Inlet manifold worked loose, gasket fail

So I've been using the scoot happily for a long time now with little bother, typically once a week getting to work in Bristol. It must be over two years of reliable starting and riding in all weathers - hot, cold, wet and dry. The only thing I've been having to stay on top of is a very slow loss of air from the rear wheel and regular disintegration of my air hose regardless of whether I buy Indian or Italian. Regular oil checks have revealed no noticeable oil loss through leak or burn. MOT's have gone without a hitch.

All good then, until a few weeks ago when midway through my journey home from work it started running rough - not idling without throttle, and low on power. A test ride the next day revealed that the engine would race frighteningly fast with choke on, and die without it. This is symptomatic of air getting into the cylinder not via the carb.

Then it went cold. Then it snowed:

Finally today the snow has gone and basking in 8 degrees warmth I was able to take a look at what's going on. The inlet manifold has become loose and part of the gasket disintegrated, allowing air ingress. With the choke on this had the effect of a wide open throttle.

So now I need to drop the engine by a few cm's (again) to get the manifold off, replace the gasket, and fit it back with some nylock nuts and wavy washers. Tight. And hopefully this time it'll stay on!

Trust the professionals?

In the age of the internet it's not a great idea to be dishonest if you have a business you care about, because sooner or later somebody will moan about it online, and you'll end up with crap on your digital footprint.

Well it's my turn for that moan. This isn't vengeance, it's a short factual story about a Bristol-based used car dealership called Automotive Solutions, and their 'sister' company, Edwards Car Care, that were dishonest to me.

I bought a used car off these guys. When I bought it, I asked specifically about a known problem to do with water ingress with this type of car, and whether it had had the fix done to it. I was told it had. Within a couple of weeks it became obvious it hadn't - it rained hard and the footwells were full of water, which just so happens to be the place where the computer that controls pretty much everything sits.

So, I took it back and within a day or two they had done 'the fix' and dried out the carpets. Now 'the fix' I refer to is a well documented directive from VW - it involves buying a new gasket strip for £10, and fitting it beneath a pollen filter inlet. The labour is probably about an hour.

When I picked up the car I inspected the work and noticed what looked like silicone sealant around the area in question. I was told they used this as a 'belt and braces' approach and had installed the correct gasket. I left satisfied.

Roll on two years...and things start going wrong with the car. I suspect water ingress, and sure enough after lifting the carpets I find the loom and the CCU (the computer for lots of stuff) is wet. This time I tackle the problem myself. I buy the correct £10 from VW, and start work. This is what I found:

So, what do we see here? This is a cowboy job. They didn't buy a new gasket at all. They couldn't be bothered to spend £10 on the proper part. Instead, they rammed the whole thing with silicone sealant - a hope-and-pray approach that was destined to be a short-term fix. In the first photo you can see the inner sponge gasket completely covered in silicone, and the outer gasket with a complete section missing along the bottom edge. The lower photo shows the gasket removed.

And the funny thing is they didn't save any time doing this - in fact it probably took them longer - you still have to remove the wipers, scuttle and pollen filter, and then refit. So the only reason for doing this is to avoid spending a tenner. And all this risked very expensive damage to my car.

Edwards Car Care website says:

"Edwards Car Care is a well respected garage, with many satisfied customers in the Clifton area of Bristol. Our professional, reliable mechanics and technicians and state-of-the-art equipment allow us to undertake any sort of work on all makes and models of cars."

Perhaps I was given the trainee? Perhaps they were having a bad day? Perhaps they think silicone was an appropriate fix, and lying was acceptable? Either way, from now on, if you Google 'Automotive Solutions Bristol', or 'Edwards Car Care' you may just see this story, and wonder if this is a business you can really trust.

I don't trust them at all. My car allegedly came with a new cambelt courtesy of Edwards Car Care. After this experience should I believe it?

Fender gone

Removed all the rubbish from the back of the back - lights. saddle, bags, saddles, rear fender. All that remains is the metal subframe which I'll chop off at a later date.

Shed some weight and tat

First step with the Honda was to remove some bits that I don't want and put them on ebay.

Things like this crash bar:

And the solid wheel covers, sissy bar and other small odds and ends. I also binned the saddle bags, the rear fender, some tassles and eagles. In total I made over £100 and shaved several kilos off the weight.

Honda Shadow VT600 bobber project

I've bought a running but slightly neglected Honda Shadow VT600 with the intent of turning it into an old-skool bobber. When I bought it it looked like this:

And the plan is to strip it down and make it look a little more like this:

I don't have a garage so work on it will be weather-dependent, and with three young kids time isn't particularly abundant, so this is going to take some time.

Crash!

Came off this morning in the wet. Was filtering slowly in Bristol centre when someone decided to switch lanes without checking their mirrors. I had to brake hard to avoid a collision, but unfortunately I was on wet painted lines, so lost the front end and ended up on the floor.

Almost effortlessly I was back on my feet shouting at the driver, part in anger and part in shock. He was very apologetic. I picked up the scooter and apart from the number plate falling off there was no damage done.

New panel flashes

Fitted these new panel flashes from ScootRS. Nice huh?

Also fitted yet another air hose. They don't seem to last long!

New stand

I've now fitted a new stand, completing the damage repairs from when it was knocked over in the street a few months ago. It's a stainless one from Scooter Republic. I had to seriously modify the stand brackets to fit the profile of my replacement cross member, using an angle grinder and trial-and error.

Photo to follow.

ScootRS tubeless rims - a safety warning about chrome rubber-type valves

Yesterday I received this email from ScootRS:

"> Hi. We are recommending that anyone using a CHROME rubber-type tubeless tire valve change it to a non-chrome (brass) valve. Over many years we have only seen a couple valves come apart at the stem, one with a non-standard cap, so it may just be random but they were CHROME rubber ones so possibly the chrome reacted to road salts, or some such thing. We included this type with some of our tubeless rims before, so we are sending this note to you. Of course the same recommendation applies to ones obtained elsewhere. This is ONLY about a valve of the following flexible rubber type AND ONLY if CHROME - not the brass color shown here: http://scootrs.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=1661 If you have a CHROME one: change it to the exact same type shown in the photo - brass color, non-chrome. These are standard valves available at any tire shop or from us. If you have a brass one already or different type: don't do anything. You should replace old valves when changing tires, or if leaving tires on for years, but if you haven't done so yet and you have a CHROME rubber valve on one of our tubeless rims, you can change it without removing your tire. Let the air out, push the tire over, and the valve can be replaced. It is much easier to let a tire shop handle it, but if you need a replacement valve, let us know and we can send you some. To avoid misinformation, please note: - this is NOT related to our tubeless rims at all. Our current v.3 design was released in 2006 and has earned a PERFECT record on both the road and track, greatly enhancing rider safety over regular rims by preventing blowouts. We have always included valves as an extra at no charge and simply included this chrome rubber type on some rims before. Our apologies if any actual problem has since appeared with that type. - there is NO problem at all with any other valves, especially the same rubber tubeless type but non-chrome. (Older bolt-in type valves are OK too, even if chrome. Do NOT change this chrome bolt-in type: http://scootrs.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=1189) Again, there may not be any problem at all with the CHROME rubber valves either, this is a very rare occurrence we've seen, but we are recommending you change them to non-chrome. Cheers. Customer service~ http://scootRS.com"

Allow me to translate. If you've got one of these (see below) in chrome then change it. Brass ones are ok. Chrome bolt-in ones are ok.

While we're on the subject, I should add that after 500km my rims have proved great. The only small problem I had was slow deflation on the rear tyre. This was due to the valve core not being fully screwed in, probably by the tyre fitter. I bought one of these cheap valve core tools and tightened it up, and it's been fine ever since:

New fibreglass front mudguard

Since the recent parking collision (at which I wasn't present) the front mudguard has been precariously partially tethered with strong cable ties. Its replacement arrived this weekend from http://www.fibreglassparts.com/ and I'm very pleased with it. It fits well and it has the metal brackets to the rear moulded into the structure, although I did have to buy longer M5 set screws to attach these.

I was lucky enough to have dry weather which gave me enough time to sand, wash with turps, and then give it a coat of primer, and then a couple of top coats of my near-match beige.

 The new one is on the right :)