The Phoenix takes flight

[Gas Man]

Gas Man, that is a beautiful bike. Who are the homeless guys in the garage with ya?

What guys? IN the begining of the thread... man... you know how it is with these bikes... people always come up to you and want to see the bike, hear the bike, what bout the bike... blah blah blah. Well I had the garage door open and all these ugly dudes rolled in... :lol: :roll:

Bad Ass scoot!! as much as you know about these bikes you should consider changing jobs ...... Phoenix Choppers



Great post as always

Thanks Scuba.. but I don't know near enough. And when I do... I'll probably die the next day. Each thing that happens to me or I do on any of the bikes that are in my garage is a learning expierence. I have come a long way in my knowledge, but none of it is close to how much more I'm willing to do to the bike. The confidence to at least attempt and muttle my way thru. That is alot in my book and what I try to share with everybody.

Further, the whole Phoenix transition has really taught me more than just about bikes. I'm a really impatient person by nature. I'm a do it now guy. I don't want to talk about it, I want to do it. I will push you aside to do it. But I have learned to calm down, walk away when its taugh. Clear your head, don't rush things, and it will be fine. If you don't you rush things, and things get more F'ed up. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Nomad2day]

Chris,
I was crusing the internet when I seen the bling bling on her shirt and it reminded me of your avatar. Long story short,
Enjoy,
Bling......:2thumbs:

 

[Gas Man]

Hey... and she's hot too!!

 

[Gas Man]

Well took it out Mon & Tues a bunch... running great.

Then Tuesday night the clutch started acting funny. The freeplay in the lever would go from normal to half the distance to the grip, then bk to normal. Not sure what's going on... need to tear into it Friday and check the ball ramp/clutch rod and will probably pull the clutch plates too. No slipping just shit for working clutch.

FUCK FUCK FUCKITTY FUCK

 

[BubbleHead]

Damn Gas, you are paying a shitty price for all these wonderful improvements you did. But once you get all the bugs worked out you'll be turning heads everywhere, believe that!

 

[Gas Man]

Well the first set of things was all the same cause... stupid connectors.

The ignition I think is heat related due to the plastic crap.

This... who knows... nobody yet....

Just read my tag... its painfully true right about now...

 

[BubbleHead]

I feel ya Gas. It's gonna get better . Trust in that.Like you once said, youv'e learned to take things a little slower and stop and assess the situation. Less things get "F"d up that way. Were all pulling for you. We all sort of feel like weve been through it with you in a lot of ways. Keep us up to dtae Bro,
BBD

 

[Gas Man]

Yeah thanks... I didn't screw with it at 2330 when I got home... I was tired, not happy, the bike was hott, and frustrated with it. Screw it... I'll get to it when I can...

Hopefully that will be Friday.

 

[Wildthing]

Hey Chris it's good to see that you got her running again.
I am sure you will get the bugs worked out!

 

[Gas Man]

Hey Wild... good to see you posting... where ya been lately?

 

[ohio dog]

damn dude......glad I didn't go with the Crane. Rest assured you will get everything straight. Thanks for allways lending a hand to everyone on the board!

 

[Gas Man]

Yeah I'll get it... but I may cuss alot to get there. :lol:

 

[gooddoggie]

GM, your experience reminds me of when I rebuilt my Panhead many years ago, one step forward 2 steps back. Fortunately I had the luxury of having a buddy of mine who owned his own Harley shop (he let me rebuild it in his shop, talk about convenient) so any problems I got myself into (and there were many) he would always be there to help if he wasn't busy with customers or a bike. Even after all that help when it was finished there were still some things I wish I hadn't done (like using a magneto starting system on a kicker instead of a battery). I admire you for giving it a shot and sharing your experiences with us whether they be good or bad

 

[Gas Man]

Thanks gooddoggie... at this point I still feel like its bugs... being I haven't completed any significant amount of miles without something going wrong.

The wiring was just bad prototype connectors, went to good ole soldier, no more problems.

The ignition I believe was a heat issue on the plastic crane.

This... who knows... I have been working way too much... haven't touched it sense it broke...

Have lots of work which is more money, but no time to do anything with it.

 

[lee]

Hey Gas - not that I need to tell you this but you essentially now have a custom built bike - if you ever get a custom bike built for you you will get teething problems for the first few months - its to be expected. At least you have the skills to put the issues right yourself and no doubt you will do exactly that - I'm sure it won't be anything to worry about - just a pain in the arse
Cheers Chris

 

[Gas Man]

PIA is right Lee... and thanks!

Finally got to it today. Started by going after the freeplay adjustment and the clutch rod/ball ramp assembly.

Had to remove the exhaust, and then pull the clutch rod

Then pulled the pulley cover to get to the ball ramp assembly

Pulled it all apart, to check the ball bearings and farrel, ect...

Cleaned up all the grease and inspected the parts... all looks good!

Greased it with some Mobil 1 grease and put it back together

Then I kept going... pull the clutch plates apart and nothing bad there

Springs are all good

So I was thinking about all the possible problems over the last few days... I'm going thru them one by one at this point... knowing that its not a complicated thing. Everything has been ok to this point.

Want to check the clutch basket nut on the tranny input shaft. So I remove the hub to gain access

The red loctited and impact installed nut... FUCKIN HAND TIGHT AKA LOOSE AS FUCK!!! I grab it with my hand and I can spin it!! BINGO MOTHERFUCKER!! Remove it, clean up the threads and my only guess as to why is that over tightening it with the impact or false tight. Not sure. Its suppose to have 80 ft lbs according to RMD. So I re-installed it this time with a bunch of red loctite and instead of using the impact go for the torque wrench, some tools to lock in basket and holding the rear brake hard.

Then re-install the hub

Put all the plates back in and put the spring plate back on

Also, read thru the banditt clutch book again and noticed that you aren't suppose to bottom out the spring screws. That the spring cups are suppose to be flush with the plate. Dont' think it was this way before... but it is now FOR SURE!

Will ride it Monday and hope for the best.

 

[Fibersnake]

Good luck with it and hopefully everything is good to go.

 

[Gas Man]

Thanks Fiber... lets hope its set. I also let it sit... didn't start it... will do that Monday so the loctite can set.

 

[lee]

good work Chris - hopefully that will get it sorted. I found the clutch hub and compensating sprocket nuts to be a right ball ache - not so much the nuts but keeping the two sets of sprockets still to undo / tighten the nuts up. The Jims tool looks to be the ticket.

 

[kickstart]

Hey Gas - not that I need to tell you this but you essentially now have a custom built bike - if you ever get a custom bike built for you you will get teething problems for the first few months - its to be expected. At least you have the skills to put the issues right yourself and no doubt you will do exactly that - I'm sure it won't be anything to worry about - just a pain in the arse
Cheers Chris

If only you could be satisfied with a Honda all these problems would go away:lol:

Custom=PIA