"Belly" Roll Blues

 I got to thinking about physical fitness, which is not all that unusual for me, but especially so after hearing President Trump is bringing back the President's Council on Physical Fitness. President Kennedy started this back in '62, but like a lot of things it went by the wayside. Apparently, those in Washington thought it was too much work to make sure our young people developed the good habits of exercising regularly, following a good diet and getting a good night sleep - much easier to have them sitting on the couch eating junk food while watching television. And look where that has gotten us. Thank you President Trump for putting the wheels back in motion to get our young people back in motion.

Going along with this, I got to thinking about the 50 Mile Challenge again. I've written about this several times on the blog. This was started by President Teddy Roosevelt, who was a great proponent of physical exercise, and brought to life once again by President Kennedy. I've kicked around the idea of tackling it more than once but never seriously enough to make a concerted effort. I've quit doing the race walking this year other than the one 5K in town I'm planning right after Thanksgiving. So once again, I'm kicking the idea around of the 50 Mile Challenge.

I went to the doctor on Monday and the vitals are all good - blood pressure right at 120/80, O2 % 98, pulse 60, weight fully dressed with my book in my hand and my pockets loaded, 178 - wouldn't hurt to lose five more ponds, though. That'd take care of the "belly roll". If I was to start training in September or October after things cool down a bit, I think I could be ready to tackle it after 4-6 weeks. So as Vince said above, success boils down to will power. Something to think about, especially since I've been getting pretty comfy here in the loafing shed staying out of the heat. 

I went out to the shop after it cooled down a bit yesterday afternoon. The goal was to rebuild the master cylinder for the Sportster. You'll notice in the top photo, the inside of the reservoir looks pretty funky. All of the brown schmootz is gasket sealer. The "membrane" gasket that's supposed to seal the cover was missing, so someone tried working some type of hillbilly magic to avoid buying one I suppose. After quite a bit of scraping and brake cleaner, I got it cleaned up. The front caliper had some evidence of ham-fistedness when I worked on it. Since the majority of your stopping power comes from the front brake, you would think whoever worked on this thing would have tried to get it right.

Cuzzin Ricky and I are going in search of pork tenderloins today - planning on putting the master cylinder back together after I get home.

Busy Doing Nothing

 

That's definitely true. It's the Missus' birthday today, mine's coming up in about three weeks. Neither one of us are as spry as we used to be, but still kickin' just the same.

I was going to work on the master cylinder of the bike on Saturday, but ran into a little snag on getting the brake fluid. The annual festival was going on in town so I wanted to steer clear of the parade and the rest of the activities until later in the day. By the time I got out and about, the one auto parts store was closed, the next one didn't have the Dot 5 I needed but the third time was the charm. 

About the time I was ready to get started Surly and a few of his buddies showed up. They were doing their annual motorcycle ride and one of the stops was near the shack, so they came to my place instead. They all were riding nice bikes - three Harleys and a Ducati. We had a nice visit - glad they stopped by. I got the turn signals squared up on the bike after they left and then I called it a day after that.

The sister in law brought her bicycle down for me to put some new tires on it, so I took care of that on Sunday and cut some grass. Doctor's appointment, grocery shopping and ham radio club meeting on Monday, along with more heat and rain. Yesterday more mowing, more heat and rain again. 

I'm going to have to pick up the pace, regardless of the weather, if I'm going to be able to take the Sportster for a ride on my birthday. 

Spinning Wheel

 

I re-assembled the Sportster rear end yesterday. After hooking up the brake cable I turned the rear wheel over by hand while pushing down on the brake pedal. I can tell the drum is a little off center after being turned, but I don't think it'll be a problem. In addition to being out of round, the drum was tapered slightly. Now the taper is gone, as is the out of roundness. It is slightly off center, but I'm not concerned about it - good finish on the drum and new linings, it should give good braking and, most importantly, be safe.

I installed the new shocks while I was in the shop. I still need to reinstall the chain guard and align the rear wheel. I usually run a straight edge along the wheels or pull a string line for that. Since the heat was climbing again, I left the tools out and headed for the shack after getting the shocks installed. I'll get out to the shop this morning and get things cleaned up before it gets hot and then install the rebuild kit for the front brake master cylinder. I need to check the manual to see what brake fluid it requires before I can bleed the system.

Another two-tone green Ford pickup truck. I'm still considering a similar combination for the jitney. Maybe light green with the dark green for some accent stripes. That's a long way off, and if the temperatures don't cool down some, it'll be even longer.

I managed to finish this one while escaping the heat. I bought this one and another of Least Heat-Moons' books recently from Abe Books. They were dirt cheap and came with free shipping. I read Blue Highways by him years ago and re-read it not too long ago - one of the few books I've ever read twice. It's a great story of traveling across the United States. I've covered a lot of the same ground using the blue highways myself. One of these days I'll try Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for the third or fourth time and see if I can force my way through it. 

Brake Drum Resurfacing.

 

I decided to check the runout on the drum since I had the gizmo I made to do just that. It wasn't as bad as the quick check I did the other day. The indicator said .007". 

Instead of making an arbor of any kind, I chucked the drum up in the 4 jaw on the lathe. The outside of the drum was machined at the factory because the sprocket is riveted on. I indicated the outside of the drum and then started machining the inside braking surface. After the initial pass, it didn't look quite right so I measured the wall thickness of the drum and the inside and the outside measurements looked good. However, after I got done I put it the wheel back together and checked it with the indicator again. Unfortunately, it has a nice finish but it runs out some. I'm going to put it all back together on the bike and adjust the brake pedal to see if it pulses when applying the brake. If it's not acceptable, I'll make an arbor and skin cut the surface again. I know HD had some quality issues back in the day. This might be one of those.

Political Science

 

Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the anniversary of the Nagasaki bomb a couple more days away. Extremely devastating to the people of Japan with both the immediate and the long-term effects. I'm not qualified to comment on the decision to drop them both but now there's talk once again of a nuclear strike involving the Russians and Ukraine and the NATO countries. Seems it will never stop. 

On the home front, I met with my financial advisor for my annual review yesterday. He said I've got enough money to last the rest of my life - as long as I die by the end of the week. Actually, I'm doing pretty well. I should be able to keep buying motorcycle and car parts - especially at my glacial pace of working on them.

 

I made this tool when I first started working on the bike. I have to remove the exhaust pipes and the support bracket for the pipes to install it, but that only takes about 5 minutes.

With the support bolted on and up on a pair of jackstands, the bike is supported well and up high enough to easily remove the rear wheel. I'm going to install the new shocks while I've got it raised up, in addition to correcting the problem with the brake drum. 

After pulling the wheel off I checked the runout on the drum. The difference between the high and low is about .015", with the largest diameter being right at 8.000". Cast into the drum it says the maximum diameter is 8.046", so I've got plenty of stock to work with. The drum bolts to the wheel with the sprocket riveted to it. I'm going to make an arbor to bolt the drum to and then chuck it up in the lathe to true it up - shouldn't be too tough.

I've got a rebuild kit for the front master cylinder. When I get the back end back together, I'll get the front brake working, and then I should be able to see about starting this beast. I might yet be able to go for a ride on my birthday.

Sporty Time Again

 

Beautiful weekend - weather quieted down from the hot and muggy to nice and pleasant. Saturday there was some smoke that drifted in from the Canadian wildfires, but nothing that would keep you indoors. I took advantage of the nice weather by relaxing some with my new book, mowing some grass and working a bit in the shop and in the shack. 

Shop work included a bit of planning for the mailbox bracket. The rough drawing above is how the planning sessions usually go. I run some things through my mind, come up with an idea and then sketch it out with a soapstone on the bench top. If it looks good, I proceed, if not, erase it and either modify the design or erase it and start over. With this one I've got it figured out as much as needed to start fabricating. I need to pick up some material first, however. I'll do that today and get the tubing for Coach Jen's job while I'm there. 

I put the ground cable for the welder together, sharpened the spare mower blades and cleaned the shop. If you look closely at the top photo, you'll notice the floor is exceptionally clean. Since I was going to roll the Sportster out to work on it, not only did I sweep, I also ran the shop vac. I'm only about a month away from my birthday, and the goal is to be able to go for a ride on my 75th. The only real problem as I see it now is the back brake drum. Since I had never ridden the bike before bringing it home, I made the mistake of assuming the drum was round - wrong-o!. When I went to adjust the brake after putting everything back together, it became very clear that there was no way I could adjust the brake properly where it would be safe to use. I've been thinking about how to machine the drum in my shop with a minimum of hassle, and I think I've got it figured out. It'll take a bit of fixturing and making some tooling, but I think I can get it done. I dug the stand out I made when putting it together and I'll get that bolted to the frame and get the rear wheel off. After that, make some tooling.

Of course, now that I want to get back on the bike projects, I need to get the mailbox project and Coach Jen's project done, and I got a phone call Saturday about something else I may end up being involved in. I need to check it out this week but I told the party I can only give her a couple of days. And I have to help the Missus take the dog to the vet and meet the financial guy for my annual review this week as well. As it stands now though, it looks like the weather is going to be cooperating with decent temperatures. Hallelujah for that! 

Here We Go Again

 

Or as Rosanne Rossana Danna used to say  "It's always something."

I went to start the weedwhacker the other night and it was being a little reluctant, so rather than pulling until my chest hurt, I went to the big barn to get the can of starting fluid only to discover the cap was off and the nozzle was gone. Also, something had chewed the gas can vent cap. I found the cap and nozzle for the starting fluid but the vent cap no longer fits on the can well enough to seal it. 

And then on Thursday afternoon I was going to spray the yard with the pull behind sprayer to kill the broad-leaf grass that is taking over. I don't like spraying herbicides, especially since the farmers around me do, I have a shallow well, and the Missus and the dog have already gotten cancer. However, no other way around of dealing with this fast growing and aggressive grass. So, I hooked up the sprayer, turned it on to check it out and nothing. I followed the wires down to the pump and sure enough, something had chewed the wires in half right above the pump. Fortunately, there was enough of a stub I could solder the wires back together and slip a piece of heat shrink tubing over the joint. 

I bought a hunk of welding cable that arrived the other day. When I bought my new welder a few years ago, the ground cable that came with it was only about 8' long - not quite long enough to reach the vise on the bench or a job on the middle of the floor. This 15' cable will be much handier. I do have a nice ground cable for my portable welder, but it's got a different kind of connection on it and it's longer and heavier cable than what I need in the shop. One of these days I'll break down and buy another TIG torch. I should have bought the 25' one instead of the 12-1/2' when I bought the machine. What I really need is a bigger shop.

I saw on the news the President is bringing back the President's Fitness Program to schools. I'm thinking healthy young people is a good beginning to making America great again, especially since the latest Epoch Times has an article U.S children have an 80 % higher death rate than their peers in 18 other developed countries. I'll be interested to learn more about the details of the program.