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Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2021 8:37 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Thanks for the bigger picture, Track T 2411. It's good to know these bikes need more rpm.

Never heard that knocking before - or since, thankfully. It scared the crap out of me, as the bike is a joint venture and not wholly mine to screw up.

With the Blue Phoenix, I get that chain rattle/hum on launch if I don't get the revs up. And I get it even with revs up if starting on a steeper incline, as I must at several stops on my regular commute. I don't push up to 2k while I release the clutch, as it feels wrong. I'll give it a try.

I did recently check the carb sync again, and they're as close to spot on as I can get them. The Cabernet, in contrast, has none of that funny business. I can get a hint/whisper of that chain hum if I give no throttle coming out of the clutch friction zone, say when I'm easing out of a parking spot and need to peek around a van before going. All around, that bike runs better right now.

I'll pull the carbs from the Blue Phoenix this winter and give them a working over. We did the in situ cleaning type thing last winter and the bike starts, runs on all 4, has good throttle response, etc. But now that I feel what a Wing can be like without the glitchy launch, I know the Phoenix is lacking.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:27 pm
by robjordan406
I have heard that chain slack noise on mine...wasnt sure what it was until now...My carbs are out of sync too..waiting on my vacuum gauges.....My does it as its revving upward....

Rob in Winnsboro Texas

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 8:50 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Rob: Not sure what you mean by revving upward, but I think you're saying as you give it gas coming through the friction zone - and maybe up to about 2000 rpm - you're getting that rattle/shake/buzz just as the bike rolls out.

Sync will help. I know because the Blue Phoenix is better than it was back before we synced the carbs. (You can read a good bit about that noise and GoldWing carbs out of tune.) I still get the rattle if the rpms drop on launch, even after a re-sync following my valve clearance adjustment after 5k.

Following Track T's advice, today I was quite intentional about getting the revs up around 1500-1800 coming through the friction zone. I mostly avoided the buzz/rattle noise, which I take to mean I'm now learning to ride that particular bike a bit better.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2021 4:39 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
I sorta knew the carbs would eventually need to come off. Looks like eventually has arrived after something over 5k.

My wife and I were set to take a late PM ride by the beach, just as we did last weekend, and the Blue Phoenix is set for two-up. (The Cabernet has a solo seat.)

I fired up the Phoenix. Immediately, fuel starts leaking out of #4. First, I think maybe drain screw and o-ring. Nope. It looks like it's a leaky bowl gasket, but I'm not entirely sure. It seems to be dripping down from the "front" of the bowl. I tried rapping on the bowl to see if I might shake loose the cutoff and stop the leak. No dice. And I don't seem to be getting gas backing up into the plenum. Not sure the cutoff is the issue, but the Phoenix is grounded until she stops dripping gas onto the head and exhaust - unless I want to burn her to a crisp.

So I swapped the king/queen seat I had on the Phoenix for my wife over onto the Cabernet, and we went for a ride. Frustrating, but no biggie. It's good to have a spare Wing.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 6:41 pm
by Whiskerfish
Check this out!!

page/Welcome

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:03 am
by DUGG
action1 action1 action1 action1

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 4:43 pm
by gltriker
tumb2 tumb2

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2022 11:31 am
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Thanks, all!

I really, truly appreciate the honor.

I will immediately call my son to deliver the news. That bike is a shared labor of love.

I guess it's time to back make room to back her out of the shed and put her on the road for the season.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:18 am
by wingrider
Congrats on BOTM!

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 10:55 am
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Branding and reforming the seat.

I don't know if any of this info will be helpful to someone else, but some of it could have helped me.

I had picked up an inexpensive GL1100 saddle over winter, with a plan to reshape it as I had done back in winter '20-1 for Cabernet.

It turned out that the seat foam had already been "reshaped" to make a king/queen, and things weren't in such great shape. I shaved things down and bought some of the carpet padding known as a decent foam for seats, ran out to the fabric store, and scored some very high-quality vinyl fabric - much thicker than what I used on the first seat I covered.
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Good news: My wife's old sewing machine works, and I easily sewed on the NGW patch to the vinyl, right where I wanted it.

Not so good news: I didn't know enough to use batting over the rebonded foam, so I have lumps showing through. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up on that problem until AFTER I had trimmed back much of my extra vinyl under the pan. I don't think I can pull it off, add batting, and get it back on with the same vinyl. And (this is big!) the vinyl is so heavyweight that I'm not able to get all the folds/wrinkles out around the sides/bottom.

Armed with all I learned from this recover, I decided to sew a NGW patch onto the solo seat on Cabernet and add rebond foam over the wafer-thin padding I rode all winter. I used my leftover thinner vinyl, bought and added some batting, and had at it.
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Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 9:38 pm
by Track T 2411
If I may make a suggestion (for future reference) on the upholstery... to minimize/ eliminate wrinkles, think of the seat as a box. Sewing a 'box end' seam on the back will get rid of the wrinkles and give the seat more shape, especially when the seat is so thick.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 7:18 am
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Track T. Thanks. I'm not quite sure what a box-end seam is, but I'm interested. My upholstery skills are, well, you see what they are.

What I know I learned from a Youtube and real-world practice on about 6 seats. FWIW, I just covered a seat for my son's CB cafe project, and I didn't get the corner wrinkles. Maybe I'm improving.

That Wing recover has thicker marine vinyl than I've used before, and it just had a lot more bulk to try to manage under the lip. I like the thicker vinyl, but it comes with that drawback.

I'm about to recover a 90s Yamaha seat and hope to do a better job on the corners.