Here’s the inside of the shop, as you can see I haven’t done a whole lot with the organization of the space. (You can click for a larger image.)

I hope to build in some cabinets and what-not this winter, mainly on the wall where I have a couple of ancient Ferrari posters tacked up (I found a stash from ages ago…anyone for a 1980′s Testarossa poster? I managed to put that one back in the tube). I did get casters onto the metal work tables, they’re now handy for moving close to the action or allowing access to all sides of an unwieldy project.

On the table closest on the left is a pile of junk awaiting sorting and placing into the other side of the building. Right below the posters are the camshafts from the XJ6–I’m doing a valve adjustment, and am awaiting new cam bearings and shims. In the corner beyond that is an ancient file cabinet with my shop computer on top and my elderly stereo above it. I finally have a sink for the bathroom, and hope to work on that a bit tomorrow (keep calm and all that).

Beyond my trusty Delta drill press (I think it’s circa 1956) is my toolbox; I hope to move to a couple under-bench units when I build a new bench along that wall, in about the same place and scale as this one, but secured to the wall, and wrapping around the corner towards the press. The white MGB is serving as a shelf for the dash top and a few other components of the XJ6–one of the windshield wiper wheel boxes stripped out, and I’m awaiting some new used ones. I figure after almost 40 years in Washington, that’s fair enough.

I also have the rear mufflers off the XJ6; I bought new tips, the proper curvy variety as opposed to the straight ones which this car has now. Imagine my (lack of) surprise when I pulled off a couple of standard American mufflers which had been creatively made to fit, and which will definitely not take the new tips. So I’m trying to figure what to do about that, too.

The bikes are pretty much in for the winter. I need to do a fluids change on the Triumph–oil, coolant, and bleed the brakes. Bike will be ten years old this coming year and while it hasn’t had many miles put on (just a little over 3,000 now), the oil has only been changed a couple of times and the other fluids have never been touched.

To the right is the parts washer, the blasting cabinet is beyond that, and the shelves holding the miscellaneous small bits of the E-Type. ETA on that machine returning is still a bit murky.

Looking forward to getting the cabinetry underway. Along the back wall will be largish upper cabinets, with a nuts-and-bolts organization under a 18″ deep bench. This bench will mainly be used for staging parts and stashing those small projects awaiting time, money or bits–thus allowing the main bench (by the tools) to be kept clear for actual work. The tables can be wheeled out if more space is needed (they will live on the storage side when not in use). I was originally going to build a paint booth along this back wall, in the corner you can’t see, to the left. It would be about five feet wide with an open front, but a closed ceiling and a exhaust fan utilizing the old stove chimney. This would be for spraying small parts, and I still think it’s a good idea. I need to investigate fans and theory before committing to it, though.

The short wall right by the red toolbox, is, I think, destined to be the “sit down bench”, connected with the main bench along the gable. I will have upper cabinets only on this short wall, I’m not going to put cabinets on the gable wall. This sit-down station will be the place for manuals, computer, and other reference pieces, and I’ll probably come up with a “fluids” rack for the current can of brake cleaner, penetrating oil, etc, as well as gloves and shop towels. This “short wall” bench will only be about three feet wide; the wall is five, but the bench along the gable wall will be 24″ deep. 5′ of upper cabinets, though, is just about the perfect size to hold all the stuff I mentioned, and 3′ is fine for stashing a couple of low bar stools underneath a short bench.

Anyway, given my glacial progress, I’ll probably have the valve job done by the spring, and the rest will still be in the planning stage.

UPDATE: The stupid thing is NOT fixed. Grrr. Next step…but back to the original post:

The Triumph 955i’s misfire has been cured with the swap in of a new coil pack. This is just a bit distressing as the bike has less than 3000 miles on it, you’d think the life span would be measured in tens of thousands of miles…but maybe just shy of a decade is the other expiration date. Trying to figure out which cylinder was misfiring was a puzzle–the ODB reader thought the bike was running just fine even when it clearly wasn’t. A friend reminded me I had an infrared thermometer, and the solution was at my fingertips.

This is looking from the front of the bike. You can see that the left cylinder (if you were sitting on the machine) was not really doing much.

I bought some used coil packs on eBay, swapped one in, and the problem is (seemingly) solved. Visually and on a meter the dead coil is identical to the others in the set. Did I mention I kinda hate modern miracle components that it’s nearly impossible to figure out if they’re working or not without advanced test gear?

Now for something other than 45 degrees and rain, please.

Spotted this ad on craigslist tonight–someone selling their Daytona…but the photos of “their” bike are straight from this website. Sad thing is that anyone in the know would recognize the slight of hand, as the bike they’re selling would have a different rear suspension than mine. *Facepalm*

On a semi-serious note, though: when looking at CL ads, it’s not all that uncommon to discover that the photos in the ad are NOT of the car or bike you end up poking at when you go to see it. My Miata was sold that way: the car shown in the ad was very clearly not the one I ended up buying. I asked the seller about it a couple of times and she insisted the photos were recent ones of my car, despite a number of major differences.

It’s not the end of the world to use a “representative sample” in an ad, just let people know. And if you’re going to grab someone’s photos, maybe ask permission?

Went over to watch the Flying Heritage Collection’s Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fly on their “Battle of Britain” day last Saturday. It was just spitting (appropriate weather for the occasion), but I took the Triumph anyway, to make short work of the long summer ferry lines (motorcycles are allowed to bypass the queue). This proved to be a soggy decision when the skies opened in earnest on the ride back. (“Bah, I won’t need rain gear” was my thought before departing the house. Oops.)

I opted to not pay for museum admission this time ’round, as I’ve been in a couple of times recently–I was on the other side of the chainlink with the hoi polloi.

The Daytona–parked here by the fueling shed, which would be a suicidal place to park the BSA–is not running well at low speeds. Best guess is a coil pack on the fritz. The bike runs well above 3,000 RPM but is misfiring on a cylinder below that, intermittently (which, oddly enough, doesn’t trigger the “check engine” light). It makes slow speed riding a chore. Hopefully should have it sorted out soon.

What a great pair of airplanes! The Spitfire is a prettier and more capable aircraft, but I find the Hurricane my favorite, for no reason I can articulate. The Collection doesn’t scratch fly days unless the cloud ceiling is below about 1000 feet–though I suppose if it was tanking down or there were high winds, that would also keep the planes inside the hangar.

They ferried the pilots out to the aircraft in this very nice MG YT, which is probably a ’49. I guess MG was ready to introduce the “Y” series just before the war when Hitler put the kibosh on that, so it’s reasonably appropriate. I think we can all agree the wheels are a sign the owner possesses sublime taste.

This can’t be good–most bikes don’t use studded front tires. The Triumph is now seven years old and on its original tires, though they have accumulated only 2600 miles. I suppose this will get me to replace them. (I’m not quite sure what I’ve collected, here…I thought it was a bolt, but on further study, I don’t think it is.)

I discovered this on the ferry, headed out to Kirkland for the Carillon Point car show today, so I had 50 miles of riding to contemplate my unwanted companion.

I must be getting old, because the ride I took from our place to my parent’s in Port Townsend on Sunday was chilly, and yet it was 50 degrees or more out. We were promised a 70 degree day and it never quite materialized. This photo was taken at the Keystone ferry terminal, I was plenty early for my boat, something that will shock anyone who knows me.

The Triumph is still going strong, but the mysterious speedo problem persists. I don’t think it’s the sender, as you’d think it would cut in and out intermittently while the bike is underway, rather than either working or not, with that “decision” being made by turning the key. Sometimes when it is not working, I can turn the bike off for a few seconds, turn it back on, and the speedometer will mysteriously be back in order. Other times I can have a working speedometer, turn the bike off, and find the instrument isn’t working the next time around. Very odd, doesn’t seem to be affected by temperature, either.

The Triumph 955i has artificially low miles–due to a speedo glitch. (It’s probably not more than about 150 miles in arrears, but it is annoying.) More and more often, the speedometer ceases to register a speed (or add miles to the odometer; they’re both digital). This always coincides with the ignition key being used–it either works when you start the bike, and keeps working, or it doesn’t work and stays dead. I recently rode to my friend Matt’s in north Seattle, and the sequence of speedo operation? House to ferry, alive; ferry to Matt’s, dead; Matt’s to ferry, alive, ferry to home, alive. Other rides it’s the opposite.

When the speedo is “dead” it will sometimes display a speed of one mile per hour for a few seconds. I’ve wiggled wires but haven’t gone beyond that so far in trying to solve the problem, showing my usual initiative.

I took the Triumph over the ferry to the bank today…it’s great to use a motorcycle on the Washington Ferries because you don’t have to wait to board, you go straight to the front of the line. In any case, when I came to leave the boat on the mainland side, I couldn’t get the bike started. How embarrassing. And all operator error, in the end!

I should say I rarely if ever use the kill switch on the right grip…the key works for that just fine. I noticed a couple of young guys checking out my bike when I was waiting, and didn’t think anything of it. One of them must have flipped the switch (which I normally don’t check, but it’s now on my list!). When it came time for me to leave, nothing, no power. I checked various electrical connections for a couple of minutes while cars streamed past me, and finally found the switch was flipped. Then, being thoroughly flummoxed at that point, I forgot that the bike will die if you try to put it in gear with the kickstand down. That took another minute or so…

Felt like the biggest wanker ever!

This is what I like most about bikes: You can buy a bike that will out-perform the mightiest of cars for a very small fraction of the cost.

Now whether it can actually out-perform those cars with an old lady like me riding it (and a fat old lady to boot), is another question. But just knowing you’re on a machine capable of such performance is exhilarating.