Alioth's Journal: More motorcycle WTFs

It turns out the real WTF on the turn signal circuit was not that the flasher unit was 2 pin (when I studied the bike's schematic, it quickly became obvious that a 2 pin flasher should work just fine), but that it was plugged in wrong. So when I rearranged the connector, it all worked.

I discovered another WTF while debugging the brake light circuit this morning. Neither front or rear brake switches will light the brake light. I took the front light switch off and found it worked, but the circuit from the front had gone high resistance (a contact needs cleaning somewhere). I then tried to take the rear light switch off... and discovered that it is the *only* Imperial fitting on the whole bike. Everything else is metric, apart from the rear light switch. WTF? Of course, I only have metric tools, and my adjustable wrench is a huge thing that can't grip the hex nut on the brake switch, which falls neatly between a 10mm and 11mm spanner (I suspect it's a 1/2 inch nut). I can't imagine the Italians fitted an imperial part to the bike when it was new (the hex nut is part of the switch assembly, not a separate nut - it's sort of cast into the switch's housing) so I'm betting it's a replacement.

*laugh*

[TinaMarie]

You know that bolt had to exist. No project vehicle ever has entirely matching fasteners. The only question was whether it would happen now, or the first time you were broken down on the side of the road with only your metric toolkit.
Looks like you got lucky. :)

Metric and imperial tools

[Tet]

Nope, 13mm is 1/2". If you're wanting something around 10.5mm, it's probably 7/16". Unless you've got something really obscure, in which case it could be 13/32", but very little goes beyond 1/16ths (on road vehicles, at least). Of course, since I own a European car (a Ford Capri) with an American engine (Chevy V8), I have to have both metric and imperial tools anyway. I recommend face drive sockets, which handle both. As for bikes, mine (a Honda VF700C) differs a fair bit from the manufacturer's wiring di

Re:

[Alioth]

I take it the Capri has been re-engined at some point? I always remember them being a Cortina derivative, with the Pinto engine (I bet the engine bay with a Pinto unit in it looks empty, the Capri always looks to me to have an enormously long nose)

Re:

[Tet]

Yep. It was originally a 3 litre V6. Now it's a V8 with nearly twice that capacity (5920cc). There's plenty of room for it, although with it's current placement, the bulkhead needed to be cut back a bit and the transmission tunnel needed widening. The alternative is to have the engine a bit further forward, but then you need to either move the front crossmember, or raise the engine and cut a hole in the bonnet.

I actually have 5 Capris -- two pintos, two Cologne V6s and my race car with the Chevy V8. Mecha

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[Alioth]

The question is, does the Capri manage to go around corners, or is it like an American muscle car - great in a straight line, but keeps going straight when you try to turn? When I had an early model Sierra (which IIRC, shared a similar suspension design as the Cortina and Capri) it didn't set the world on fire when it came to cornering ability :-)

Re:

[Tet]

Capris are famous for their wild cornering abilities, but in truth, they're actually not that bad. Sure, they're not as poised as a sports car, but then they were never sold as such. They were explicitly marketed as a 4 seater family car, albeit one that was a little more enjoyable to drive than the alternatives of the day, and they lived up to that pretty well.

Of course, my race car is used for drag racing, and so goes very well in a straight line, but is not so hot around corners. Particularly given th