The madness begins...

[Mellow]

I started taking plastic off to replace the thermostat and check my valves.

The bikes sure is dirty under all that plastic.

I took my LED flashlight and snooped through the top of the radiator and in the nooks and crannies... I can see where I have a small coolant leak somewhere.

I also have the largest, dried up, texas grasshopper I've ever seen that's been hitching a ride for who knows how long.

[eddiemack]

So,... that's what a ST looks like with the plastics off! Not quite the same aye?
Good luck with your wrenching....

[Dave Wicks]

The other day I popped the hood on my car, two feet from bike, found mouse nest built on engine...Hmmm, wonder what's going on inside fairing..shudder...Come spring I'll be peeking inside, wonder if they can getin the air box...rats! er I mean mice..Looks complicated, cruisers were simpler.

[Mellow]

My parents have rat poison taped inside the engine compartment and bottom of the airbox on their Tacoma. We were replacing the air filter one day and when we opened it up, there was a solid nest of crap inside. We had to dig it out just to get enough room to remove the filter.

[Dave Wicks]

That sounds ugly. We live in a rural farming area. This year, this fall the country side is overrun by mice. It has actually ruined some homes. Lived here for 56 years..never seen anything like it. Scientists think it's the chem-fallow, continuous cropping ...Concerned about bike, next year it will be in a mouse proof spot. Is it hard to access the air box on the St. !300?

[Mellow]

That sounds ugly. We live in a rural farming area. This year, this fall the country side is overrun by mice. It has actually ruined some homes. Lived here for 56 years..never seen anything like it. Scientists think it's the chem-fallow, continuous cropping ...Concerned about bike, next year it will be in a mouse proof spot. Is it hard to access the air box on the St. !300?

Getting to the airbox isn't as bad as I'd first thought it might be.

Just loosen the rear tank pivot bolt, be sure to pull back the front seat height adjustment all the way, remove the two front tank bolts and pull the tank up. I hold the tank up with a long bungie cord. Then, there are 8 screws(I think) holding the airbox on. Carefully remove them, the front two, you don't have to remove, just unscrew. If you try to remove them, you might drop one of them in to the engine abyss (wonder how I know that?). One of my objectives while I'm in the engine is to find that darn screw.

Pop the airbox top off with all the screws out/loose and there's the air filter in the front section.

There's some oil in the air box which is supposed to be normal and I used a shop vac to clean out the bugs and dirt that were stopped by the air filter before installing the new filter. It doesn't snap into place or anything just sits there, I assume the top of the airbox holds it down once in place.

It's definitely easier than a Valkyrie or GL1800 Wing.