Back when I was young & dumb & full of... er, yeah, when I was young
and dumb, I bought a P.O.S. bike from my roomie's brother. This would
have been about ten years ago or more (I'm 33 now, so I was just a wee
baby).
The bike was not running. Battery was dead, so I replaced that. Then
it would crank, but not start. In retrospect, I bet it was bad gas --
the tank had never been emptied. But since I was getting spark and I
knew it had gas, I leapt to the conclusion that it was the
carburetors. Having previously owned a little Datsun 240Z, which was
usually helped by a good carb cleaning (temperamental Mitsubishi
twin-carbs... oy), I whipped out my Gumout and pulled the carbs off
the bike.
After disassembling down to the float chamber, I found an obstruction.
I removed all the bits I could then inverted the carbs to tap out
whatever it was into my hand. I was expecting some gunked up gas
chunks or carbon or maybe even pebbles or twigs or something (I've
found weirder things in car innards). What I DIDN'T expect was a
handful of live, squirming maggots.
Needless to say, I shrieked, hurled the maggots, and ran through the
house screaming "maggots! maggots!" I'm not particularly squeamish,
but something about maggots really tweaks me out. The fact that I was
three sheets to the wind on cheap malt liquor probably didn't help
either.
Ultimately, I just scrapped the bike. It never ran again.
So, what I am hoping is that when I tear down the Magna's carbs to put
in the needle shims, I won't discover anything living bigger than a
bacterium. I am hoping that I will be able to carry the experience
gained in ten years (not ALL parts are suitable for cleaning with
caustic carb cleaner or gasoline, tiny changes matter, and multi-carbs
MUST be synchronized) with me. And most of all, I'm hoping that this
time, it works
-- Tom
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