August 2019 – The ExhaustNotes Blog

Refinishing the Mini 14

A couple of years ago I spotted a beat-up old Mini 14 rifle stock in the used parts junk pile at my favorite local gunstore, and I thought it might be fun to refinish it. It was for the earlier series Mini 14 and I didn’t own one, but the stock looked like it needed me. It was dinged up but didn’t have any gouges, and the anodized aluminum buttplate had multiple scratches. I asked John, the guy behind the counter, what he wanted for the stock, and we were both in a quandary. John’s brow furrowed. He was searching for a price that wouldn’t be insulting, but I could see that he was eager to unload something that had all the earmarks of becoming a permanent resident. There were several old timers in the shop (there always are; it’s that kind of place). All eyes were on John and me.

“I don’t know…maybe $25?” John said.

I recoiled as if struck by an arrow. It’s all part of the game, you know. All the eyeballs were on me now. It was like being in a tennis match.

“I don’t know, John,” I answered. “I was going to offer $30, but if you gotta have $25, then $25 it is…”

Everybody laughed and I went home with a Mini 14 stock that looked as if it had been to Afghanistan. I wished I had the foresight to grab a few “before” photos of it, but I did not.

Like I said, the stock was decrepit, but I wanted a refinishing project and now I had one. I removed all the metalwork, I stripped the finish (you can see how to do that in our series on the Savage 340 refinish), I steamed out the dents (same story there; it’s covered in the Savage 340 stock refinish series), and then I went to work on it with 200, 320, 400, and 600 grit sandpaper. The buttplate was hopelessly scratched all to hell, so I did the same thing with the same grades of sandpaper and I decided to leave the aluminum bare. In one of my prior aerospace lives, I worked at company that made interior doodads for aircraft, and the approach I just described was one we frequently used for doorknobs, latches, and the other metal chotchkas you see in aircraft cabins. That particular company was not a good place to be (my boss was a butthead), but I liked working with the crew of Armenians who handled all of our finishing work. Whenever I had an idea about making an improvement, those guys were quick to tell me that wasn’t how they did it in the old country, and I went with their expertise (it was the right thing to do). But I digress; that’s a story for another time.

Mini 14 stocks are birch, which is a light wood, and the question was do I want to stain the birch for a darker look, or leave it unstained for a lighter look? I went for Door Number Two, and I think it turned out well. I used the same approach described in the Savage 340 blog, taking care to use very light coats applied with a fresh bit of T-shirt cloth each time and waiting a day between applications. This one has 10 coats of TruOil. TruOil is good stuff.

I had a beautiful rifle stock, but no rifle to go with it. One of my good buddies told me his brother had a Mini 14 that was in rough shape, so I gave the refinished Mini 14 stock to him to send to his brother. It was a fun project and I really liked the way this one turned out.

Check out our other Tales of the Gun stories!

The Three Flags Classic: I dropped out

If you’re waiting for blogs from me on the Three Flags Classic and updates on the RX4, you won’t get them. I dropped out before I even started. I don’t like to think of myself as a quitter, but that’s what I did on this one.

It came down to this: I’ve been on the road for the last two months nearly nonstop and I needed a break. I am not doing a very good job at being retired, and the travel just got to a point where it was overwhelming. I had a consulting gig with a large agricultural firm in Colorado, then it was more expert witness work (analysis and a deposition), a trip back east for my 50th high school reunion (that was a lot of fun, but it was another week of travel), a trip to Seattle for a friend’s wedding (lots of fun there, but yet another week of travel), a couple of runs up the coast to be with grandkids (more fun, but again, more travel), and on and on it goes. I don’t think I’ve been home more than two or three days in a row in the last two months.

Three Flags for me would have involved a full day on the motorcycle in 100-degree weather to get to Mexico today, a 681-mile motorcycle day tomorrow starting at 3:30 a.m. to get from San Luis Rio Colorado (in Mexico) to Cedar City (in Utah) through 110-degree weather on a holiday weekend, and another 1500 miles of riding to get to Canada over the next week. And then another 2200 miles or so to get back to southern California. It would be two more weeks on the road.

Baja John was going to ride with me, but when he considered the distances and the temperatures and the timing, he decided not to go. When Joe Gresh heard I wasn’t going, he thought about taking my place, but after an initial burst of wanting to go he came to the same conclusion as John did. Those two guys are smarter than me. What was I missing? At what point in your life do you decide you need to stop and smell the roses for a bit? At what point do you say: Hey, I made a decision that was too hasty and I need to reverse it?

For me, that point was yesterday. There’s nothing wrong with the RX4 motorcycle (in fact, it’s a great bike and the new ones are in port waiting to clear Customs now) and there’s nothing wrong with the 3FC19 ride. The timing’s just not right for me. I know I’m disappointing a few people with this decision, but I’m also pleasing a few people, and I’m one of them.

Joe Gresh on Bonneville!

Gresh’s story on Bonneville appears today in Motorcycle.com! You can read it here!

Dream Bikes: Buell M2 Cyclone

I like all the Buell models and the Buell M2 Cyclone is my favorite Buell of the bunch. I mean to have one before I shuffle off this mortal torsion. Unlike most of the motorcycles I want to own, this is one Dream Bike that is very affordable. Even an Internet blogger wannabe can pick up a running, low mileage copy for a couple thousand bucks. And if I ever get a couple thousand bucks ahead I’ll get one.

The M2 was manufactured in that brief window of history before Erik Buell went totally crazy. After the M2 Buell started mixing up all the traditional systems on a motorcycle just to show you that he could. Yeah, it worked but the motorcycling public wasn’t ready for inside-out brakes and aluminum frames full of gasoline.

The frame on the M2 is plain old steel tubing with a sturdy rear sub-frame that can support a passenger or luggage. The value of a sturdy sub-frame was made apparent to me on a recent trip to Bonneville, Utah. The swaying luggage on my pencil-necked Husqvarna 500 frame was nerve wracking. Similar to an old Norton, the M2 frame isolates all the motorcycle parts a rider comes in contact with from the shaking, quaking Sportster engine. That feature comes in handy on a long trip.

Steel is relatively easy to bend and weld. Even the most basic repair shop will have a set of 0xy-acetylene torches that can fix anything on the M2’s frame. I also like the standard gas tank position and conventional forks. I don’t road race on the street so the added stiffness of a cool, upside-down front end is wasted on a peon like me.

The engine on the M2 is a hot-rodded 1200cc Sportster putting out around 90 horsepower. 90 horsepower is a lot of go-go from a half-century-old design that puttered along at 50 horsepower for decades. Just getting a new 883 Sportster engine up to the 90 horsepower level would cost more than an entire Buell! Later, crazier Buells had even more power and more Buell-specific engine parts while still being based on the Sportster. Buell even used, God forbid, Rotax engines! I can see parts for those engines becoming scarce within the 100-year time frame I like to operate. No such problems with the M2 engine as it’s mostly plain-old-plain-old and parts for the Harley-Davidson Sportster engine will be available on into the next millennia.

The M2’s styling has hints of Buell’s Blast but it looks good to me. I like a standard-style motorcycle, one that can go from touring bike to trail machine with only the removal of a few bungee cords. It’s a model I keep a weather eye on in case a steal of a deal pops up on one of the Internet for-sale sites. And yellow is the fastest color.

The Indian 741

By Joe Berk

The world was at war, the Army said build motorcycles this way, Indian saluted and executed, and Harley told the Army to go pound sand. This is the Indian that resulted, it’s running in the current issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine, and you might want to read it.

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Gunstock Refinish: Part IV

This blog will wrap up the series on refinishing the Savage 340 rifle. It’s been quite an adventure and the Savage is quite the rifle. As you may recall, I found this rifle on the consignment rack at a local gun store, and to my great amazement, my little $180-dollar econo gun turned out to be quite the tack driver. I purchased the rifle with a refinishing project in mind, and now it’s complete.

The Refinished Savage

I stopped after eight coats of TruOil, as the results were the same after the sixth and seventh coats. The Savage went back to together in minutes, and it looks like a new rifle. Actually, that’s not quite right…the 340 Savages that left the factory never looked this good..

Here are a few shots from the right side…

And a few from the left…

Before and After Comparisons

Here are a few before and after shots to allow a more direct comparison…

The original finish had a lot of scratches and dings; those are all gone. The 340 originally had white line spacers between the buttplate and the stock, and between the pistol grip cap and the stock. I like the “less is more” look (I think it’s more elegant), and I think I achieved it by deleting the spacers. The rifle’s original finish was some sort of shellac or varnish that gave a reddish hue to the stock; the new TruOil finish allows the natural walnut color to emerge and I like that better.

Oil Finish Advantages

There are other advantages besides just good looks to an oil finish. When the stock gets scratched or worn (and if it’s used in the field, it will), it’s a simple matter to just reapply the TruOil again. When you do that, the stock will be like new again. It’s easy to touch up an oil finish. Another advantage is that the stock is sealed. The oil finish is relatively impervious to moisture, and that keeps the stock stable. It won’t induce a shift in bullet impact as a result of the stock absorbing moisture and distorting. And of course, there’s that most basic advantage: It just flat looks good.

If you would like to see how this project began and read a bit about the Savage’s accuracy, you can do so here.

A Savagely Inexpensive Rifle
Savage Refinish Part I
Savage Refinish Part II
Savage Refinish Part III

An International Motorcycle Rally!

It’s weird, I know, but I usually get the pre-ride jitters on every big motorcycle ride I’ve ever done. This time, I’m going into Mexico, back into the US, across the US from our southern border with Mexico to our northern border with Canada and then on up into Canada, and then back across the US to arrive home after riding roughly 4500 miles on the 2019 Three Flags Classic. The weird thing this time is I’m not apprehensive at all. I can’t wait to get started on this ride.

I was able to hook up BajaBound Insurance with the Southern California Motorcycle Association and they are now the recommended insurers for the Mexico leg of this trip (hey, that’s what happens when you advertise with ExhaustNotes), and I’m going to get my insurance as soon as I’m done with this blog.

The CSC RX4 I wrote about earlier is running like a champ, and the guys at CSC Motorcycles have done a super job prepping the bike for me. There really wasn’t too much to do…I asked for the big Tourfella bags so I can carry my Nikon and my laptop to give you folks all the great photos and blogs you’re used to seeing on any ExNotes ride, a mount for my cellphone, and a set of running lights. I could have done without the running lights (you know, the spotlights) because the headlight on the RX4 is so good, but don’t tell CSC I told you. You should buy the spotlights anyway. They look cool.

Man, I am looking forward to this one. I’m going to make new friends and see new sights. I can’t wait to meet the other 249 Three Flags Classic riders. And I’m going to do it all on the first RX4 in North America. It’s going to be great.

Product test: Lucas Fuel Treatment

I won’t feel bad if you don’t believe a word of this story. I don’t believe it myself and I was there.

Here’s the thing: my 2008 Husqvarna SMR510 single cylinder thumper has always gotten around 50 miles per gallon of gasoline. Sometimes it does 47mpg, other times 52mpg. These are mostly highway mile ratings because traffic doesn’t exist in La Luz, New Mexico. Rain or shine, for 12,000 miles the fuel usage has been consistent. That’s not bad mileage for a high-strung, near race bike engine so I’m happy.

The Husky seemed to be stalling more frequently than I like on the trip to Bonneville. The clutch was dragging a bit, the oil was overdue for a change, it was 100 degrees plus everyday and the 510 spins only the barest of flywheel to ensure quick revs. Added to all this is the Husky’s tall first gear, which requires a bit of slip to get off the line. I checked the intake system for air leaks and tightened the hose clamps and gave all the whatnots a good look over. Everything seemed ok. Maybe Joe Berk is right: Maybe I just don’t know how to ride a big 4-stroke single.

My riding buddy Mike and I were at the Pilot fuel station in Wendover and he suggested I try some Lucas fuel treatment. “That’s good stuff, pour some in the tank each time you fill up and see if the bike quits stalling.” Normally I put no faith in fuel additives. It’s all snake oil to me but I figured I’d humor Mike and pour some in for appearances. Nothing happened. The bike kept stalling. It ran exactly the same. I made a special effort to rev the piss out of the engine to keep from stalling in traffic and went about my business.

It was on the ride home that the strangeness started. I was getting well over 50 miles per gallon at our first gas stop. I dumped a little more Lucas snake oil in the fresh tank. The next couple gas stops I didn’t bother to check the mileage but each time I filled up I dumped a little of the Lucas sauce into the tank.

On the second day of our homeward trip the Husqvarna did 70 miles per gallon. I was stunned. I figured I must have been doing something wrong so I dumped a little more Lucas in the tank and ran 100 miles down the road. This next tank was only 67 miles per gallon. These mileage numbers kept up all the way back to La Luz. I’m out of snake oil so it will be interesting to see if the fuel consumption increases.

How is this possible? How can a few ounces of yellowish liquid increase mileage by 40%? What am I doing wrong? Get this: normally I can go about 150 miles before running out of gas. With the magic sauce I can go 210 miles! I can’t believe it. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon? Tell me about it in the comments section, please. I need to know that I’m not insane.

My Three Flags Classic RX4

My 3FC19 RX4 motorcycle on the road last night. It’s a great motorcycle.

I’m getting excited about the upcoming Southern California Motorcycle Association’s Three Flags Classic adventure and the CSC RX4 I’ll be riding on this epic rally. I’ve been putting a few miles on the RX4 CSC graciously provided and I thought I would fill you in on a few of the specifics I’m discovering on this bike.

I have a measured mile by my home and I was happy to see that the RX4 clocked it at exactly 1.0 miles. I think that’s pretty much what all the motorcycles do these days for obvious reasons. If the odometer read more miles than you actually covered, the manufacturer would be cheating you out of a portion of the warranty, and if the odometer read fewer miles, they’d be warranting the bike for longer than they intended to. The point is moot with a CSC motorcycle; their bikes are warranted for unlimited miles. But it’s nice to know that whatever distance it says you’ve gone is the real distance.

Command central and my high-tech data bank. The ergos on this bike are good.

The next thing I checked was fuel economy, and I did so based on a mix of freeway, city, and mountain road riding. The bike I rode, with roughly 1200 miles on the clock, returned 66.34 mpg. I think CSC advertises 60 mpg for the RX4; I did 10% better than that with the one I’m riding.

Next up was motorcycle speed indicated by the speedometer versus GPS indicated speed. I found that the speedometer was 15% to 8% optimistic, depending on velocity. At higher speeds, the speedometer error decreased to the 8% range. It’s pretty common for motorcycle speedometers to be about 10% optimistic. It’s also very common for the percentage difference between actual speed and speedometer-indicated speed to not be constant (the error percentage changes with speed).

Indicated versus Actual MPH on the RX4 I’m riding in the 2019 Three Flags Classic. Speedometer error, as a percentage, decreased as velocity increased. The bike will do way more than 80 mph; I just didn’t want to go any faster for this test.

Next up was a quick look at engine RPM versus indicated speed. The RX4 cranks way less RPM at every speed compared to the RX3. Here’s what it looks like on the RX4…

Velocity versus RPM on the RX4. The RX4 engine runs at lower rpm for any given speed than does the RX3.

The RX4 has a torquey motor, and I was surprised at how low the RPM is at any given speed compared to the RX3. I know on my RX3, 80 mph is somewhere near the redline at 9000 RPM. On the RX4, the engine is just loafing along at a meager 6000 RPM. The RX4 engine pulls strongly from anything above 3000 RPM. You can downshift to move away more quickly, but you don’t need to on this bike.

And hey, because I know you’ll ask, here’s what the bike sounds like…

Another area in which the RX4 excels is its lighting. The headlight does a fantastic job; I was impressed riding it at night.

Up above the Pomona Valley with the sun going down. An orange bike photographs well, don’t you think? And hey, Orlando, what’s the fastest color?

That’s it for now. I’ll have a lot more info on the RX4 and the 3FC19 ride, and I’ll be posting from the road every day. Make sure you sign up for our automatic blog updates so you don’t miss anything!

Want to learn more about the RX4 motorcycle? Take a look at our comparisons of the RX4 to the RX3 and the KLR 650 here. And don’t forget to visit CSC’s website, too, for more information on the RX4 and CSC’s other motorcycles.

Gunstock Refinish: Part III

In our previous blogs, we removed the Savage 340 barreled action from the stock, we stripped the old finish and made a few minor wood repairs, and we sanded the stock to a smooth finish with successively finer sandpaper. We’re now ready to get to the fun part, and that’s applying the TruOil for a rich, deep, and elegant finish.

TruOil Application

Applying the TruOil to the stock takes several days because it involves repeated applications and drying cycles. There are basically two ways to go here. We can create a deep gloss finish, or we can create a subdued satin finish. I like both, and as of this writing, I haven’t decided what the final look is going to be.

You’ll recall that I omitted the white line spacers between the stock and the buttplate and between the pistol grip cap and the buttplate because I like the look better without the spacers.

I always c-clamp a rod to my bench because that’s where I’ll hang the stock after each TruOil coat to allow it to dry. You can see that in the photo to the right.

The way I like to do this is I cut out a small square of old T-shirt for the TruOil applicator. I’ll put a small bit of TruOil on the cloth and rub that into the stock, and then hang the stock to allow it to dry.

On this particular piece of walnut, I noticed that the walnut pores were large in a few areas, so I put on two coats over the space of a couple of days to see how they filled. I didn’t like the way the pores looked (they were not filling) after the second coat. That’s okay; we have an app for that. It involves applying a thick coat of TruOil and giving it several days to cure. That worked for me because I was going to be out of town for several days (another secret mission, you could say), and that would give the third coat plenty of time to thoroughly cure.

Some folks like to use a wood filler to fill the pores. I’m not one of them. I like to let the TruOil do all the work. I think it looks better than using a filler.

After the third, thick TruOil coat cured, I then went to work on the stock with 0000 steel wool. The idea here is remove all of the excess TruOil from that third, thick coat, and get a uniform surface with no open pores. That worked out well, and I had a nice subdued stock finish that already looked way better than the original finish. I could have stopped at that point and reassembled the rifle, but I decided to go for a deeper finish. More TruOil coming up, folks.

I applied a thin fourth coat of TruOil and allowed it to cure overnight. The stock started to look very good, and I next applied a fifth thin coat. It’s what’s curing now, and it’s what you see in these photos. The drill is to go very, very light with each coat, rubbing it into the walnut with the cloth applicator. You want to get the wood wet, but just barely. If you get it too wet, the TruOil will run (and then you have to rub it down with steel wool after it cures and start all over). I’m going to do this a few more times, and I’ll decide on the total number of TruOil applications based on how the stock looks after I apply each coat. As I mentioned above, I may leave the high gloss finish as is, or I may opt to break the shine with 0000 steel wool and have a subdued satin finish. We’ll see.