Alabama's STEM explores is made possible by the generous support of the Holle Family Foundation, established to honor the legacy of Brigadier General Everett Holly and his parents, Evelyn and Fred.

Holle Champions of servant leadership, science, technology.

Engineering, math.

All coming up right now on Alabama STEM Explorers.

Hi, welcome to Alabama STEM Explorers.

My name's Mitch and I'm here today with Mike at Barber Motorsports Museum.

Happy to have you here.

First time here.

Yes.

Okay.

So what would you like to know?

I just want to know about these motorcycles.

They look so cool.

They are cool.

We've got more than 1700 motorcycles in the collection we have on the floor at any one time.

About 750 motorcycles.

Some one of a kind.

Some that are somewhat popular.

But we're going to talk about motorcycles today and teach you a few things about the workings of a motorcycle.

I'm really excited.

Well, let's get started.

Okay.

What we have here is a Yamaha p.w 50.

It would have been a motorcycle.

All that many folks who are riding these days now in professional competition would have started on perhaps in their teens.

So what we're going to do is have you take this apart.

Okay.

Wow.

That's cool.

It is cool.

And we're going to talk a bit about the motorcycle.

What would you think would be the most important part of the motorcycle?

The engine engine is a good guess.

You know why?

What?

The power plant supplies everything to the motorcycle.

It would do the electricity if it had lights.

This one doesn't.

It also makes it run.

So we're going to talk a bit about the engine on this one.

Normally, you're probably accustomed to a four stroke engine, which is the same kind that would be in your automobile.

This is powered by a two stroke engine, so it operates a little differently.

The fourth stroke would have an intake, would have a compression, would have a power, and these are called strokes and then would have an exhaust.

So those four items occur in this motorcycle in a two stroke, been, in essence, double time.

So while the engine is working, doing one of those processes above the piston, it's also working below the piston to keep that going.

So that is what is happening with this motorcycle.

You ready to do some work?

Ready to take it apart?

Well, let's go.

Where do you think you'd start on this?

Oh, I don't know.

The seats in seats is excellent.

Yes, excellent.

Yes.

Now, you'll notice when you look down below, you'll see two screws that are in the back.

You may have to look down to see them.

See those two?

Two screws it.

Those both come out.

Okay, so that's your job.

Take them out.

Take both of them out.

These.

Those lights.

And you know what we tell the folks left loose.

Right.

Tight.

So this way.

Well, left loose.

Right.

Tight.

But if you're old school like me, then it's analog.

Clockwise.

Tighten.

Counterclockwise, loosen.

Okay, so there are two of those that mud flap is in there.

It may fall down, but that's not a big deal.

So while we're talking about the power plant, the two cycle engine is the power plant on this particular motorcycle.

As I said, it is working above the piston and below the piston to do all the four things that the normal force stroke does and that provides power to drive the wheels.

Oh, to create the electrical circuit that we're going to talk about in just a moment when we get there.

Did I need to give you a wrench on that or moving on?

No, just to get it.

There you go.

Okay.

That was a mud flap that fell out.

Now the seat comes off.

Okay.

So this part.

That's correct.

Okay, cool.

And we'll set that down.

Now, I really get to see the inside of.

Yeah, now you get to see the inside.

Now we're going to do the progression here so that you can get everything off wood next.

Be going to the suspension system.

You know what that does to suspend it?

Well, it's a good guess.

It does help with the bouncing of the motorcycle as it's going over a rough road.

So that will require you to take this bolt out and this bolt out.

Again, your job.

There's one other other direction.

You go left, lose left.

Now, normally what we tell those who take these bolts out, it's best to put them back where you found them, because that way you know where they are and when it comes time to put the bike back.

Okay, then you'll have them there.

Okay?

Yeah, but since you have me that one, we'll leave that one on.

We'll just.

We'll go from this side.

So the next thing we're going to take off is this device part of the exhaust system?

You know what this is called?

What is it called?

It's called a muffler.

So we're going to take this muffler off and that takes just that one bolt.

It comes out there and it may fall out.

You may have to use both hands just to hold it.

Here we go.

Okay.

Now you're going to remember where all those nuts and bolts went, right?

I'm going to try my best.

Well, I.

You're going to have some issues here if we don't.

So now we can go ahead and take off the gas tank.

Okay.

Okay.

Obviously, providing fuel to the engine.

And this has another nut on this side.

Oh, I got it.

You got it?

Yeah, go ahead.

He comes all the way up.

All the way up.

So you have to get it off that nut.

Oh.

Oh, okay.

Go ahead now.

So which way now you've got no.

No other direction.

Other direction.

You go.

We're going to teach you left from right here before the day, because you're going to do this in reverse.

Now pull that all the way up.

Now the gas tank comes off.

Cool.

And what we're going to do, just so we have it, I'm going to put this nut back on this bolt so we know exactly where it is.

Yeah.

Okay, now we're going to go to the top side.

You know what this is?

What?

It's a coil.

It's a coil.

This provides the electrical power allowing us to send this to the spark plug, which will in turn ignite the fuel air mixture, which is inside the cylinder.

So here you see there are two screws.

You also see these put these little lugs right there.

This piece.

Pull that off.

Just pull it straight off like that.

You'll also notice another piece right over here.

Do you know what that does?

You know what these are?

No.

What are they?

It helps create the electrical circuit.

So you need a positive and you need a negative.

This is the positive side.

Again, the negative side allowing us to get a spark to the spark plug to ignite the fuel.

So these two bolts will come out okay?

Mm hmm.

See?

And you thought it was going to be easy?

Yeah.

These are giving me a tough time.

There we go.

That's one, huh?

And then I'll put this.

This is the bolt.

That's the bolt.

Eventually that will fit back in there as it came out.

Mm hmm.

Trying to organize it.

You better do better because you got to put it back together.

Yeah.

Okay, now we'll go ahead and remove the cap, spark.

Plug, cap.

Taking it off.

So just pull it straight it.

Pull it this way toward the tire.

There you go.

And that just comes through the frame so you can see.

Pull it back through the frame.

There we go.

Okay.

Now we can get down to the workings of the engine as we get ready to take apart the engine.

This is called the cylinder head.

So when you take the head off first, we just have one that right there on that serious matter, you may not be able to see and see that it has to come off again left loose.

Oh, yeah.

And don't worry, when we do this with other individuals your age, we have to go through the same process of always reminding them left and right.

Here we go.

And you can just set that down.

Now, here, I'm going to have you take part of the exhaust system off.

We've already taken the muffler off.

This is part of the exhaust where it comes out goes into this converter and eventually to the muffler.

But in order to get this out and you can see it's inside the frame, I've got one nut.

See that silver bolt right there?

Not not the bolt.

So it really comes out all the way up.

And you may have to use both hands because it's a bit heavy.

There it goes.

And it will come all the way out.

It's getting there.

Okay.

Coming through the frame now.

I want you to look at this.

Okay.

I want you to look at how this fits it fit like that.

You see these two slots, those two slots are going to fit over two bolt.

That's correct.

You're going to have to slide it back in.

Now you can take off the cylinder.

Let's see where to put that.

That's the head.

Here's the cylinder block.

It slides right out and it's a bit on the heavy side there.

Okay.

Now, I want you to look at the cylinder block these two bolts face downward.

So they're going to go back in facing that.

I'm going to put it like that.

So that okay, now we're getting pretty close to the end.

We've got what's called the swing arm, part of the suspension system.

That is the next item that comes off.

You'll have one nut up here, one not down there.

Both of those have to come off.

Okay.

The swing arm.

Swing arm.

Okay, one more.

And then and you may even tax me trying to remember where all these bolt and nuts go.

Can't quite come off yet.

If you see that big, not see that.

Yeah, it's called the axle mat, so that has to come off.

But a big one.

It is a big.

Don't put that over there.

Yeah.

You know and the final thing that comes off this bike is going to be the tire, the wheel or the tire.

It's going to come off, pull it.

Just come right out.

Yep.

Here you go.

That's really cool.

And that is really cool.

I'll place that.

Right.

Okay, so now we've taken the bike apart.

We talked about a few of the systems on the bike, and eventually when we put the bike back together, we're going to talk about some more of the systems.

How's that sound?

Sounds good.

Okay, so now we're going to repeat the process, but we're going to do it in a backwards fashion.

Okay.

You remember, we want to put part with the wheel.

You will start with the wheel.

We want to put parts on in a manner that we don't have to take them back off in order to put another part on.

So, yes, we start with the wheel.

Okay.

So this might be the only one I remember, but I know that this one goes like that and it goes all the way on.

Oh, there's that part.

But keep going.

You may have to push it down a bit.

There you go.

Go.

Now, the next thing we are going to put on is going to be the swing arm.

Because you can't put that bolt on yet.

Because we've got to put the swing arm.

Yeah.

So you'll see it go right to the axle and then the two studs right there.

You're correct.

That's correct.

Now you have to do it in such a manner that it doesn't get in, it get kicked square.

It has to go on square.

So haven't quite got it there.

Oh, there we go with that.

Almost like that.

Now you know what we like to do.

What I like to tell folks what a now you can give it a hammer tune.

Okay, you know what that is?

What?

What is that?

This is a hammer to hit it right there.

Okay, honey, he got.

Okay, so now we can put the bolt or the nut back on the axle.

That big nut, this one?

Yeah.

Okay.

Put it on.

Nice.

Is there a certain size that matters inside that matter?

Good question.

Excellent question.

You'll notice most of the bolts that have these or mats that have these ridges generally come out like this so that this will be adjacent to the wheel.

This will be the outside and be something a little bit different when we come to another nut in just a moment.

So it's that.

And now I want you to put on the shock absorber.

You remember how you don't have to type put on the shock of doing this and you don't have to tighten because I had and loosen it.

Can you young guys?

Yep.

You remember how that went?

Let's see.

I'm trying to remember.

Look at the other side.

Example the other side that.

No, look.

The other side.

Oh, okay.

So it went like this.

It did.

But I want you to look I want you to turn it 180, because this goes to the inside.

The bolt will go through there and thread into that.

Oh, and you'll have to put this in first, top in first.

Now you will slide that yoke.

There you go there.

And then that bolt goes through this.

That's correct.

And I remember.

Right.

I'm tightening it.

That's correct.

And now you have one more.

Okay.

Put in there.

Is that this one?

No, I don't believe so.

Which one you.

Oh, maybe try that one.

Okay, here we go.

It's going in.

You remember all these?

Yeah.

That's why when those of us who do mechanic work always tell our friends and tell ourselves to put those bolts and nuts back in the position that you took them out of, if it's possible.

Yeah.

That way you know where they are.

Yeah.

Okay, now we're going to do the next item here.

And what I'm going to have you do first is do the engine again.

You remember how that went.

So I think this is first.

That is first.

Okay.

What's this little thing?

That's the piston.

That's what moves up and down, does the compression of the gases and eventually will be moved back and forth by the combustion.

Oh, the power.

So remember you said put those down.

Correct.

So.

And watch your fingers there.

Let's see how these things go.

Oh, that like that?

Yeah.

Now, you may have to push the piston up a bit so it fits inside the cylinder of what?

Your fingers there go, because it has pinched us before.

Now, the next thing is what?

That's the block cylinder block.

So the next thing would be the.

The nose, the head, the cylinder head.

And there is generally way this goes.

You'll notice.

Yeah, there's different sides in in.

So normally when you look at a product and it has riding on it, if you can read it, this is this would be the top because you can read this internal external.

Yeah.

So that would be the top.

So that well this faces the tire.

Okay.

Sparkplug face.

Is that.

Yes.

Correct.

Mm hmm.

There we go.

And then you can put that little mat back on.

Now comes one of the harder part in it.

It goes in right here.

Oh, of course.

Yeah.

We're going to get you trained now.

We're going to put the coil back on.

Oh, can you remember what the coil does?

This one?

Yes, that one.

Okay.

This one connects over here somewhere right there on the top.

This side goes on the top.

No.

Yeah, this side goes.

Remember we had this threaded through the frame.

Okay, so where that piece through the frame.

Oh, yes, it's right up there.

And then you.

Yeah.

You don't have to put that on yet.

It might make it a little harder to get it.

So there's two bolts that are right down there.

Those two together are the ones that go on there.

Oh, yeah.

I suggest you do the front one first.

Okay.

Why is that?

Well, because you're eventually going to put this back on to complete the electrical circuit.

And once you have the front one end, then you can get the back one aligned easier.

This little guy is not one to cooperate with me.

Meaning you're not aligned.

Okay, let's see.

Can you see where it is?

That's pretty close.

There.

Go.

Maybe.

There we go.

Yeah, now it's going.

Okay.

Now you can put the other one in.

Okay, let's do that and then go to this side.

Same thing once.

And how can you know other than just putting it in?

How do you how can you figure out if you're aligned?

Well, it will usually screw.

Now, what didn't we do on this?

Remember we talked about a circuit.

What?

Yeah, we had to put that part first.

That's our circuit that that creates the ground side of the circuit.

So let's take that.

Do it again so we can complete the electrical circuit.

Correct.

So we will complete the electrical circuit and that other is the positive lead.

And you can just put it right on there.

There we go.

Now the next item.

Getting close to the end is going to be part of the exhaust system.

Oh, yeah.

And you remember how that went?

Let's see.

I'm trying to remember.

I think it's somewhere around there, right?

Well, somewhere a little bit more like that.

Yes, correct.

Remember, you've got to slide these to mimic those inside the frame.

The body goes in the frame from that like that.

But you've got to get it down this way far enough so you can slide it on these two bolts down here.

Remember, we've got these two bolts down here that these have to slide on.

Okay, let's see.

Which just means maneuvering it both ends maneuver, getting there so close.

Let's there we go.

I think we're getting to the right place.

There we go.

I think not.

There we go now.

Yes.

Now this comes in front.

Okay.

And then you'll put that other bolt that this one.

No, not that.

When there's that.

Remember the silver one.

Oh yeah.

This go.

No that's up there.

This way.

Oh, okay.

He was hiding from.

He was hiding.

Sometimes they do that.

That's why you have to put it in a certain order so you can't have them hiding from you.

Yeah.

And so that you don't have to take something off.

Now you've got one final piece as far as the exhaust system.

Okay.

And that is it.

This will fit up and see this.

Yeah, it's in there and then it will fit this bolt.

It will bolt on right there.

Just like that.

That is correct.

So it's a bit yeah.

So it fits in that hole and it can fit and it's, it's extremely loose.

So as long as you're close.

So which one are we going to use?

I'm going to use it.

Small one.

This one.

This one over here.

Okay, let's see.

I'm getting there.

It doesn't it won't necessarily fit where it's supposed to.

We need to pull that down just to bend.

Oh, looks like this thing's cracked.

That's okay.

Okay.

Don't just.

Just put it there.

Close.

Okay.

There you go.

Okay.

We'll live with it.

Well, that wasn't very easy.

No, it's very easy.

So we're basically down to the rest of the bike.

So you would put the gas tank on next and then you would put the seat on.

So we're awful close and we can if you want to continue doing that, putting these two pieces on, okay, that bolt goes all the way through the chassis, through these holes way up here.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Can go all the way through.

Keep pushing.

Here you go.

Now, the final item is the seat with the two bolt right there.

Do we have to put this thing on?

That is the mud flap.

Okay, I can.

I can live without the mud flap.

Right now.

It's supposed to keep the debris out of the engine.

Mud and debris.

Not quite right, is it?

Doesn't look like quite right.

So maybe lift that up just a bit.

Push it in.

Yeah.

Underneath.

Underneath.

Oh, like that.

Okay.

Yeah.

There it is.

Not quite square, but where are the screws go for this one.

Remember those went down below.

Oh yeah.

These guys that has to go in front, that little bracket has to go in in front.

Well, thank you.

Little more complicated than you thought, huh?

Oh, yeah.

You know, we'd love to have you visit us again.

Thank you.

I would, too.

Don't go away.

We have more Alabama STEM Explorers coming right up.

So I actually just graduated from high school in 2020 and I was looking for a full time position and one opened up down here.

They said that they actually wanted somebody who had hardly any educational experience, because what we do here at Barbers, it's very similar to what you would do in your standard mechanic shop.

However, it's just so much more specialized and there's so much more that goes into it, so much more detail orientated work.

So they wanted somebody where they could kind of they didn't have to unlearn their bad habits, they could just build them up from scratch to exactly how they wanted.

So I guess really just a high school degree was all that I needed, but I think it was kind of a special case for this position.

STEM education is an everything that I do every day.

It was actually the thing that surprised me the most about this position was how much, particularly physics, go into understanding how the bike works.

You know, I had to learn how to time an engine and that has to do with math.

It's absolutely everywhere, I would say.

I would say that there are opportunities in the STEM field without having to go the college course.

You know, I think especially in my high school years, you were kind of led to believe that in order to do anything in science technology with math engineering, you had to go to college possibly for even up to six years to get your master's.

But really, I mean, you can say that there stem and even just being an electrician being a mechanic just for a regular shop and you know, you can just go to trade school for stuff like that or like me, you can start from scratch.

You can really just you can get a job in STEM and you can learn it just from being hands on.

I would say, well, thank you, thank you for showing me how to build a motorcycle Not only did you get to build one, you got to start one just like the one you tore apart.

You know, we want to tell you that there's much more to see out here, Barber New technology.

Old technology.

We'd love to have you come visit us again.

Well, it's an amazing place.

It is amazing.

Well, we'll see you guys next week on Alabama STEM Explorers bye!

thanks for watching Alabama STEM explores.

If you missed anything or you want to watch something again, you can check out our website at Alabama.

STEM Explorers.

maybe you have a question we could answer here on the show and you might grab a cool T-shirt.

Feel free to send us a video question or an email on our website.

Alabama STEM Explorers dot org.

Thanks again for watching.

We'll be back next week.

Alabama's STEM explores is made possible by the generous support of the Holle Family Foundation, established to honor the legacy of Brigadier General Everett Holly and his parents, Evelyn and Fred Holle.

Champions of Servant Leadership.