NomadGal's Year on the Road

[Ratman]

Originally Posted by NomadGal

A small cat food can??
LOL, I just loved that tiny dual walled can you made Fey, it looks classic! I will try and find a small can somewhere and give the alcohol a try. Right now I use stern, and it takes up quite a bit of space and lasts me a week with 2 cans. I wonder how long the alcohol will last me. Gonna try it.

Yes all us stovers were/are impressed with the jets burning out of those dual walled stoves, but that's just an exciting visual effect.
An open can burning alc generates just as many fumes as the dual walled stoves do....but with the open can you can't see any neat little visuals.

And Sterno is just jellified alcohol. I don't really think that you will find much difference there....and if you knock your Sterno over, there isn't a bunch of flaming alcohol running over the table. Be careful with liquid alc.

Don't get me wrong I love my alcohol stoves, but they aren't all that they are cracked up to be.

I hope you've found your oil leak...I got my fingers crossed for you.

[Feyala]

Originally Posted by Ratman

You might thumb thru this picture album....there are some interesting information about alc stoves there.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by NomadGal

Right now I use stern, and it takes up quite a bit of space and lasts me a week with 2 cans. I wonder how long the alcohol will last me. Gonna try it.

By myself cooking daily tea, dinner, and the odd other meal, a container of heet lasted me a week. Cooking for two and that's almost doubled due to the larger volumes. Wind will also do a number on your efficiency if your windbreak is not so great.

I wouldn't go back to Sterno though - I can find the heet more places for cheap and I think it burns hotter.

Originally Posted by Ratman

And if you knock your Sterno over, there isn't a bunch of flaming alcohol running over the table. Be careful with liquid alc.

+1 I have set myself on fire more than once... Especially be careful if it's windy!

[NomadGal]

Had a productive day today!
Figured out why my cam chain was way loose! Turns out that the cam chain guide was jammed, so the tensioner could not press it in hard enough to tighten it. One good thing, the cam chain is still in perfect condition.
One of my shims needs to be replaced, it's way too tight.
But..... tomorrow is another day, I'm petered out!

[NomadGal]

I'm almost back in the land of the living.
For some odd reason I got sick again after just having had the flu in Pharr a month ago! Hmmmmm, sometimes I think being on the road is more taxing than I realize, and having bike trouble on top of it is probably making it worse.
I'm camped out on Logan's property underneath a tree. And even though I have solar power having an electric cord all the way to my tent is nice.


This is my little 2 watt 170 lumens lightbulb that plugs into my Sherpa50.


There are she pretty awesome cacti on Logan's property, one of which I accidentally stepped on in the middle of the night, Ouch!!


Spring is in the air!!!


Yep, the seal was leaking pretty bad!!



While I had taken Spirit apart again I thought I might as well do a few mods that were in much need of doing.


Hurricane mod, no more vacuum trouble!! Oh boy, how am I going to be able to remind myself to turn the petcock off????


After taking off the carburetor it became pretty obvious that at some point or another I had indeed oil coming into it


Turns out my pilot screw didn't have an o-ring, I did find the teensy washer, which I ended up using for my 22cent mod (raising the needle a teensy bit for more fuel, my spark plug was white)


Once I had the cover off to check my balancer chain and cam chain I discovered that my cam chain was really lose! I could move it an inch sideways, what the heck??
Turns out the my cam chain guide was stuck, so the tensioner was not able to push in the chain to tighten it!
That's fixed now.
I also repositioned the balancer chain. Spirit vibrated horribly, and I'm not sure what happened, but the chain was not where it was supposed to be, (lined up with the dots) I must have had a brain fart when I aligned them last.

Now it's just waiting for my order to come in, new friction plates, water pump seal, gaskets, spark plug, 15 tooth sprocket, (I think Spirit struggled to much with the 16 tooth one). I also found my favorite chainlube, the Bellray one, so I ordered that too.
Ratman's Spot came in yesterday, Yay! I'm I'm trackable again!.
Now it's just waiting and getting better.
I promised Logan's wife that I would teach her how to knit.


This is Basia, she still can't make up her mind about me, barking every time I get in, but wanting to be petted too, LOL

[bbjumper]

Still planning on taking a look at the top end, seems like a good time to do it seing as how you have it down this far anyway?

[NomadGal]

Originally Posted by bbjumper

Still planning on taking a look at the top end, seems like a good time to do it seing as how you have it down this far anyway?

As far as the top end goes, I took the cover off while checking out the cam chain. and checked the valve clearance. On of the valves (left exhaust) was borderline, the rest was in the middle of the spec range. I decided to put them all on the looser side of the spec range, so I'm waiting for 2 shims that JettnJim is sending me. Logan had one shim that fitted, and I swapped one of the intake shims.
I am not taking the head off, if there is nothing I can really do about it right now, I can only hope that the blow-by was a one time deal that happened when overfilled Spirit's oil.

[Suitcase]

Originally Posted by NomadGal

As far as the top end goes, I took the cover off while checking out the cam chain. and checked the valve clearance. On of the valves (left exhaust) was borderline, the rest was in the middle of the spec range. I decided to put them all on the looser side of the spec range, so I'm waiting for 2 shims that JettnJim is sending me. Logan had one shim that fitted, and I swapped one of the intake shims.
I am not taking the head off, if there is nothing I can really do about it right now, I can only hope that the blow-by was a one time deal that happened when overfilled Spirit's oil.

Wow...another wrenchin session for you. Spirit gets you where you want to go but like everything mechanical....theres a price...seems gas is the cheapest thing you can put into a bike...everything else is smucked knuckles and finding parts to fix the problem.

Its all okay E. Cycle World magazine voted the KLR650 the best most reliable motorcycle to ride in the event of a world apocolypse.

Good luck with this round of fixes. Save a little something for Spokane Daves 3rd Annual Tech Weekend at Diamond Lake in late May.

[NomadGal]

Originally Posted by Suitcase

Its all okay E. Cycle World magazine voted the KLR650 the best most reliable motorcycle to ride in the event of a world apocolypse.

Thats a little moot now, 12-21-2012 came and went!

Originally Posted by Suitcase

Good luck with this round of fixes. Save a little something for Spokane Daves 3rd Annual Tech Weekend at Diamond Lake in late May.

Yeah, I'd better find out what date that will be, I will be working from May 31st to June 9th, nearby actually, in Sequim on the Olympic peninsula, selling more GoalZero products

[Suitcase]

spokane dave posted on klrworld...may 31 - june 2.....he is looking for attendees and "fence sitters" to get some idea for camping area n food.

[NomadGal]

Originally Posted by Suitcase

spokane dave posted on klrworld...may 31 - june 2.....he is looking for attendees and "fence sitters" to get some idea for camping area n food.

Bummer, won't be able to go then, will be working.

[Rutabaga]

Amazing. We , the world, could do with more of you in our midst.

[NomadGal]

Originally Posted by Rutabaga

Amazing. We , the world, could do with more of you in our midst.

Awww
Hmmm, maybe it's a good thing I keep some thoughts to myself! LOL.

[Motomedic]

Even if you miss the tech day, you've always got a place to sleep/shower/etc here in Spokane, Esther.

I might even have some furniture by then.

[NomadGal]

Originally Posted by Motomedic

Even if you miss the tech day, you've always got a place to sleep/shower/etc here in Spokane, Esther.

I might even have some furniture by then.

Hey Feike, I might just come say hi!

[Ladybug0048]

Originally Posted by NomadGal

Thats a little moot now, 12-21-2012 came and went!
Yeah, I'd better find out what date that will be, I will be working from May 31st to June 9th, nearby actually, in Sequim on the Olympic peninsula, selling more GoalZero products

When you complete your GoalZero work in Sequim start making your way to the East side of the state and you will be just in time to attend the Hells Canyon Gathering in Enterprise, OR.