learned a little bit of wrenchin' this weekend

Changed out the carb, throttle cable, choke, and air cleaner. The carb works great (thanks to Doc!). No more dying when I took her out for a run. Not at a stop sign or when slowing down. Perfect. Thank you! :)

Supervised this first time by my awesome friends Karin and Mike (thank you both!!!). Thanks to Mike, I am no longer afraid that I'll screw something up. And only one small cut... ha! :D

Everything made perfect sense. My biggest challenge will be
upper body strength but Mike showed me how to compensate for that. I learned about a bunch of different tools and sizes and have a list of things that I need for my toolbox. I know what will be on my Christmas list from Santa... lol

Mike said the carb is running a little rich. Will have to take off the air cleaner and adjust the carb. Not a problem. It's so good to make sense of things that appeared too complicated to understand.

Had to make a run to Osborn's on I-45 (Stubbs recommended them - Robert Osborn bought out all of the Shovelhead parts that Stubbs had). Met a fellow SH FXE '78 owner. He's torn his apart several times. Lot's of good information just standing there talking.

The reason for the trip to Osborn's was due to the throttle cable not fitting/able to sit in the throttle clamp. The opening was too small. Robert had his worker tap it out for me. Also needed a new spring and two clamps that hold the tank on. When we took the tank off we found a wire had been holding it on. Only $2.00 for everything... I love Osborn's!!! Lost my spring for the throttle clamp somewhere between there and here and will definitely need another. It appears that spring keeps the throttle from making the idle rev up and down while sitting still warming up.

There's still the issue of the starter. It won't work. Neither will the horn. The manual says that the horn issue could be due to a battery issue. The battery may need charging since it sat so long, which could also be the reason the electric start isn't getting enough juice. It clicks but doesn't do anything else. I will be shopping for a battery tender, starting there first, before replacing anything else.

She won't pass inspection without a horn. Her turn signals worked this morning but not either of the times I took her on the road today. That won't pass inspection either. I'm wondering if everything is tied to the battery needing to be charged up more. Even after I rode, it didn't make a difference though.

No inspection means no riding to work just yet. Not going to chance riding into Houston on an expired inspection sticker. One more week... if I can get the horn fixed, she doesn't need a starter to get an inspection sticker. I just need to be able to kick her.

So... today............ I just had to learn how to kick... ;)