Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Updates on the Dahon and the Vanagon

It occurred to me the other day that I never updated the blog vis-a-vis my progress on the Dahon rebuild project. Well... it's done.


...more or less. Well, it's all reassembled, but it's been too cold and I've been too busy to do the final tuning and take it for a test ride. The biggest obstacle will be tuning the internally-geared 3-speed hub. But, I'll get to it soon.

I've been working on the van's new engine these past weekends. I cleaned it up this past weekend, after stripping off the intake manifold and accessories:



My first load of parts arrived this week, so I'll be doing more work this weekend. I'm waiting until I'm sure there won't be any more snow before I pull the old engine out of the van. The logic is this - aside from dealing with the cold... when it snows, I need to have all my cars off the street and in the driveway. The garage may not be tall enough for pulling the van's engine. I may need to do that outside. If so, and I need to wait for more parts, the van could be sitting outside on ramps for a week or more. It's been a warm winter (55-ish in Boston today), but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods. If the van is sitting outside, then there MAY not be enough room to park everything.

This weekend I'll be measuring my jackstands, the ceiling height in the garage, and the height of the engine. If I can, I'll pull the old engine with the van still in the garage, which will also speed the project up.

Also, I randomly picked up a new project last week. Now that the Dahon is "done," I found another folder - a 1990s Fuji Marlboro promo folding bike. I'm saving this project for when I have nothing else to do:

2 comments:

  1. I am looking for a similar project. If you are too busy with your other projects, I would be happy to take this one off your hands and give it a good home. If interested, please let me know how much and your location. :)
    -Aaron

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    Replies
    1. Well, I'm in Massachusetts, bu t none of these are currently for sale. Thanks for your interest, though.

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