Can't complain.
This'll be the first time in literal decades that this thing has had a peg on its kickstarter lever. I don't even know how long ago it lost that; I was riding the thing in the 1980s and it didn't have one then, though, so in all probability it's been gone since the 1970s.
Little by little I return it to proper and whole function. This is progress.
Ever since I dipped the carb in that carb dip bucket I bought, though, the thing has started very easily (providing I had the timing set correctly) and hasn't needed to be kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked AND KICKED AND F-ING KICKED--!!!! It's a miracle how well something works when it's been properly cleaned and adjusted, isn't it?
I'll be trying to get at the thing this week. I want to get the cylinder honed before I put the new rings in, so I'll have to take that all apart and hie myself over to the machine shop that honed the Escort's engine block in 2009. Shouldn't cost a lot, either, and that way I know it's right. If they can't or won't do it, though, I guess I'll go get a hone kit at the parts store and do it myself. It's not rocket science, and air-cooled engines have looser tolerances so I doubt I can screw things up too badly if I try doing it myself.
Trust me to wait until it's consistently in the f-ing nineties to decide to start working on the damn thing. Well--worst case I can always bring it inside...as long as I don't start it inside again.
