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Re-engineering the Shift Spring


Scud

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Very nice Chuck. Eager to hear your riding impressions and if you notice any difference. 

 

Thanks, Scud.. it'll be a long time before riding impressions for me. :) -3F as we speak with a -18 wind chill. This is the longest period of seriously cold wx in my memory. 

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  Chuck, thanks for taking us thru it, great work!   :notworthy:

Thanks, Nick.. a little nippy up around your place, too?  :)

Now, the butterflies begin. It's much the same as when I was putting the Aero engine together at first startup. Will it actually run?.. this has never been done before..the camera is running.. (I'm *really* going to feel like a doofus if this thing doesn't work ..)

That was all over, though.. as soon as I punched the starter button. I'll be worried about these springs failing for some reason I have never even considered for quite some time. 

Oh, well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. :oldgit:  

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So Chuck you can't test the new spring until the spring at which point you will spring onto the Guzzi and spring into action and go for an extended ride?

Sorry in advance.

 

Ciao

 

Sorry Phil, but that's the long and short of it.  :grin:  Let me digress. When I was in my early 20s, I would have jumped on this problem, found the answer and been confident that this *was* the answer. I have done that.. 

But..

Put another almost 50 years of experience into the mix, and I have learned that I *don't* know it all.  :oldgit: There is a learning curve in any trade, whether it is being a Guzzi mechanic,doctor, tool and die maker,  or candle stick maker. It starts at the bottom and goes up at an exponential rate. At that point you think you are hot sh!t. Then, it drops almost as fast when you realize you are not. My new pup Austin is there right now. He's just realizing he is clueless. He will be good. 

Know what I mean? The people that end up being bad at what they do never realize there is much more to learn, and how little they know.

So.

I'm confident that we have the answer, but there is sill that lingering doubt, brought on by experience.  :)

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So Chuck you can't test the new spring until the spring at which point you will spring onto the Guzzi and spring into action and go for an extended ride?

Sorry in advance.

Ciao

 

 

Sorry Phil, but that's the long and short of it.  :grin:  Let me digress. When I was in my early 20s, I would have jumped on this problem, found the answer and been confident that this *was* the answer. I have done that.. 

But..

Put another almost 50 years of experience into the mix, and I have learned that I *don't* know it all.  :oldgit: There is a learning curve in any trade, whether it is being a Guzzi mechanic,doctor, tool and die maker,  or candle stick maker. It starts at the bottom and goes up at an exponential rate. At that point you think you are hot sh!t. Then, it drops almost as fast when you realize you are not. My new pup Austin is there right now. He's just realizing he is clueless. He will be good. 

Know what I mean? The people that end up being bad at what they do never realize there is much more to learn, and how little they know.

So.

I'm confident that we have the answer, but there is sill that lingering doubt, brought on by experience.  :)

I'm hearing Chuck, I'm frustrated by the feeling as you gain more experience you can actually lose a bit of confidence. Mate of mine reckons it's because you become more aware of all the possible problems. I think he's right. Sometime confidence comes from not knowing what you don't know, a bit of ignorance can help sometimes:)

 

Ciao

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Yes, Docc.. that is the perfect example. I've seen it many times over the years.  :thumbsup:  

 

 

 Sometime confidence comes from not knowing what you don't know, a bit of ignorance can help sometimes:)

Yep. There are very few airplane mechanics that fly. A pilot gets in and goes, thinking, "what could possibly go wrong?" A mechanic with some experience *knows* what can go wrong.. :)

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I think we older folk just get walled in by our past failures. When a problem arises we think of a row of solutions only to immediately discount each one as we had tried those without success in the past. Youngsters try the first solution that occours to them; that probably works and so their confidence grows.

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Austin is a perfect example. I told him he could work on his KLR in the shop when I was in California. I came home to this..

38832099054_403945720e_c.jpg2018-01-06_01-36-03 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

Now, it's no small feat for a kid to dive in to something as complicated as this. He's a *good* nuts and bolts guy.

He'd seen this:

38704533405_7c3d27cd66_c.jpg2018-01-09_02-51-39 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

And thought, "that's probably not good." Never gave a thought as to *why* that cam looked like that, and was going to swap heads with his spare engine.

That's when I came home. Walked out into the shop, saw the cam and rooted cam bearings, and had an immediate look at that rod bearing.

24732847407_9585a198c1_c.jpg2018-01-09_02-53-12 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

Here it is..

24732868387_a4487f642b_c.jpg2018-01-09_02-54-18 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

Texted him, "what are you going to do with that rod bearing?"

He texted back, " Huh?"

The next time he was in the shop, I started explaining how the oiling system worked, tolerances for bearings and why, etc. .. and this engine is junk. "Oh, by the way.. did you notice the cam bearing material galled onto the "good" head you were going to swap?" Sorry, no picture for that. Told him to cut open the oil filter of the spare engine and showed him how to squeeze the element flat between 2 clean plates. No metal in it.  :thumbsup:  Told him that he *probably* had a good bottom end to swap into the bike, but he'd have to source yet another head.

He said, "I'm really glad I didn't go any farther before you came back from California."  That is why he will be a *good* mechanic. He suddenly realized how little he actually knows.

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