wanted: motorcycle mechanic tutor

I'm looking for someone to teach me the basics of how a motorcycle works. I live in Long Beach, Calif. I will drive north up as far as Camarillo or south to San Clemente. You should be able to take a bike all the way down to the frame and build it back up. Engine down to the block and back up. I would like to do this all myself but need someone to help me understand basic concepts. I stare like a deer in headlights at manuals. I will pay 35.00 per hour and three hours per session and one session per month. I would like to meet about 12 times and think that would give me a good start. I can bring my bike to you or you can drive to my place. Also if you know of someone who might be able to help me that would be greatly appreciated. You should know VF and VFR and also inline 4 as I have all three bikes. Thanks for your time.

Karl

 

You probably won't get much response here unless you change your payrate to the beer equivalent LOL ! Good luck there are plenty of good folks around here so I'm sure someone will take care of you.

Rollin

 

Have you checked with your local community colleges?

 

great suggestion - I was going to put an ad up in the local craigslist but not everyone knows about v4. But maybe there are some that can read the manual and do it correctly. I know my dad worked on tanks in the marines. The only thing he needed was the manual. Of course that became a problem since I never had to fix anything.

 

heh heh... the best way IMO is to grab the book and just start taking things apart.... take one piece off, figure out how it works put it back on rinse and repeat... If you get the factory book , it will show you step by step how to tear the thing apart down to pretty much every nut and bolt... good luck..

 

maybe I should do that - if I took pictures with my digital camera of before and after it might work. Also if I had different size zip lock bags to put things in. I know if I took it apart the shop that does all my work would put it right back together if I couldn't figure it out. Actually it's not the 93 VFR that's killing me it's the 86 ninja 1000R and 84 Yamaha FJ1100. The pressing reason is I also have a mint 83 VF750F that has 4000 miles on it. It was on a non operational status when I got it but I want to get it going. I need to clean the carbs, change the fork seals etc. It sat for a least a couple years. I've had it for about six months. I'll just post a picture of the area with a what do I do now.

 

also youtube has a bunch of how to videos. I watched two yesterday on taking off back tires. One guy was talking about being careful and using a hammer that had sand where you hit it and said to be careful. He also used brand new pins. The next video had a guy taking a regular hammer and screwdriver and started pounding on the axle. He used the old rusted pin to secure it and said that's how you do it.

 

"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." ~ Spicoli


But seriously, good luck in your search. Local community college/Tech school sounds like a great idea.

 

I would hold off on beating anything with a rusty sand filled hammer.... the key is to go slow and take your time, the carbs probably do need cleaning. remember to not take the big silver thing off of the top of the carbs or you will be looking for springs all over the place.
there is a carb cleaning thread here (somewhere) TOECUTTER is the one that wrote it up

 

Hey Karl, You're not the guy who just bought my Pop's '86 Ninja a few weeks back. Are you? He's had that thing down to bare bones as you described at least twice.

 

I would help oot for beer but you are a bit too far away.

 

no - I've had it for about a year now. I finally got it working well. It sounds like he took good care of it. Mine had years of neglect that ended up costing me a great deal of money. But I learned my lesson. If it looks like it might have some problems then take it to a dealer and pay the fifty dollars to get it checked out.

 

Karl - Sorry I won't be popping over from the Snowy French Alps just now, but this should give you the basics - Motorcycle Repair Course

Its written in very plain English and if you only do one section at a time its not too intimidating. If you do the whole course people will be ringing you for advice.

Enjoy

Skimad4x4

 

My friend's husband teaches motorcycle repair at LA Trade Tech College, and it's a very good course.

Transportation Technologies| Motorcycle Repair

His name is Bob Price. ...if you're looking to learn to wrench, that's a very good place to start.

 

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I have a lot of ideas now to go with and I think I will do it myself and if I have problems then I can put the bike in the back of my truck or maybe just take the part in and take it to the shop. I can do until I get until I get more confidence. The L.A. trade tech also sounds cool. I will check into that program. I think I will also post a thread about what I'm doing and get some responses. The first will be the carburetors.

 

That seems like a good plan Karl. There's really nothing terribly difficult when working on these bikes, it's just a matter of patience. Be methodical in everything you do, take notes (take photos if you have a digital camera handy) as these things can really help you out later as you put things back together.

There's lots of information on how to do things on these forums, and lots of people who've done it all before.

If you're tearing into carbs first, and you're successful, you will have tackled the "trickiest" part of the bike. You'll want to get (or make) a carb balancing setup. Also, be sure to inspect any of the rubber parts as a bike that old may have some dry-rot / brittle parts that need replacing. Also be judicious where you spray carb cleaner as it can eat up rubber parts. ...and compressed air is your friend. Just go through them step by step as indicated in the manual and you should be fine.

Be sure to post some pics of your progress, and have fun!!!

 

Two things a novice mechanic needs to learn: 1.) don't overtighten bolts & 2.) don't undertighten bolts.

I would not recommend a carb job to a novice as it requires a delicate touch and tons of patience and organizational skills. Lots of damage can be done by inexperienced hands.

Many mechanical f-ups happen because people use poor quality tools which break and damage screwheads or bolts, so if your tools are "made in China" or "made in Taiwan" you should consider getting better equipment.

 

Wow, that looks like a wealth of knowledge there man, I can't wait to start goin through that!! I'm gonna need a laptop fer the can so I can get my readin on!!

 

funny - brings back memories from my teenage days. The only thing I can remember was tightening a bolt on carburetor on my Bultaco 250.( It was a crazy thing and the accelerator cable use to stick wide open on me and that was when it ran, usually people were pulling me with a rope when we went to the desert) The only thing I remember was using the biggest ratchet my dad had in the garage and I noticed that it didn't even start to tighten up and wondering why it wasn't tightening and then it snapped. My father came home and I showed it to him and he just looked at me and said why use the biggest ratchet we have on that little carburetor. So he later came out and did what he needed to do to get the snapped bolt out.