Easter Weekend Update

In my last post, I had mentioned that I may remove the sidecar from the bike. After removing the wiring, the bolts from the upper strut mount and the bolts most of the way out from the lower ball mounts, I simply put jackstands under the sidecar frame and pulled. It came right off.  then slid the bike over still resting on the center stand and front wheel. I suspect that it may take a bit more to get it reconnected but access is much better to both sides of the bike now. Maybe it'll make it a little easier to install the engine into the frame.

I removed a few more bits and pieces such as the right leg guard (or whatever they call that piece of plastic) and the coil. I also tucked all of the wiring and cables out of the way. I just noticed that the springs from the rear brake pedal and the center stand must have been attached to the engine or transmission somewhere. That may have contributed to the difficulty getting the engine out of the frame initially.

On Friday, Jed was going to come by to help get the engine installed into the frame but I had to cancel due to being flat on my back with a health issue. It's okay now but I really need to try and stay hydrated. Many times while travelling, I won't drink enough water. Especially while flying.

Saturday morning and early afternoon was spent moving and helping to set up sound equipment for Easter Sunday service at the Herring Auditorium. This is just a snapshot showing the setup after we were mostly done. This is a once per year setup and I find the process of setting up for an event like this enjoyable. Back in the late 90s, I volunteered at the Networld/Interop shows in Las Vegas and Atlanta. They used to provide housing and food for the volunteers doing the network setup/troubleshooting/teardown. It's amazing how much you learn working 16 hours per day for a couple of weeks. The sound system setup is a lot simpler but has the same "event" feel though it's a lot smaller.

My youngest son stopped by in the afternoon and he helped me get the engine into the frame. For future reference, it goes in very easily even with the deep sump pan installed with plenty of room to spare. Right now it's resting on the rear engine mounting bolt. I just need to install the driveshaft into the rubber "donut" before installing the mounting bolts. Then it's just a matter of reinstalling all of the external pieces (starter, alternator, carbs, ignition, etc.) as well as setting the ignition timing and reconnecting all of the wiring.

I just put in the engine mounting bolts and a couple of the larger accessories this evening and called it quits there. It's starting to look like a bike again. Easter is usually on the busy side but I'm pretty confident that on Monday the Ural will finally be back together.

Happy Easter!