Friday at Last.

Well, made it through another week. No refereeing tonight so had time today to get a few things done.

Got my '82 Chevy PU inspected. Only 10 months late, but with "the Black Bird" running, I had not been driving it. Motorcycles effect me that way. (actually it is a rather long involved family story and I am saving it as the plot for my best selling suspense novel I'll never write. Definitely too involved for anything less than a novelette.)

"The Black Bird" fired up and ran this after noon.

Last week had check the battery and coil and they were in spec. Earlier this week checked the spark plugs and their leads. Seemed okay. So decided to put the fuel tank on and fire her up and check the alternator voltage. Got the tank on, hooked up and tried to light her off. The starter worked, but we had no internal combustion.

Took the tank off again and was reluctantly figuring that maybe it was the HES (Hall Effect Sensors) that timed the fuel injection and ignition. I had just gotten the connector for the HES undone when I noticed another plug to a connector hanging down. Looking at it a minute or two I realized it was the connector for the primary side of the ignition coil. Some bozo, who certainly looked a lot like me, had neglected to plug it in after checking the coil resistance. Duh!

Connected the primary coil up and re-installed the tank. Put my digital voltmeter across the battery. Battery voltage at 12.7 volts. Muy Bien! Turned on all the accessory electrical loads. Cold start lever on, key on, and starter button. Voila' she ran. Ran her for 10 minutes. Until she was getting too warm. She is air/oil cooled and needs to move to cool. During this time the alternator voltage read 13.8 volts initially and settled in at 13.6 volts. The Clymer manual says 13-14 v so that is about perfect.

Now I have "the Black Bird" running. I think I should be happy, but am not. The bike originally failed on me while riding. After being hauled back to Mike's shop I had charged the battery. Then she fired off for a brief time and then would crank but had no spark.

Reading on the web, the factory original HES is supposed to be the prime suspect., followed by the battery, coil, plugs, plug wires, and alternator. Had already replaced the original HES with a new improved HES in January 2011. So I am pretty confident of that. As noted all the others have checked out.

So all I have really done is clean the battery terminals, and disconnected and reconnected other junctions in the ignition system.

Is it fixed? Don't know. Kind of doubt it. Only riding will tell. If not you will probably be jolted by a flash of blinding light, an angry roar, and a mushroom cloud rising out of east Texas. Relax, it isn't WW III. It only be me getting a little frustration off my chest as I push "the Black Bird" to a safe place to await rescue.

I am off to the soccer wars in Dallas again at 4:00 AM , but it appears we will get rained out if the forecast for tonight and Saturday hold. If I do get Sunday free as a result, I plan to try to get rolling again on my IM. Really itching to get on with it.

Hope everyone has a great week end.

God Bless!

"The Black Bird" w/ soccer referee equipment attached.