Welcome, and thanks for visiting!
“Dragon” Dan Morriss has worked on a wide variety of vehicles, powersports, motorcycles, generators, boats, electronics, and home appliances, accumulating a wide variety of tools, skills, and the confidence to take on any job, both as a mechanic and a handyman, a true “jack of all trades.”
In a world that is so quick to throw away things as soon as they break, we believe that repairing what’s broken is the right thing to do.
Dragon has worked as a mechanic since 2017, fixing mechanical problems for his friends and family, always striving to embody the spirit of KAIZEN (continuous improvement), to improve in his trade and not rest until his repairs meet or exceed OEM specifications.
Here, we will list some of the major repairs Dragon has completed, not to mention the hundreds of smaller maintenance items that came in between.
2006 LEXUS GX470
TIMING BELT, WATER PUMP (AND EVERYTHING ELSE)
At 200,000 miles, Dragon did a full timing belt service on his personal GX470 (Landcruiser Prado), replacing the timing belt, radiator, water pump, thermostat, accessory drive belt, tensioners and pulleys, and other related components. The repair was done more than 60,000 miles ago, and the vehicle is still running like a Swiss watch. A maintenance log is kept for all scheduled and completed work done since the car was bought over 160,000 miles ago.
1989 FORD BRONCO –
SAVED 3RD ENGINE FROM MELTING DOWN
A 1989 Ford Bronco was brought in that had had its engine replaced twice, developing rod knock from overheating both times. The owner said the new engine still didn’t have the power he thought it should. Dragon performed an intake vacuum test, and saw that the vacuum pressure was not what it should be. At first suspecting a clogged catalytic convertor, Dragon discovered that the muffler had rusted and collapsed, dramatically blocking airflow through the engine, and causing severe heat buildup which killed the last two engines. The combustion heat would build up towards the back of the engine and eventually roasted the rear crankshaft bearings. Dragon welded in a new exhaust, muffler, and did many other repairs to get the Bronco in top shape. A complete AC system rebuild (R12 to R134 retrofit) was completed. The owner drove it for a while and then sold the car for $25,000.
2008 HONDA ODDYSSEY –
NO POWER, NO ACCELERATION,
HIGH RPM MISFIRE ON ALL CYLINDERS
Dragon worked on a 2008 Honda Odyssey which could barely accelerate enough to get on the interstate, and showed misfires on all cylinders. At owner’s request, Dragon replaced spark plugs and coil packs, which did not resolve the problem. So an intake vacuum test was done, which showed lower than normal intake pressure. Dragon inspected the Catalytic Convertors only to find that the rear primary cat had crumbled to pieces and blocked the flow of exhaust gases through the 2nd cat. Upon replacing the two cats and performing other normal maintenance, the vehicle regained all its missing power. 70,000 miles later, it is still a reliable vehicle for its owner.
2001 KLR 650 MOTORCYCLE –
FULL REBUILD AND 685cc OVERBORE
Dragon purchased a heavy oil-burning motorcycle with 33k miles and rebuilt just about every major system on it. Shipped head and cylinder to Eagle Mike’s engine shop in California for 685cc overbore machine work. Rebuilt bikes engine, brakes, and suspension, added some tasteful adventure mods, and rode it 5,000 miles since with no problems.
1941 FORD COUPE 454 BIG BLOCK HOT ROD –
NO SPARK / NON START
ELECTRICAL DIAGNOSTIC AND REPAIR
Dragon was called in to diagnose why a 1941 Ford Coupe Super Deluxe (a full custom hot rod build) had broken down at a stop sign near the owners house. After an extensive investigation involving electrical testing of all the ignition components, the problem was narrowed down to too much resistance and subsequent voltage drop in the wires sending power to the ignition. Upon inspecting the race style ignition switch on the dash, multiple poorly crimped wire connectors were found that were sending intermittent/unreliable power to the ignition box. Dragon replaced all ignition related wires and switches, added an inline fuse for fire safety, and the Chevy 454 engine roared to life for another 83 years of service.
2003 KLR250 ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE CONVERSION – ENGINE REPLACED WITH ELECTRIC MOTOR
70MPH TOP SPEED / 100 MILE RANGE
Dragon converted a gas KLR250 Dual Sport bike to be driven by an electric rear hub motor. A battery pack was built from scratch with Lithium ion cells from a Tesla Model S module. Another parallel pack was made with SPIM08HP li-poly cells from battery hookup. The bike can reach speeds up to 75mph with flux weakening on its 84v peak battery voltage. It can travel 100 miles on a full charge.
1993 SUZUKI DR650 –
REBUILT FOR 8,000 MILE RIDE TO ALASKA
Dragon bought a 30 year old kick start DR650 dual sport motorcycle, and performed all of the deferred maintenance to bring it up to spec. He then laid down over 13,000 miles on the bike, riding all the way to and all around Alaska, with no mechanical issues. It’s always better to solve problems in the shop before the trip, rather than dealing with them during, on the side of the highway!
1993 KAWASAKI NINJA GPX 600R – CARB AND COOLING REBUILD
Dragon rebuilt many of the systems on a 30 year old Ninja 600R, including cleaning and rebuilding the 4 carburetors, replacing tires, rebuilding brakes, rebuilding corroded cooling system, along with other modifications and improvements.
2002 HONDA SHADOW MOTORCYCLE – NO GAS, NO SPARK, NO START ISSUE
A friend of Dragon’s bought a Honda Shadow cruiser motorcycle that he was told “only needed a carb cleaning.” After the friend cleaned the carb, the bike still wouldn’t run, and after sitting for a month, it became a point of contention with his wife. Dragon diagnosed that the fuel pump was not running, so fuel was diverted around the pump and straight into the carburetors. Now that it was getting gas, Dragon discovered it had no spark. After some lengthy testing with a multimeter, Dragon found that the wire leading to the kill switch had been burnt out when the previous owner put a 20 amp fuse where a 10 amp fuse was supposed to go. Upon replacing the broken wire, along with some other much needed repairs, the bike started, and the friend promptly sold the bike for twice what he paid for it.
These stories are a testament of Dragon’s ability to problem solve, hopefully proving to the customer that he has the knowledge, skills, tools, and determination to solve any problem you may have.