fixing bolt holes in head

working cylinders over top of pistons

case, cylinders and head all back together

Thanks to all the snow on the ground, another day on the 1973 CB450 engine. I somehow got the pistons with new rings on AND managed to get the cylinders to slide over them. Next I tapped out 2 bolt holes in the head, going from stripped out metric to 1/4" american size worked perfect-no drilling required. Once the head was fixed I installed it on the case/cylinders with a new head gasket and now it's an engine again. fishing the cam chain through cylinders then the head worked out just fine. I used the chain from the 500t engine as it was tighter and had less stretch than the cb450 chain.

one on left needs dentures

Light snow fell all day, as yesterday. The cb450 engine was the focus of the day. I worked out what I think is a way to feed the cam chain(some say it's the longest of any motorcycle) through the engine with wires as I put the head on...and afterwards to time it correctly. The piston rings were installed and I found a cam chain tensioner from a cb500t in my collection of parts- in much better shape than my original.

More snow, more time on the tractor, more time hanging out indoors with cb450 parts- near the wood stove with apple pieces baking in an oven proof bowl. I cleaned the motor bike pistons and read from Over the Edge: Death In Grand Canyon(Ghiglieri and Myers).

sunset, 2/23/2013

Snow is in the air...really-it just started. They're saying 5-10" of new sugarless ice by the time it's done Wednesday. I got the tractor out and pushed the existing snow piles further away from the edges of drive. I checked out 4 dvd's from the library, cleaned out the ashes from Rex's belly and baked an apple bread. I'm going to sit here and watch the snow fall while drinking hot chamomile tea(the last of my St. Lou chamomile harvest) and eating slices of bread.

I noticed today that the daffodils are blooming on the south side of the shop. Today's bright warm sun melted what snow remained on the drive and exposed the gravel. I used the summer sled to haul the cb450 engine(minus jugs, pistons, head) across the drive then transferred to the winter sled and slid it to the basement door in rear. This is progress! The head is all back together and now it's time to get to putting the cylinders, pistons and rings back where they belong.

I let the CB motor in the house

"The Badlands were arid and beautiful, full of gullies and stands of rock almost as colorful as the rock of the Painted Desert. The most difficult part of the stay was water. At the end, I was on my knees praying for rain. I got rewarded with torrential downpours that almost drowned me in a flash flood. Thereafter, I did not seek divine intervention but worked, as Stalking Wolf had taught me, to match myself to the patterns of nature rather than bend them to suit me. I was hungry, thirsty, or both most of the time I was out there, but it did not exceed my limits, and as I adjusted to it, the fascination of so much new to learn first-hand made me enjoy my stay more, the longer I was there." p.190 -The Tracker (Tom Brown, Jr.)

A bright, sunny day had the snow warming and compressing. Grocery shopping got me out and about to see the town covered with snow. This evening, while my sweet potato cooked 8' away, I cleaned the old gaskets off the CB450 valve covers. The breather is on the intake side cover and the inside was oh so clean-I take that to indicate the cylinders and valve guides are in good shape...or 30 years ago the p.o. cleaned the cover and replaced the gasket, then reinstalled the cover and was promptly abducted by aliens- leaving the bike to sit all this time.

look how clean inside is!

Plow trucks are getting to folks driveways- lots of CL posts of people needing their drives plowed. Rte K is cleared. Snow fall accumulation noted in the paper ranged from 9.7" downtown to 11" at the airport. I played more on the cb450 head-checking points I find one set is older and worn at pivot. I see on the web they are sold separately.

The snow has stopped, for now anyway, at about 8 3/4". I want more weather like this. The tractor was put to use clearing the driveway. The reversible 6' blade is sweet. The wood stove was kept going all day and helped dry several sets of clothes I got wet. I also brought the cb450 head up to the kitchen/dining area workbench near the heat and adjusted the valve clearance/lash to 2 thousandths of an inch(0.002)

8" so far-and it continues to come down.

Snow is on the way! They're saying 4-7" now-I'll take the 7. Sleet is expected also. I re-stocked the firewood and kindling twigs on the porch. I have a pack of swiss chard seeds waiting for their place in the cold frame...soon. I cleaned up the dusty work station for the cb450 engine today and got back to the valve work.  This cold weather is good for keeping one indoors.

A cold day, so I warmed the place baking a quick bread using home made apple sauce. Next I went down to the basement and started adding steel supports across the trench, on top of the footing, to resist any desire of the foundation/wall to shift now that, at least temporarily, the concrete floor is not up to the wall. Scrounged 1/2" galvanized water pipe works great. Also here's a bit of a test with video, from my still camera, of the Kindle Fire book cover that screams "I'm nothing worth stealing". You won't find one at Walmart. The video seems to have uploaded the same as a pic...does it play? Update: it does play, but turn the volume down as me radio is on.

It became a day for rubber boots-but not before I loaded a dozen buckets with more leaf mulch from the city drop off and picked up 3 more bags of gravel for the basement. The soil in the garden area is still in need of organic matter, though it has really improved over the past year. The basement cleaning started- removing the layer of dust created during the trench project.

The window sash and the salvaged (non-treated) deck lumber became a cold frame today. Then a spot was chosen, the grass removed and the construct was set in place. The logs were unloaded from the truck and the leaf mulch was scattered at several sites. Coffee was had while sitting doused in sunshine.

"When Stalking Wolf said that a thing was an omen he did not mean that it predicted the coming of some event. An omen is an experience that interprets all events that follow it and reinterprets everything that went before. Good medicine, bad medicine, and omens change our understanding of our relationship to the world. Nothing is ever exactly the same once you have experienced an omen."---From p.102 of The Tracker(Tom Brown, Jr.). This paragraph came after telling of the wild dog attacks-going from hatred to understanding... both parties.

The basement drain tube is in and surrounded by gravel. Though I need a few more bags of rock still, spring rains shouldn't run across the floor. I've been putting the yard waste dump on my errand loops and, again today, I got a serious load of free wood to add to next winters supply. Right now, this very second, me lair is being warmed by junk mail...burning at, I would guess, 451 degrees Fahrenheit. Speaking of books- I found a John Irving novel at the Goodwill, and it features an old motorcycle on the cover. One can't go wrong bringing such a thing into a home with no telly...and one warmed via combustibles.

More limbs and some nice shredded leaf mulch from the yard waste dump today. I spread the mulch around the septic tank where I put iris and tiger lilly bulbs in the heavy clay last year. I used the early 1948 Ford 8N tractor(so early, this will really interest you all, it has the 9N front axle/spindles/wheels) to move the old oil tank(scrap steel) from near the one blue bird box- today I saw a bird checking out the entrance. Honking geese are landing everyday at the pond behind me- signs of spring. I also gave some thought to the building a cold frame and pulled out some salvaged lumber for it

.

The day has gone away. I needed drain tube with holes...now me drain tube has holes...lots of holes. I test fit the tube in the trench and cut a hole in the side of the sump reservoir for it. Saturday it will get set properly with silt sock and gravel. I also had my hands close to the soil cleaning up the patches of chives and mulching them with old straw-oh, and cooked a large pot of beans for future meals.


And if I was in The Lou I'd get me some free granite dust...organic granite dust for the soil.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/zip/3615980328.html

A day of bouncing from one thing to another- between breaks. I finished with the basement trench, swept of loose soil and ready for gravel. I hauled brush from the earlier tree trimming to the ditch as erosion control. The garden fence lower side got some of it's wire fencing put on, the last side still needing to be covered. A big pot of soup is in progress now and should feed me into the weekend.

Shopped for drain tube fittings and filter sock today and did a little more chopping and digging of the rocky clay trench, while sitting- trying to get it all close to a 10" depth.

Take it easy Monday. Logs gifted me by the great spirit last week got cut to size then a red bud and a crab apple tree were trimmed, netting a little more fuel. A second blue bird nesting box was also put up before adjusting latches on the tuck tailgate that keeps falling open-the opposite problem old truck tailgates usually have.

The basement  trenching continued today. Just the wall across the front is being done at this time- removing 12" of floor and digging a trench. Chopping a trench with a pick axe really, while sitting on the floor- the clay under the concrete is so mixed with flint rock. It just needs a few more hours of detail digging now. No more pills will be required.

Because I thought I had lined up help, I planned the basement floor tear-up/trench work for the drains to the sump for Saturday. The help was a no-show but the work was started and that was the big hurdle. The house was built by a masonry worker for his family back in 1962 and evidently that mason came up with a recipe for the hardest concrete ever used in a floor. While on a walkabout to fetch some buckets I saw the first sign of new growth pushing up-the flowers in the front yard.

Another sweet bread (that's what I'll call it)-I used the pumpkin I cooked down last fall, as in the previous one, but added some banana in addition to the raisins. Then on to movie night on route K: Young Frankenstein, another dvd from the handful picked up in St. Lou. I was surprised to see Gene Hackman as the blind, cigar smoking monk.

Rain today. I attempted, and succeeded, to sew a patch  in the middle of one of the mattress covers for the camper. I was impressed I managed to get the material stuffed under the neck of the Singer 293B and was still able to sew. Also the prototype Kindle cover from a beer box, cereal box, tape, glue, elastic and staples is fully functional and only awaiting maybe some duct tape trim.

Venison burger mixed with all I could find: egg, oats, corn meal, onion, raisins, dried chives, garlic powder, cumin, and some anise with a little molasses poured on top to make a fine metloaf.

A trip to the yard waste drop off found me leaving with a load of logs and a bit of good lumber. Then a stop at Re-Store provided me with a nice insulated glass window sash($2) for a cold frame project.

The con-trails were looking good this fine 57 degree day. The mix today was to make you like paying taxes so much you send extra dollars and little smile stickers with your tax return.

I also came up with a mount for the blue bird nesting boxes I think will satisfy me. You want to try and make it so squirrels, coons  or snakes can't get to the nest-and also try to deter ants. I hung one today on a piece of 3/4" electrical conduit hammered into the ground and then wrapped a 12" portion with carpet tack strip(spikes) pieces wired in place..

In the 50's today so naturally I was pulled outdoors, but not till I insulated the water heater and related piping and put handles on the basement window sashes. The laundry was hung on the line to dry in this fine weather, the garden and it's fence got some attention-cleaned up the asparagus patch, added more trinkets to the fence mesh and finally a "latch" for the gate.

I added to the Route K library yesterday when I found this great book at Goodwill for 70 cents. It's on fatal accidents and such in the grand Canyon but also goes nicely into geologic history and includes maps. When you're down at water level you're among Zoroaster Granite and Vishnu Shist 1.7-1.8 billion years old. About 3 weeks ago I found another book at the same store also connected with the Grand Canyon (and also the San Juans in Colorado)-a young adult story about these kids that eventually float the Colorado river without any adults(Downriver by will Hobbs).