Continuing on the carb story; while I was cleaning all the little metal carb bits I took of the choke plunger to see if it was possible that fuel could be leaking from there. Once I unscrewed it I noticed that there was no sealing o-ring between the plastic plunger housing and the carb body, just the clamping force between the plastic and the carb body. The choke still works fine and it doesn't appear to be leaking any fuel, so I'll leave well enough alone.
While reinstalling the choke, a thought came to my head, "It wouldn't be to hard to make a little adapter piece for the choke that can hold a barrel termination from a choke cable". I had to cannibalize the carb-end barrel termination on the choke cable that originally came with the bike so I could use the 90 degree adapter on the 190's throttle cable, but 99% of the cable and the sleeve are intact. I might need to buy or make another 90 degree adapter and I will need to make a bracket that will bolt to the carb body and hold one end of the choke cable's sleeve in place. After that it's just route the cable up to the controls and see if it works.
When I was putting the air filter back on the carb, I made a mistake and poked a large hole through the top of the air filter. The foam there was probably only about 5mm thick. The best repair option I had at the moment was super glue. I put a few drops on one part of the ripped foam and pressed it together... with my fingers. Yep. The foam from the air filter stuck more to me than to itself. After evacuating a rampant brain fart I grabbed a pair of pliers and used those to seal up the hole. That worked moderately better, foam still stuck to the pliers but the air filter was good enough to be put back into service.
I finally figured out a way to hoist the front of my bike in the air so I could have at the front shocks. The garage in which I store my bike has a ceiling for the ground level and an attic. There are 4-7 holes in the ceiling and in the floor of the attic, all in a line, spread out across 12-18'. I have no idea what these holes were used for, if they were used for anything. The attic's floor braces ran between the holes, so I had 2-3 very stout pieces of lumber between each hole. I fished a thick, but crap quality "paracord"-type rope up through one hole, wrapped it a few times around a 4"x4"x4' to spread out the load and pushed the rope back down the next hole. I had about 24' of rope coming out of each hole in the ceiling, more than enough wrap around the handlebars. I didn't use any knots to tie the rope to the bars, I'm no boy scout, the only knot I know is the square knot and I know enough that using just that will end up with a bike on the floor. What I did was just lash the rope around handlebars with as many loops as I could put on to increase the friction and keep the rope in place.
I had the bike being held upright by the ropes, but not lifting the front end. I went back up to the attic and shimmed the cross-brace piece of wood I was using another... 3 1/2-ish inches off the ground. That raised the front off of the ground by about 1/2 inch. Perfect. The picture I attached shows the... very... Wile. E. Coyote setup I ended up with. It was sketchy as all hell, but never once did the bike move without me being the thing that moved it - the rope stayed in place the whole time.
On to the front shocks! Both front shocks came out without problem. On the shocks that came with my bike, there is a bolt on the bottom of the shock, behind the front axle so you have to remove the axle to get to it. I initially thought that this bolt somehow held something internal to the shock together. Nope, it just holds the bottom big metal bracket piece to the shock. You don't have to remove those bolts to get access to the internals of the shock. The top cap unscrews then you are met with... just a rod threaded into the top cap with a jam nut, nothing like what you see inside of a honda grom shock. Unless the bits I needed to modify were on the other end of the shock rod assy., then the grom shock mod will not work with these shocks.
I think the best value upgrade to the front suspension (as well as the back suspension) seems to be to buy used stock grom shocks. They'll probably be better than what I have now, and you can do the shock mod on them. After market grom shocks are easily $500+. I'm sure the ride would be sublime with them, but it's not worth more than 1/3 the cost of the bike.
I measured about 4oz of shock fluid in each shock. It seriously looked like a mixture of metallic gunmetal paint and Terminator splooge. And it stunk. I replaced it with some 10wt fork oil I bought at a local honda dealership (hehehe). Since my bike's owners manual doesn't say at what height the shock oil should be, so I just added back however much came out of the shock. That came out to be between 35 and 45mm from the top of the shock with the shock completely compressed. I also weighed both shocks before so I could use that to estimate the amount of fork oil I should add, but the margin of error was too great to be useful.
After a quick ride to try and feel any difference in the handling (there wasn't any, at least I couldn't feel it) I came back to the garage and took a look at the carb while the engine was still running. It was still wet with fuel. WTF? After about 10 seconds of confusion, I saw the thing that was causing all the leaks... can you guess what it was? Nope. It was the left oil cooler connector leaking (picture attached showing which bolt I mean). It wasn't even fuel, it was oil. I thought the wet "fuel" on the carb looked at bit thick, but I just assumed that some part of the fuel had evaporated and left behind a sticky substance. Nope, oil. Fixing that will have to wait until tomorrow because the oil cooler is aluminum and the banjo bolt is steel. And the aluminum is still HOT. That sounds like a prime recipe for stripped threads right out of an oil cooler. The very first time I started the 190, that fitting was leaking oil so I tightened it up and it stopped. However, I've only been able to look at the oil cooler fittings while the engine is on choke, warming up, or at idle, never at higher rpms or under load. I'm guessing the oil pressure is rather low at idle as compared to 7krpm under load, causing oil to leak only when riding.
I've noticed that the shorter shifter arm that I am using, the one that originally came with the 125, isn't long enough for me to get a real good feel when I shift into a gear. At the moment it is more like I just apply pressure to the shifter arm to shift, not actually move it up/down. I think one that is a bit longer, like the one that came with the 190 would be better. However, I still don't like the crappy shifter that came with my 190 enough to use it. I just know it will break off and leave me stuck in 4th gear 20 miles from home. If I can find one of a similar length at a local swap meet* or online but better welding quality, I'll go with that.
I still haven't powered up the AFR gauge yet. I am procrastinating on this because I really don't want to have to take the fuel tank off again just to be able to solder a few wires. Time will tell when that gets done.
The areas around the spots I had welded have begun to not just tarnish but rust. I suspect the welder did not use stainless steel filler to make these welds. Eventually I will have to do something about that.
There has been a small bit of progress on the quick shifter. I have the circuitry that can cut the ignition for... some amount of time every up-shift. I just need to work on the electrics/electronics for getting a signal every shift. I am waiting for a few IC's in the mail that should help me making said circuitry. For the physical switch, I am using what I think is a
end-stop for something like a mill. The business end of the switch only moves about 0.01mm before the switch action happens, and then it can continue to move for another ~2.5mm after the switch action happened without harming any of the internals of the switch. So, I could (this is my current plan) fabricate a bracket to hold this switch just behind the shifter arm, bolted to the left foot peg bolts, so when I go to up-shift, the motion of me pulling the shift lever up will also push on the switch, triggering the ignition cut, the transmission hopefully shifts, Bob's yer uncle.
*With all of my anxiety, you might think something like a swap meet would be a death sentence to me, but for some odd reason, no. I've come up with a few reasons why I think this is so.
1. Usually swap meets are outdoors, in open fields. I don't normally have claustrophobia, but my need for my personal space bubble increased at the same rate my anxiety does. Being outdoors, completely open helps.
2. You aren't one-on-one with anyone unless you walk up to a booth/table and ask questions. Even then, the seller probably has 3 more people at is station. Being able to easily duck out and become one of the crowd is appealing.
3. If you are at a motorcycle swap meet, you are either there to sell motorcycle stuff, buy motorcycle stuff, look at motorcycle stuff, or tag along with someone who wants to buy motorcycle stuff (child/significant other). 99% of the people you see at a swap meet will be more or less into what the swap meet is about. Motorcycle swap meet? Talk about motorcycles. Gun show? Talk about guns. Strip club? Contemplate the choices in life that have brought you here. Car show? Talk about cars.
4. You might meet someone interesting. An old timer with stories galore. A motorcycle mechanic that has tricks o' the trade. A pretty lady. A hot dude. A suggestive fern.
I'm sure there are many more reasons I'm so screwed in the head. I can plan out and build a computer from parts, design and fabricate a laser engraving machine, go grocery shopping, and go to a doctor's visit, but I cannot talk to the opposite sex, make a phone call, go to an interview, open a ketchup packet without looking like a murderer, or attend family gatherings.