Coffee June ninth 2012

Come, please join us for a coffee social and food fit for a king. After all, we are kings.... Each of us is the king of coal burning.

A big variety today for breakfast. It's going to be a smorgasbord of delight, a fine fancy meal worthy of.... Oh, wait... looks like cold cereal. Maybe next will bring better fare. But the coffee is the best & so are the people.

Ohhhh, baby, I've got myself into a good one this time. A neighbor down the road acquired this car only to find the engine he has doesn't fit. He heard about me looking for a small car to make into an electric and donated it for that cause. At first I declined as it needs a HUGE amount of work. But then I thought it might be worth it. How much work can a 90 inch long car be? Time will tell. What is it? A 1957 BMW Isetta.

Freddy, is that a three wheeler?

Looks like three, but it's four! The rear wheels are about 24" apart. Some Isetta were three wheels, but the BMW was four. The front wheels are about four feet between the wheels. LOL You could fit this in a Smart Car! Those wheels and tires are not correct. I have the proper wheels. They are a 10 inch wheel. The temporary ones that are on it are "mini spare' wheels from modern cars.

NOOO FREDDY!! That one was on the top 10 worst cars of all time list recently posted! RUN! The electric motor will most likely be a vast improvement.


Man what a stressful, crappy week here. Monday I drove across the state to help a buddy with his '83 Nighthawk. Got that running & brought it home for more work, seeing that my brother's bike was supposed to be all done & out of here a week ago. Well, you know how my luck goes -- I go to fire up my brother's bike to go get a sticker for it ... no headlight. WTF ... had a package all strapped down so I could hit the post office on the way .... so now back in the shop, tear it all apart again. I get the headlight working, so I go for a rip up the street to make sure I'm all set. NOPE! Can't even get past 1/4 throttle. Now I'm pissed ... and the post office is closing in 15 minutes. So I jump in my truck ... and discover that problem I had last year with the whole right side running lights is back! REALLY??? Anyone want an '07 Silverado? I probably burned 10k off the rear tires on that trip. Anyway, I get back & start tearing into the carb on the bike, as this is a classic main jet/needle/emulsion tube symptom - figured I missed or forgot something inside. Waste of time - it's perfect. So now testing the ignition. Bike fires right up and idles perfect ... and the ignition coil, spark plug, pulser coil, & source coil all check out good, and are all putting out voltage in spec. WTF! So I narrow the gap on the old spark plug & throw it back in - runs decent now. So I've got weak spark ... and my brother is tapped out financially. Already put $1,200 into this bike & hasn't taken one ride on it yet! So the plan is, since he's headed to ME next week for vaca, he's gonna drop all the ignition parts at a guy in NH who will test them all, so we're not throwing money at it without actually fixing anything. CDI box is $200 on eBay, Stator assembly is $380 oem , or about $250 at a rewind shop with the pulser coil, and the ignition coil is about $70 oem, or $30 used on eBay. Without being able to test anything above idle with any accuracy, I'm done with this one for now. What a pain in the ass!

Hope you all had a better week than I did!

SMITTY wrote:That one was on the top 10 worst cars of all time list recently posted!

Did it also mention that in running condition they bring upwards of $45,000?

Wow BMW people are insane ......

Morning all, nothing wrong with cold cereal. Got some kind of 3 wheeled truck running around here, haven't seen it close enough to see what it is but it's not much bigger than that Isetta. Got to get the hay fields raked & then start bailing, at least we didn't get a heavy dew this morning. Hope everyone has a good safe day.

Good morning all,

This morning I'm heading out to the Shenandoah Valley to a Hosta Festival. Imagine, despite the fact this nursery has hundreds of varieties of Hostas I couldn't get anyone to go with me voluntarily and I couldn't come up with a bribe big enough to get any takers. Some folks just don't recognize a good time when it comes along. Then it's back home to host a BBQ. I finally got stung by the bees. I'm happy to say I'm one of the folks that don't have much of a reaction at all. I slapped a meat tenderizer paste on it and that was that, little to no pain. Still I'll not try to duplicate the event in the future. I was stupid and I knew better.

One more week of school and then I'm heading to GA to help my mom. Dad is about the same which means he is bedridden and sleeping about 20 hours a day. There really isn't much to do but just having someone else in the house will help.

Freddy, that's a cool car. I hope you can get it going. SmartCars aren't so big around here because of the huge volume of traffic and speeds on the roads. People just can't see them among the bigger cars. That's why DK stopped riding his motorcycle, a 650, downtown to work everyday; too many close calls.

Well, I hope everyone gets the things on their to do list done today. Take care, Lisa

Aww..it's cute. Like a coffin on wheels.

I'm drinking some French Vanilla coffee right now. Debating on the cereal or the chocolate cake for breakfast.

You know you want the chocolate cake!

Mornin all. Coffee's outstanding as usual Freddy. Got a lot of hay down & we got rain this AM. Oh well, an ocassional down day on the hill ain't bad. Had a friend show up yesterday & took the horses out for a 5 hr ride. Beautiful day to do it. I feel like I got hit by a 10 wheeler. This gettin older crap ain't all it's cut out to be. Have a good week-end all. Nice project Freddy And that SMITTY is why my wrenchin days are pretty well behind me. If it don't have points, coil & an old S&S--I don't get it anymore

I will just grab a cup o' Joe and go get started on my job list. More details later...

Was out at 05:00...toooooo nice to sleep late! Looks like a perfect '10' day!!! Lawns are going nuts growing an 1" a day at least!
'Rollin' Thunder' is headed for Laconia ......heard them all night! Nice weekend at the lakes, and a nice time to ride.

I saw the 'Honey Do' before I went to bed, so you all know the deal....
I'm burning about 40 lbs a day with this cooler week; those 50 degree nights cool things a little bit too much. Drink those "Big Gulps" and enjoy your day!

I remember that BMW from the early 60's......strange rig....small.....room for your ass and a gallon of gas..... Fred, I'd carefully reevaluate your task before you go 'electric'. LOTS of work....buy a golf cart and stick the body on that!

Back in the day I remember saying : Can you imagine hitting a Mack truck with that rig.....like a June bug hitting the windshield at 60 mph! No time to say ouch!!...like an ultralight cockpit with no wings..........

LsFarm wrote:Good Morning, Freddy, just strong coffee for me.. eating breakfast gives me the 'slows'.. I don't get anything done if I eat in the morning.
Greg L

This happens to me too. My mind goes blank after eating that big bowl of cereal. Seems a Micky D sausage biscuit sandwich works better. Oh well, no healthy breakfast for me!

Sad week here, our family pet I named Kitty was euthanized on Monday after she lost ability to walk or eat & drink last Sunday. I sat with her all day Sunday. All she could do was lay on the sofa and dose in & out of consciousness. A slight purr when I'd touch her. We'd stay up with her most of the night but no change. Monday morning the vet looked at her, wanted to admit her for observations and a few tests. All tests were negative, no feline leukemia, no liver disease, lungs clear. But she was having trouble swallowing her own saliva. 4hrs at the vet and her condition worsen to the point where we couldn't let it go on as she was choking. Kitty didn't appear to be in any pain. This is what made it so difficult. And she was so peaceful at home before I took her to the vet. I still question my decision to send her into a busy vet hospital. But it was inevitable in the end. This was tough on both my son & I. She will be missed. Kitty had a rare personality for a cat, always friendly, everyone's friend, scared of nothing. She was here since we moved into this house. I rescued her from a neighbor's barn in 2002. She was the only kitten who would allow me to come close to her in the barn.