Fiona gets an air box.

Since I bought Fiona, my '99 URAL Patrol with an '84 R80 Beemer engine, she's used a couple of "muffin top" air filters that were clamped directly onto each carburetor.  They worked fine and the previous owner didn't ride in rain he told me so he wasn't worried about exposing the air filters to foul weather.

Kind of exposed to the weather eh?

Given that I tend to ride in all kinds of weather, I'd been working on some kind of air box to shelter the air filter used by Fiona, to keep water out you know, when out playing in rain and snow for example.

Several options were thrashed about in my head over the last month of so, options were tried and discarded, and finally Bural, a.k.a. Richard Winter came up with an idea that stuck.  He'd told me, why not try the air box by the 2014 and newer URAL rigs?

I called up Randy, the URAL dealer in Fort Collins and he happened to have a discarded air box that he'd let me have to try things out!  

Got the airbox, some test-fitting and discussions with Bural, RichardM and Darrell later, I decided to try it using CEET aircraft tubing which I ordered last week and it arrived today.  

A few minutes of measuring, cutting and hose clamping later, Fiona and I headed out for a test drive.

She did great with the Ural air box!  Got her on the tollway and up to almost 70 mph with no issues with air flow to the engine!  

It's a somewhat tight fit but nothing touches it except for the CEET tubing and the bottom portion of the bike frame under the seat along with the box resting on top of  the gearbox.  There's clearance for the clutch cable, and clutch actuating lever.  The kick starter comes up just shy of the bottom of the air box.  I'll work to further secure it but really, the air box is not going anywhere.

Here's views of the air box, mark 1:

 Left side

 Right Side

closer view of the air scoop

I still have to route the crankcase hole into the air box, but first must find a suitable grommet as the tube coming from the engine is smaller than the hole in the air box.

I might, also, install a small shield on top of the Beemer engine, near the air scoop, to block water/snow before it reaches the air scoop.

I also, on Bural's advice, going to coat the CEET tubing with the rubberized undercoating spray one uses in fender wells of cars and such.  It keeps the elements from degrading the tubing.  The tubing was designed to live inside airplane engine compartments you see, not exposed to weather.

Now for some more riding to test things out further.

Fiona plays on Snow

Late this Sunday afternoon, it finally stopped snowing so I was able to take Fiona, my '99 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig with the R80 Beemer engine out for a ride in the snow.

The neighborhood streets remained messy with snow but it was all melting fast and so no problems for Fiona and I as we motored over to the ranching neighborhood to the SE of home.

Alas, we were too late, whomever does their road clearing does a very fast job of it  and all we found was muddy roads.  Nothing very scenic but I did stop for one shot of Fiona at the tree-lined driveway:

Fiona and I motored on home, stopping at the auto parts store to get a headlight but then it started working on the way home.  Hmmmm.  The auxiliary lights quit working though, so there's some checking to be done on the wiring I think.

Got home and asked my loving wife, Martha, to shoot some video while I tried to ride about the cul-de-sac to test the 2WD on Fiona.  There were snow accumulations ranging from a couple of inches to perhaps eight inches of snow mounds, so a good test.

Here's the video, it'll show you how useful 2WD can be.  Assuming you've got it engaged that is.

Must remember to check to make sure the 2WD lever stays engaged, it seems.  The '99 model 2WD engagement level is different from the one on Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol.  

Still, a good test of the 2WD.

Update: found the wiring issue.  A loose ground wire on the assembly connecting the headlight to the wiring harness, fixed.  Also, the ground wire had come off the switched relay for the auxiliary lights, secured.

Snowy Test Ride for the new U-Joint

We woke to a snow-covered landscape here in the Metro Denver area, my neighborhood sporting about 4-5 inches of fluffy snow but with temperatures just hovering above freezing.

The weather guessers are saying it's going to snow all day and night, and we're under a Winter Storm Warning till 6:00 AM Sunday.

As the snow was falling, it was too "wet" to take Fiona, my '99 URAL with the Beemer R80 engine out to play.  She's got exposed "muffin top" air filters directly on her carburetors you see, and the snow would quickly clog them up.

So it fell to Scarlett, which needed to be taken out anyways to give a good test of her new u-joint on the sidecar side of the 2WD drive shaft.

Of course, first the driveway and sidewalks had to be cleared of snow.  It didn't take long with the help of Miles, my youngest son.  There was already a thin layer of snow covering the areas we'd cleared when we finished.

Into this snowy environment, went Scarlett and I.  The main roads were kind of plowed but very slushy and wet.  No ice was found by Scarlett and most cagers were taking it easy in the limited visibility conditions.

 

The neighborhood streets were pretty much single tracked ruts in the snow, made by vehicles that had preceded Scarlett and I as we wandered through the neighborhood.  Folks were out digging out their driveways and they'd stop, watch and wave as we motored on by.

The new u-joint did great, I had to engage 2WD several times while out riding and no issues.

Learning to clean Fiona's carburetors, Part 2

I swear, sometimes I shouldn't be allowed near tools.

I got the replacement o-rings on Monday afternoon from Clem C., the local Airhead guru and put them on the jets and mixture screws later that afternoon.  Trouble is, I failed use a small amount of silicone grease when installing the o-rings and used improper tools to get them to go on the idle/pilot jet.

I discovered this Tuesday morning, while verifying the size of the idle jet (45), that I'd probably nicked or over-tightened the idle jet into place on the right carburetor, effectively destroying it.

No wonder I didn't see any improvement in engine

performance at low speeds and continuing sootiness on the

right side cylinder's spark plug!

So, off to the dealer this time, got more o-rings (got spares now), some more fuel bowl gaskets, and even a float jet just in case.

Got home, used a "faint" amount of silicone grease and no tools, and got a new o-ring onto the idle jet.  I put it in till snug, then withdrew it to check.  It was fine, so in it went again, again just snug.  Checked the main jet holder's o-ring and the mixture screw o-ring and they were fine.

I'd also noticed that on the right carburetor, the fuel level in the bowl was 2mm higher than on the left bowl.  I adjusted the angle of the floats accordingly till they matched.

Went out on Fiona on the standard test drive run, which is about 12 miles and almost 30 minutes in duration.

Fiona's engine ran great!  Low speed performance was much improved (go figure right?) and she really rode the best she's done since I got her.

Still a small sign of "richness" though when one looks at the plug.  

pre-ride, nice and shiny after a thorough cleaning

post-ride, a very very light coat of soot, way better than previous test rides.

I sent the above picture to a few knowledgeable people and the responses I got were positive!

Today I went by Clem's place as he'd received the new pair of spark plug cables I'd ordered through him.  I'd shown him pics of the cracks on my current cables and he convinced me to get a new pair, pricey as they are, in order to eliminate that variable.

I replaced the right cable, which had the cracks, immediately and rode Fiona home.  She did seem much smoother by the way.  On  the way home I noticed that my idle seemed too high while I was at stop lights and such.  Guess my last idle adjustment, done with the old cables in place, was obviated by the new cable eh?

Got her home, replaced the left spark plug cable as well (note: if yours don't "snap in" when connecting to the coil, it's time for new cable probably, my old cables didn't).  Broke out the Harmonizer tool and brought down the idle quite a bit to an indicated 1080-1100 on the tach.  The RPMs will drop to about 870-910 when I pull in the clutch lever and this is normal as I am putting some drag on the system by using the clutch actuator rod. (This is according to BURAL).

Quite happy with the engine performance right now, a far sight from initial running conditions!