Parts Round Up

[cheesy]

I told myself to wait on doing this as I have other projects ahead of it. Yeah, that didn't happen.

First was the inspiration for the project, the lightly used Lombardini 15 LD315 engine. It had been sitting on a shelf at work for several years, so some parts disappeared. Namely the air and fuel filters, because we are so good at keeping stock on hand. The air filter was easy. We actually had those in stock. The fuel filter, not so easy.

Even though the engine is now known as the Kohler KD315 on this side of the pond, it's not easy sourcing parts through Kohler. The few dealers that carry the fuel filter had a sixty to ninety day lead time on delivery. It made more sense to contact my buddy in Finland and have him scrounge me a filter. I'll probably see it a week or so. The stock filters are just to get the engine running again. Once there is a home for it, I'll go remote for both.

Next, I needed something to store diesel fuel as the nearest diesel pump is several miles away and up hill. So, I got a 10L/2.5gal jerry can and $5 worth of fuel.

Last thing I scored was a diesel tach. http://www.searon-tech.com/product_view.asp?id=162 The youngest gave a nice gift card to her old man for his 60th. The plan was to use it to gas up the CX500 for entire year but as I've been laid up since the first week of June, I decided to use it for something else.

I now just need something with two wheels on it but that absotively, posilutlely, must wait until at least I have the 50 year old Toro lawn tractor out of the garage. Down to tires and belts on that. Finally.

I also am waiting for a customer to scrap a couple of machines with 15 LD315 engines on them. The engines themselves are shot (no compression) but I figure I can strip them of injectors and other goodies. What's another plastic bin of spare parts in the garage?

[Tamber]

I figure I can strip them of injectors and other goodies. What's another plastic bin of spare parts in the garage?

And you just know you'll be kicking yourself if you don't strip them for parts, then you end up needing something they had on them. It's always how it goes...

[cheesy]

I figure I can strip them of injectors and other goodies. What's another plastic bin of spare parts in the garage?

And you just know you'll be kicking yourself if you don't strip them for parts, then you end up needing something they had on them. It's always how it goes...

Don't I know it.

Then there is the box on the back of the shelf that's had parts in them for over twenty years. Only thing is you've no clue as to what they're for or why you've held on to them.

[Tetronator]

I figure I can strip them of injectors and other goodies. What's another plastic bin of spare parts in the garage?

And you just know you'll be kicking yourself if you don't strip them for parts, then you end up needing something they had on them. It's always how it goes...

Don't I know it.

Then there is the box on the back of the shelf that's had parts in them for over twenty years. Only thing is you've no clue as to what they're for or why you've held on to them.

Write it on the box?

[cheesy]

Write it on the box?

I was young enough that I didn't need to write on the box when I put the parts in the box. Now, I don't remember what I had for breakfast.

[Tetronator]

Write it on the box?

I was young enough that I didn't need to write on the box when I put the parts in the box. Now, I don't remember what I had for breakfast.

Oh boy, what does that say about me? I'm 25 years old...

...Then again, my job is disassembling motorcycles.

[cheesy]

You have 10, maybe 15 years tops, before it all starts going downhill.

[Tetronator]

You have 10, maybe 15 years tops, before it all starts going downhill.

Crud, better start writing more stuff on boxes then.

[cheesy]

Can't hurt.

[cheesy]

The fuel filter arrived from Finland yesterday, so Yay for that. So this coming weekend I'll see if I can get the little lump to run.

I'll be having my grandson over for backyard camping so things may take a bit longer than usual.

[Diesel Dave]

I think the worst bit about having 'Old man memory', is putting away your newly purchased shed item only to find another 2 of them you previously bought and completely forgot you had.

[cheesy]

I think the worst bit about having 'Old man memory', is putting away your newly purchased shed item only to find another 2 of them you previously bought and completely forgot you had.

So it's not just me?

[Tetronator]

I think the worst bit about having 'Old man memory', is putting away your newly purchased shed item only to find another 2 of them you previously bought and completely forgot you had.

So it's not just me?

Comedy gold.

[cheesy]

Had a change of plans tonight and got to stay in. Sooo, I installed the fuel filter on the lump, put some diesel in the tank and hooked the starter leads to the pickup battery. Bear in mind, it's been several years since it has run. I held the shut off closed and cranked until I had oil pressure. Released the shut off and cranked some more. Nothing. Cracked the fuel line at the injector and cranked. No fuel. Took the line off at the pump and cranked. Got a little dribble of fuel from the pump.

My neighbor, who had never seen a small diesel, came by to watch what I was doing. I was cranking it one more time with the fuel line off when he decided to walk past the pump...just as the crap that was blocking the pump broke loose.

Anyway, bled the fuel system the rest of the way and the little booger fired right up then settled down to a nice idle. I didn't have the engine mounted to anything so it took both of us to hold it in place.

Having the little lump running made my day better because my CX500 crapped out today and I'm not sure why.

[cheesy]

I'm still here, just been too busy to work on a diesel bike. Things are somewhat caught up now.

The Turd of a lawn mower project for my wife was finished, but now I'm not so sure. She has never liked my JD, says it's too big for her. The Turd is a small, 50 year old Toro rider. To me, going from the JD to the Toro is like going from a quad cab pick up to a Smart car. So, can I make it not so cramped, not so loud, not so stinky? Sure, scrap bin would be easiest. But, I found a newer Kawasaki engine for cheap and figure I can bend this and cut that so it isn't such a tight fit. Next year.

The CX crapped out a week after I got my medical release to be normal again. It took six weeks to get the new Hall Effect ignition system from Down Under. It crapped out at the office and I was only able to work on it during lunch. My employer also took advantage of my medical release and made up for lost time. They had me all over the US. But the bike is fixed now. Just that there is this white crap all over the roads up here so the bike will probably winter at the office.

The wife's 14 year old Audi has not much mortal coil left. It seems like I'm constantly dealing with one problem after another. Mostly electrical, too. I'm always hearing "My car did this today". May be a new car in Mrs. C's future. Whether she wants one or not.

And then there is the Ural. More fun than you are legally allowed to have.

I went through a few PO induced issues and have the bike dialed in now. The grandkids like it and more importantly, Mrs. C likes it.

So, with most things out of the way for the foreseeable future, I've started the hunt for parts again.

[cheesy]

Bump. I’m back

Man, I didn’t think I was gone that long. The last 3.5 years have been a heck of a roller coaster ride so the bike project got removed from the back burner and put in the back of the closet.

My employer reorganized and relocated from Illannoy to South Carolina in early 17. I thought it was a bad move and still do. I refused to go with as my home was almost paid for, so my supervisor job was eliminated. I was made a remote employee and handled the closing down of the Illannoy site. I did a lot of yelling at the SC end for major stupidity and realized the people put in charge of move didn’t have a clue.

In the middle this my Mom passed away, three days before my folks 63rd anniversary. It was rough watching my ex-USMC Dad lose it so often. A lot of time was spent bouncing between work and my folks home.

Because of how badly things were done with the reorg, one of my former charges and I spent 2018 and 2019 in a lot of air planes and hotels. Every trip we did to HQ was pretty much us telling management they were as useless as everyone they hired and getting away from there as quickly as possible. Hasn’t been an enjoyable experience. I finally threw my hands up and put in my retirement notice. October 31, 2021 if you must know. I’m just there for the popcorn now.

Throw in my wife’s irritating hobby of looking at homes for sale, I decided to try and break her of the habit of showing me said homes by going to a few open houses. That didn’t work too well. We found a place we both liked on an acre in the sticks. Four bed, three bath, full basement, heated attached two car garage AND a separate heated four car Man Cave. So, we paid off our mortgage on October 4, 2019 and bought a new place on October 19, 2019. Sold the old place in May. We are finally getting settled in.

I told you all that to tell you this. Today, I picked up a 1985 Suzuki GS550L roller with an Illannoy title. We went from the back of the closet to at least one of the middle burners.

[Tetronator]

Welcome back and my condolences.

Can't wait to see what comes out of that new man-shed of yours.

[cheesy]

Thank you.

Here's inside of the garage before I got all my junk from the other garage in there.


Here's the new digs. Keep pinching myself.

[Stuart]

That’s a very nice pad, Mike. Hope the build goes to plan. Nothing like having the time to do things!

[cheesy]

Thanks. Kind of nice to be able to move in the garage without having to step over stuff.

Got the ‘Suzuki In Kit Form’ out of the back of the truck on the hottest day of the year, so far. Pulled what was left of the engine to see if the transmission was useable. Once I got the detent for the shift drum freed up it went through all the gears nicely. But, being a counter rotating transmission with a wet clutch, I’m not too sure it’s worth the effort.

[Diesel Dave]

Have a look at the Diesel Wiesel setup as they use a Suzuki gearbox that was counter rotating but the engine is installed backwards.

http://www.dieselwiesel.de/

[cheesy]

Have a look at the Diesel Wiesel setup as they use a Suzuki gearbox that was counter rotating but the engine is installed backwards.

http://www.dieselwiesel.de/

Thank you for that. Rotating the lump 180 was my first thought but how to connect the two has had me somewhat flummoxed. I will do some studying.