Oh how lovely and shiny they are! And yes, I know I need to paint the fame!
New Wheels Have Arrived!
Looking good!
Cub engine is back in, but will have to come out again :-(
Well, I’ve had a busy weekend. I reassembled the Honda engine yesterday and put it back in the frame today. It was all going so well. While I was messing about with the installation I fitted a new rear tire and cleaned up the 50 years of grime from the chain covers and back wheel (thank you Thomas for persevering with that dirty back wheel job and the Dremel). Anyway, the kick starter worked for a bit, then decided that it wouldn’t engage any more, like something was stuck. I think I know what the issue is (my Thailand supplier had the shaft zinc plated and everything is now slightly oversize and “sticky”, I had to polish 0.1mm of zinc plate off the end of the shaft to get it to fit in the crankcase correctly) but I will have to strip the engine again 🙁. I did push start it and had a quick ride down the street and after the valve grind and cylinder hone it was more awesomely powerful than ever 😉 At least 5HP! Next weekend if Ange let’s me I will disassemble and fix the issue.
Engine reassembly complete
I got the engine reassembled today, looking good!
Managed to slice my finger open with a chisel while scraping old gaskets off. Ooops.
Done the valve clearances and adjusted the clutch (I think?) so will put it back in the frame tomorrow.
Hopefully it will go. It seems to go through the gears properly.
The kick starter spindle from Thailand wasn’t machined correctly so I had to grind a bit out of the shoulder so it didn’t foul on one of the gears.
I’ve lost the kick starter somewhere in the garage. I remember putting it somewhere unusual so tomorrow I will have to have a proper look for it.
C100 Engine Painting Complete
I have painted the left and right hand side engine cases with engine enamel, also the cylinder, cylinder head and rocker cover. I must say that I am very pleased with the result! They look as good as new. I’ve lapped the valves and honed the cylinder. All ready now for re-assembly as soon as the new kick starter spindle and gasket set arrives. I am also wondering whether to put a coat of clear on the cases, they look awesome as they are now, but may be more durable with a coat of clear, I guess I might as well while I’ve got them ready for paint.
Before
After
Honda C100
Should have put these images up earlier.
Here’s my new baby in various states on restoration/repair.
Hello New York
Well, we finally made it to the USA. The flight was very long, I got stopped at security for “additional screening” at Sydney and Los Angeles, but it was OK. The leg from Sydney to LA was on the A380-800, and it was much quieter than the 747 from LA to New York. We had very little time to change planes, both times we got off one and got straight on to the next one.
We had a nice dinner with Anges family last night, yummy Greek food.
Going to have some nice fresh bagels for breakfast today and then bus into Manhattan to see the sights.
Photos coming soon.
New Project Bike for Me!
Ta da! here is my new project bike! a 1986 Honda CBX 250 RXD. I’m going to make a cafe racer!
I got this because:
- It’s a Honda and was cheap.
- It’s got spoked alloy DID 18″ wheels
- It’s got a disc front brake (I know drum brakes are retro cool, but I don’t want to die just yet!)
- It’s allegedly 30HP stock and 130Kg, so when I strip many things off it should have good power to weight.
- I am told it will do over 100MPH stock (when it was new anyway).
- Thomas will want to ride on the road in 18 months time and it will make an uber cool learners bike for him when I finish it.
- I was bored and had nothing else to work on in the garage now that we all have new bikes.
Once I know for sure that it runs and the engine isn’t completely knackered I will begin the process of buying many parts on the internet.
Watch this space for updates and more photos.
New V Strom Radiator Guards Fitted
I got a pair of radiator guards from Aliexpress, stainless steel, CNC laser cut, quite nice quality really for US$69 delivered. Fitted them yesterday and they went on really easy, just 4 bolts.
New Bike for Ange
Ta Daaaa! We have finally found Ange a new bike today. A nearly new GSR750 with some nice bling! Pick up on Tuesday evening all going well.
V Strom Bash Plate Fitted
The front header pipe, oil filter and crankcase always looked really vulnerable, so I have installed a lovely alloy bash plate. Was a BITCH to fit, because the captive nut that the exhaust mounts on (where the bash plate happens to also need mounting on) was lock-tighted in so hard that it spun. I had to crush the outer captive nut holder with vice grips to get it undone. Needless to say the bolt thread was damaged and I had to run a tap through the not so captive nut and then find a new slightly longer bolt because of the extra thickness the bash plate added. Turns out an XR650R chain adjuster was just perfect :-). What should have been a 20 minute job turned into 2 hours! Anyway, got it sorted in the end!
The V-Strom is finally fixed!
Good news! after messing about turning the ignition on and off while riding the bike, and the problem temporarily going away, I decided to remove the fuel pump and inspect it again. Before I removed it I did a flow test and got the usual 300ml with three cycles of the ignition. No change there. I removed the pump, disassembled and very carefully reassembled. The only thing I did differently was I mated the pump motor with the top high pressure fuel filter before I put the mated the bottom housing and inlet filter. It felt like it had a nice tight seal with the o ring on the pump motor outlet and high pressure fuel filter top. I refitted the pump and to my amazement all the issues have gone away. I rode it with a fairly low fuel level, two bars on the gauge and no issues, then filled it up and again all good. The bikes performance has improved dramatically now, much much faster and no flat spots anywhere. All I can think is that while the pump had good fuel flow it didn’t have good pressure and was bleeding off pressure somewhere from one of the o rings in the fuel pump housings. Maybe I pinched an o ring last time I assembled? Although its a bit of a mystery I am stoked that its finally fixed. I rode it today for 100kms and no issues at all.
On a side note, next time I ever have to work on a motorcycle fuel injection system I am going to buy a fuel pressure gauge. I think if I had one of those to start with I would have saved myself a lot of time.