Course 6 (week 2)

It's been a busy last few weeks for me, which would explain the lack of updates.

Course 6 has been fun so far. The course is all about engine diagnostics. We've had two tests and I've scored a 90 and a 100. We were given a rack with boards on it and on these boards were damaged engine parts. We had to figure out what the parts were, I say were because in a few cases there wasn't much left of the parts, then we had to figure out the damage to said part and what caused that damage. I've also taken apart an entire Evo motor top end and put it back together and started to completely take apart an entire Honda motor, and I mean ALL of it, and rebuild it. We have to then take this motor and put it in a frame, start it and not have it leak, smoke or blow up. Sounds easy enough doesn't it? Try it sometime if you haven't done it before. Next week I'll have the motor in the frame myself and hopefully it'll run without problem. I would have had it done already but I did all my other projects first so I wouldn't have to worry about rushing through this one. We'll also have to take two motorcycles that they have put together with broken parts and diagnose the problems based off noise.

Now for the reason behind the lack of updates.

I've decided that it's time to start a project of my own. I found a guy selling a Buell Blast and figured it'd be a good cheap practice bike to work on. If I don't put any of this stuff I'm learning to use it'll all dissapear quicker than money from a bank account. I'll be posting pictures from every step of the project. I've got a service manual for it coming and I'll start posting more about this, with the "before" pictures when it gets here.

Course 4 - DONE!

We ended Course 4 tonight and it was a long night.

I'll start with the final exam since that's my low point of the course. It was 50 questions which was the biggest test we've had to date and we've covered more in depth material than any other course to date. Let me tell you they pulled stuff out of places I didn't think were in the book. I scored an 84 on the test and just about every question I got wrong, except one, was from subject matter we never put to use. There's no way we could do a project on every type of setup out there and it seems, so far, that if I'm not getting some hands on time with a topic then it's not really getting into my memory. I know right where to find the answer but unfortunatly you don't have that option during an exam.

For all my projects, the scores on the books are 100's across the board. My first two exams were both a 100 and piled up with my perfect attendance and other minor stuff they grade I've managed to pull a 98.7 GPA for this course.

The next course I'm going to will be Course 6. We do them in blocks of 2, Course 2 & 3 for example, and half of the original 60 go to one and the other half go to the other. Course 6 is supposed to be where we have to build a motor completely, fill it up with oil and gas, crank it up and it's gotta run and run right. It's go time!

Well, I'm off for now. The fun is coming quick so get ready for some updates next week.

Course 4 - Week 3 (part 2)

Tonight was the second test for the electrical class. I got myself another 100 in the books. We had a little last minute cram session right before class and it's a good thing I jumped in because a few of the points we hit on I think I would have missed on the test. It's quite a bit of information to try and remember and I'm really scared of the final. I don't think I'll be able to remember it all and as much as I'd like to get a 100 on that too, if I don't, I won't start ripping my hair out. It's definatly preferable to remember the information but its more important to know where to get the information when you need it and then put it to use.

Other than the exam we worked on making a final block diagram of an ignition system. It's a little tricky because it's different from any other type of bike we've worked on in our practices and final labs.

We're having a slight revolution in our class. Evidently quite a few of the people aren't exactly happy with the way the instructor is teaching. They aren't quite grasping the material and are really struggling with it. From what I gather they seem to think it's the way he's teaching it. The guy we have is sort of a substitute since our original instructor got sick and then a few days later started his vacation. He, our current instructor, normally teaches the advanced electronics class and I think the problem they're running into is that he's used to teaching students that already have the fundamentals down and we don't. I've noticed he likes to respond to a question with a question. It can be frustrating at that exact point in time but it does make you think. The only problem I see with that method though is that you have to understand the base material to be able to figure out your own problem, if that makes sense, and a lot of these guys don't.

I'm trying not to lose my cool with him but I have a few times and I've told him that I'm sorry for doing but that I was just frustrated and I've also told him that I realize that it's easier having the answers handed to you but it's more rewarding to figure it out.

Course 4 - Week 3

Here we go. The final push in the electronics class. We've covered charging, ignition and starting systems now and we've had all our demonstrations. This week we have to knock out all the rest of the lab practice projects, the final projects, one more quiz and the final exam. It's gonna be a busy week for some of the people in there. Not so much for me.

I've finished all the practices for the charging, starting and 2 of the practices for the charging systems. I've also finished the final projects for the ignition and starting systems. I forgot to mention that we have to do the charging, starting and ignition project on a Kawasaki, Suzuki and a Honda for a total of 9 practices and 9 finals. So far I've gotten 100's on all my projects and a 100 on the one test we've had. I'm doing good so far but the last test and the final are the real ball breakers. That being said I'm not counting my chickens on this class yet. I've got some serious studying to do for this one. During the projects I can look through my book but not during the test.

I'll give everyone an update Wednesday night after our last quiz and again Friday night after the final exam.

Course 4 - Week 2

We had our first test of the course tonight. I got a 100 on it. According to the instructor this was the "free pass" test. It was only 10 questions and it was real easy. The next test is going to be 25 questions then the final is 50 questions and its a real ball breaker. Everyone says you really have to study for it.

I've finished all my practice projects that we can do and I've started into my primary final projects. I finished two of them tonight and got 100 on both of them. The lab projects aren't really the hard part of this course. The book learning is the hard part. At least for me anyway.

I'll be updating again Friday night.

No Biketoberfest for me!

I was hoping to be able to get some new pictures to post on here but I can't get off work to go. The weather is supposed to be great this weekend too but one of the things you just gotta do, to do what you want to do, is to do what you don't want to do. As much as I want to hit up Daytona and party, I want to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas also head out to Cincinatti in February for the V-Twin Expo even more. I've gotta pick my battles and unfortunatly Daytona isn't high enough up on that list. I'm definatly planning on going next year right after graduation.

Course 4- Week 1

We're pretty well into the Electrical course and we've covered the basics from the Theory class and started to get into more detail. We hit on the starter systems, had a demo and started testing the starter systems on a Honda, Kawasaki and a Suzuki. We aren't given a Harley to test. Why I'm not sure. We get a different answer every time we ask so I've given up asking. Part of the testing of these systems has been drawing out a block diagram from the schematics. Reading the schematics isn't really hard. The hard part is knowing exactly what the instructors want us to pull from the schematics for the diagrams.

I have to admit that I'm having fun with this part of it. It's challenging looking at the schematic and finding that wire on the bike. It's nice when you get it right quick.

Next week we're supposed to hit on the charging systems and the ignition systems so I'll be ready to cause some real damage soon enough.