4/27/11

Pray for the Mantis



How many dudes does it take to clean a crusty old tank when it's molded to the frame? Apparently at least three, and me to video it for proof. Getting this survivor of the 70's ready for Sumo (who is flying in from England Friday) has been a struggle and I haven't spent enough time on it so it's kind of a last minute thrash to get it ready for the EDR. The carb linkage hit the back bone so I cut all that factory stuff and made a low profile set up last weekend. Today I just blew off the real work and me and Canada Shawn showed up determined to make some headway. Jason and Tony happened by for some heckling and tech support, and we all jumped in and made little things happen. Crazy petcock got solved, cleaned the tank, fixed the rotten old oil line for the third time, some clutch adjusting, fender mounting, battery tending and simple light wiring (internal I might add) and the little green beast stumbled to life. No smoke, just needs a little fine tune on the carbs and maybe a front brake... Shawn is a great dude and I really appreciate his patience and help on this thing. We put a couple actual miles on it today and as ridiculous as this machine looks, it rides bitchin'. Gotta pay attention at low speeds, but it's comfy on the move!

3 comments :

TIM said...

I see the surgery went well for Tony. Great way to break the knees in!

Capt. Cal said...

Good stuff! I had to do the same thing to my xs650 survivor. Sporty tank molded right to the frame. Really sucked because I was by myself! Bitchin Honda though, need to see some road shots!

SUMO said...

i heart biltwell & friends