BlueSky

War story warning! Back in the 80's when the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant was being constructed, a contract engineer who worked there and had lots of other contract engineers placed there working through him wanted his leased Ferrari driven back to CA to turn it in ran an ad in the paper for a driver to drive the Ferrari from NC to CA at their expense. Of course he got lots of responses and he selected a guy who drove up on a Porsche. It was driven back to CA and turned in without incident.

I have a comment on the article. The lower ZDDP may not be detrimental to auto engines because almost all have roller cams or roller rockers reducing the friction on the camshaft. If current auto oils are used in a remanufactured flat tappet cam engine during breakin, the cam will be destroyed. This leads me to believe that auto oils should not be used in our old motorcycle engines. Or at least I ain't using it in my motorcycles.

Looks good!

When you are determined and hang in there, it's always satisfying to complete a successful job. Congratulations! I'm one to talk but losing weight is the best remedy for arthritis I think.

I was just watching the weather channel and they showed a train that had been blown over. The cars were empty but still blowing over a train is scary.

Maybe so, but last winter was colder than normal and this winter is shaping up as warmer than normal. I just got my electric bill for last month and it is twice as high as it was for the same month last year. (central AC/heat pumps) During the 1996 to 2000 time frame, 4 hurricanes came directly to Wilmington, NC with the eye of all of them going over my house. There haven't been that many in recent years so I remain a little bit of a skeptic.

Having just recently endured a cat 2 hurricane by the time it arrived at my house, I would evacuate for a cat 4 for sure. My subdivision looks like a war zone with all the cut up trees stacked in front of the houses. The majority of the homes had one or more trees fall. A few of those fell on the homes. A cat 4 hitting a trailer park would be extremely scary. I hope he does okay.

In 2007 the 4.6L triton V8 was a 2 valve engine and it is quite good. It is infamous for blowing out spark plugs due to the few threads in the heads but if torqued properly, they don't blow out. My 2000 F150 5.4L V8 2V engine didn't blow out a spark plug in 170k miles when I lost track of it. My current 2002 F150 5.4L V8 2V engine hasn't blown a spark plug in 151k miles. (knock on wood!) And it isn't that hard to repair with a timesert if a plug blows out. In 2004 thru 2010 the 5.4L engine was a 3V with VCT and that can cause serious issues if oil changes aren't frequent.

The 4.2L V6 is a very good engine. It should last a very long time. The 5.4L V8 was not as reliable if the VCT (variable cam timing) gave problems.

It would seem that deer are very stupid animals that they would charge across the road as they do in front of vehicles. That is what convinced me that they were put on earth to be food.

If the tires are kept in a garage out of the sun, I'm not so sure I believe in the age thing up to a point anyway. When I bought my 85 Kawasaki in 2009 with only 1k miles on it, the original tires looked great. I actually rode it 300 miles or so before changing them. I still have those tires. I thought about advertising them on ebay just in case someone is trying to restore a bike to original condition for collector purposes and they would appreciate oe tires. Of course I wouldn't trust old tires for an all day cowpuc run of 100mph across the desert.

Rotella T4 and T6 meets the Japanese motorcycle motor oil spec JASO MA for motorcycles with a wet clutch. Always use motor oil that meets that specification.

Inexperience gets you sometimes!

Just to verify the tank venting, when it does it the next time, open the gas cap and see if there is a vacuum on it, if there is a sucking sound.

Chain saw. The most dangerous tool I've ever used. I came close but never hurt myself with one, such as a kick back in my face that stopped just before carving my face!

Congratulations! I've been retired for 4 yrs and I've enjoyed it. There is some adjustment required. All of a sudden you don't have a job to go to and it affects you mentally a bit, your purpose in life. Also, your wife having you underfoot all of the time will require some adjustment on her part. My wife is still working so we haven't experienced that last adjustment yet.

During my divorced days, I went out to dinner with several members of the Cary Singles club to celebrate the club president's birthday. My cookie message was "Why keep looking when love is seated beside you." So I asked the ladies seated on either side which one was going to love me. Neither verbally volunteered but truth was either one would have been happy to oblige. I wasn't interested in either one. So, I suppose the cookie was wrong.

If it was the fuel pump, the engine wouldn't have died in an instant. It would sputter a bit first. The ignition switch on these bikes have given problems too. Or it could be anything in the ignition circuit that failed intermittently.

Freebird brings up a good point. Check with different ins. companies because their policies may be different about counting experience with a foreign driver's license. Another thing was that my wife drove a car here in NC with only her Russian license until her immigration status was such that she was eligible for a NC license. I still don't know if that was legal. But, as far as I know, foreigners here on vacation can rent and drive cars legally with their foreign license.

Can he prove he has had a driver's license in the UK for an extended period of time? If they consider you a beginner, the rate will be as high as a teenager no matter your age. I had to pay the high rate for my wife who is from Russia. But Nationwide Ins. did give her credit from the day she got her Russian license just before coming over in the 3 year count. $450/month sounds outrageous anyway.

We know you are moving there for the pot!

Something to know is that in the video, Cowpuc is riding Tweeks that had over 200k miles on it. My 89 with 6k miles has very little clutch whine. The 2007 Gen 2 is another story though. It has a loud clutch basket whine that seems to be typical.

Yeah, it doesn't look like it was designed for picking up chicks!

Well, Cowpuc is riding his 6th first gen after running the first 5 over 200k miles. So, I would guess there will be lower mileage Gen Is out there for a while longer. Mine only has 6k miles on it. It's been sitting mostly since I bought it and I need to remedy that situation.

I just drove to Home Depot about 8 miles away and there are lots of stop lights that are still not working. The grocery stores have not been able to re-stock yet. Florence was a nasty girl.