Monday, May 29, 2006

Emissions and You!

Here in lovely Phoenix, motorcyclists have to get their emissions tested. I understand it has something to do with getting the number of 2 stroke ATVs off the streets. Whatever it is, it's a pain in my ass.

In fact, it's more of a pain in my ass than usual, because the VX didn't pass this time. Which means I get to order all the bits that stores don't carry since I'm the only guy in Phoenix on a VX.

Anyway, I managed to get my oil filter and sparkplugs, but I'm going to have to either order air filters from the dealer, or hack in a UNI filter. I was glad to see that the shop I was at sells tappet adjustment tools. I was worried I'd have to order those too.

Next weekend, my brother Noodles is coming down to visit. That's perfect, because he'll get here just in time to help me work on my bike.

Is there any better kind of bonding than swearing at a machine together?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We used to have emissions checks in certain counties in Ohio - the loophole here was that if you failed, you could go back and if you could prove you had spent money trying to correct the problem, and your vehicle showed a certain amount of improvement in the percentage of emissions, they would pass you even if your overall score was still failing. So everyone would tweak their carbs so they were running really rich, get tested and fail. Then they would go home, do an oil change, lean the mixture out until the engine would barely run, go back with their receipts from the oil change and pass. Voila!

Anonymous said...

If you go with a UNI filter choose your filter oil wisely. I bought some Maxima stuff that was ridiculous. It was like trying to oil your filter with spaghetti and meatballs.