Leaderboard

I need to go through and complete a bunch of deferred maintenance. Oil and brake fluid changes. Adjust the valve clearances (a BMW boxer sensitive area). The headlight assembly needs to be replaced. The right turn signal doesn't work. Plus a bunch of cosmetic stuff. I also need to synchronize the throttle bodies. I put it on the sync measurement tool back in the late summer so I already know it is way off, but I didn't adjust it back then. It struggles with idling until it is pretty well warmed up and getting those in sync will fix that. As weather allows, it will probably be: Valve clearance adjustment Alternator belt change Throttle body sync General debris cleanup Oil change, brake fluid change Headlight assembly and turn signals (switch to LED where possible) I still will need to acquire a new front faring and possibly a windscreen. There is some fogginess in the windscreen that looks bad and I can't seem to get it clean. From there, I'll ride and reassess. Yesterday I found that the bike has the same accessory plug as my Scrambler, so I am able to have them share the battery tender easily. I ride as cold as 50 degrees if I have thermals on with my Scrambler. I'll have more wind protection with this, so I might be able to go lower. Done so far: New tires mounted cylinder sync test (failed) Brake pad and rotors checked for spec (passed, but not surprising because the lone receipt I have for maintenance is for new pads in 2018) Tank drained Battery replaced Positive battery cable terminal replaced Air filter replaced (had been mouse munched)

Since it's been so cold I haven't done much work on it. But last month I took the wheels off and dropped them off to have new tires fitted. Put the wheels back on today and repaired a positive battery cable that I had broken in the fall. Today it moved under it's own power for the first time in probably years. I took it for a very short spin up the block and back.

To go with the above Red Bull/Ford announcement.. An SVT/performance Lightning would be pretty whoop-@ss! https://www.autoblog.com/2023/02/06/ford-high-performance-electric-pickup-truck-teaser-red-bull-announcement/ "What's the guaranteed follow-up to an automaker making a big fuss about entering a global motorsport series? Talk how about race technology is going to carom off the track and into the street cars in the parking lot. When done properly, the talk can be demonstrated with a street car that maximizes the transfer possibilities such as the Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT3 or the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06. It can also happen in a more general, widespread way that's equally beneficial, like when Volvo entered the World Touring Car Championship in 2016 and Polestar began to really bloom. Now we get Ford returning to Formula 1 in 2026 with Red Bull as Red Bull Ford. As part of the announcement, Motor Authority picked up on the Dearborn manufacturer showing an infographic about how its global motorsports programs exchange expertise from road to race and back. In the lower right of the image at top, the slide shows something wicked, new and electric this way comes. We're not sure precisely what the vehicle will be, but it will join the cadre of EV performance demonstrators Ford's been showing for the past two years. The pickup silhouette leads to the obvious guess that we're looking for an imperious F-150 Lightning. The other EV demonstrators are the seven-motor, 1,400-horsepower Mach-E 1400 Prototype, the Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 dragstrip special, the 1978 F-100 Eluminator pickup with two crate e-motors, and the 1,973-hp quad-motor SuperVan 4 that gets from zero to 62 miles per hour in less than two seconds. The silhouettes in the other slides are the Mustang GT3 in the upper left, the Ranger Raptor in the upper right, and the Red Bull Ford we imagine will be the RB22 assuming Red Bull's naming convention holds through 2026. The biggest issue we have with the EV demonstrators we've seen so far is that no one can buy them. The standard Lightning with 563 hp and 775 lb-ft is certainly quick in its own right, though it does contend with the weight of many batteries. Still, if there were ever a time for the return of a retail Lightning with electric performance as comparatively audacious as the original, now is it."

Here's a pretty crazy idea that's apparently already in the works, too. https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-red-bull-developing-strategically-important-ev/ "Earlier today, Ford announced a surprise return to Formula 1 racing in a new partnership with Red Bull Racing starting in 2026 to explore and develop vehicle dynamics, stability control, traction control, dynamic drive modes, software engineering and battery management, and of course, aerodynamics for future Ford production cars. In an interview with MotorTrend, Ford CEO Jim Farley hinted that they've already been hard at work on a "strategically important" EV we can get excited about." I know you're being sarcastic but the G Wagen was all-new in 2019. Okay, now that I think about it, that's already FOUR YEARS OLD! Dang, how time flies.

I actually like the silhouette on this. Like I have stated plenty times already, it seems like OEMs are designing their CUVs to be more sedan-like. We maybe finally going away from the sport utility styling and back to sedan styling again. And I applaud ANY effort that does away with the crapastic classical CUV stylings. Change the type of headlights in the front for an LED cluster package system that we have today and the Eagle hasnt aged one bit... However...cant Toyota figure out how to do decent front ends? Honestly!!!