Working on the Ural

Monday - Pulled the left cylinder head and all looked good. I re-torqued the head and checked the valve clearances. The intake was tight but within specs. DomC had found a forum entry on Soviet Steeds that sounded exactly like what I'm seeing. They had the PowerArc aftermarket ignition as do I and the solution was to re-install the stock ignition. 

I also dropped off the Jeep at the dealer in Uvalde. 

Tuesday - This morning, I loosened the PA interrupter disc which is attached to the end of the cam so it makes one revolution for every two revolutions of the crank. There is one slot for TDC and multiple slots around the circumference of the disc. The interrupter disc can be seen in the picture on the left but the TDC slot is hidden under the black LED/phototransistor pickup. With the engine at TDC, I rotated the disc 180°. If there was a problem with PA, then it should fire on the other cylinder. That didn't happen which meant that the PA was probably functional. 

I pulled off the carburetor from the non-functional cylinder and disassembled it as far as I could. The needle had varnish on it and the power  was full of what looked like algae. The air tube and the main jet were partially blocked. I cleaned it up as well as I could, re-assembled it and it now ran on both cylinders though the left one was really lean under load. I think I need to pick up a can of carb cleaner and put the parts in to soak for a couple of hours. 

Wednesday - I just got an update from the Jeep dealer. A rodent had eaten through part of the wiring harness. The dealer fixed the harness and didn't insist on replacing it. I'm also having them replace the oil in differentials and the air filter. We should be able to pick the Jeep up this afternoon.

I also heard from SafeLite about the RV windshield. The glass has finally arrived in TX and now I'm waiting to hear from the glass shop, which is located in Arlington, TX. Once we hear from the glass shop, we will move the RV back to the Ft. Worth area. Probably back to Bay Landing TT as that was within the 90miles that was approved by the insurance company,

Ural Issues

Friday - Today's task is trying to get the Ural back on the road. It would start and only run if the right cylinder choke was on. And even then, it was running really lean. I pulled the right carb and dropped the bowl it had gas and was clean. I reinstalled the carb, moved the petcock to prime and fuel started flowing out of the bowl vent. The float valve wasn't sealing.

Yesterday, I started installing an HF antenna mount on the rear ladder of the RV. A week and a half ago, I picked up an HF radio, antenna and cable from Ham Radio Outlet in Plano, TX, but they didn't have a ladder mount. This was shipped to the RV park and it arrived the day before we left. I should've just ordered it from Amazon. Maybe. I ordered a telescoping mast to install the StarLink on and Amazon claims that it'll be delivered today. It hasn't even shipped yet.

Later - I pulled the right carb and the needle valve was sticking due to a buildup of varnish on the needle valve. I cleaned it and reassembled the carb and the Ural started and ran sort of okay. I took it for a ride and it really felt like only one cylinder was running. The EGT for the left cylinder was reading ambient temperature and after a mile of riding, the left head was barely warm.

Saturday - Bad news. The left cylinder is not working. The needle valve on the carb was all gummed up and not able to open so no fuel. After that was fixed, I swapped the plug wires and it still ran the same. Operating the throttle on the left cylinder did nothing. The valves are operating correctly. So the next step is to pull the head. 

D’Hanis, TX - SKP

Thursday - A short drive day today and we arrived before noon. Just in time for a free lunch at the hall. It was warm and muggy and the weather service was predicting rain all day. I don’t think we got any. 

The RV is all set up and the StarLink dish ended up near the end of the pad due to the tree. I ordered a pole mount that’ll attach to the ladder and Amazon claims that it’ll arrive tomorrow. 

I need to spend some time getting the Ural ready as the Jeep has an appointment in Uvalde on Monday. 

Lampasas, TX - HH

Wednesday - We left the TT park around 9:30 and headed south and west. Mostly on secondary roads with maybe a hundred miles on I-35. We are staying at another Harvest Host south of Lampasas, TX. Nice, level gravel lot next to a hanger. A really nice, quiet location. Only about three hours tomorrow to Hondo even taking the “scenic” route through Fredericksburg to avoid San Antonio traffic. But the forecast is for rain.

Point, TX - TT

Monday - It's much windier today with gusts up to 35mph so the awnings were stowed. Better safe than sorry. In fact, this area is under a tornado watch until this evening.

Now it's 5pm and there still isn't any rain yet. Not that I'm complaining. The temperature is starting to drop. It is now 77°F but still humid. I still have the A/C running as a dehumidifier. It's pretty muggy outside.

The weather radar suggests we are in the middle of a bad storm but no wind or rain when I stepped outside. In fact, you could even see patches of blue sky. 

I participated in two test sessions today. Both passed easily. 

Tuesday - We decided to take off tomorrow as the windshield was just shipped from OR and the glass place said it's usually about 10 days to two weeks to TX. So tomorrow morning, we head south. The rain and thunder didn't really start until night into the early morning. I spent the afternoon putting things away. Only a handful of tasks for tomorrow morning. 

Point, TX - TT

Thursday - We got quite a bit of rain in the middle of the night. A front blew through with wind the last couple of days and pleasant temperatures today. I believe the forecasted high is 76°F. It feels nice. 

The StarLink outages occur several times per hour but I’m surprised at how well it has worked given the tree cover. Better than I would have guessed. 

I’m waiting for a few items in the mail now before I can play with the new HF radio. An antenna mount and cable. The sales guy thought the antenna mount would include a cable but when I looked up the part number, there was a note that the pictured cable was not included. 

Several friends have moved on so it is pretty quiet around here. I'm waiting for another test this afternoon. Testing is an activity that I enjoy. A little bit of socialization a couple of times per day. 

Friday - A quiet morning as Bridget is visiting several museums with other RV friends. It is another cool day at 67°F@11am. Kind of overcast but it's not windy or raining.

The afternoon session was canceled so I tried out the hot tub. It was nice. And since it wasn’t hot and sunny, the pool was deserted. No complaints from me!

I also drove into town again to pick up an Amazon package. I now have the antenna cable but still waiting for the mount. UPS tracking claims Monday. 

Sunday - Humid and warm at 78°F before noon. It’s also a bit breezy and rain has been in the forecast since yesterday into the first half of the week. So far, most of the rain has been north of us.