It’s Saturday
afternoon of the August Bank Holiday and the rain has yet to stop falling. My
plans for the day are shot as it needed not to be raining. This is typical
weather for a Bank Holiday. So after my 10 seconds of fame and the fun of
racing around Motorland Aragon both of which are on Facebook as I was not able
to download the video up to the blog. I had a problem with the Datatool fob
that had a broken moulding for the key ring. Datatool wanted £55 for a new fob.
I just wanted the plastic casing so I did a repair using a paper clip and a bit
of double sided tape to a cheap fob.
Friday of last week I managed to get a
haircut and as I was getting to the bike a lady asked me about the Museum. I
gave her a flier, talked a little about the Museum and she went on her way
happy. It is strange sometimes who you meet and who is interested on
bikes. In between then and now I have to
find the time to change the gearbox on the car, get two new tyres and fit them
but what I have managed to do is sort out the Valiant. I have taken off the
barrels and rubbed off the high spots on the piston where it had picked up,
given the bores a hone out to get the rings to grip a little better and lessen
the plume of smoke left behind by the right cylinder. Next on that agenda was
to replace the gearbox oil seal that became a full gearbox strip and
replacement of bearings as well. Not a difficult job as it all splits quite
easily until the blind bearing refuses to come out even with immense heat so I
resorted to drilling one small hole and managed to drift it out with a punch.
The said hole was filled with araldite and when hard everything was put back
together until final assembly to the engine casing. It just would not go up
together properly. It turned out that the kick start spring was the culprit. I
know what to do but it just would not slip into place. Finally after sleeping
on it, it did go and on day four it was running again and not smoking so far.
This little job should have been done in one day. Some things are not meant to
be. The first week back from holiday that was all I did. I managed a trip to
the Museum on the Sunday to touch base as it were and start the plan of action
for the LE club stand at Alexandra Palace and borrow some bits from the Museum
as representation is not likely. I plan to be there with some fliers though. On
Monday I was at another Indian wedding this time with the Muslim faith. It was
very different from anything I had experienced before. The tyres I had ordered
for the car arrived on Tuesday and I washed and polished the Valiant I spent most of Wednesday putting things
right on the car that had broken, come loose or just unglued from the 35C heat
of Spain. I checked the timing and the strobe didn’t work very well in the
bright sunshine. I still don’t know how far the ignition is off but it is.
Thursday was ROG’s run day that started wet and ended dry with being very wet
and sticky in between.
Only 256 miles for this day. A light weight ride.
Yesterday was out to our daughters’ birthday and back late. So while waiting
for the rain to stop and I can wash the car before heading off to Barnsley
tomorrow I have written up two ROG’s runs and this!
