A Tree Falling in the Forest

Yesterday afternoon Gagknee and his family stopped by for some coffee and pie. As MLW and Gagknee's Wifey descended into wife related conversation, Gagknee and I went out to the garage to visit with our respective ATVs. Earlier in the day, I had my machine apart to adjust the valves. Proud of my efforts, I decided to test start it to demonstrate my mechanical prowess. My delusions of grandeur were shattered as soon as the engine fired. CLICKETY, CLICKETY, CLICKETY. It sounded like a bunch of marbles in a blender. Embarrassed, I shut the machine off and started to wonder what I did wrong.

Later, after the Gagknee's went home to watch the BoSox beat the Injins, I went back out to the garage and tore my machine back apart. It didn't take long to realize that I had adjusted the valves with the cam between the exhaust and intake stroke rather than between the compression and power stroke. Or, as they say... the cam was 180 degrees out.

Oh well. Sometimes you learn valuable lessons by making mistakes.