Cycle News

STUMPJUMPERS \!! .., > :; ~ w Z > W ..J (J (J By Rod Breake~ 1972 Motorcycle Competition Guidebook for California (first edition published by CYCLE NEWS, Inc.) 10,000 names and riding numbers! including AMA National numbers. AMA District 36 & 37 MX, Enduro, Scrambles & Desert numbers. Plus Calendar of Events for 1972! District 35 & 38 Earned Numbers. AMA National points scoring table. COMPLETE CMC rider numbers to date. ACA, Trials Clubs, AFM, CERA, HRA, USMRC, Sidehack & Speedway Racing Association names & numbers. PLUS complete California CLUB GUIDE and much, MUCH MORE. CYCLE NEWS PRODUCTS P.O. Box 498 Long Beach, Calif. 90801 Please rush my copy(s) of the 1972 Motorcycle Competition Guidebook for California. I enclose $1 for each copy., NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP SATISFACTION GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK Send for your copy NOW Or see your nearest Cycle News Dealer- Your complete program for all 1972 California Amateur and Professional races! DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED I ---:- \CD I \ I .-L..... .. --1 --1 SAVING MONEY BY NOT DOING IT YOURSELF This may seem like a weird title for a column that is supposed to be devoted to telling you how to dO-it-yourself. The reason for it is that many times a rider will tackle a job that he has neither the knowledge or the tools to handle. It is akin to the old proverb "Penny Wise and Pound Foolish". A very typical example is the home mechanjc who has a limited knowledge of his machine, in fact, he has put rings in his two-stroke once. He suddenly has an engine seizure problem and figures he will tear it down as it is probably just a stuck piston and he can do it himself. When he gets inside the top end, he finds that his crank is seized. His next step is to figure "what the heck", he was able to tear the top end apart, why not the bpttom erd. Naturally he is not figuring on pressing the crank tUmself, just saving himself the cost of tearing the engine down at the local shop. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that he shouldn't tear the engine down, what I mean to point out is that he is not equipped to tear it down. This rider usually has just enough wrenches to do a top end and that is all. When purchasing tools, he never in the world figured on doing a major overhaul. But, it is late at night and he is in his garage thinking to himself, "If I run into trouble, I can just take it to the dealer anyhow." I shudder when I think about what goes on in that garage. Rigbt 9ff _ the bat, he starts taking things apart that do not need to come apart, he strips out each little item, not so much because he thinks it has to come apart to achjeve his final goal, but because he is curious. This means right off it is going to cost him more money at the dealer just to put it together than it would have if they had taken it apart. His next idiot trick is the cardboard box (usually with a large gap in the bottom where the small parts fallout) that he uses for containment. There is nothing a mechanic hates to hear more than the phrase "All the parts an: righ t here in tills box". In the first plac.e, something is always missing and the rider has to pay for the time the mechanic spends looking for the missing part because it is uin the box". Secondly, he has taken a reasonable facsimile of an engine and made a giant jigsaw puzzle out of it. It is for this reason that he may even be hard-pressed to find a shop that will take in a "basket case". If they do acc.ept it, they ,do so on the understanding that the charge will be on an hourly basis or else a flat 20010 or 30% "ver the fiat rate charge that he would have been billed had they done the en tire job. So far the only sin he has committed has been against his pocketbook 'and all it has cost him is money. But where it really gets bad is when he does get the cases separated and tries to get the flywheel out of the other case. If he has an easy one to separate, he is lucky. If it is a difficult one, what other resort does he have except to get the big hammer? After peening over the end of the crank so that the nut will no longer fit, (I have seen some so bad that they actually bent the crankshaft end and still didn't get it out.) nine thnes out of ten, they wind up having to have the dealer take it out anyhow. Remember, crank halves don't come cheap. instill a u This may sound like I am trying to sour grapes" attitude toward home mechanics, but I'm not.What I am trying to do is make you realize that you cannot charge blindly in to something and expect it to be right. If you are in this rider's predicament, consider a few things. Do you h?ve a service manual? If not, hang it up until the next time you can purchase o,?-e. It is senseless to go in to it blind and possibly double your expenses because you did something stupid. After you have the manual, it will tell you what special tools you must have. You will not necessarily need all the tools they describe, but if you get hung up on something, that probably is the reason. In this case, don't reach for the big hammer, have a little patience. Wait til' the next day and inquire into the cost of the tool. If it is too expensive, inquire as to how much the dealer will charge to do that part of the job with his tool. For instance, take the crank that won't come out of the case. If this were a Yamaha, it can be a bear. With the special tool that Yamaha makes, it is a breeze and the dealer should be happy to do it for you for the minimum labor cost. Remember, you should never beat on anything with a big hammer unless you are laying railroad ties. As for packing the engine in cardboard boxes, keep in mind that you are planning on putting this back together. If a basket case is bad for the professional mechanic, it will be next to impossible for the rider mechanjc. Clear a place on the bench and lay down some clean rags to set the parts on so they don't roll off the bench and get lost. Now layout the parts as you remove them, in the ord.er that you removed them. This way as you assemble it, you will be able to see at a glance if you have forgotten something. Another idea to save you a little time and trouble is with the case screws. If you will take a piece of cardboard and draw a rough diagram of the screwdriver wherever there is a screw, aU you will have to do is remove the screws from the engine and put them into the piece of cardboard. This way, they will not get lost and when it comes time to assemble them you wiJI know what holes they go into. Again, I am not trying to talk you out of doing your own service work, I am just trying to talk you into being prepan:d, going at it easy. You will find that it really isn't hard at all. The main thing is never to lose your temper, that motorcycle is an inanimate Object without feeling of any kind. Maybe smashing at it with a hammer will make you feel better, but the engine could care less. Besides, the repair bill comes ou t of your pocket. The best advice I can give to avoid losing your temper (I used to have a violent temper, but I found out it just cost me money so I learned to control it) is just walk away from it for a while, maybe even until the next day. I personally b<;lieve that working on your own motorcycle can be fun, if you let it get the best of you or if you start damaging things because you don't have the proper tools, it is no longer fun. It has just become a pain in the neck. So take it easy and enjoy working on your motorcycle. Besides, if you do it right, the feeling that you get from having done a job well done is worth all the extra time-and trouble. Good luck.

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