Zealot
The Village Idiot
What an adventure it's been tearing this bike down slowly over the course of many weeks, waiting for free time and warm weather. I've had to replace many of the aging, cracking hoses with new ones. This is especially true for the throttle bodies and fuel lines - as I won't take chances with those. I tore the bike down to hunt the oil leak, and it would appear to have been the cam chain tensioner in which the bolts were not properly secured. As soon as I clicked the allen wrench into the bolt head, it turned. I wriggled the CCT around and could see liquid oil sneaking out between the block, it, and the gasket. The latter happened to be old and discolored, and that raised a lot of concerns in my mind about the quality of the shop service the bike had supposedly received.
Delving further, I tore the top of the engine block off and have made it to the (now removed) cams. I used feeler gauges and checked all the valve specs, and found that as a whole the intakes were way out of whack. Exhaust valves were more spot on, and while they were on the tighter side within tolerance, I feel that they would stretch slightly with higher ambient temperatures (not much, as I learned) and moreso when the bike engine is hot. I calculated out a whole whack of shims I'd need, and was able to cut out most of what I needed by simply using old shims under different buckets. In the end, I've only had to order 5 specific shims from Honda, in addition to a new fuel filter and gasket. The gas tank on the bike has been painted, and I'm wondering about how clean the inside might be. In the process of removing the pump assembly from the tank, is there a way to clean it out of any debris that may have gotten inside? I already had a whack of gnats come out in the gasoline while I drained it, to which I then strained through a cloth to clean.
While I'm waiting on new shims to come in, I'm getting the rest of the hoses replaced (those which I felt needed it), installing new levers, and have ordered a carb sync tool in order to get them where they oughta be post valve adjustment (as per the service manual). It's been kind of fun getting to wrench on a bike like this, and I'm hoping that it's as much of a blast to ride come spring as I hope it will be.
Anyways, that's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading! I'll share some more pictures soon, maybe some of the guts!
-Daniel
Delving further, I tore the top of the engine block off and have made it to the (now removed) cams. I used feeler gauges and checked all the valve specs, and found that as a whole the intakes were way out of whack. Exhaust valves were more spot on, and while they were on the tighter side within tolerance, I feel that they would stretch slightly with higher ambient temperatures (not much, as I learned) and moreso when the bike engine is hot. I calculated out a whole whack of shims I'd need, and was able to cut out most of what I needed by simply using old shims under different buckets. In the end, I've only had to order 5 specific shims from Honda, in addition to a new fuel filter and gasket. The gas tank on the bike has been painted, and I'm wondering about how clean the inside might be. In the process of removing the pump assembly from the tank, is there a way to clean it out of any debris that may have gotten inside? I already had a whack of gnats come out in the gasoline while I drained it, to which I then strained through a cloth to clean.
While I'm waiting on new shims to come in, I'm getting the rest of the hoses replaced (those which I felt needed it), installing new levers, and have ordered a carb sync tool in order to get them where they oughta be post valve adjustment (as per the service manual). It's been kind of fun getting to wrench on a bike like this, and I'm hoping that it's as much of a blast to ride come spring as I hope it will be.
Anyways, that's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading! I'll share some more pictures soon, maybe some of the guts!
-Daniel