running bad (feeling blessed)...limped home (walking on air)

[hppants]

The grenade was out back and while they guys loaded it in Redfish’s truck.

I did some poking around the bone yard. I had one of these, too. Talk about a death trap!!

Aaron started Isabella for us and she sounds very good. The cam chain tensioner has been replaced and there is NO valve train or cam chain noise what so ever.

I tried to encourage Mike to ride Isabella home, but he was not ready to do that. So then I asked him if I could ride her home, and that didn’t fly either. So on the trailer it goes.

Aaron was nice enough to show us his toys before we left. Toy #1 is a ’32 Ford kit car.

How about a fresh 468 with a roller cam and a big freakin double pumper on top?

Like the ghost flames on the door panels.

Ford 9” rear end and 4 wheel disc brakes compliment the package.

Aaron’s daily driver is a C4

But not just any C4…

He put 4:10 gears in it and some drag radials. He says when you stomp it, she goes. I have no doubt.

So we start heading South and by now, I could eat the rear end out of a mule. Thankfully, I didn’t have to.

Gotta have Food Porn for the ride report. Hamburger and Onion Rings for Redfish.

Mike goes with catfish, onion rings, and hush puppies. Good choice.

Pants will have the large cheeseburger and fries. Yee Haa!!!

After lunch, we press on to Mikes.

This most certainly is no trailer queen.

I insisted Mike take Isabella for a short spin before we left. It was kind of like a Mother Goose’s persistence that the chicks fly out of the nest.

The moment of truth.

This is what you did, my friends. You should all be proud of yourselves.

Redfish and I then headed West to reminisce about our great day.

Oh – Bonus Shot!!! I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this sweet F-150 XLT parked in one of Mike’s neighbor’s yard. Really clean truck.

Listening to Mike’s excitement on the way home about his upcoming rides was very rewarding. I’m sure you will share my pride when he attends his future Patriot Guard activities.

Well done. Very well done, indeed.

 

[TomInPA]

Proper ride report Pants. Thanks for the southern comfort that all is well.

 

[Patriot]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mholiver/sets/72157633177003506/

 

[Bustanut joker]

Glad to see your ordeal has come to it's conclusion Mike.

Couldn't help financially but know I was thinking good thoughts for you

 

[majicmaker]

Pants, this ride report couldn't possibly have been any better. When I ride up there to buy Redfish a beer. I wanna buy you one too!

 

[Fred W]

Whew... I can now breathe a sigh of deep relief that all has been set right in Metairie, Louisiana. I am so glad that this has come to such a happy ending.

Piling my thanks on, to everyone who pitched in, both in coin of the realm and sorely needed verbal support, for the Patriot. I think we can all appreciate now why Mike insists on bringing his bike so far up into the next state, to have Aaron work on it for him. You just can't find guys like that everywhere, never-mind that he works dirt cheap!

So even after buying the engine, few required parts, and paying Aaron, Mike has himself a little bankroll to help him continue on those Patriot Guard missions without further stressing out his home finances. What a great legacy for this forum to be supporters of.

Freedom Isn't Free​

Ride on, Mikey... Ride on!!

 

[wfooshee]

Well........ not to be a buzzkill, but....

Why are there no headlights in the riding pics?

 

[Fred W]

It was already mentioned that there is a "loose wire on the headlight", not sure what that meant exactly.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

A little follow up here.

The extra parts Aaron has listed were associated with the trashed rear wheel bearings. I don't remember the exact breakdown of what cost what, but Aaron showed me the rear wheel flopping around when Dad and I stopped last month. Aaron did not charge any extra labor for that job. You may note from the pics that he cleaned about 10 pounds of greasy dirt off the back wheel and swingarm as part of that job.

It should come as no surprise that Patriot has "modified" the headlight circuit along with all of the other added on electronics, lights, horns, etc. Aaron was reluctant to dig into the "Patriot Wiring" and I cannot blame him. Pants offered to stay and help Patriot find and repair the problem but Patriot had some family obligations to tend to, so we left him without headlights.

I also thought Pants did a great job with the report. Since he was the better photographer, I just reported what was necessary.

I gotta go. Dad's FJR is sitting outside and Pants is waiting on us somewhere at the end of a very twisty road.

 

[kamal]

Been following this saga since day one. There were more twists and turns than a best selling novel, it became a daily read for me.

Apart from the mechanical adventure, this became a heart warming story and I'm glad it is being covered elsewhere.

I knew nothing about the Patriot Guard Riders so I spent some time reading up on them, what a great organization.

I've also learned a bit about life in another part of our world and that people south of me eat hush puppies (I thought they were a brand of shoes?).

I have to get out more.

Ride on Sir Mike.

Al.

 

[ahchiu]

Mike,

Glad to see your bike back together and home safe and sound!.

 

[Patriot]

It was already mentioned that there is a "loose wire on the headlight", not sure what that meant exactly.

The extra parts Aaron has listed were associated with the trashed rear wheel bearings. I don't remember the exact breakdown of what cost what, but Aaron showed me the rear wheel flopping around when Dad and I stopped last month. Aaron did not charge any extra labor for that job. You may note from the pics that he cleaned about 10 pounds of greasy dirt off the back wheel and swingarm as part of that job.
It should come as no surprise that Patriot has "modified" the headlight circuit along with all of the other added on electronics, lights, horns, etc. Aaron was reluctant to dig into the "Patriot Wiring" and I cannot blame him.

bearings..."All Balls" SUCK...had 6 of them fail in under 40k miles...

in a decade, Aaron never had a problem, but now they are made in China...

with my bad experience, Aaron now goes with OEM

the headlight circuit was modified with an Eastern Beaver dual headlight harness that has a relay. With that, the headlights are powered directly from the battery and not through the ignition switch. The switch now only controls the relay. The connection to the battery needed (simple) attention.

 

[Patriot]

day 1 report: had to find and sort through my gear...absolutely perfect weather day...sunny and 60 at 8am to 72 at 3pm

was a "all mesh" day...hopefully summer gear till November

checked and properly aired up tires

mounted Zumo and Adaptiv radar detector

check battery after on tender all night

put flags back on trunk

ready to go...headlights and all

Funeral Mission for a Desert Storm Navy Corpman to the Marines

Very cool...it was a joint Navy/Marine honor funeral...if you didn't know, there are no medics in the Marine Corp...the Navy provides medics to serve alongside the Marines on combat patrols and every duty the Marine has...they are called "corpsman" instead of medics. So a corpsman in effect is an honorary Marine and is affectionately called "Doc."

Here I am serving...I wish I had taken pics of the Marines in full dress...the best the nation has to give IMHO (I was Navy)

Let me say the Marine Corp is the always most impressive, squared away group from what I've experienced at funerals over the years. God Bless the Army, Navy, & Air Force, but never is a hitch or mistake at a Marine Funeral. I don't even offer to help them...they never need it...I always let the other branches enlisted in charge know to get me if they need something.

The Marines seem to always have a live buglar for taps as opposed to a "fake" bugle with a speaker and mp3 playing "electronic" taps.

Here I am at work...this was the very beginning with preparation before visitation to the public begins:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mholiver/sets/72157633182785604/with/8625070717/

I noticed this caused from my lack of riding these last 8 weeks

of course you want my impression of the bike...

Kitten Purring Smooth...quiet...even inside my (amplified sounds) garage at idle, no weird metallic sounds of any kind

he set the idle to 950 and it purred like a kitten with no other adjective but smooooooooooooooooooooooth

riding, felt in the zone and the perfection of the moments...my test of an engine's performance:

there are "high rise" bridges...highways over small bodies of water...high enough that ships can pass under

the only thing that somewhat simulates a mountain climbing road

set the cruise to 78 in a 70 which hold perfectly mile after mile on the level in 5th gear

2 of those "monster bridges" are on the way...both climbs, watching the GPS speed indicator...

it stays locked on 78 and does not fluctuate in any way

strong, smooth, GREAT Engine

but then...........................

 

[Patriot]

Here's my kind of Nawlins' celebration of my excellent fortune

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mholiver/sets/72157633178791163/

 

[Patriot]

oh, but Aaron and I are probably going to remove that engine and keep it in my garage for another time

we found one of these surplus engine from the Air Force and have ordered motor mounts from Two Brothers (no not the ones we usually think of LOL)

I can't wait to ride my bike with this powering it:

 

[escapefjrtist]

Thanks for the ride report Mike! Great to see you back on the "job" and putting Isabella through her paces.

Not convinced you need motor mounts ^^^^ for the transplant...

--G

 

[airboss]

Mike are you sure that engine is certified for zero altitude.

 

[Fred W]

Not sure I'd swap in that new engine yet, Mike. It appears to have some giant holes in the heads and crankcase.

Better let Aaron do a leakdown test on it first.

 

[hppants]

And now for a programming note:

I do have the grenade in my shop, where it will stay safe and warm until I tear it down. When I do so, I will oil, bag, and label individual parts (with fasterners as applicable). These parts will be stored in my attic and I will create a seperate thread listing everything that is available. As promised, any forum member will have "first come, first serve" to any of these parts for only the cost of shipping. Details to be posted within the thread, and I will update the thread regularly.

At the same time, I plan to take my time disassembling the engine so that we may learn more about what happened and other things that may help us in the future. I am by no means an expert mechanic, but I have a good set of tools and can take directions fairly well. To that endeavor, I will start yet a seperate thread and I will be looking to our resident forum mechanical genius' for guidance. This is a motor with 160K on it and I thnik there might be a story here.

Now then, that will happen as soon as this great riding weather eases up. Looking at the extended forecast, I predict that will happen on about the "10th of I have no f-ing clue." Stay tuned... thanks.

We now return you to Isabella watching..

 

[Redfish Hunter]

I talk too much I know, but I have a couple more things I want to say on this whole deal.

Every week I receive numerous pieces of snail mail wanting me to donate money to some worthy cause. You name it, there is a fundraising organization to support it. I average 2 telemarketing messages requesting a donation on my landline answering machine per day. My son is forever bringing home World's Finest Chocolate or some other Fund Raising something or other from his school. Our church sends us what I consider a not so friendly reminder in the form of an envelope full of donation envelopes every few months. Even on the job we have to sit through a presentation once a year for the United Way, they will distribute my money to the charity that needs it most. Last month you could not get into or out of any of the local grocery stores without getting attacked by the Girl Scout Cookie warriors. There is always a commercial on TV asking me to send money to some foreign nation, some dog/cat cruelty fund, it never ever stops.

I choose to do things that help someone real to me. Those far off places and nameless faces are certainly needy, but I cannot see the immediate results of my donation. I want to know I did some good for someone. I want to help folks because it makes me feel good. Helping someone else fulfills a fundamental urge in my soul, it makes me feel good to do some good. I enjoy it much the same way I enjoy the motorcycle. I ride for happiness, I give for happiness. Sometimes it is money, sometimes it is labor and time. Sometimes it is a combination. The point is, that by doing something, giving something, I made myself happy. I hope that each of you realize that your supportive words, your encouragement, simply your participation in this thread helped not only Patriot, it helped YOU. You should all feel really good about what we did here. I know I do.

This forum means many different things to each of us. While it has taught me everything I ever needed to know about the FJR, it has brought me a whole new group of friends. You can never have too many friends.

To get myself back to normal: During Girl Scout Cookie season I take my 9 year old son with me EVERYWHERE I go. He is learning that a cute daughter often has a cute Mommie and he knows just which ones to approach with his little fist full of money. You have to donate your money where you SEE the results.

I did not want to stay too serious for too long, sorry.