Reading Assignment: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : Chapters 16 and 17
In-Class Discussion
Shop Class as Soulcraft – Chapter 5: p115 to end of p120
- A customer wants to ride his Honda Magna again after letting it sit for two years. Narrator tries to intimidate the owner because he does not want to put that much work into it if the customer is not going to use it.
- Relates to the concept mentioned in Pirsig’s book of being attached to an object, and the rationality behind it.
- Motorcycles have their own quirks-once you learn these quirks, you can figure out how to fix them more easily.
Mechanics:
- Fork seals: forks are holding the front wheel and are fueled with oil. Seals are needed to prevent oil loss.
- Hydraulic line: A flexible tube used for shock, suspension, and most commonly for brakes and the clutch.
- Narrator uses athlete foot powder to solve the substantial amount of oil leakage. Puts the powder all over the engine casing and can see where the oil streaks/residue are.
- Many problems with the bike: the clutch will not disengage; there is air in the hydraulic lines which occurs when the seals are not completely tightened. Opening the far end of the line and letting the fluid and the air flow out of will fix this issue. But then it would be wise to question how the air got in the line in the first place.
- Master cylinder and slave cylinder system: Overall an application of force from the pedals to the clamps. Adding a force on the master cylinder will put pressure on the fluid, and the force will travel along to the slave cylinders. The piston will keep being pushed down until it hits the plate and is forgiving of uneven positions.
- Barrel: Narrator is working to get the valve covers off. Needs to remove one of the engine bolts and drop the engine about a quarter of an inch. Then can pull the barrel off without removing the frame.
Shop Class as Soulcraft – Chapter 5: p120 to p125
- Takes apart the clutch and the basket and finds goo all over it
- Takes the seal off of the clutch rod and not all mechanics will do this because it is not necessarily the right thing to do.
- Mentions Saint Augustine which relates to the Romantic aspect of motorcycle maintenance
Concepts from Last Class
There is a relationship between the power curves for engines and sports. The power vs speed curve for an electric motor is a parabola (as seen in the picture from the previous class), with the maximum amount of power occurring at half of the no load speed. The maximum amount of power for the power vs speed curve for muscles is not quite the same. Instead, the maximum amount of power for muscles occur at less than half of the no load speed.
The Hill Curve demonstrates at what rate the muscles will get excited. If you imagine riding a bike up a hill, finding the best gear that will suit your needs directly relates to the power vs speed curve for muscles. Finding that optimum speed also applies to the reason why biking coaches will tell their athletes adjust the bike so that they are going at one revolution per second.
Lab Updates:
Top End: Sandblasted and worked with Glen on grinding and re-seating the valves.
Bottom End: Cleaning parts. Took the Henry Ford engine for a test run. It is a single cylinder engine with one valve. Rather than having a carburetor, it has a tank with a needled valve that dripped gas and a one-way valve for air.
Electrical: Worked on webpage and examined the electrical parts to try and understand better. Could start working on the distributor, how long the wires need to be, and getting all of the parts ready.
Frames, Forks, and Wheels: Worked on the webpage. Finished the gaskets. Sanded the nacelle. Could start looking for the handlebar, levers, grips, throttle, clutch cable, seat, and springs.
Next Scribe: Hilary
Next Cameraman: Ben
M.S.