Cam's Garage

July 11, 2023 Final Preparations for the Cannonball Run After nearly a full year of planning (11 months to be exact), the (revised) Cannonball Run  is only a short 48 hours away. At this point, all hotels are booked, the rental car is booked, and various activities are planned throughout the trek. At this point, it's a matter of anxiously waiting to hop on a flight to New York while looking forward to seeing views like these again (these photos were from previous cross-country travels in my old GX470)! As you can probably imagine, there have been some interesting questions and comments from friends and family as I have been preparing for the Cannonball Run. Here were some of the highlights that stuck out: "How is this a vacation?" I think the term "vacation" is subjective. To some, a vacation is a time to relax on a beach while others view a vacation as a time to explore new sites/cities for a weekend. To me, a vacation is an opportunity to go on an adventure th...

June 22, 2023 Shifting Priorities With the Cannonball Run being a short few weeks away and available time being at a seemingly all-time low, the last thing I need in my garage is a motorcycle (that I don't ride) sitting and rotting over the next month. For that reason, I decided to list the 1999 Kawasaki Vulcan 750 for sale. Listing the Vulcan I did some market research across Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for similar motorcycles in what I felt was comparable condition. I decided to set the price at $1,200 and added that I would be open to trades. Like most of my posts, it was simple and direct. Shortly after listing, the flurry of Facebook messages began. For those that have never placed something on the lower-end of the market on Facebook, your phone is essentially consumed by Facebook... My already slow iPhone XR became essentially inoperable... Within 24 hours I had over 70 messages from individuals making low-ball offers ranging from $500 cash to firearms to non-running ...

June 14, 2023 If you missed my last post on my latest purchase (a 1999 Kawasaki Vulcan that I picked up for $1), check it out here . After getting the motorcycle off the trailer (FYI these Harbor Freight trailers are fantastic), the first thing I did was break out the pressure washer to give this thing a formal spray down. I did what I could to avoid hitting the mechanical areas (engine, transmission, etc) directly just in case there was a significant leak. I was pretty impressed with the outcome after the 5 minute spray down: I am not a patient person. The next thing I did was roll the bike into the garage and immediately start thinking through what I should do. There's 4 things that are required to make something run: Air Fuel Spark Compression If you want a more thorough explanation on how these 4 required items, others can do a better job of breaking it down than I can. Here was one video that would be helpful: First thing I checked were the twin airboxes (one on each side). I...

  June 12, 2023 Let me paint a quick picture. It's summer time, the weather is beautiful, you have just sold your two latest projects ( Seadoo and 4Runner ), and your wife is leaving town for 2 weeks . You have a couple of options to fill the time during her absence: You perform the required chores around the house and focus on keeping the house immaculate (maybe even in better shape) for the duration of her trip You sit down, have an ice cold beer, and enjoy the projects that you already have (including potentially spending a day on the lake) You sit and play mindless video games You mindlessly search to find and purchase an unnecessary project to detract attention away from any required chores, while passing time in the fastest possible manner (because you miss your wife so much) If you selected option 4 , we are probably already friends. Within 1 hour of my wife leaving, I was en-route to pick up my latest purchase: 1999 Kawasaki Vulcan 750. Here was the ad on the motorcycle: I...

May 16, 2023 I have spent the last 8 months (off and on) working on the 1996 Seadoo GTI (came with a trailer) that I purchased for $400. For information on what I did to repair the Seadoo, see my two previous posts listed below: Buying a $400 Seadoo Rebuilding my first Carb Even though we are entering summer and the jet ski would be perfect to have, sometimes it is best to sell while a vehicle is running perfectly (and before the next inevitable problem). I also have the upcoming Cannonball Run  road trip that I need some funding for. That said, I made the decision to prepare the Seadoo to sell. First and foremost, I took some before pictures. Needless to say the Seadoo was disgusting prior to cleaning. I spent about 4 hours cleaning the Seadoo with all different kinds of chemicals (all healthy to breathe I'm sure) and removed the rubber padding on the hull (it was coming up and actually becoming a hazard for tripping). This was by far the most time that I have ever spent cleaning ...

May 5, 2023 In my last post, I purchased my new (to me), non-running 1996 Seadoo GTI and covered the initial process of getting it back up and running. Once I got jet ski running, I had about 2 months to enjoy it, taking it out every weekend including one with my sister.  Then (like all great, cheap projects), I started suffering my first issue of not being able to maintain idle. Here’s a video of the issue: Clearly the issue was fuel-related as applying any gas immediately bogged the jet ski down and caused a stall. My first thought was that the issue was related to the choke not properly disengaging upon cold start (meaning there was too much air in the air/fuel ratio) causing the Seadoo to stall. Rather than trying to investigate at the lake, I decided to bring the jet ski home to start my troubleshooting. Due to my prior missteps with the Seadoo platform (specifically with the electrical system and MPEM), I decided my best next step would be to ask experienced individuals bef...