Matt's Crud Run Diary

The film is complete

2010-01-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

I am finally proud to announce that American Cafe will premiere May 1, 2010 at Sundance Cinemas Madison(click here for info). The showing is at 4:00pm and will be introduced by yours truly as the director, and Jason as the producer. Tickets are available here.

I would also like to accept the title of worst blog keeper ever. A whole world of change has passed since the last time I updated this thing. Luckily, it's all told in the film, so you'll just have to watch it.

The whole process has been a blast. From attempting to resurrect a basket-case motorcycle into a cafe racer, meeting such great people including members of the Slimey Cruds, to filming it all. And the film has yet to be released.

Overall I think we're very happy with how the film looks. Early reviews are very positive, and I think this will be a project we'll all be proud of. Now I'm just looking forward to this spring's Run weekend.

American Cafe Teaser Trailer from Matthew Cribben on Vimeo.

One week, two days left

2008-09-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

...and the tank is shot.

And I'm going to be out of town all weekend.

I finally gave up on the old tank after trying to patch it up for the ump-teenth time. It would be just my luck to get the bike running, ride it down to Pine Bluff, park it, then come back to a puddle of gas at it's feet.

So I need a new tank. And it hasn't been road-tested.

But I did get my title and my license plate, so it's road legal. It's just not ready to run yet.

So with one week to go, if I can obtain a new tank, get it to start consistently, run well on the street, and build enough confidence in it... OK, maybe I'm not going to make it.

However, the VFR is running 100%. I'm expecting to see people down there. And I expect to have a good time on the Run. So I'm going regardless.

And there's always next spring's Run.

Waiting game

2008-09-08T08:01:00.001-07:00

A few new items since the last post.

Everything seems to be progressing, and as long as a few things get cleared up I should have it on the road in the next few weeks. This is indeed a good thing since the Fall Run is only 3 weeks and 6 days from now.

The primary issue is deep within the guts of the carburetors. There seems to be an obvious reason as to why the bike starts so hard (at the time I need to "prime the pump" by covering the air-intake completely, creating enough of a vacuum to pry the slides open and get gas from the main jets), and why it doesn't idle. As it turns out the pilot jets are supposed to actually have openings.

After much cleaning, I realized the jets were a lost cause. After obtaining some calipers, researching the different sizes/shapes/etc. I found what I needed. And luckily ebay provided me with a supplier. Now I'm just waiting for the UPS man.

The secondary issue is the fuel tank. It just won't stop springing pinhole leaks. As a quick fix, JB Weld was applied. And now half the tank looks like it's full of blisters due to the dabs of epoxy. But as of yesterday, it's at least stopped leaking.

Phase 2 of the bike will definitely require a new tank.

The third and hopefully last issue (and seemingly least difficult to overcome) is the license/title/registration process. Luckily I've got the clean title in my hand, in my brother's name, with his signature on it. I should be able to simply fill out the DMV form and mail it in. I'll be starting that process tonight.

So with any luck, these problems will be corrected and the bike will actually see the pavement of public roads. Ah, good times ahead...

One small step for the bike...

2008-08-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

...One giant leap for my confidence.

Over the weekend, after numerous attempts at simply hitting the starter button with no luck, I decided to get back to basics. Once again I tore the carburetors off the bike, checked them over again. Dr. Clymer, my guide through this whole process, recommended the troubleshooting method of: check the fuel line, check the floats, check the ignition, etc.

The fuel line was delivering, and I checked the spark at the plug. Both checked out, so maybe it's that middle step I was missing. But the bowls filled up, so the floats were working, right?

Digging a little further, the slides/needles seemed to be problematic, sticking even. Plus the choke wasn't working.

After applying some changes, I mounted them back on the bike and tried again. And unfortunately, again. Still no luck.

Then last night (Tuesday), I gave it one more go. Choke full-on, a little prodding, and finally a chug. More prodding and another chug. Soon gas was flowing through what I'm referring to as the carb "chamber" and firing away in the cylinder. And she took off.

Firing away in the garage it appeared I did mount the exhaust correctly (sigh of relief), and it almost kept running at idle. Of course I only had enough gas as the fuel line would hold, so I couldn't run it for long. Plus the pipes were getting HOT, with the exception of the one attached to cylinder #3.

So while not road-ready yet, I'm at least more hopeful about this whole project. Tonight should yield a few more tests and tell me where I'm at and how close I am to making the Fall Run.

Roadblock-o-rama

2008-08-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

I was on a roll.

The bike seemed "complete." I got the pieces all together, everything mounted up, all ready to roll. Even after fighting to revive a dead battery, I decided to go all out and get a new battery (what a concept). The next step was to add gas and press the go button.

So I added gas. Then more gas. And yet, it still didn't start.

For one thing it appears that I partially botched the Kreem job. The petcock was only allowing a small trickle of fuel. It appears too much of the fancy liquid liner formed a blockage at the opening, making the delivery of gas difficult. But that wasn't the worst.

I seem to have more than one pinhole leaks in the walls of the tank.

Man.

So taking a page from Jason, I concocted a fuel IV as a temporary replacement for the gas tank. I recharged the quickly draining battery and I tried to start it again.

It drank up the gas I fed it (this is good news right?), but never gave a "chug" from any of the 4 cylinders.

I tried it again, and it kept drinking up that expensive go-juice. But never an explosion in the chamber. I thought to myself, the gas has to be going somewhere? But the plugs were still dry, no overflow, no puddle sitting on the crankcase, nothing.

Finally after the Xth attempt, I realized that it takes more to fill those float bowls than I thought. And it stopped drinking up the fuel.

So that's the problem: it wasn't drinking the fuel at all, it was just filling up the bowls.

Back to the drawing board, I guess.

Gumption

2008-07-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Motivation is a funny thing. You can have it, and if all goes well you can keep it. If any one thing goes wrong you can easily lose it. Once you've lost it, it is so very hard to obtain it again.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance defines "Gumption" as, well, you really should read it yourself. But in short, "Gumption" is that motivation that keeps a job on schedule, keeps you interested, keeps you doing your work because you WANT to. "Gumption Traps" are those obstacles you run into that can ruin your whole day. That one stripped screw that turns a whole machine into a non-running eyesore in your garage.

I'd like to propose the term "Gumption Primer." As in something that would give your Gumption that boost to start up again, continue on, make you enjoy your work again. And I now firmly believe that working cooperatively with another person, perhaps on a separate project, can be a good Gumption Primer.

The Nighthawk project has hit various levels, and with the latest round of wiring and carb work, I do believe I fell into one of the worst Gumption Traps I know of personally - an incomplete job. The carbs were not mounting correctly, the choke was still a little stuck, and the wiring... it seemed to be working, but something was still off. And due to time constraints, I had to walk away from the job.

And I didn't want to go back.

Over the weekend, I discovered a genuine Gumption Primer, as I witnessed Jason kick over and finally start the CL Project. As I saw the minimal machine finally come to life, and what it took to make it happen, the Nighthawk suddenly took on a whole new light: something that could work. I just needed to put enough time and the proper work into it.

When I got home I pulled the bike out of the corner of the garage and took a fresh look at it. There was a reason the wiring wasn't "quite" right, the taillight was incorrectly wired. Instead of forcing the carbs into place, I removed them and started over, making sure not to force it, but take my time and put them in correctly.

After a lot of conscious effort and care, I took a step back and realized: it worked. The bike is more-or-less together.

Now to get that battery into shape (another long story), and try to feed some gas into the machine.

E-lectrics

2008-07-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Nothing too fancy to post today, but I got over one of my biggest fears over the weekend.

When I tore apart various parts of the bike many moons ago, it included removing and replacing many wires. Not exactly being an electrician, I tried my best to keep track of what I was unplugging and the general flow of electricity through the bike. I obviously lost something along the way.

My first attempt to put everything back together resulted in: nothing. No power to anything. No headlight illumination, no taillight, not even the horn. This could be a problem, especially on a bike with no kick-start.

Taking a step back (and actually consulting the wiring diagram), I took another shot at it. After realizing a black-and-white diagram isn't nearly as helpful with a rainbow of colored wires, I went back to some of the old parts and matched them up to the wires still on the bike. The directionals were indeed wired incorrectly, the tail/brake light was backwards, and some various bits were loose.

Plus since I busted up the ignition switch, I realized I had to dismantle it completely, and hot-wire it. At least for now.

Add a power source, and things began to glow. Success.

Next I'll have to break out the soldering iron and make things a little more permanent. And tuck all those wires up behind the frame and even more wires into the headlight bucket.

And hope nothing comes loose. Or shorts.

Updating

2008-07-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

I'm so bad at keeping this thing up to date.

To bring things up to speed, I'll mention my latest additions to the project:

New clip-on bars. - Well, not exactly new. Actually they're from a 1987 Honda VFR. And although they closer resemble "heli-bars", I still mounted them below the top triple clamp, bringing them up to about the height of the top of the forks.

New seat - Again, not new. More like I took a saw to the old seat and molded it down into a (almost) cafe style solo seat. It needs plenty more work to make it look nice, but it works as a place to keep your rear in place.

Various cosmetic and hardware work - not too much to say other than little tweakings here and there.

The Carbs - The carbs were a whole other story. I cleaned them many moons ago and stuck them back onto the bike. Over time the throttle started sticking, so I knew something wasn't right. After a lot of coaxing, I got them back off the bike and tore them apart. And it was a good thing. Various hoses were cracked, throttle valves were stuck, choke valves stuck - it was a mess. After tearing the bank of 4 headache-inducing contraptions apart, and unsticking everything, I discovered the hoses I needed didn't exist in the real world. I needed two 3/4" long T-joint rubber hoses, if that explains it. But since I couldn't find anything, I bought a length of tubing with the right size inside diameter and fabricated my own pieces. They seemed to hold, but time will tell. Finally the whole works went back together, after a LOT of coaxing, but it's all together and on the bike again.

Next: electrics.

Then: time to test fire it.

I'm looking forward to it.

Slow but (almost) sure

2008-02-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

The front end of the bike came apart this weekend, in more ways than one.

Installed are some new (non-rusted) headlight ears, new speedometer, new turn signals - all in new and improved ways. And completely unexpected ways - honestly I really didn't know how it was going together, so it wasn't that unexpected.

(Un)fortunately, I managed to bust up the ignition switch (key) and I'm now down to bare wires. Which is actually cool because I wanted to relocate the whole unit but didn't know how to go about it. Now it's completely up in the air - do I want to move it to the back of the bike? - do I want to hotwire it go sans keys? - do I want to make it a pressure sensor in the seat and have the bike come to life when I sit on it?

So it's time to get creative, because wiring is next on the to-do list.

Happy New Year (+7 days)

2008-01-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend Crud Run Dairies producer, Jason J. Gullickson stopped by with a camera and related gear and we got an "in the process" interview done. It was an interesting exercise in "what have I done so far" and "what do I plan to do." And I had some time to reflect on the project of building the bike, rather than working on the film.

It's funny how you look at something from different points of view. Years ago I knew nothing more about working on a bike (or car, or anything else powered by dino juice) than changing the oil. My first project with the bike was to get the brakes working. After much stumbling, I did get them to work, and looking back it seems like such an insignificant job. Bleed the fluid out, check the parts, get the stuck stuff unstuck, and rebuild - simple right?

Not so much at the time. I remember when changing spark plugs was a big event.

Although not much has changed since then, at least as far as my knowledge of any thing mechanical, but that hesitation to tackle a project seems to be all but gone. One of these weekends will involve pulling the head off the engine to replace some leaky gaskets, and I welcome the challenge.

I'll just have to remember not to throw away any parts that I don't "think" are necessary.

Wow

2007-12-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

Has it really been that long since I posted on here?

I guess time has a way of slipping away...

Regardless, I've managed to make a little progress on the old bike. And more importantly I've discovered options to take care of all kinds of found problems, new and old.

The tail end of the bike is all but complete. New holes drilled, new signals mounted. All that's left is to solder the wires together (I've learned that twisting wires, or even electrical tape can lead to problems down the road - literally).

The front end of the bike is going through a revamp. New turn signals up there to match the rear, new custom-built handlebar configuration (as soon as I can find someone with a welding torch and more skill than me), new gauges, etc. It should take on a new look that will flow a little better with the philosophy of the rest of the bike.

But it looks like the coming weekend is going to be me diving into the guts of the bike: pulling out whatever I can to get at the engine. And according to some random internets article I found (which I conveniently cannot find anymore!), I should be able to pull the head and replace the leaky gasket without pulling the whole motor.

Some more pictures to follow.

Phase 2

2007-06-11T07:21:00.001-07:00

The tarp has come off. The wrenches are waiting. It's time to get this thing on the road.

Still, plenty of work needs to be done.

(For one thing, taking care of the dust)

So far it's starting to take shape at least physically. It appears that the electronics are the first things that need to be done. Since the back end has been stripped, all lighting removed and only the taillight replaced, it's probably a good place to start.

Some new turn signals are needed, and I'm pricing out various options. The headlight bucket is still in-between stages, and houses a lot of wiring, so that will be tended to as well. Otherwise other than the electric start, this is probably the most simple wiring system I've dealt with. And yes I'm including the old '77 KZ400 (oh the electrical problems with that thing...

Mechanically, the throttle cable is sticking, the exhaust setup is untested, the engine has not been touched (ala the old "it ran when it was parked"), and the forks are in need of attention. And the last big things cosmetically are the handlebars, which are at a terrible height/angle (but are a unique 2-piece thing bolted through the triples, which I won't go into yet), and the seat which still sits up high but is no longer complimented by the tail plastics.

Yet, I'm still hopeful that this thing will see the light of day and the back roads of So. Wisconsin, at least by October of this year.

So it's back to the internets for me, in search of some working turn signals...

Under the Tarp

2007-06-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

In the back of my garage, under the tarp, still sits a slightly modified 1982 Honda CB650SC Nighthawk. It sits, not running, waiting...

The story actually began several years ago when my brother moved from one apartment to another. This new apartment had no room for him to park his old Nighthawk, which wasn't running anyway. He probably couldn't have sold it that quickly so "you have a garage, do you want it?" - and of course I answered "yes."

The '82 Nighthawk is a bizarre animal. The engine is a left-over, the old single overhead cam CB650 from the late 70's. The frame is mostly a CB650 (they had the "standard" CB650 as well as the "custom" CB650C) of the same year, but the forks, handlebars, triples, and much of the bodywork are very different. And naturally with such a bizarre bike, they completely redesigned it for it's second year. So parts are rare at best.

And this thing needed some work.

The front brakes (2 disc even!) were frozen. The exhaust had a bizarre rattle (and counted for nearly half of the bike's weight). The engine leaked oil like one of Yosemite Sam's oil drillin' holes. Not to mention it hadn't run in at least a year. The paint was in bad shape, the gas tank was in terrible condition, and the thing had it's share of road rash.

Starting a few years ago, I slowly began the process. I applied Kreeme tank liner to the tank. I dismantled, unstuck, bled, and rebuilt the brakes. With plenty of searching, I found a NOS 4-into-1 complete exhaust for $150, and I (hopefully correctly) mounted it on. I applied paint, I tore apart and rebuilt the entire rear end, pulled out the carbs for rebuild, tore off the gauges, cleaned and polished various bits, changed the plugs and various other mod's and tinkerings.

But there's still a way to go. The throttle seems to be sticking now. The forks now leak oil. The seat needs a rebuild. And the engine hasn't been touched.

And it still sits under the tarp, in the back of my garage.

(just for reference, this was stock:)