Lots and lots and lots of good and fun news!
Bikes
Remember how my Suzuki GS decided to leave me stuck in Kenosha one night?
Well, I bathed the rack of carbs in carb cleaner overnight. This allowed the bike to idle without full choke, but it still wouldn’t run right. After some further tweaking and failures (including using fuel from a gas can), I decided I was done with carbs and put the Suzuki up for sale. It took a loooooong while to sell it, but ultimately I did get what I wanted for it. I rode it for two years and sold it in “sorta but not really running” condition for about what I paid for it. Not bad.
The new owner took a solid 6 hours to get the engine to run without choke and even then it ran rough. He seems to think that the tank sealer put in by a previous owner started failing and clogged up the carbs and lines something mean. After more hours of fiddling he apparently got it back to 100%.
Either way, it was enough for me to call it quits on carb bikes entirely. Thus, enter my fire sale! With exceptions to my special bikes (Goldwing, Stella, and U7E), I sold everything with a carburetor. Chinese Gambler projects, the Vespa project...everything.
Now I’ll replace the back tire on the Burgman 650 and make it my daily. Every bike from here on out will have EFI, no exceptions!!!!
Admittedly, the Spree is still in my living room. I wanted to use it to teach my girlfriend how to ride (much like how shop-teacher taught me) but of course, that’s not happening now. I promised my friend I wouldn’t kill or flip it, so for now it just remains the centerpiece of my apartment. My pre-COVID visitors loved it!
Kentucky Godfather
With my unlimited time I decided to get a start on this build. I affixed my Gambler logos and Gambler stickers as well as installed my CB radio. I discovered that the factory volume wheel in the car still works. When I put it to max, the already good aftermarket stereo in this thing became awesome. Thing could easily be a rolling nightclub!
I took the car on a social distancing road trip convoy with a teammate to “Volvo Island”, the car performed very well! It’s an absolute riot in the dirt as well.
The Benz is going part vintage rally, part safari. So roof rack, rally lights, decals, chunky tires...
Cool part is that since I save most of the parts from all my Gambler builds, all I’m really going to need to buy for this are a couple decals and maybe tires. But as the car’s first Gambler will be........not anytime soon, tires can wait.
Looks like my team is doing a bit of a rally look this year as a couple teammate cars are going to be done up in Camel Trophy themes like the lede photo.
The 2012 smart’s alternator seized again, annoyingly. This time I’m getting a pro to fix it. I hate seeing my baby broken like this.
Personal Stuff
Finances: I know this a touchy subject right now because of COVID-19, so I’ll keep it short. I’m doing very well. Per my employer, I’ll be back to work in July, just in time for the back to school season to make us crazy busy. Of course, should things not work to plan I’m already lining up Plan B, C, D, and on. :)
I hope the States and Washington can get their crap together and really help those in dire need right now.
And finally in other news, a story about me may appear in some place on the net this month...of course because the whole world is a big unknown right now, nothing is for certain.
So that’s about it. Life is pretty boring and it took me two years, but now I hate carburetors. I hope everyone is doing well out there, we’re going to get through this one way or another!