Primeval Princess by Boris Vallejo

Thanks to my new neighbor here in Flint I finally found the information I've been looking for... The artwork on this tank was inspired by artwork by Boris Vallejo. The piece is called Primeval Princess, created in 1977.

Ride home...

The ride home was the same as this morning, popped the whole way, and when I shut her down in the drive she spewed out fuel through the overflow...

I talked to Mike late this evening and he insists that the problems are not related. He says the overflow problem is due to a stuck/sticking needle and seat, and the popping is due to the fuel being too lean on that side...

Inaugural work commute...

Finally everything seems to fall in place for me to ride her to work this morning.

She popped the whole way there, and again when I shut her down and put her on her kickstand she spit fuel out the overflow on the left side. Could these two problems be connected?

Test Drive through Commerce Township...

After tightening up the headlight bracket some more and adjusting/tightening the mirror, I decided to take her for another ride to work out more bugs.

I decided to take a ride through West Bloomfield, Commerce Twp./Milford area. Riding down Commerce Drive I decided to stop and see Brian & Lynn since I haven't seen them in a while, we ended up B.S'n for hours, I didn't actually leave until 11:30 PM.

I didn't think much of it at the time but when I stopped and set her on her kickstand fuel poured out of the overflow, I simply shut off the petcocks and didn't give it much thought other than the fact that it was leaking fuel on their asphalt drive, not to mention this bitch leaks oil like you wouldn't believe...

On the way home the left cylinder kept "poppin' ", almost like a backfire but more of a sharp pop, mainly while idling at a stop. Again, I haven't a clue why... I'll find out more in the morning on the ride to work...

Kill Switch Installation...

Since the new battery was drained overnight by some unknown demon in the wiring system, I'll install a kill switch between the battery wire and the fuse block. Turn off the key switch and the kill switch and the battery should remain fully charged.

I put the battery on the charger while I was installing the kill switch and while I was at it I hid as much of my addition to the wiring as I could, routing it in some of that plastic (wire loom) stuff.

Then I ventured out for an evening ride... and as I passed the ABC Harley dealership some evil spirit of a dead Harley rider broke my headlight off. I pulled over and rigged up the headlight, which happened to be dangling by the new wiring harness. Back home I go, to find out that the mounting bracket had been cracked for some time, and snapped from the extra vibration it's received lately.

I spent the next few hours fabricating a bracket. Trying to use the existing mounting holes, which worked fairly well, but I scrapped the idea of duplicating the existing mounting bracket and simplified things by using one single piece of angle iron. Two holes on one side of the angle to mount the bracket, and one hole in the center of the adjacent side of the piece of angle to attach the swivel bracket for the lamp.

It's shortly after sunset and I'm off again to test the headlight in the dark and make any adjustments as I go. The ride was short, too many factors to adjust and the headlamp won't stay tight, so I'll head home and finish this up when I get home tomorrow.

I promised to deliver some wheel dollies to Walt tomorrow, since I forgot to get them Thursday night and couldn't deliver them Friday. So I have to drive the truck...

Battery dead again...

I went out to start her up this morning and the battery was just as dead as the one yesterday...

Obviously it's not the battery... Wasted another chunk of change on a battery that I can't return now that I've put acid in it...

Tonight I'm installing a kill switch... That way I can disconnect any draw on the battery. It might not fix the problem, but it's a temporary solution. I'll figure out the draw issue later.

Voltage/amp draw issue...

I got home this evening and immediately measured my battery in order for me to run and grab one that is the same size. Meijer didn't have that fit, so I ran back home and pulled out the old one to take to Lakes, and as luck would have it Mike happen to have one in stock. The old style of battery that you have to add the acid to and fill each compartment inside, and make sure you don't spill this acid on anything as your trying to do all this...

I brought it home, filled it up, and let it sit on the charger for a while. About 7:00 I turned the key and kicked her over and she fired right up... I rode around for a while and decided to park it around 8:00 so that I could run to Royal Oak and pick up the log full of bees that I got a call on earlier.

I parked the bike, pulled out the voltage tester to check if there was any significant draw on the battery just in case that's what the original problem was. The voltage read a steady 12.36 volts, didn't appear to be losing anything.

I'll definitely ride her to work tomorrow...