Motored Bicycle Hacks: October 2011

If you have come across other pictures of my bike, you'd have seen my electric wires hanging out and simply clamped to the bike with zip ties. These 2-stroke kits pretty much just have the electrical connections hanging out and I really hate that. Also, I chose to zip-tie my CDI instead of using bolts(since it's plastic and apparently breaks easily), but that caused the CDI to move around and the plug wire would often be hanging out the side.

Well recently, some guy was tailgating me and I made a sharp right turn and, well, I wiped out. Got some road rash, but at least I got the opportunity to revise my set up! I wanted something both visually and practically superior, so this is what I came up with:

I moved my CDI to the top bar on my frame. That way it won't slide much even if you zip-tie it. For some reason I just think it reduces clutter that way instead of having all the wires smashed up on the one bar on the bottom.
Shrink tubing: People say to solder the wires and use electrical tape. I decided to go with something nicer looking and less sticky. You can get shrink tubing at Radio Shack or anywhere that sells electronics supplies. Just cut a piece, slide it over the bare area on the wire and roll a soldering iron over it to make the tubing shrink. A heat gun may work well too. It looks great and creates a nice seal to prevent shortage.
I took all the wires, including the ones coming from the kill switch, and ran them through a piece of flexible cable tube that I cut out. This looks MUCH better than having all the wires visibly hanging out. You can buy cable tubing from Radio Shack or Wal-Mart. Then I just zip-tied the tube to the bottom frame.
Used silicone sealant on the CDI(where the plug wire comes out) and where the magneto wires come out of the motor. This in combination with the shrink tubing and cable tube should make this setup really water resistant.

P.S. Yes, I know that some paint is missing on my bike. That's due to B-12 Chemtool and the fact that I spray-painted my frame. One of the next things I plan on doing is patching those areas.

This post is sponsored by B-12 Chemtool: The world's most powerful paint-thinner!

Sorry, I don't have any actual photos because the camera I used got jacked up and the photos were lost. :(

You don't need to spend money to replace your head gasket! If the one you have is in mostly okay shape, you can cut your own from an aluminum soda can!

Simply cut a large piece of metal off a soda can. Notice how it still retains the shape of the can? There's an easy way to flatten out the metal; take a clothes iron and iron it as flat as you can. It won't be completely flat, but you can get it flat enough to be useable.

If this doesn't make sense, the first part of this video shows how this is done.

Once you have made a nice piece of flat aluminum, trace your old head gasket on it with a permanent marker. Then simply cut out your new gasket with a razor blade or an exacto knife. Most of it is simple to cut, but the stud holes can be difficult; the key is to try cutting them a little larger than you'd think you'd need.

When you have placed your new head gasket on your engine and placed the head back on, push your bike forward with the clutch engaged to make the piston move. If there are any air leaks, you should hear(and feel) the air come out around part of the head. This is very important to check for because air leaks are very bad for your engine. The first soda can gasket I made had too much cut off from the center and that's where an air leak came from. I did a better job on my second soda can gasket, and so far there are no leaks. If you want, you can use Copper Kote to create a better seal.

Are there any advantages to a soda can head gasket? Other than costing virtually nothing, soda can metal is much thinner than the stock head gaskets, so if you're looking for both a quick fix and less compression, a soda can head gasket might be the way to go.