SoCal ride Sept 4th (Damn 100+ HOT!!!)

[FJmonkey]

Ed and I hooked up again for some throttle twisting in Southern California. This first part of the trip of getting to our meeting place was the hottest for me. The temperature was pushing 100 on the freeway to get to Topanga Avenue. As I was approaching the 405 I was thinking that it was not going to get worse than this. Then at the 405 the challenge I made to "worse" was meet. Bumper to bumper 5 to 6 lanes across. Now I am picking through a very long parking lot at 25 MPH (Damn 3 day weekend). In addition to having less air moving past me, the heat of thousands of idling cars was added to it. Half hour late in meeting Ed and Ed was not their yet. Two minutes later he showed and we took a break in the shade to cool off.

Ed knows the roads around Mulholland and Malibu better than I so I let him play tour guide. I will let Ed fill in our route, he is good with that map thingy. Once in the canyons I expected it to get cooler but no relief. It was not till we lowered to about 500 feet above sea level (with the ocean in view) that we could feel cool air. We stayed on PCH to find some lunch. The traffic was bad. We filtered to the front at each stop light, when green we could move about 100 feet till we hit the tail end of the next traffic light. These lights are about 1/2 mile apart. A filling lunch complete with some appealing people watching (I love summer people watching in a beach town). Top up with gas then off to more canyons. We could feel the heat increase every 100 to 200 foot rise. Once at the top we quickly zipped back down to PCH.

While making our way back inland for a brief stop at the Rock Store we had a pleasant surprise. Ed was waiving to let a car turn out of the road we needed. Then instead of turning he bolted straight and was honking his horn at the car. Once pulled over Ed said that was his Dad. We took a break in the shade and had a good chat, he also is an FJ1200 owner.







Stopped at the Rock Store to find the place very empty, looked like it was closed. I guess the heat kept a lot of bikes off the road. Less squids for us so the heat did some good. A cold drink and one very long winded BMW rider (nice guy) later we headed back home. My total miles for this trip was 163, guessing 80 (round trip) of it was freeway.

FYI, many of roads we took have been newly repaved and make for some very smooth riding. That's it for me.

Let's get a few more SoCal riders out for another ride this month.

[simi_ed]

Thanks Mark!  Nice write up.  In addition to the mini-rally with Pops, the cars & heat in general, I noted an unwanted feature.  I was running 'rather aggressively' in 2nd gear at about 6k, and whacked the throttle WFO.  I  immediately heard detonation and chopped the throttle.  I tested this 2x more, with the same results.  I tried rolling the throttle on and this seemed to stop the det.  For the record, I'm running 87 Octane (R+M/2), and it was about 100-105ºF, the engine was hot and under a load climbing a canyon.  

I guess I need to run better fuel!  

Note: the was the 1st time I've heard an engine detonate, but it was clearly more pronounced and probably destructive than just pinging/preignition.  And I heard it over the exhaust, intake, wind and earplugs.

[simi_ed]

OK, here's the map & link:

http://tinyurl.com/rock-store-loop or
<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=22004+Clarendon+Street,+Woodland+Hills,+CA+91367-6304+(Am+Pm+Mini+Market)&daddr=Stunt+Road,+Calabasas,+CA+to:Las+Flores+Canyon+Road,+Malibu,+CA+to:Pacific+Coast+Hwy,+Malibu,+California+to:Encinal+Canyon+Road,+Malibu,+CA+to:Decker+Canyon+Road,+Malibu,+CA+to:Leo+Carillo+State+Beach,+Malibu,+CA+to:Mulholland+Hwy,+Malibu,+California+90265+to:Decker+Canyon+Rd,+Malibu,+CA+90265+to:Rock+Store,+cornell,+CA&hl=en&geocode=FclhCQIdgTbu-CEOr2RbAQSXHSm7H04Il57CgDFMQq4GqGbdcg%3BFScvCAIdPm_t-CnPPjIf9J_CgDEknbc1UPHjNg%3BFcKeBwIdpLDt-CnFHukfWaDCgDEWQ4zlxLg0ug%3BFa5GBwId45bq-Cm_kB9AD7PCgDFHI6QGALVG_Q%3BFQ7HBwIdqB_q-CkluZocJT3ogDFl6O8e8lbxkQ%3BFbnFBwIdAsnp-Ckt11V8GT3ogDFmDPNxmcS3JA%3BFZCABwIddkLp-CEGINiuS5KgMSmrt2HJxz3ogDHZ2zZ0vrecww%3BFbT3BwIdsl_p-CmpKd7x1DzogDHozrXE4tdsBA%3BFbnFBwIdAsnp-Ckt11V8GT3ogDFmDPNxmcS3JA%3BFZl4CAIdzW_r-CFb-GutYZrbsClHFtPKwCPogDEBANkhFDNv2g&mra=ls&sll=34.093753,-118.852158&sspn=0.112588,0.222301&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=12>

Marsh, LA Mike, San Dimas Mike, where are you guys?  We'll probably get the K-Man or Paddy out before these guys!

[Mark Olson]

Ed , try one step colder plugs for the high load conditions. works great for high temps or hauling ass.

[simi_ed]

Actually, I'm going to a hotter plug for another problem.  When I run at light throttle for a bit or trailing throttle into a turn, it'll cough & spit back when I hit the gas, then all's well.  My Expert (see pic above) advises 1 range hotter plug, & I'm inclined to agree. 
It is not carburetion, nor an electrical problem.  It started when  I went up 1 size on the pilot jet.  The theory is the larger jet allows the engine to run richer, thus cooler, requiring a hotter plug. 
The det. problem is just too much heat/load/throttle and low octane fuel, I believe.  91 should do the trick.