Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Cinqo de FARTAB-O May 30-31

So it's just a few days away... the headline event of the year...FARTAB, Volume 5!

I must say, I'm un-naturally excited about the trip this year.

Greased Up Deaf Guy will be returning after a year of pro-creating and the associated doodies, er, duties.

Kaptain Krunch will make his inagural appearance, as will the yet to be named, N-D.

Check out the last few years worth of pix:
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

CTLP's Perspective:
Volume 4 Post 1
Volume 4 Post 2

CTLP got a video too of the event. I had a friend set us up with some FTP hosting. Stay tuned for video if we can figure out how to post a video here.

See you Thursday Night for FARTAB!!!
-40

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Additions to the BFB

Front derailers drive me insane. I avoid them where possible. I've stopped using them on mtbikes a couple seasons ago but was still using one on the BFB where one is really needed... it's tough carrying all that crap or a passenger without looooow gears to get up hills. But, all that extra chain and sloppy shifting was getting old so I dug out an old SRAM 3x7 wheel I had made for the tandem recumbent project. I took apart the bike and set it up.

Nice and clean up front now!



Also, after taking a passenger, I realized I needed some handlebars and footpegs. I rigged up the handlebars pretty easy, but ended up buying the real-deal Footsies made for the Xtracycle kit.
I also broke a couple front spokes, so swapped out the front wheel for a tandem specific wheel. This is wicked rugged.

Other than that, I've been pretty busy getting the yard ready for spring... and FARTAB Vol 5!!!


FARTAB is in less than 2 weeks! I'm working to get CTLPs ibucket ready in time. This weekend I started a batch of three ibuckets. I brought the namesake ingredient over to the FlatTires for processing...via BFB of course!







Thursday, May 08, 2008

Big River Clean Up

I was cruising around the RINEMBA website and found some pics from the Big River Cleanup a couple weeks ago. Check it, some good picks.

Monday, May 05, 2008

What you missed this weekend at the 5 Boro Bike Tour

After last year's brutal contest, another winner is crowned.

-40.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

TDI intake cleaning

The design of the VW TDI (Turbo, Direct Injection) diesel engine has an EGR valve that, by design, sucks dirty sooty exhaust, and injects it back into the intake to help reduce NOX emissions.

The problem with this is oily fumes from the CCV (crank case ventilation) system can combine with carbon particles (soot) from the EGR system to form a black sticky tar in the intake system. This eventually starts restricting the amount of airflow into the engine, resulting in gradual power loss as the vehicle ages and the intake clogging becomes worse. Over time the car suffers from lack of power at higher engine speeds, and in the worse case, the car will detect excessive intake back pressure and go into 'limp home' mode, disabling the turbo. This has happened to me many times on the highway, and is very annoying. More or less, I figured it was time to clean the intake manifold.

BBW made an unscheduled appearance in the BeerMuda Triangle this weekend. He was in the area for a business trip so figured he might as well come over. It was great to have company in the garage and a working laptop. BBW would look up the how-to on the web, ordered parts for his new bike, fetched beer, and took pictures of the project.



A great resource for TDI VWs is Fred's TDI page. They have a great FAQ that anyone who has a TDI or is considering one should read. The procedure is descriobed in detail there, but some forum users have gone a bit further. This guy even took videos!

Anyhow, it wasn't that bad of a project, just tedious. I took the hood off the car to make it easier to work on.

After a few hours, the intake came out and it was DIRTY
One port was almost 50% clogged!

It took a couple hours of scraping, two cans of carb cleaner, a soak in a vat of solvent, but eventually it was cleaned out.

I was happy!



After breathing solvent fumes all day, scraping out sludgy soot, I was getting pretty tired. The reinstallation procedure is pretty tedious:

Eventually the project was DONE, and it was time for a test drive:

We found a intercooler hose clamp that I forgot to fasten, and it blew off. The car ran like crap without the turbo, very sooty and stinky. We fixed it and took it for another spin around the block. I couldn't tell if we got the massive increases in performance, maybe because the head is still partially clogged with sludge? (can't clean that while its in the car, and i was certainly not pulling it off myself)

Anyhow, the project was a success!