New World Datsuns...

Idaho Adventure was a success! Left Marc's after I got off work, met up with Jerod in Pendleton, and made it to Marsing base camp at about 1am Friday morning.

We got up Friday and, along with my dad, set out for Silver City. We trailered the 2 bikes and 2 quads to one of the trail heads and unloaded there.


Most of the trail would be considered double track (quad width) and there were stretches of one lane fire road. Unfortunately the BLM road crew was at work for a 8-10 mile section. They ran a ripper followed by a grader which basically took a good hard-packed road and destroyed it. Every fist sized rock was magically turned pointy side up and set in a soft bed of dirt. It was pretty slow going. It also resulted in my first flat tire.

After we did the trail repair and slipped in a new tube (glad I packed one) we were back to climbing. The thing that made me nervous was 2 small slits in the sidewall so I kept an eye on them. The C-monster's ignition switch crapped out just as we were rolling in to Silver City. We decided it was time for pie and coffee at the cafe. I was expecting more of a ghost town, and there is plenty of old abandoned stuff, but it's mostly seasonal tourist junk. Cool place nonetheless. I took no pics there but other guys did. We took a few minutes to bypass Marc's switch and were back on the trail. Just out of town we headed out on trail 300 when Marc encountered a rut that tossed him on the left side pretty hard
breaking off his mirror and foot peg. We helped him lift it up and he wrestled it to the top of the hill. Trail fix was to use a small box end wrench in place of the peg and bend the shifter with a long screwdriver. Then back at it.


Lots of great scenery. We summited at Bear Mountain 6700 feet and it was pretty steep in spots. There were some shale sections that were just too steep to go down. Marc proved that by dumping his bike another 4-5 times. His bars were pretty bent up at this point and his other peg was broken off. We just went off trail and switch backed to the bottom. The photo looking up doesn't really demonstrate accurately because I didn't have the camera level. If you look at the angle my dad is leaning in the background and the trees it gives a better reference. According to the topography lines on the map we dropped about 2000' in less than 2 miles. Steep!

There were also quite a few sections where the dried mud had been worked into a very fine dust (moon dust) with the consistency of powdered sugar. C-monster got dumped a few more times in that. Marc had a rough day. A couple miles from the trailer I got another flat and had to get towed out. Both bikes ran great. Got back to Marsing base camp and grilled up some burgers. Good day one.

Day two started out trying to gather parts. Being a holiday weekend, lots of bike shops were closed. We finally, accidentally, found a little indy shop that had pegs, bars and grips for Marc. I got a couple new tubes but came up empty handed for a replacement tire. We got back to camp Marsing and went to work. Jerod and Marc had the monster back together in short order. I put patches inside the tire where the slits were and put in a new tube then we loaded the bikes back on the trailer. Off to Owyhee Reservoir. We set up camp just below the dam and Marc and I decided to ride the twisty little road from the dam up to the state park at the end -- maybe 5 miles. Marc got stung by a bee.

Just as I pulled back in to camp I could feel something wasn't right. Jerod asks, "You wanna air that up?". Dammit! Another flat. By this time it was around 4pm so we parked the bikes, loaded into Jerod's pickup and climbed what looks to have been a road at one time to do some shooting.


After a few hundred rounds were expended we went back down the "trail", ate some dinner, drank some beverages, and hit the sack.

Day three I just left my bike on the trailer. Figured it wouldn't be fair for the other guys to wait on me if I continued to have tire trouble. Hitched a ride on the back of Jerod's Kodiak. Was supposed to just be a quick loop between breakfast and lunch. Began along the river then climbed the hills up to the plains.




Storm off in the distance...

We got lost. The map we had was 30 years old and we ended up in an area that Jerod had never been before. We got really low on fuel and finally just decided to give up on the map and just navigate by the power lines in the distance and heading downhill in the general direction of the lake. Luckily that worked out for us. We figured we covered about 75 miles and were gone about 6 hours. Once we finally got back to camp we packed up and headed back to Marsing. Cedar plank salmon for dinner.

Carnage tally:
Zero-
(4) tubes
(1) tire
(1) mirror
(1) front turn signal
(1) saddle bag mount strap
C-monster-
(2) foot pegs
(1) bent shifter
(1) set if bars w/grips
(1) mirror
(1) tail light
(2) tank dents
(1) ignition switch


Already making plans for next year.

Hell yes! Looks like a blast.

That scenery

Sounds like you need to carry extra tires from now on also, and lots of tubes.
The scenery brings back memories of my hanggliding past, I have landed in places like that and had to hike for hours out to a main road to get a ride back to camp just to turn around and drive back out there with my truck to pick up my equipment.
The Magpies would scream/laugh at me as I walked by, asking me "what the fuck are you doing out here".

Im ordering up a different tire. Marc was traveling the same terrain and had no tire troubles. My sidewall is pretty flimzy compared to his. I think that's the root of the problem. I might try a Bridgestone.

Just sold all the parts I took off for the build. Even got a little more than I anticipated. Also got my new tire mounted. Still getting used to the new look but it handles better, on the street anyway. We're planning a ride next weekend that should include plenty of off-road.

Marc hauled the monster over on Sunday and we messed with the electrical system again. Most of it turned out to be pretty simple fixes but he just doesn't do electrical work. LR turn signal was inop and that was just a loose pin in the connector at the seat harness (lights are mounted to the bottom of the seat). None of the turn signals were flashing. Turns out that the LED flasher relay he had replaced was just wired backwards as they are polarized. And lastly, his 3rd LiPo battery ate shit so he's probably going to just give up on them and just go with an AGM.
Not sure why I didn't take any pics. He's taken it apart and cleaned and repainted most of it along with putting on some Ducati Scrambler mirrors. It's looking really good.
We also talked quite a bit about routs for the ride we didn't get done last fall. Planning to ride logging roads and trails from here to Tillamook.



I've been dragging my feet but finally got the engine pulled on Zero. The primary reason is to reseal between the main case and the transmission case. It just barely oozes and I saw where someone had tried to JB Weld over the gasket gap when I went to buy it so it wasn't a surprise. The secondary reason is becaise there has always been a tick in the engine and I figured I'd see if I can find it. So far I've ruled out several things but haven't isolated it yet -- and I may not.

Still waiting for gaskets. Maybe Monday.

All my seals and gaskets showed up so I broke down the rear half of the engine. I'm pretty sure I've located the source of my ticking noise.



The earlier versions of this engine had a mechanical cam chain tensioner that required periodic adjustment. This one has an auto tensioner which is basically just a spring loaded ball that acts against a wedged ram. There is no oil pressure involved. What appears to have happened was that a small roll pin that is intended to keep the assembly from springing apart during assembly or removal had sheared off and seized up the ram not allowing it to fully extend. That left about 3/16" of slack and every time the cam would pass a lobe it would lose tension and the guide would slap. Pretty easy fix once located. I guess I'll find out if that was it once it's all together and running.

Looks like I never finished my progress update. I ended up replacing the cam chain since I had it that far apart. It wasn't wasted but was closer to max stretch than new. Rebuilt the carbs too since they were easier to get to. Also did a bit of repainting and detail work as it went back together.



Needed a break from all the house stuff so I took a little ride last night. Ran up over Bald Pesk then down into Laurelwood. Snapped one single photo in front of the, now abandoned, admin building where my parents went to high school.

Medium sized adventure yesterday. We were hoping to ride to the coast via logging roads and spent quite a bit of time trying to verify a route over the last few weeks. The best we could come up with was a gps map on a mt. bike forum that left the back side of Hagg lake and wound through the Browns camp area before crossing highway 6, making a loop, crossing back over 6, back on the gravel, and then dropping into Tillamook. Well, the map was great but we only made it a few miles above Hagg lake before we hit a locked Stimson gate. We debated laying the bikes on their sides and dragging them under but decided to double back. We bypassed that leg and met back up north of Browns camp. Recent rain made the gravel roads perfect. We were seeing bright orange arrow markers and eventually crossed paths with some Mt Scott club guys setting up an upcoming race course. We got looks. Our bikes absolutely didn't belong where we were riding them. At some point Marc hit a hole deep enough to break his taillight off so for the rest of the trip He rode up front so I could be his brake light. We eventually dropped back into highway 6 where Marc ran out of gas less than 2 miles out of Tillamook. He whipped out his handy reserve container and we were ready to go except the Cmonster wouldn't start. We traced the problem to a failed ignition switch, bypassed it, back up and running. We got gas and headed home but decided to stop for grub at one of those little restaurants along the river. On the way home we made really good time and even though there was a lot of traffic we were going at a pretty good clip. Just before the 6/26 junction the monster lost power and died. Just a plugged fuel filter. Blew it out, fired it up, continued on home.
Zero ran perfect and the water pump seal that had been occasionally leaking was dry all day and I'd like to think it finally seated in but I'll wait and see.
The weather was beautiful, we didn't get lost, the break downs were minor, and no one fell over. It was a perfect day.

Ordered up a new water pump seal since it never completely quit leaking. Been riding it a bit here and there. Also had to replace a rear tube last week.

Still have it for now. Dug it out of storage and went for a ride this morning. Need to order a new battery then list it in a couple weeks.
I ended up pulling the engine last fall to replace the water pump seal and found that I'd put a thrust washer in the wrong spot when I did the reseal last year. That allowed the impeller to loosen up slightly causing the leak. No harm and easy fix.