Road trials day two: there's trouble near the water
This morning was a wonderful morning to go for a short jaunt south to see what I can see and make sure that the Wing is doing everything that it is supposed to be. I planned on heading south for about 26 miles to the ferry landing, hanging out a bit, and turning back without incident.
The trip started out just dandy. Old-gold started up without incident, warmed up nicely while I put on my riding gear and we exited the neighborhood without crashing and dying, always a good thing.
For those who are unaware, I live on Whidbey Island; which just so happens to be an island. Islands being surrounded on four sides by water have strange weather patterns. While navigating through one of these weather occurrences, a thin strip of land that is known to have a strong crosswind, I noticed the wing began to act "odd". She was low on power, wouldn't accelerate past 3000 rpm, and would have brief power surges. I figured it was due to the high velocity cross wind hitting me, but as soon as I turned away from it, the low power/ surges continued!
Step 1 was to take a deep breath and swallow the impending doom that had crept up in my throat, since this is the test phase of a completely untested bike; I was prepared for the worst.
Step 2 was to analyze the situation and thing of probable causes.
Step 3 was to reach down and turn the petcock to reserve since I was running out of gas. Problem solved!
Step 4 pull my head out of my hindquarters.
Switched over to reserve, and about 10 miles from home I opted to play it safe and fuel up at the next gas stop and turn around. Test was 50% complete for today.
Stopped at the petrol station to relinquish my hard earned dollar and a new tragedy presents itself. Just as I finish topping the tank off I notice fuel spilling all over the concrete (I could actually see the dollar signs floating up into the heavens). Step 1 was to stare in disbelief that something actually went wrong; step 2 was to look for the leak. Step 2 never got complete since my money stopped pouring itself on the ground a few seconds after I stopped pumping. All I could really do was verify that it had in fact leaked precious fuel on the ground and make sure it wasn't coming from anything important.
The leak itself originated at the rear of the tank, up high, so I knew it wasn't from the petcock or the fuel pump. Safe in the knowledge that I probably wasn't going to die and that I "should" be able to make it home, I made a bee-line for my garage and the safety that it brought.
The return trip was quite uneventful, aside from the smell of petrol emanating from my beast. Upon inspection at home after removal of the seat, the fuel sending unit gasket was where the leak originated from. I hadn't found this problem prior since I had only filled the gas tank about 1/2 way in the past. I sealed the tanking using some permatex high temp and made sure the hold-down ring was on tightly (which it wasn't when I took the seat off).
So far this is working well. I'll be taking it out again soon and will make sure to check this as a "weak area". This is the whole point of my road trials, to work all the bugs out. I'm glad that stupid stuff like this is turning up now and somewhere more than 10 miles from my tools.
The engine is running like a champ, still lugging a little below 3500 rpm, but getting better. I'd say now it only lugs at about 3000 rpm. I'm hoping that it massages itself out over the course of the next 100 miles or so.
Side note, the speedo cable that I ordered arrived today, so as soon as I install it I won't have to approximate speed or distance. This will add to the perceived legality of the wing.
proof that I will know if I am speeding:
second side note (especially interesting to anyone with a '83 GL1100A interesting in converting the LED dash to analog): this is a speedo cable from a GL1200 which will fit in the '83 GL1100A speed sensor hole. Saves money by not having to replace the gear on the hub.