarely use, I'll cheap out and do a Harbor Freight or the like, then hide it so no one sees it. I do have a reputation to uphold ya know..... One place you never ecomomize is your screw drivers. Rounded phillips heads are EVIL!!!! Also, what is a bench top???? I think I used to have one but I've not seen it for years! Brad | ||
| Firemanjim |
Ceejay said--"I have a bike in various states of assembly/disassembly depending on point of view". to which I respond, only one bike? Sissy, I am doing better now and only have 4 motorcycles,1 3-wheeler, and one quad in progress.It was worse. Black frame, excellent choice,John. My tools vanish from sight in an instant,also,usually until I give up and go either walk fron shop back to house annd steal from garage too set or have to actually purchase anotehr because I cannot find any of the 1/2 dozen versions of said tool I own. And then there is the magic screwdriver drawer.If you are looking for a phillips you will only find regular(maybe a clutch head or two),if you come right back for a regular screwdriver, the entire drawer is filled with phillips headed drivers. It's miraculous. | ||
| Ceejay |
There's a guy I work with ride with. He owns a honda something or other. when he wants to ride it, he has to go find it. Pulls off carpeting, boxes, etc. to get to it, starts it up, rides away...I guess I'm trying not to be a clown nor a Joker Apparently Jim you and I have the same model of toolbox-it always eats the driver you need. my favorite tool is still the one I never havtause Black should look good... | ||
| Bomber |
Jerry -- I THOUGHT that might lure you outa the woodwork -- I trust your relocation has gone well, and you and D enjoy your new surroundings! Brad -- those gear wrenches ARE aces, ain't they? I've managed to deep-six almost all the torx and screws from the MaDuece, so I worry little over the state of my chisels and prybars, er, screwdrivers | ||
| Reepicheep |
How many people still have the Craftsman Wratchet they stole from their Dad when they left for college? Ahhh... the memories in those tools. I am simultaneously disturbed yet greatly comforted when I look at a particular tool and know that I used it when I was just a kid, and yet it will likely outlast me long after I am dead. I also have deep respect for "other mens tools". The Oxy Act rig I have was bought at an estate sale from a friend I greatly respect. It was his fathers. I try and do it justice and give it respect, and think of it's original owner every time I pick the tool up. And don't get me started about my M1 Garand (1944 manufacture) or Mosin Nagant (1943). Or even the 1921 Sweedish Mauser. Now those are some tools with history. I *so* wish they could talk. | ||
| Henrik |
Ahhh, toools ... I didn't have the opportunity to swipe my dad's tools but have had the good fortune to fill up several tool boxes with mostly great tools. Favorites: - Yes, ratcheting combination wrenches are *great*. I picked up the Craftsman Pro version when they came out. - 3/8" flex handle shorty ratchet. I have an older Craftsman Pro version, but was recently given the Snap-On version ..... Sweeeet. - Snap-On ratcheting screwdrivers. Standard size and shorty style handles and a variety of lengths shanks. One advantage is orange caps on these screwdrivers - would theoretically make them easier to find ... Hi, I'm Henrik and I'm a tool-aholic ... | ||
| Firemanjim |
I thought this was supposed to be about building a bike(bikes) for the salt,kinda devolved, dinnit?? I fiddled with the turbo Yammmie today but an still awaiting some machining on new oil line set up.Got word the monster motor is near completion and will be on it's way here soon,oh boy!!! Wrenched on the Honda 100's--pit bikes ya know. And my S-2 was finally back on the road looking very clean only to develop a very aggravating oil leak that made a real mess of the bike.Finally tracked it down to the pushrod tube,I found a split right where the o-ring seats in the center of the 3 piece tube,what a pain. | ||
| Road_thing |
Old tools? You betcha...  Does anybody else (Rocket) recognise that funny little spanner on the left? rt | ||
| Ceejay |
Park? | ||
| Bomber |
Reep -- I was once in a gent's house, and he introduced me to his long gun collection -- he'd been in SE Asia early on, and had an M2 Carbine -- it had initials carved in the stock, followed by '44 -- I assume it was an allied trooper in Europe below that were three initials followed by '52 -- my guess was a legionairre in SE Asia below THAT was Viet initals, followed by '55 -- easy to guess where these came form and below THAT were the gent's initials, followed by '65 (he "found" it on the ground in the bush) that piece DID talk, and clearly Jim -- what's a thread without tangents? can you replace this pushrod tube without pulling the heads? | ||
| Ceejay |
following on that tangent We used to have some swords-thier tools right in our family, I remember when I found them-what 10-12 yr old kid doesn't go snooping around, among other things. The swords were easily the most beautiful things to look at, but it was the bayonnets that really got your attention. stained, scratched, and dented they would hold my atttention for hours-or at least until I heard my dad's car pull up | ||
| Bomber |
Cj -- agreed -- there's something about edged weapons that draw the eye, and the soul Back on topic before Jim come back and slaps us ;-} I'm lookin fer either XB heads or Late Model Sporty heads -- spread the word -- the guru's up nort say they're easily as good as worked on Thundersorms, given my less than a third world coutnry's GNP sized budget Thang -- cams -- no go -- thanks! | ||
| Firemanjim |
John, already replaced it,it was one of the multi piece ones. I pulled rocker cover as I thought it was the upper o-ring leaking and as I was replacing that I saw the split in tube. | ||
| Bomber |
good deal lucille! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Jerry -- I THOUGHT that might lure you outa the woodwork -- I trust your relocation has gone well, and you and D enjoy your new surroundings! Bomber: the last month has been nuts, and the last two days have been even nutser. we closed our new (old) house yesterday (a 60-second walk from the Blue Ridge Parkway, just north of the NC/VA border), and spent our first night here last night. we're on a jet in the morning for Cali, for my daughter Brynn's college graduation on Friday, then we spend this weekend loading all our ka-ka in a moving van, and THEN it's another 2500-mile drive across this great country of ours (in the frikkin' dead of winter). GIT 'R DOME!!! Ferrous and Denise | ||
| Mikej |
Jerry, If you time it right you can travel between winter storms and have clear blue skies and bare dry pavement the whole way. Here's to good thoughts and a good trip.  Tools, Finally got around the taking a couple pics of a few of my old tools I've got laying around. Just an old tool roll picked up at a church summer rummage sale, old carb tools and misc stuff along with a few old wrenches laying on top that were sitting nearby in the basement:  This little beast has bit me a few times, combination nail puller, small hammer, small chopper, nail/cotterpin nipper, and whatnot tool:  This is what $2.00 will get you in the closing minutes of a day long country auction after the "good stuff" has already sold and the big spenders have headed home:  I couldn't find my favorite little boxing hammer (probably in my back pocket or someplace else). Somehow this relates to building a Salt Racer. John, Let me know if there's anything I can do to help a little bit in your adventure from up this way. | ||
| Ceejay |
and a full quiver too! I think I got the modern interpretation of that tool-a linemans plier-its pretty much my favorite as it seems to do everything nicely... | ||
| Bomber |
Ironman! Safe journey -- it may be prudent to keep the coordinates of the new Dome kinda hushed up -- either that, lay back, think of England, and open a B&B for wayward riders . . . . Mike -- very neat tools! the last-century leatherman replacement is so neat . . . . I'd go to church more often if that was the kinda thing I'd find -- you're on the short list of folks to holler to for assistance and moral support! thanks for the offer | ||
| Reepicheep |
Congrats Ferris! Let us know if we can do anything to help. Bomber... you are speaking a profound truth there. We, as a Church, have failed badly in making it a place where a man living the way God built him to live would want to go. There are glimmers of hope though. The last "Church" event I was at (which had absolutely nothing to do with any church, and everything to do with God) included the sacrifice of two boxes of cigars, over 500 rounds of 12 gauge ammo, and many clay pigeons. It was a love offering (that's two tangents. Two more tangents and we will have come full circle and be back on track) | ||
| Road_thing |
That looks like a great score, Mike! rt | ||
| Road_thing |
Clay pigeons?? I love clay pigeons! rt (...just one tangent more and we're back on course...) | ||
| Bomber |
Reep -- without meaning any disrespect at all to anyone's faith, expression thereof, or potential LACK thereof . . . . I live very close to the site of the late, much lamented Highland House -- a greasy spoon where riders of all ilks would gather on Sunday Morning to tell tall tales, kick tires, and see how fast their benches could go . . . . I used to take a ride there many sunday mornings, when our short person was very short -- early sunday am to get a bike fix, and then back home before the short person was up and about -- both riding and dad fixes covered, yes? anywho, it was a regular enough occurance that our daughter had it fixed in her mind -- one sunday, I was returning from the short ride and visit with like-minded people got home, doffed helmet, walked in the back door to find our then 3 year old on the phone, saying "Daddy just came back from church -- here he is now." my friend who'd been conversing with her, knowing of my nonaffiliation with any particular religious organization, said "What the heck is she talking about, church?" seems the short person had figured I'd been attending the religious services of my choice -- wasn't far wrong, I spose | ||
| Reepicheep |
Amen to that, brother! | ||
| Bomber |
so, back on topic (sorta kinda) -- one of the tasks I'd laid out for myself as part of this re-furbishing was doing something about the forks -- they are 98 S3 forks (with heavier springs for a heavier rider), installed primarily for their greater adjustability when compared to the stock M2 forks -- I've had no reason to regret my decision to fit them, but, goodness gracious, they were lookin ratty -- the gold had faded to a greenish/yellowish hue, the seals are leaking a bit (to my knowledge, they are the originals, so no dishonor there), and the action wasn't as smooth as it shoulda been (and was, when first installed a couple of years ago) I ordered the parts to rebuild em (seals and bushing and the like), and, as per usual, American Sport Bike got the parts to me almost before I had completed ordering them I remembered reading of Al's adventures in turning HIS fork uppers black (why are almost all front suspensions hard anodized a gold color?), and decided to follow the path he's so nicely laid out for hte rest of us. Well -- I'm here to tell ya, brothers and sisters, hard anodizing isn't called hard for nuthin! think case hardening on steel, only not quite as deep. Armed with eleventy-twelve abrasive scotchbrite discs (course and medium, so far) and my electric drill, I attacked the first fork leg -- things were going swimmingly out in the entropy lab, when I realized I'd stripped approximately 50% of one fork leg, and had used eleventy-nine of my discs! this hardanodized stuff is tough! more discs, more stipping -- and I share with you the lessons I've learned . . . . First lesson -- while tough, the layer of hard anodizing is thin -- and once youve worn through, your course scotchbrite disc will eat through your now bare aluminum fork tube like a metal muching moon mouse. Keep the drill and disc moving, and you will minimize and depressions you create in the fork leg. second lesson -- use some sort of breathing mask while discing the anodization from the fork. after 15minutes or so, the outside of the cheap paper filter mask I used was a spotty, gritty mess, about the color of asphalt after a hard winter, before the salt is washed off. use a mask (don't MAKE Hendrik come scold you!) lesson the third -- anodizers, like chromers, have consolidated from many small business to far fewer larger ones -- this is largely caused, I would guess, by increasingly tight environmental laws (the checmicals used are pretty heinous) -- what this means to you is that most of the anodizers are very oriented towards production runs of more then two or three pieces. you can find places that'll take a couple of parts, but you'll likely have to search a lil -- most places have a minimum parts count, or a large minimum charge -- can't blame them, but it will add to your search so, I've got both legs almost completely stripped to bare aluminum -- will give em both a rough polish this weekend to see where I missed some of the old anodizing, and get em all cleaned up -- then, a satin polish, and off to the anodizer . . . . . you may know rejoin your previously interrupted tangent, currently underweigh | ||
| Lake_bueller |
Have you thought about having them powder coated? There are a number of peps here that have done that with theirs. Just a thought Back off topic...what do you have for a garage heater? I'm thinking that will become a necessity for me. It's just too darn cold up this way. | ||
| Bomber |
my understanding is that powder coating will get beat up PDQ -- all the spooge and gravel and the like hitting the front of the legs -- given the state of my frame the after the first year, I believe it . . . hard anodizing lasts and lasts I've got a cheapo no vent 45k btu heater -- big mistake -- save your change for little longer and get one that vents the combustion by-products outside -- you won't make your own jungle micro-climate in the elab that way home despot had one for about 5 bills last year -- shoulda/woulda/coulda, ya know? | ||
| Henrik |
don't MAKE Henrik come scold you! ... and you know he will  Mask and goofy looking glasses are a must for these things. Sometime back I remember hearing about using heaters at the same time you're using solvents - AFAIR some reactions occur leading to quite noxious fumes in enclosed spaces. Something to keep in mind. Cool following your project Bomber. Can't wait to see it coming back together. Henrik |
