It lives!

And the garage smells like 2 stroke exhaust.

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More progress made....

Today was about details. I got the glove box and tail light installed. Trips to Home Depot and JJ's were required. JJ's for the cowl rubber and Home Depot for the nuts and washers. I wish there was an Ace Hardware closer since they have a better selection of stainless steel stuff than the orange box. Here are pics:









I also picked up a bottle of Ospho to take care of the rust in my gas tank. I hear this stuff is the bomb. I was able to find it at an Ace near my buddy Chris's house. If the Ospho takes care of the rust like I hope it does I'll be firing this thing up soon.

Snoogins!

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VBB update

No pictures to post this time, just an update on my progress towards getting this thing on the road.

A lot of time has been spent in the garage and shop preparing and cleaning the parts that I have and doing some mock assembly of the miscellaneous bits that I have on hand. Here's a bit of a list:

• Del'Orto SI 24/24E carburetor is mostly assembled and ready for installation. I just need to run some carb cleaner through it to make sure no dirt is lurking in the interior.
• I got the air box that houses the carburetor cleaned last night. Whoah! It was super dirty, but it was no match for the solvent I used on it.
• All the cabling is installed in the frame. Shifting, clutch, throttle, rear brake cables all run and ready to go. I even have a new electrical wiring loom installed.

I had always intended to convert this scooter over to 10" wheels from the default 8" wheels, but after getting it on the road and enjoying it for a while. That has all changed. JJ had a 10" Sprint fork in his pile o' parts and he was generous enough to part with it. So, now I have stripped the 8" fork of all the useful parts and have started prepping the 10" fork. I did a mock installation of the new fork and it seems that this is a perfect match for my frame. No cutting of the steering tube or extending of the threads is needed.  I'll be installing the bearing races tonight and starting to look at what all I need to do to the mudguard to make it work with this fork.

In the coming week or two here is what I'll be hoping to get done:

• Install fork and attach the headset.
• Get the stator finished. 12v electronics. No battery, no evil points.
• Prep the engine for final assembly and get it assembled.
• Acquire and install all the rubber moulding bits on the frame.

This should get me close to having a road worthy scooter again.

More engine work complete

I got a chance this weekend to put in a few hours of work on the engine for my VBB. I had to enlarge the case ports to accommodate the Malossi 166cc cylinder kit that I'll be using. Here are a few pictures I took to document what I did.

Before:



Partial cuts on the flywheel side:







Mostly completed:







With the Malossi base gasket on:







Lots of fun doing all the work on this. I got a new Dremel and the flexible shaft attachment for this project as my old off brand Dremel knock off kinda gave up the ghost. It really made me realize how the right tools really make the job easier.

I'll be taking the engine to my buddy JJ so he can inspect the case porting I've done and make sure it's adequate.

Barring any more need to expand the case ports, final assembly of the engine will be this coming week. After that, work on the frame begins.


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New shots of the engine for the VBB

I'll post descriptions later.

Flywheel side

Clutch side

Gear box and clutch side bearings

Flywheel side case half, showing the kickstart gear

Drive side with the 10" backing plate in place

Drive side with the rear hub in place 

Garage cabinets project

So, this is what my workbench in the garage looked like before I started on this "little" project. It just kind of evolved in the what you see here over the years. No real plan, no real attempt at keeping it clean or organized. It's a useful space, but thoroughly annoying that was constantly in this state. I guess that's my fault.

Here is the progression as I cleaned everything off to get the space ready for the cabinets I obtained from my buddy Pete.

This is the cleanest the workbench has been since I built it.

The next few pictures show the installation of the "new to me" cabinets.

Funny enough, and as is usual with me and projects like this, I ended up having to shift the cabinets 3 inches to the right. My rolling tool box goes in the space just to the left of the workbench and the position of the cabinets wouldn't allow the top of my tool box to open all the way.

I'll have to take and post another picture of the final set up. The workbench has gone back to be a bit messy as I've under taken another project.

Testing out BlogPress from my iPhone

I thought I'd test out this new-to-me BlogPress app. I like the idea of being able to write here while "on the road". I'm also glad that you can post in landscape mode, which isn't obvious at first glance.

Some of the app reviews talked about formatting issues too. Especially when adding in images. I'll test that too.




Here's a picture I took this morning of one of my most favorite things ever, an eggnog latte. Uncut Alpenrose eggnog and Sweet Maria's New Classic Espresso Blend roasted to Full City+. There will be a second one made and consumed this morning :-)

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Using this thing more.......

No, this is not a New Year's resolution, just something that has been on my mind as of late.  I feel like I've been gradually losing what little(in my mind) coherent writing ability I had.  I think I'm in one of those use it or lose it situations.

So, I think I'm going to focus most of my blogging here on the projects I have started and the ones I will be starting, not just on random thoughts I have.  My postings will be for both for posterity and, in the case of one of them, so I can repeat the process.

The big things I have on my list right now are:

• Building up the 1964 Vespa VBB and P125X engine.
• Redoing the fire pit in the back yard based upon the instructions here.
• Building a few Adirondack chairs to go around the above listed fire pit, based on the plans here.

There are others, but those are the big ones for me right now.  The latter two are decently easy to pick off if I'm going for the low hanging fruit.

Why socialism will never work long term.......

And by long term, I mean more than the half century that the USSR tried it out.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23

I usually don't care too much for bumper stickers, but....

I saw this one the other day and thought it was quite funny and true:

"Please don't tell Obama what comes after a trillion!"

It made me chuckle out loud and sent a shiver down my spine. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure he already knows what comes after a trillion and he has his sights firmly set on that end.


In other news, I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted anything here. Blog FAIL, fo sho. I would say that I promise to be better about posting stuff here, but I'm not going to because I most likely won't. *sigh*

10 Cannots by Reverend William John Henry Boetcker

"You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence."

"You cannot help small men by tearing down big men."

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."

"You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer."

"You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich."

"You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income."

"You cannot further the brotherhood of man by initiating class hatred."

"You cannot establish security on borrowed money."

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift."

"You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."

That's What She Said....

This is a fantastic montage of all the "That's what she said" lines from The Office.

Tonight's Roast: Liquid Amber Espresso Blend

Above is a picture of Sweet Maria's Liquid Amber Espresso Blend just before I tossed it into the roaster. This is a pretty good blend. I tried it out a few weeks ago and it was pretty good in my drip coffee maker. I'm really excited to try it out in my moka pot.

Below is the finished goodness. I roasted it to the French Roast level, all the way through second crack. The really great thing is that the oils haven't even started to show up. I'll let it breath for 10 or so hours and then seal it up for another 24 hours. First cup(s) on Friday morning. w00t!


I got yer Starbucks RIGHT HERE!


Update: I <3 you Rob :-)

What is.......

guilt by collaboration, not association, for $500, Alex?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html

Finally, Stanley Kurtz is getting the truth published. I can only hope that Kurtz will continue to publish the answers to questions that Obama has avoided answering.

India Malabar roasted

India Malabar roasted, originally uploaded by jathon0815.

Well, after roasting the India Monsooned Malabar AA a few nights ago, I finally got to partake of the goodness this morning. It's a very earthy coffee. Full bodied and a hint of caramel. Later this morning or afternoon I'll be testing out a moka pot brewing.

The latest roast

My latest roast is an India Monsooned Malabar AA from Sweet Maria's. Here is the "green" bean before roasting. It roasted to a nice dark brown, a little darker than milk chocolate, and is just now(10 hours later) starting to exude some oil. I'm pretty excited to try this in my moka pot as well as in my drip machine. Maybe I'll get really kooky and try it in my French Press too :-)

I roasted a pound of Decaf Espresso Donkey Blend from Sweet Maria's for Chris and Jeanne last night as well. I'm really excited to hear how they like it. It was kind of a strange roast for me. Most of the espresso blends I've roasted thus far have gone all the way to the end of 2nd crack(French), this one went to mid-2nd crack(Vienna). It certainly looked really good when it was done.

What can be more funny.......

Than wisdom from Capt. James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise.....

A great pic I received in an email

As seen on the back of a septic truck.


It doesn't matter which party you are for, this is funny :-)

The art of originality

..... is concealling your source.

- Tracey Eaton

Test Post

This is a first attempt at posting here from my iPhone. This is a
picture of me standing next to the Goonies house in Astoria.