First of all, a little recap of the final stages:
New, 1mm over (62mm, 4th over) pistons fitted, now displacing
761cc!:
Starter solenoid refurbished thanks to info found in Hondaman's book:
Newly rebuilt carbs in place:
BUH-LING!
Contrary to popular belief, the later model fuel valves
can be rebuilt:
Can anyone tell which one is the new seal?
Leave as much of the nubs as possible:
Voila'! (as opposed to "viola'" which everyone knows is a musical instrument)
Good for another 40 years! Good thing too, since this can only probably be done once, which is okay... because 40 years from now I won't care!
New gator teeth upholstery strips riveted to the seat pan to hold the new seat cover:
New skin stretched into place:
All that work just for this:
And now for a little history lesson in before and after format:BEFORE
AFTER
Before:
After:
Before:
*Telltale fuel stains on carb bowl and starter cover
After: (where did all the oily grime and fuel stains go?)
Before:
*A return assist spring on the rear brake lever?
After (amazing how well things work when properly assembled):
Before:
*The clutch cable has become one with the #4 header, OMG WHERE'S THE ENGINE MOUNT?!
After:
Before
*I think the fork seals finally quit leaking since it looks like there might not be any fork oil left IN the forks...
After, with new braided stainless flex line fitted:
Before:
*Hopefully there's still some oil left in the engine. OMG! WHERE'S THE MOTOR MOUNT BOLT?!
After (where did all the oily grime go?):
Before:
*A string around the "Idiot" lights as some sort of reminder?
*Ahhh... obviously a reminder to purchase the correct ignition switch! The string is the only thing holding the switch in place... anybody need an early model ignition switch (with two keys)?
After:
After painting all the bits and bobs, the following components received a topcoat of Spraymax 2K clear to promote durability, chemical, and insect resistance:
>Speedo and tach
>Master cylinder
>Caliper
>Side covers
>All the badges
Don't know about the fuel tank, it was a used part. Overall everything looks very good. You have to get within about three feet to start detecting the imperfections. If a component was fully functional it was cleaned (and painted or polished if necessary) then pressed back into service.
I am quite pleased with how this turned out. Idles good, shifts great, which makes me glad I did not split the lower cases. With less than 20,000 miles I did not expect any surprises down low. I am now 60% into the 500 mile break in (300 miles down!) with just a couple quirks. When I arrived at the fuel station for the first official fill up, I noticed an oil-like substance dripping from the area of the front sprocket. Holy crap! Output shaft seal is leaking! So I fill up and go back to the garage. After removing the chain, front sprocket, and sprocket cover turns out I was merely over-zealous with the chain lube and it was sloughing it off everywhere. Cool, I can deal with that.
So I put it all back together and take off back down the road only to have the ignition start balking at my efforts to operate this thing by only hitting on two or three cylinders! So back to the garage yet again. Since I had pressed a used points plate into service I decided to replace the condensers. Turns out the yellow wire was pinched between the old condensers and there was a break in the wire. Damn thing started shorting out! Fixed the insulation and replaced the condensers just on general principal.
That was 280 miles ago. Not a hiccup since.
Left to do at the 500 mile service:
>Change out the Bel-Ray EXL 4T for a fresh dose (filter too!)
>Replace the damn neutral indicator switch that
insists on continuously indicating a neutral condition...
>Clean, sand, and apply high temp black to the header pipes
>Check valve lash
>Re-sync the carbs
>Inspect the plugs
>Check slack in the drive chain
>Adjust cam chain
>Replace the points plate with a Dyna S. The current points/condensers setup was more for practice than anything else. The timed (and indexed) points plate (with points cam) will be provided to the N.O. (next owner)
>Ride the crap out of it!
VOILA'!
