Getting Ready For 2017

If you've stumbled onto this site and are a bit confused as to whats happening, let me bring you up to speed. Towards the end of 2015, the interface (BLOGGER) for this site (www.mass-imo.com), was beginning to show glitches in the way it displayed content. I spent months trying to find a solution for these glitches and by mid 2016, I had given up. Not only did I give up on finding a solution for these glitches, but the frustration resulted in the decline of this blog.
In an attempt to regain the enthusiasm I once had for this blog, I decided to start it again fresh, which meant I had to delete everything. Those looking for the old content can surf on over to www.bl-een.com, which is where the content was moved too.
Now that I've deleted all traces of the old www.mass-imo.com, hopefully all the glitches and gremlins will have been dealt with, and I can back to blogging.

Bye Bye Xterra

Last picture of Me and my 2000 Nissan Xterra

On October 8th of 2016, I said goodbye to my beloved Nissan Xterra. My new ride is a 2011 Nissan Versa Sedan. Stay tuned as I'm sure there will be some upcoming projects scheduled in the new year.

2005 Yamaha BWS: Strip Down

Just a little update on the Bug-eye's current state and condition. It's sitting in the garage being slowly disassembled. Most of the rear end has been removed, beginning with the seat, fairings, tail light, turn signals, wheel, and engine.  

I ran into issues removing the front fairings which I will document in an upcoming post. Until then I hope these pictures will tie all of you over until then.

ROM: OUYA

Prior to being acquired by RAZOR (July 27, 2015), the OUYA would normally see system updates rolling out every 4 to 6 months. It's been over a year (Nov. 6, 2014) since we've seen a system update to our beloved OUYA set-top box. With no indications from OUYA or RAZOR as to when an update is coming, I've decided to take things into my own hands.

My current problem with the OUYA is that its ROM comes with a proprietary operating system based off Android 4.1 (Jellybean). While this was state of the art back in early 2013, Android 4.1 is no longer being supported by KODI developers. To me, KODI a.k.a. XBMC, is what made the OUYA such an awesome device. So I want to update my OUYA so as to continue being able to use KODI.

2005 Yamaha BWS: Introduction

While surfing Craigslist, I came across a post for a 2005 Yamaha BWS YW50 scooter a.k.a. The Bug-Eye (They are called bug-eye because the headlights resemble the eyes of a bug). The seller was asking $600 as-is, since he was certain that he had blown the engine. Even with a blown engine, at $600 this was a rather good deal. I already own a highly tuned 2001 Yamaha BWS CW50 (Pre-Bug) and have always hoped to get my hands on a Bug-Eye. Why do I want a Bug-Eye so bad...

Well the 2005 and newer Yamaha BWS scooters have a much beefier front suspension, a slightly wider stance, and far better gearing for in city driving. So I contacted the seller to make an offer only to be told that the scooter was already SOLD. Oh, the highs and lows that come from scavenging through Craigslist.

The next day, I get a call from the scooter owner informing me that his previous deal didn't go through, and the scooter was still available if I still wanted it. So I borrowed my brother, and his pickup truck, and went to see this scooter. From its appearance the scooter was in quite good shape, but there was definitely some engine troubles. While I tried to gauge how severely damaged this engine was, without dismantling it for proper inspection, it would be all hypothetical. I tried haggling, but this seller stayed firm on his price, so I decided to take the gamble and buy the scooter anyways.

Unfortunately do to an issue with an corrupt memory card, I don't have any pictures of the scooter when I purchased it, which totally sucks. All the pictures in this post are not of my scooter but pictures of scooters that look almost identical.

First thing I needed to do after getting the scooter home, was finding room for it in the garage. Now i had to determine how much damage had been done to the engine. Typically by removing a few parts I could have access to the engine, but since I already knew I would be fully modifying this scooter, I stripped it right down.

Check in on my next post when I document the tear-down process.