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Posted: Feb 08, 2005 9:17 PM
by booker
Well, here in New Orleans, today was Mardi Gras. Vacation! :p

I have lived here all my life and seen loads of Parades and drunks, so I make it a point to get out of town on Fat Tuesday.

My buddy and I wanted to go to a new off-road park in Mississippi, Red Creek.

He has a '98 Honda 300EX ATV, and I have a '78 Kawasaki KE250.

Yep, '78:

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250 cc, 2 stroke, piston valve (no reed valves!), dual sport. Street legal, it has blinkers and all. Sucker has 24,xxx miles on it!!! I bought it for $300 (overpaid), put another $300 (or so) into it. Rebuilt the engine with parts and pieces, some from as far away as New Zealand. Go figure I buy a bike you can't get new parts for...

Anyway, we get to the riding area, unload both bikes out of the back of the Dodge, and start riding. Mind you, we've never been to this area.

After 10 minutes of exploring, I sink my bike in at least 2.5 ft of water:

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The engine was snuffed out and I was dead in the water. (pun intended)

We were able to push it out forward:

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The entire engine was obviously FULL of water. Here's the airbox:

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We pushed it back through the mud hole, using an alternate route. We then towed it back to the truck using the ATV. Hairy ride on an unpowered motorcycle!

First, we pulled the plug on the airbox and let it drain. We then pulled the spark plug and kicked it over a few times. Steady water coming out of the cylinder. Clean plug, install, start, no run. Repeat. Ended up pulling the carb, and found this brown muck in the bowl:

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Cleaned it with carb cleaner and gasoline, cleaned the plug, and kicked it over a few more times. Damn thing started.

Rode it for a minute, came back and checked the crankcase/tranny oil. Gross and milky. Drained it, refilled with fresh oil, and went ridin' :D

Hell, we had driven 2 hours to get there, got knocked down, but stood back up... I was gonna ride that sucker!!

We trail rode for about 2 hrs after that. The 'ol KE never missed a beat. The beach was worth it:

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Today was a good day... :p



[Edit by booker535 on [TIME]1107920838[/TIME]]

Posted: Feb 08, 2005 9:34 PM
by Madhungarian
That is a great story! You had all that stuff with you in the truck??? Amazing!

Posted: Feb 08, 2005 9:45 PM
by booker
[QUOTE="Madhungarian"]That is a great story! You had all that stuff with you in the truck??? Amazing![/QUOTE]

Yeah, we wre pretty well prepared for a break-down. hehe...

I actually only had 1 qt of oil. We had to trade a stranger 1 qt of oil for a bottle of water. He was much obliged, as were we...

;)

Posted: Feb 08, 2005 11:02 PM
by Layton
Great story, Patrick! And what a cool bike!

Posted: Feb 08, 2005 11:26 PM
by Layton
Well, Patrick -- I'm telling you the BourboCAM is looking really good right now. . . . .I think I would have waited to take that bike out until tomorrow!

[QUOTE="booker535"]Well, here in New Orleans, today was Mardi Gras. Vacation! :p

I have lived here all my life and seen loads of Parades and drunks, so I make it a point to get out of town on Fat Tuesday.[/QUOTE]

Posted: Feb 09, 2005 12:19 AM
by booker
[QUOTE="Layton"]Great story, Patrick! And what a cool bike![/QUOTE]

Thanks! I like it. I refer to it as: "the farm implement"

Mardi Gras is fun, but after a few, you don't miss it too much! :D

Posted: Feb 09, 2005 7:21 PM
by booker
hehe...

I partially dissasembled the beast today, cleaned it, and tried to rid it of sand. Got most of it out, changed the oil again, and cleaned the carb again.

Damn thing runs better than ever...

:D