Jonesy and I finally got the chance to get up to the Gold Coast to pick up our American imports on the weekend. We left at 3pm Friday in Jonesys family Mazda MPV with the seats taken out and another mates 3 bike trialer hooked up behind. We drove straight through to Buladelah, had the obligatory counter dinner and two schooners at the Buladelah pub and then drove through to the Gold Coast where we had a nap in the van while waiting for Peter Leahy Imports to open. We loaded Alans B44 Metisse and my Boyd and Stellings TM400 onto the trailer and loaded my Metisse frame, bodywork, KX125 parts for Smithy, a 250 Adler engine for Gus, the TM400 engine and three Yamaha pipes into the van.
We then headed for Dave Tanners house to pick up the DT1 shitbox I'd bought for the motor and my Kawasaki F81m engine that I'd bought from another forum member that had been delivered to Daves house. After loading up and downing a few beers and a bite to eat with Dave we then headed south for the journey home. No sissy motels for us, Nosiree!
or so we thought!
Dave and Jonesy repack the van for the 15th time at Daves house.The trip home was going along uneventfully, not a care in the world as we excitedly talked over our new cargo. Then, as we approached Brunswick Heads via the M1 motorway all shit broke loose as the little V6 Mazda engine decided to spit a head gasket in the loudest possible way. We were convinced the engine had chucked a rod, the noise was so deafening. After a two hour wait in the pissing rain, Joe our NRMA towie arrived and loaded the van onto the tilt tray, hooked the trailer onto the towbar and into Brunswick Heads we headed. Luckily we managed to find a garage to lock up the trailer and a compound to store the van at the local BP depot/Bait Shop.
The van sits forlornly as Alan calls the NRMA. They arrived 2 hours later in the middle of a tropical rainstorm
A thorn surrounded by two roses.After managing to score one of the only available rooms in Brunswick Heads we purchased a couple of 6 packs of Bundy OP cans and some Chinese food and settled down to find a rental ute to tow the trailer back to Sydney. Alan had an important work meeting on Monday morning so hanging around Brunswick Heads wasn't an option as was leaving our new bikes and bits at the mercy of thieves. We had to get the van and our stuff home by hook or by crook. Naturally nobody would rent us a van for such a trip so after a shitload of false leads we managed to find a tilt truck driver willing to carry the van and tow the trailer to Sydney. For a not insignificent sum the deal was settled on and the following morning we departed on the rest of the trip sitting up in the Isuzu tilt tray cab. Despite the delaying dramas we had a hoot of a time, were very impressed with Peter Leahy and his operation (despite my flat tracker bodywork not arriving) and were glad to meet up again with our old mate Dave at his magnificent hacienda in the hinterland behind the Gold Coast.
The B&S is going to be a very interesting project. There are a lot of unique features on this bike that help me overlook the fact that the engine is a TM400 Suzuki. I'll leave it's transformation into something useful to Suzuki guru Jens Olsen.
