Now Living in the South

Well the dream of leaving home and getting away from it all as been realized. Ive made the move from Elkhart to Jacksonville, NC. living in the RV with my brother. its going pretty smooth for me but I've been living in the RV for several months so it was just a change in view out the window for me. it was really easy to make the move. starting out parked in my parents yard for a few months until now. by brother also live in a RV for a few months with his wife and 4 kids plus 2 cats. so it wasn't anything new for him either. just more room now that the kids are only here on the weekends.

the trip down went pretty smooth even hauling my converted pop up to cargo trailer. i wasn't sure what kind of mileage the RV would get, with it having a 454 in it and all. but the price of fuel dropped from $4 a gallon to around $2 just in the nick of time. the first take of fuel i averaged 4.7 mpg but there was probably a 1/4 tank used up just in the yard before we left. we had to move the RV around the yard a few times and extension cords wouldn't reach so we had to use the generator. the second take got 8mpg and that was alot of mountains. so i figured that was pretty good. (well it could of been worse) i bet it would get pretty good mileage without the trailer, that is for a big motor home anyways.

right now were in a buddy of my brothers driveway for the next week till we can get into the RV park we found. we were looking at one park that had access to the waterway but found a better and cheaper park down the road a ways. the site is pretty nice too. lots of tree coverage and from the looks of it the neighbors are right up my alley. rednecks through and through. funny thing is that our neighbor at the park converted a pop up to a cargo trailer too. were going to copy his idea of using vinyl siding on the outside.

an added bonus of the new park we found is its within walking distance to the boat launch. my brother has a boat but needs a motor with controls so that will be on the list of things to start bartering for. i might end up looking for a replacement for the motorhome aswell. its in worse shape than i had orginal thought. the side wall is comming away from the floor in the front by the door. its out a good 1 1/2" so that will have to be taken care of soon. even down here its going to cost a bit to heat and cool this old thing even without the gaps to let air in. not to mention creatures that we might not want in.

another deal

i couldnt leave things alone. i ended up trading the ford for this motorhome. its a 27ft. 1985 with a 454 with 76,000 miles.
i had to clean it top to bottom. it had been sitting for a few years and had cob webs all over.
the side was coming loose so with typical fasion i tore into it to find a heck of a mess. all the wood was rotten and had to be replace. ants had made several nests in the walls.
even around the onboard generator was rotted. it took a few weeks to get the outside put back together. now im working on the back bedroom. ive been staying in it and sleeping on the couch. everything works in it. fridge, stove, microwave, ac, heat, everything. the generator works great, runs quite, and will power the whole coach.

some people have all the luck.

some more dealin i did. i traded the silver fzr for this truck. its an 82 f150 4x4. 3" lift with 33" tires.
pretty solid truck over all. just a little rust starting to come through.

63 chevy short bed fleetside

some more wheelin and dealin, traded my big 88 chevy blazer for this 63 chevy pickup.
it does run, but needs some work. nothing i cant handle. it should keep me busy for awhile.

yz490 yz400

white and red is a 88 yz490 yellow is a 79 yz400
i got these by trading the slide in camper for them. i had to take it to indy and pick these up. not too bad of a deal i think. ive had these for a few months. the 400 i traded off for a carb and intake and the 490 runs pretty good. lots of power.

Damn thats Hot

This is what my dodge looked like when it was new. its been down a log hard road in its life but she is still a jewel in my eyes. with 506,000 miles and counting, and after a few wrecks over the years, and me rolling it she's no spring chicken but she still runs like a champ.

My Camper

i had to have a new project lined up when i got the dodge done. i found this little honey down the road at a sale. $100 and she was mine.
here i am taking the dodge down to pick her up. i had already cut the roof of but she was still driveable.
a little soap and water and she cleaned up fairly well. ill be replacing some of the paneling and redoing a few things. there isent a fridge but the stove and electric heater work.
the toilet was removed and a portable one was put in its place. i have no idea why. ill be putting a new one back in. i also have to replace the water heater but thats not a big deal. after all i live in the rv captol of the country so getting parts wont be much of a problem.
here i am again bringing the camper home. once i get it fixed up a bit ill be using it as a home away from home when i make trips to michigan for the weekend. it will be nice to be able to just jump in the truck and go without haveing to pack up cloths and figueing out where im going to sleep once i get there. plus if i deciede to go out on the town and tie one on i wont have to worry about driving home or sleeping across the seat of the truck. i can just climb in the back and sleep in my own bed. ive been wanting one of theres for awhile now. and if you know me then you know how well this fits.

Dodge Finished

Well it took a little longer than i had planned but the dodge is now up and running. it was just too hot most of the summer to work on it. i worked on days that it was fairly cool. took about a week if i would of done it straight.
i took her apart piece by piece. i did this with a sawzaw and a cut off saw. it was fairly easy taking the old doge apart this is the truck i bought to fix the dually with. its an 85 1/2 ton. it did run and drive but i wanted my dually and my diesel engine.
the 85 wouldnt of held up to the added weight of the diesel engine or the power. it would of been way more work to swap motors than it was to swap cabs. i used the cab and whole front end off the 85 and mounted them to the 93 frame.
here is the front of the dodge after the swap. ive got some photos of how we removed the cab that ill get on here later. she is now legal and road ready. it good to have her whole again. nobody figured id get her done and back on the road. but once i set my mind to somthing i can do anything.

James & Steve Auto Lot

Just a few pics of the vehicles that we have sitting around

left to right my 88 blazer, my 84 blazer, steve's 79 truck

steve's 89 blazer. tires off my 88 (too small for my blazer, fit his nicely)

whats left of my 89 jimmy, borrowed a few parts off it.

beer and corn field didnt mix too well. notice the roof sitting on the car behind it

she became a mud toy till i blew it up. behind is steves 67 chevy long box. after a complete restore its now just sitting collecting rust again. what a shame

my 93 dodge after i jacked the roof up, in the process of replacing the cab. right : sisters car

left: steve's new car, right: steve's old car

future derby car, and old derby car

not too much damage

oops, guess i was wrong

Fizzer update

Did a little work to the fzr this weekend. pretty much got most of the fab. work done. now i just need to paint it. im going with the same blue and white that it is now. dont know if it will be this summer or winter. depends on how froggie i feel. all the fairing tabs are welded on now. i had to do alot of plastic welding to get the ender tail the way i wanted it. now im pretty much left with tearing it all back down again, and painting the sub-frame. that will most likely come later in the week.

Wooden Spoons

i got this in an email today and had to post it up here. its the funniest thing i have seen in awhile.

Almost finished

I finally got a new right side fairing for the bike this weekend. along with a new tank cover. but when i pulled the left side down i realized that it was broke worse than i had remembered so I'll be ordering a new left side too. i still need to paint the upper fairing and weld the mounting tabs for the tail piece. but it is slowly getting finished.

IF IT WERNT FOR BAD LUCK

After rolling my jimmy and only having my vision to ride i bought this dodge from my step-dad. its a 93 1 ton dually with a cummins diesel. it had been sitting for about 5 years after the tranny went out, so he thought. the truck was solid, no rust, just were the paint had peeled off, and a few nickle size dents here and there. i got it with just under 500,000 miles. after draining the tranny and changing the fluid and filter i found that the whole tranny wasn't bad it was just the overdrive. i put about 10,000 miles on it before rolling it into a ditch. (well that's the short story)

i drove it home from the impound with a smashed windshield, no lights, and the roof caved in. i didn't loose any oil after the roll over but it took 5 quarts of tranny fluid to get her to move. once back home i started the process of seeing what all needed fixed. the drivers door and front fender are trashed. as well as the rear dually fender, but those are easily replaced. the roof was my main concern. by using some boards stacked on the floor and a bottle jack i managed to get the roof back up where it belonged. but after that i ran into more problems. the roof is two pieces. an inner and outer shell. after sitting for years it had rusted along the front of the roof separating the two. i had no idea how to go about fixing this problem so i moved on to the lights. the problem with them was easy to spot once i pulled the switch out and saw that the plug had melted. easy fix i simply cut the plug in and plugged the wires right to the switch.

i called a windshield company out to see if they would be able to put a new windshield in for me but they said it was not straight enough and it would crack. so this has left me with only two options. 1. cut the top off and weld on a new one provided i can find one. and 2. get a whole new cab. well both of these options are not easily done, nore do i have the time or tools right now to do this. so for now the dodge sits in my buddy's driveway covered with a tarp waiting for me to decide what I'm going to do with it.

so now i am left driving not my beautiful black blazer, but a p.o.s. that i bought for parts. the black blazer has a cracked head, possible bad tranny, transfer case leaks, front diff. has water in it, and the floors are rotted through. so i ended up taking the headers, exhaust, alternator, starter, radiator, and the steering wheel all off the black one and putting it on my blue one. now this blue one i speak of is a 84 with a 305 2" body lift and 32" tires. i had to lift the rear just to get the exhaust off the black blazer to fit under it. but i went too high with the 3" lift in the rear and need to lift the front now just to make it look right. it has an add a leaf in the front for the plow that used to be on it.

i will try to get some pics of the blue one and then do a full write up one it later.

I finally went down

Well i knew it would happen some day. i was headed up to michigan for the weekend on my FZR. i hate taking the main roads so i took back roads most of the way. i got about 4-5 miles from my buddies house when the road turned to gravel. i forgot this road wasent paved all the way down. so instead of turning around i just slowed down a bit and road on. i really dont know how fast i was going but all of a sudden the front end started to shake side to side and i knew i was going down. i hit the ground on my knuckles and right front of my helmet, then tumbled a few times and came sliding to a stop about 200ft. from where i first hit. there was a guy that was just about to pull out of his drive way when i went by. he said it didnt look like i was going very fast, i dont know i wasent looking at my speed, i do know that i was in 5th and slowing.
i layed on the ground for about 5 min as he was on the phone with 911. it wasent so much the pain but the adrelin was flowing pretty good. after about 5min. i could start to feel my body and started to move. there was no pain in my neck or my back so i got up on my feet. i could feel the rash on my left knee, and my right hip. but other than that i seemed to be fine. i took of my helmet, jacket and gloves, and saw that they did a great job at protecting me. my visor was toast but the rest seemed to fair pretty well. no ambulance needed, but they were sending a cop out.
i started to look the bike over as it layed on its left side. the guy helped me pick it up and push it out of the road. i could smell gas but seen no oil coming out anywhere and the r1 tail i just put on didnt brake, just minor rash. both front and rear seat where down the road so i went and got them. no major damage to them. the only real damage was it bent my left handle bar slightly and broke my left mirror. i let the bike sit for a few min. and it fired right up. then a state trooper showed up, and since no one else was involved i got off without a ticket. and was able to ride the bike to my buddies house right down the road.
all in all i was really lucky, the bike shop my brother works for was having a yard sale sat. and i was able to pick up a new scorpion exo helmet for $150, mine was toast. they even had a front cowl for the bike which i needed still from the first crash (my step-bro's) for $20. so that worked out really well. if i haddent needed a new helmet i wouldnt of found it.
the only thing now is when i was headed home monday night i stoped for a bite to eat and i could smell rotten eggs. found that the battery was boiling over and was really hot. it wouldt start after that and had to have my dad bring his truck and tow it back home. whats messed up is i rode it all over this weekend after the crash putting almost 150 miles on it and didnt have a problem. the crash must of messed up the battery.

I finally got around to posting some pic's of the tail swap finished. Well mostly finished. I have to get a welder to maked my final mouting tabs but other than that im done with the tail. Now i just got to get my side and front fairing then a paint job and i should be done for awhile.
I just finished putting a new set of polished forks and clip-ons on. (not in above pics) Some of the other things i want to do is repaint the rims. Either black or blue. I want to paint the rest of the bike the same as the tail.

R1 tail swap

As is my nature I couldn't leave well enough alone. I bought a R1 tail off ebay and now I've begun the task of making it fit the fizzer. I knew it wasn't going to be a simple bolt on job but IM always up for a challenge. Airtech sells a kit that is made for the fizzer to make it look similar to a r1 but many have done this mod and I figured id try my luck at using an actual r1 tail.

After removing the rear fairing and the tail light that I had mocked up from the vision. Which I spent many hours making it fit. I was ready to start the task of removing all the brackets from the sub-frame. I will have to make up a coolant bottle and move the wiring that was mounted to the side.



After hours of grinding, I had to do some more grinding, and when that was done I had to do some more grinding. Now I've got it all ready to start the hard stuff. The tail now fits onto the sub-frame. After sitting the tail in place I realized that the stock fizzer seats wont work with the new tail. So off to ebay I go to see if I can get a set for cheap. For now IM waiting on the seats. Once I get the seats and the tail were I want it ill have to make an under-tail out of some abs plastic.

Biker friendly

I just ran across this site. Its a great idea and id like to pass it along http://bikerfriend.org/

it will help bring awareness to bikers. Everyone that rides a bike should have one on there car too.

I Just Got Really Lucky

most of the time me and law enforcement don't get along. as some of you may know i just lost my license for 2 months. before this happended i had ordered some new foot pegs for my fzr600 from my local dealer. well i had all but forgeten about them till today when they call and say if i don't come and pick them up there gonna put them out on the shelf and charge me a restocking fee. so since i already paid for them and i do need them i decide to just jump on fzr and ride on over there.

i get on my helmet, jacket, boots, and gloves hook up my net to the back seat and off i go. i got to the end of my road, and what do i see..... the local pd. instatant fear rushes through me. here i am no license, i took the plate off the vision and just slapped it on the fzr,no insurance, and to top it all of the bike has a loud Vance&Hines pipe on it. i check out my mirror (only have one, other one is busted off) and i see him pull out and get in behind me. my heart stops i know i screwed. i turn left and he follows, i get red at the next light. by now i know he's running my plate and I'm hoping Indiana cant see that Michigan has suspended me. i go through the next light and make another left, and he is still there.

so now I'm thinking I'm in the clear, he doesn't know, I'm good, just watch myself, and try not to draw attention. i keep checking my mirror and i can see that he is dropping back, I'm not speeding so, its all good. i get to keep my bike for another day. i get to the dealer, use my signal and hand signals, and then just as i pull in he cuts off the car that had gotten behind me, flips his lights on and pulls in right behind me boxing me in. i get off the bike as he is walking up to me. i get my gloves off and i can see he is waiting for me to take off my helmet. i get the helmet off:

officer: you James
me: yea
officer: you know you shouldn't be riding, i ran your plate and it came as your license being suspended
me: yea, i know (no attitude i know I'm screwed)
officer: why you riding
me: well, (i had time to think of this while i was waiting for him to pull me over when i first saw him) i had to go to the drug store to get my blood thinners (no lie i was stopping there on the way home) and i couldn't get anyone to give me a ride so since i had to go out i figured id get my parts at the same time.
officer: what drug store were you going to
me: osco right back there on my way home.
officer: why didn't you stop there first
me: i didn't want to have to cross traffic
officer: you know this could now cost you a tow and impound fee not to mention the added court costs.
me: yea I'm really sorry but i had too. i can call someone to come get the bike if you'll let me. i know I'm not supposed to be riding. ill leave it here and get a ride.
officer: the reason i got behind you was cause you bike is so loud
me: (i didn't say nothing just kind of shook my head like OK)
officer: tell you what, if i see you out here again I'm gonna impound the bike and take you to jail.
me: (big sigh of relief) thank you. and have a nice day.

he goes and gets in his car as i walk into the dealer and of course everyone in there was like "what he stop you for" and i told them loud exhaust, and walk over to the parts counter. get my parts and ask the guy if they had a phone i can use to call for my truck. they say no problem and i call. my mom had just left to get my nephew a hair cut and left one sleeping kid with my dad who didn't have a car seat. so i had to wait for her to get back. i go out side and have a smoke and a couple salesmen walk out and asked me to fire it up to see how loud it was. they said it wasn't that loud, that guy was a jerk. so i had to defend him (cant believe it I'm sticking up for a cop) and tell them that i actually got really lucky cause my license just got suspended.

i got to chat with the salesman while i was waiting and check out all the new bikes. so now i bet when i go in there they will remember me and i might actually get good service

FZR600 PROJECT

After my step-bro wrecked the fizzer I took the opportunity to get me yet another bike. As the other posts show this bike needs some work. After tearing into it I found that the tail was all but done fore. Without buying all the pieces for a new tail my only options were to either to just put what I had left (wasn't much just the lens and tail light) or fab one from parts off a vision.


well I thought the vision tail light wouldn't look that bad on the fizzer. And considering Im rebuilding this bike on next to nothing it was the best option I had. I paid $500 for the bike and had to pay $20 for a new peanut cover. I still got to get the front mounted, get new forks, front brake lever, right side foot peg, and a few other minor things but I'm well on my way to having one hell of a bike.

I had to mock up a mount out of some angle iron and then used an old license plate to mount a license plate light to, which is tucked up behind the tail light. the stock plugs for the lights were the same for the tail light and the bike so I didn't have to cut any wires all I did was plug it right in. I still got to mount some turn signals since I chopped the rear fender (god I hate rear fenders) I figured id try to mount the signals through the bottom of the grab bars if I can. Or ill just have to make something up.

Things NOT to do on a motorcycle

The other day my step-brother Rob and I decided to get our bikes out and go for a ride down the road. It was a rather nice day and we were just going down the block. No helmets and no jacket. All Rob was wearing was basketball shorts and a cut off shirt, I was in jeans and a t-shirt. I had just pulled back into my garage when I heard the sound. a sound unlike another. I heard his engine rev'd and then scraping. http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i85/bikevision/bubscrash.jpg


I knew right away what had happened. He broke loose in some loose gravel and then the bike hooked up. When it caught pavement the front came up and over. Down he went rolling like a tumble weed. For not having a helmet or any protective gear one he was really lucky. No broken bones just some major road rash. http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i85/bikevision/bubscrash2.jpg



the worst part was he had just got the bike back form a guy who was going to buy it. Guess he should of. I made him an offer of $500 and if nobody makes a higher offer its mine Wednesday. http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i85/bikevision/bubscrash3.jpg