How to Clean your Motorcross Gear

Growing up, seeing motovans at the track was possibly one of the coolest things.. while I was sleeping in my singlecab pickup. But hey, at the time, in highschool, my truck was cooler than some van. Now at this "age" 24... a van is quite a dang good idea, so I started looking. After a few facebook pots, a buddy of mine knew someone who had a 2001 E350 Passenger van sitting, and would get me a price. he told me it needed a radiator, and the spark plug blew out of cylinder 4 (common 5.4 triton issue). A few days go by, and he calls saying I can have it for FREE! they just needed it gone! So, I go out there with a friend of mine who has a 30ft gooseneck, and some starting fluid to make sure I don't get in too deep... we cant get it to fire without starting fluid, and ruled it out to a fuel pump. We pull the van on the trailer, stop by the parts store, and are headed home.


The van was sitting stationary for 4 years... and smelled like it. but we'll get back there.. We dropped the tank, having to cut one of the tank straps and emptied the 4 year old fuel, put a new fuel pump in it, about 5 gallons of premium race fuel (fast and furious), and she fired up.  Next was the spark plug issue, I tapped the threads, and installed a helicoil along with new plug and coil pack, and we were good. Later I replaced the radiator after flushing the coolant system.

The next day, we pulled out everything behind the first row bench seats, to include the headliner, rear AC duct, and side panels. Had to cut out the old seat belt mounts, and reinstalled the last bench where the first bench originally resided, since it was longer, but a few inches back to have optimal leg room. Then came the wall install... after lots of measuring once and cutting twice... I got it all figured out, and had the wall installed, then yellow stuffed "expanding foam" around all sides to ensure I wouldn't have fuel fumes in the cab. Finally I installed some flooring, just to give the bare metal some protection.
 
After that, I was king of burned out on the van, before I even used it. She sat in my driveway for months before I was ticketed for having an unregistered vehicle parked outside.. gotta love florida.. I posted it forsale for a few days, then decided I would getRdone.

So, off to the DMV, registered, and custom plates reading "MOTOVAN". Picked up a heavy duty cargo lock, fuel treatment, tons of black ice "little trees", and some R-134 to recharge the AC. She was making her first trip to the track that weekend!

We changed the oil, 1,000 miles and 3 years overdue... only 2qts came out.. and sea foamed the green monster. After driving all over town, I parked in the driveway for a second, only to try to move it, and nothing on start up... not even after a jump.. so back to the parts store for a starter. After one of the worst starter jobs ever, she was cranking again. I figured we were problem free... but not before a brake line failed, and had to replace that guy, in order to take her to the track in 2 days!

Finally! we were all clear, and we loaded three bikes into the van, and we were off! Two bikes is preferred.. but three worked, juts had to put most of the gear in the cab. Was a great day of riding, before a buddy crashed and ended the day with a concussion and a few compressed vertebrae..

The van made another trip out this past weekend, and developed a new misfire, that ill be taking care of this week, and rechargeing the whole AC system since ill be sleeping in it this weekend for my first race in years!

I will add some photos off my phone in a bit, until then, here is my youtube channel I created for the motovan!

 
 

I could be late but in the post race interview Tomac strongly hinted he will race the GPs at some point in his career. Maybe the incentive will pass but he sounded serious about it.
 
 At about 9:00

How about we use Team Puerto Rico as a feeder team for Team USA. We fill it with the younger AMA racers, so they get to ride the MX des Nations without all of the pressure of riding for Team USA. And they get to show us what they can do and get their feet wet at the same time! We need to do something different, and I think this makes good sense.

With many, Decoster included, saying the US riders couldn't be competitive on a deep sandy and or tad wet track who do you think would step up to Assen next year? More akin to Lommel, although not quite as deep, the memory of being lapped last time they visited a deep sand track might be rekindled. Tbh I think Barcia is the only rider who might possibly not be lapped, providing it stays dry. He would probably be one of those that would actually go. Who else do think might bite the bullet?

Andrew Short and Jake Weimer have MXON wins, but Tomac doesn't...