Decided to take it for a spin today -- without regular exercise
it tends to get a bit flaky. In the best Soviet tradition
I brought along a hammer (rubber with lead shot inside).

As I expected, soon after I opened the petcock, gas started pouring
out of each carb. So I flailed away on them with the rubber hammer,
trying to agitate the floats and needle valves so they would
activate to shut off the gas (er, petrol). Sure enough it worked.
I was able to drive away with the usual clatter, commotion
and jangling without leaving twin trails of dribbling gasoline.

Life under Communism must have been... "different".

SQ

sean_q <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> As I expected, soon after I opened the petcock, gas started pouring
> out of each carb. So I flailed away on them with the rubber hammer,
> trying to agitate the floats and needle valves so they would
> activate to shut off the gas (er, petrol). Sure enough it worked.
> I was able to drive away with the usual clatter, commotion
> and jangling without leaving twin trails of dribbling gasoline.

Dont feel too bad about it, the 400/4 is famous for the same problem.
A few taps with the handle of a screwdriver is usually enough to
wake up the recalcitrant carbs.

--
03 GS500K2
78 Honda 400/4 in black
98 Yamaha YP250 Majesty

sean_q wrote:

> Decided to take it for a spin today -- without regular exercise
> it tends to get a bit flaky. In the best Soviet tradition
> I brought along a hammer (rubber with lead shot inside).

The Hammer and the Motorsickle?

--
Rusty

On 11/3/2010 1:01 AM, Rusty Hinge wrote:

>> In the best Soviet tradition
>> I brought along a hammer (rubber with lead shot inside).
>
> The Hammer and the Motorsickle?

Brilliant!

"I don't want a pickle,
Just want my hammer and 'sickle." --Arlo Guthrovich

> "In the best Soviet tradition I brought along a hammer"
refers to the WW2 T-34 tank transmission:

"The makers of the T-34 were clever fellows. They knew
the transmission in their tank was garbage, so they
put it right where you could get to it easily, chuck
a bad one away and shove in another. The location
in the back had one drawback for the driver: it made
the tank's gears tough to shift because of the long
drive train running through the floor. Dimitri and
the other Russian tank drivers learned to keep
a hammer under their seats for the more stubborn
moments of the T-34's transmission."
--_Last Citadel: A Novel of the Battle of Kursk_
By David L. Robbins

SQ

Jordan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On 11/3/2010 8:01 PM, Rusty Hinge wrote:
>
> >
> > The Hammer and the Motorsickle?
> >
>
> For a Harley-Davidson, you need a star-spangled hammer?

No, a Bar Tangled Spanner.

--
03 GS500K2
78 Honda 400/4 in black
98 Yamaha YP250 Majesty

Jordan wrote:
> On 11/3/2010 8:01 PM, Rusty Hinge wrote:
>
>>
>> The Hammer and the Motorsickle?
>>
>
> For a Harley-Davidson, you need a star-spangled hammer?

For most Yanktanks, the Star-Spangled Banger?


--
Rusty

On Wed, 3 Nov 2010 22:26:03 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed)
<(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <iasnhr$ctc$(E-Mail Removed)>:
> Jordan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> On 11/3/2010 8:01 PM, Rusty Hinge wrote:

>> > The Hammer and the Motorsickle?

>> For a Harley-Davidson, you need a star-spangled hammer?

> No, a Bar Tangled Spanner.

Wasn't the definition of the Golden Gate Bridge "The Car Strangled Spanner"?

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".