One Noob, a vintage Honda Twin, and the 2011 Mexican 1000

If that Spinter has the newer "blue-tec" Diesel engine in it, it will have a tank of a substance they call "add-blue" that gets injected into the exhaust and helps reduce emissions,(diesels are blue in this eco centric world, gas cars are green). If the tank runs low a warning will tell you how many starts you have left. If you let it run dry the computer wont let the truck start. If you put something other than add-blue in the tank it will void your warranty. All of this is assuming the truck in question is a blue tec and did he buy it new or used.
BTW, Blue-tec isn't required in Mexico on their diesels so therefor it is hard to find.

synthesized cow urine

or so I'm told

FYI - Volkswagon, Audi, Mercedes Benz, and Frieghtliner all use the same additive. So if your running low and need to find some, there should be a source around. Also the additive has a 2 year shelf life. When the tank is topped off the computer needs to be told so it can reset the level calculations as it is not an active level sensor like a fuel guage.

I will now stop hijacking this thread and return you to your regularly scheduled insanity:huh

Well there ought to be a lot of that in Tilimook

I'm thinkin' they don't really need to synthesize it.



Oh, and...

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In an effort to stop the madness...I will just tell you I have a spare gallon in the van...and of course planned to have some in the van at all times. It will be a chase vehicle and will have needed expendables and wheels and tires and bits and pieces just like the bike...ready to go. If it dies...we'll pile in Ladybug's pick-up.

Also.....MB, Freightliner are the same...Daimler. The Mercedes and Freightliner branded sprinter vans (and the former Dodge ones) are exactly the same...except for about 3 badges and a grill.

Also under the Daimler flag are Detroit Diesel, Western Star, and Thomas School Buses.

Now back to our regularly scheduled SL350 racing thread.....

Very nice, tell me more about the van! It might be time for an upgrade for me.

More van pics please.... whats inside there?

i too have been thinking about getting a sprinter.. good job OC..

Well I just spent the past three hours from start to finish reading all this. so now i'm hooked. keep up the good work and good luck!!

As many of you know, I recently sold my DRZ400 in an effort to raise some funds for the SL Build. That left me without a running dirt bike beside the SL.

However, I still had my trusty old XR250R sitting buried in the back of the garage. In early January, I pulled it out of hiding. Yep, it was put away dirty. In fact, it still had dirt on it from my last ride on her in 2009 (the weekend I broke my hand riding with ADV FF southforkspeedster, aka:Ward).




On the first day of that weekend, I quickly learned why there are bumper stickers in the Pendleton, Oregon area that read "Friends don't let friends ride with Ward."

Here are the gory details if you are so inclined:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=496770

Of course, I don't need the eastern Oregon dirt on that XR to remind me of that weekend...my left hand has permanent motion loss and pain from that one.....that's why Ibu's are my friend! Ok..sorry for the digression.....

Back to the XR.

She was never a looker...but she was always ready for a ride I've had this bike since the summer I moved to Oregon, back in 1995. However, this time...she did not want to start. I began thinking that it probably needed a rebuild..and I checked the compression and it seemed a bit low. There has always been a little bit of seeping out of the head...so I thought my luck had run out, and I would just have to get around to digging into the motor.

I decided to go ahead and pull the carb and see how that was..because I knew it had ethanol the last time and I've already had a weed wacker and a generator fall victim to the dreaded juice

So off with the parts to pull the carb...it of course is stuffed into the frame requiring some disassembly.



The carb was filthy with a nice yellow tinge..:eek1 And there it set in my garage for about a month. Until I finally got around to cleaning it.

I have been missing some great rides in the Tillamook Forest because this old girl wasn't running. I need to be riding several times a week for training. I can't do it all on the SL...so I had to try and get this XR running. It is a great bike up in the tight stuff..and I really enjoy riding it still. Today, I decided to re-install the carb and cross my fingers and see what happened

I buttoned everything back up, had some nice non-ethanol running through her veins and gave her a kick. In three kicks she came to life...and strong!! She idled back down nicely then purred like a kitten. I did a serious happy dance in my garage..then I added a little oil (she was a wee bit low). Of course, I had to take her around for a quick "test" spin But first, I practiced my excuse: "Gee, officer, I didn't notice my plate expired last year, thanks for telling me" Luckily I did not have to use it.



I decided to leave the desert tank on it just because it already had all of the mounting brackets. With those six gallons...I can do a hell of a lot of training.

Next I loaded it up to bring over to Lonnie's to get some proper knobbies on it and get her ready for some hard training. I hadn't removed the seats from the Sprinter yet, so I used the hitch carrier....have I mentioned how much I love my van



Of course, instead of being excited that the bike was running...Lonnie was more concerned with the $5 trailer taillight I had on the bike. I informed him that it had served me fine for 14 years and that this bike was not for show..but for riding hard. He mumbled something about something and walked away thoroughly disgusted at my lack of style. "That's your job, Lonnie....make me look good!!"


The other reason to get this bike going is so that Lonnie can come out and be a chase vehicle for me on the SL as I log some forest road hours. Lonnie's only running bike right now is a TL125 Trials bike...not very comfy on the roads. With the XR, he can ride all day while I flog the SL350. So I guess we can say this 1987 Honda is a vintage trainer/pace/chase vehicle for an even more vintage Honda

As mentioned in another thread, I made the forks handoff to ADV FF Direwolf who then handed off to ADV FF TongueLady who is now going to bring the forks to Alex at Konflict Motorsports in Redmond, Washington. Alex has offered his services as a sponsor of OUTTA SIGHT RACING and we sure do appreciate his interest and help!! And ain't Adventure Rider great...Lonnie could not believe him when I told him that the forks would be hand delivered to Konflict via the ADV underground railroad!! Just awesome. Thanks everyone for that!!

So, now with some time to think about the Desert 100 in April. I am thinking of entering the XR250 into the Ironman Poker Run and Dual Sport ride on Saturday and Then enter the actual Desert 100 in the vintage class on the SL350 on Sunday :eek1



I was going to do it the other way around, but the vintage class for the D100 is pre '86 and I only want to do one 50 mile loop this year.

Coming up...sand training on the SL350 (with video) and some woods cardio-endurance training on the XR250.

For craps sake...Honda should be paying me or something for abusing myself on their old products.....

A tavern I used to frequent had a jukebox that had some country songs with titles similar to that. I never did hear any of them on the radio.











Yeah I know, you were expecting a more moto-related response to this post. What can I say... it's the ADV thing to do.




.

This is the guy I was talking about who hammered this thing for 90 minutes..guy was hustling.

Now that right there is the definition of cool

And of course, he looks like a stocky 5'2....perfect size for an SL!

Good luck with the SL project... brings back so many memories of the "bad" ol' days. Where there was more flex in the swingarm than travel in the suspension!

If you ever had to slide off the back of your XR, that tail light would literally "rip you a new one"!!!

Hey OC, I just read your profile on NORRA.com so had to come to adv to check it out. Sweet bike and a great choice based on its reliability and model history. I was going to race 74 WR400, but didn&#8217;t think I was man enough to go the distance on it&#8230;.so I&#8217;m entry #9 in a 4 wheeler.

I'm going to have modern bikes on the trailer to hopefully ride back, any advriders doing the same?

Can&#8217;t wait to see the 350 in Mexacali!

Thanks for that. I uploaded that info last night but it told me there was an error, so I didn't check for it. Here is a link to what he is talking about:

http://www.norra.com/vehicle-entries.php

We'll see you in Mexicali...only 76 days till the race :eek1 Dang, I got shit to do!!

BTW nice vehicle...I didn't know Ron Burgandy could race!! Of course, I'd love to read the real history of that vehicle..sounds like it has a cool one.

Ron Burgundy can do anything he wants!

I dont want to jack your thread, so if interested you can check the Vintage section Race Dezert to see the build, its titled- Mark Stahl's 1977 Chenowth 1000 restoration...