Round and Round She Goes

I bought the tires. On Monday 10 new Michelin Redline tires were stacked in my garage. Thursday I took 5 of them down for mounting and balancing. In case you’re curious, yes, a Subaru Forrester can carry 5 new tires plus 5 wheel-and-tire combos. It’s a bit crowded but it all fits if you fold the rear seat down. There’s even a tiny bit of space left over so you can bring the 5 new inner-tubes with you.

(Yes, I know I probably don’t *need* to use the inner tubes. But I’m not convinced these rims were designed for tubeless tires. They originally came with inner-tubes so that’s what they get. Maybe it’s not rational. But is it rational to put Redline tires on at all? … In the greater scope of things $18/each for the tubes is only minor insanity.)

I also bought a timing light. (Probably should have had one years ago.) I was hoping it would shed some light (no pun intended) on why the new TR6 runs so much differently than the old one. I’m sure it’s not the only reason, but there was at least a 6-degree difference at idle. (12 vs 18.) I made a rough adjustment to the old one and it seems to help, particularly when it’s still warming up.

The master cylinder for the Suzuki is still on back-order. Rumor has an ETA of June 9th. We’ll see. In theory I could be working on the carbs (I don’t think the rear one is attached to the choke) but to test it even roughly means starting the bike and I don’t want to put the engine cover back on until I resolve this clutch.

So I decided to look into the next biggest problem on the new TR6: seats. Oddly, the vinyl is nearly perfect, but the interior foam is completely shot. (The upholstery looks a little bit like Danny Devito wearing a suit made for Shaq.) I wasn’t sure if I’d need to cut or sew anything to get the vinyl back on, or how difficult the seats would be to strip. I decided I’d “practice” with the passenger seat from the old TR6. (Its seats have needed new foam AND vinyl since about 1992. I figured it wouldn’t matter if I tore the vinyl a little during disassembly.)

The disassembly wasn’t as bad as I feared. (I took a number of digital photos just in case.) It doesn’t look like any sewing will be required if the replacement kit looks anything like the originals. It should mostly slide right over the padding then get held in place with two clamps, about a dozen clips, a some strategically placed adhesive.

Speaking of replacement kits: I should probably stop yammering and order one. There seem to be a few available (The Roadster Factory, Moss, and Victoria British all offer some form of kit). Anyone have any experience with any of them? I want to make sure the vinyl matches the original color and pattern.