Well, ok, the rains came late enough to not really affect much, and even then it was not any kind of flood, but how can I pass up a great title like that?

There was a bit of disappointment. We got up Saturday morning and met up with Roundman, planning for breakfast. With Toni on Gilbert and me on the as yet unamed* yellow trike, we went from the hotel into Davis proper for breakfast, then back to the hotel, then on to Turner Falls Park. As we approached the entrance, I was having trouble downshifting. Once I was stopped, I realized that the clutch was not disengaging and that it felt wrong, with no “step” between free play and actually pushing against the clutch.

While looking at the cylinder and working the pedal, the hydraulic line popped out of the fitting on the clutch master cylinder. When working on the clutch bracket Thursday night, the slave cylinder end came loose. While I attributed both breaches to installation error, it is apparently fairly common. I got more than a couple of suggestions that I should change the lines to steel because the plastic, while the material can handle the pressure, is subject to enough distortion that it can slide out of a compression fitting. Changing them to steel will not be particularly difficult, requiring only that I bend the tubing and add a flexible piece for the clutch slave cylinder.

In any case, the problem appears to be related to the throwout bearing and/or the cross shaft that actuates it. While the actual replacement of those parts is not particularly difficult, it *does* require pulling out the engine and while it’s out, we may as well clean/paint/replace all the tins, etc.

As for the rest of the trike-in, I proudly rode bi*&h with no loss of manhood and we towed the yellow one around behind my truck for those who wanted to see it.

While we missed taking a lot of pictures, at least we took a few, mostly of trikes that caught our interest for one reason or another.

We dropped the trike off at the clubhouse last night and are definitely planning to be there tonight to tear into it. Toni may even get a throwout bearing and cross shaft today. They should usually be replaced any time they are exposed, just because they are cheap parts that are hard to get to.

* concerning a name, one that we really hope doesn’t catch on occurred to me. “Sponge Bob Square Trike”

It’s been a couple of days. Working too hard on the trike to update the page!

In the last couple of days, we got the thing back on the road. In fact, I am updating this blog from an Oklahoma hotel room.

We didn’t *ride* up here, though. Just enough doubt to not want to finish a refurb this major then just get on the highway with crossed fingers. We towed it up here and will ride around the area with all the other trikers at Turner Falls 🙂

Biggest adventure was last night. About 4:30 or so, I was putting the clutch slave cylinder back on and noticed that when working the clutch, the casting that the cylinder bracket is hooked to was flexing several millimeters. I figured it wouldn’t last long like that, so I repositioned the bracket to pull at a different angle. Apparently, that was a bad idea because about the third time, the casting broke off.

Long story short, my first bracket was not holding up and was eventually scrapped and remade. This one appears to be holding.

Otherwise, all the hit list has been cleared and a few things added along the way.

I have been up till 3AM for 5 days in a row and have an opportunity to be in bed before midnight, so I’m going to end this update. I promise to provide a better update later….

The rules of the place where the BTW clubhouse is hosted prevent us from doing certain “obvious” work during the day, but we are able to do quiet time work. We arrived about 2PM and left about 2AM.

We had a todo list and knocked these items off it:

degrunge tranny and frame
paint frame
paint trim
make dashboard
license plate light
alternator light
oil light (wiring done, but switch is bad; need to replace)
finish shifter
breather hose
spark plug wire keeper
handlebar and mirrors
first clear coat (more about this shortly)

There is still a substantial list, but I’m fairly confident it’s a one-day list.

As for the first clear coat, we’re using Duplicolor “Paint Shop” ready to spray paint, which greatly simplifies things for the do-it-yourselfer. No need to thin it, almost no need to strain it, but you should anyway. It cleans up with acetone. All in all, easy to use.

They also have a clear with prismatic sparkles in it. It looks great over the yellow, but it looks stunning over black!

We’re planning to shoot a couple coats of plain clear over it for depth, but wow! It looks pretty nice like it is.