Topic: cl450

[faux fiddy]

I just got back home and unloaded the bike. I  really didn't want to  have any rush getting through the airport so it sat in the van for nearly three weeks while I was gone.

It got cold, but the battery was still up. I started it and ran it up and down the block and then ran the gas out of the carbs and rolled it into the garage.

So far it seems to want to die at idle, hopefully seafoam and running a few tanks of good fresh hi-octane gas through it will fix that.  It doesn't seem to want to go to redline in a hurry, maybe sync and timing adjustment will make it less sluggish.  I just don't really know the characteristics of this bike, but it has good pipes, and sounds good  (as in NOT loud) and I think it will go for way more than the 6k that is on the clock now.

 

[grcamna2]

That sure is a NICE looking CL450 Fiddy !

[MoMo]

I think your slides are sticking, possibly both in the carb body and carb top-it is a very common problem on older 450's that have sat for awhile.  You will need to remove the tops and polish the lining as well as the slide body and post that goes up into the top...Larry

[dragracer]

Haven't seen one that clean in a while. I hope to find one like that at some point myself.

[faux fiddy]

I think your slides are sticking, possibly both in the carb body and carb top-it is a very common problem on older 450's that have sat for awhile.  You will need to remove the tops and polish the lining as well as the slide body and post that goes up into the top...Larry

Yeah, turns out more to it perhaps.

I spent half the day running some premium gas and seafoam through it just to see if that could help. The thing ran horrible with performace that would remind me of a big fat ct-90 that needed tuned up.  It's not getting  anywhere close to redline possible with WOT or not.

One plug fowled, checking and gapping points, at one time spark is on both sides, then there is none, wtore things apart chasing a short. Seems like power to the coils has a connection to ground so chase it down, check the hand controls, Handle bars warming up so the wires and conduit will be ess brittle.  The  ignition has been replaced (not a bad job, PO).  Come to find out maybe a coil is intermitant, leads tested, one shows resistance, the other shows open circuit. Funny I just threw a bid on some and picked them up cheap. Hopefully one of them will make it run like it's supposed to,  and it will get up to interstate speeds.

PO had a sticker from somewhere in NY in '81.  I think they had some original honda color for spraying the side covers, just wasn't the same color of blue.

Pulled out the book and looked up Hanson Racing. This was pretty much the bike that gave Honda their first  Daytona 200 win and it shouldn't bog down  in a head wind and top out at 45.

Got to talking about Hansons. Luke said we saw them at Steamboat before I knew any names. At Barbour they were saying Bob ain't around the tracks anymore, but he's in a nursing home- 92 years old.

Anyway, it's torn up, and I want it to run more like Bob's than what it did today.

[faux fiddy]

That sure is a NICE looking CL450 Fiddy !

It's no where near show bike. The steering stop is broken on one side of the bottom tree.  THe collar around the tank is crinked from the forks jack-knifing, all the paint there has come off, and there are some other concave areas in the tank, but I really like the original color on it. Hopefully  I can find some matching paint and touch it up and make the side covers actually match.

It looks like the PO just gave up on it, but put some NOS cables on it, a condenser, NOS mufflers on okay headers and heat shields. The bottom heat shield looks NOS but is not chrome like top.

[grcamna2]

I like the Blue.

[faux fiddy]

I like the Blue.

I sure hope I can find something that matches the tank for touch-ups or re-spray of the side covers. I can tell they were the same as the tank at one time from overspray on the back.

The right controls were sloppy loose, and the locator pin is clearly wallowed out and the threads on the handlebars are shot so I will have to find something bigger that I have a tap for.   The bars are also pretty rusty , so I was thinking I might try to find some silver hammerite paint for them while they are apart.

The rubber in the triple trees seems sloppy to me, so with any luck a friend will get time for turning some delrin parts to replace the rubber tonight or tomorrow on the lathe.

I just got a replacement coil on the port side but didn't have time to get it all back together and tested other than on the bench before it went in. One thread says sometimes the points ground out on the cover, so I'll have to check and see if that was the problem. (Maybe another part to make out of delrin).

I did notice there is a difference in coils, grey ones are larger in girth and have a "D" on them, maybe a denso logo?  The black coils are about¹ /₄" smaller diameter and have a "tec" logo.  Hopefully it makes it perform like it should. Twins forum has a post of a similar spark problem, but I haven't studied up on all 27 pages of it. Yikes!

[grcamna2]

Thats a very nice Winter project...you going to keep her ?

[faux fiddy]

Thats a very nice Winter project...you going to keep her ?

For a while , anyway. I  was hoping this one wouldn't be such a project, but  things needed fixin'.  40 mph and one cylinder wasn't good to go.

Controls were sloppy loose (fixed) and the handlebars were mushy. I did get some parts to replace the rubber bushings on the triple clamp, I'll post some pics a bit later.

[faux fiddy]

As I suggested, lucky my bud found time to turn these on the lathe. Maybe he would start taking orders if they work. (and they will) I will see when it is back together.  Delrin is good stuff, hard and machineable plastic.  Prolly would be good for caliper pistons.

Problem was the rubber bushings that hold the handlebars are mushy, and the ridges peel away , handlebars develop inches of play forward and back.

Here's the delrin part (s) I described above, should stiffen things up real good.

I guess the H-1 and other triples and several other bikes stock setups are similar, and have a similar problem with slop due to  bushings.

[MoMo]

The rubber mounts always go bad, if those work you should reproduce and sell.  Problem is the color-would need to be black...Larry

[grcamna2]

Fiddy,
          Have you taken it out since the handlebars were fixed? how's she running now?

[faux fiddy]

Fiddy,
          Have you taken it out since the handlebars were fixed? how's she running now?

No rides yet, today turned to a work day of sorts. The headlight is off and it looks like it puked a bunch of wiring, but the handlebars are on.  Everything is tight, good to have a throttle that doesn't wallow around the bar with every twist and cut on wiring. I think it's there with a few shims  of beer can. The pin they thread through the bars that was wallowed out, I used a longer screw and a nut under the control to tighten it into place, hole filled, throttle registered.

I was suggesting the bars on my bridgestone would look better than the bars on it. His comment was better than the ape hangers you got on there(?)!  I guess it came with tall bars, and so it will be for now. I'm not puling wires through a new set of bar$ for nothing, but I did wire wheel the rust away from the backside and shoot them with silver Krylon  while they were off.

The bushings are a couple thousandths big  so they bottom  out slightly higher than the shoulders. Better than too small, the bars are now tighter than a ...(insert metaphore here).  If it's not way too rigid for the vibration of the motor I should be able to find some ranges to ride it in this way.

[faux fiddy]

Okay, had some time and patience to start up on this one again. It's closest to running of anything I've got so figure it out.

Swap coils repeatedly, sometimes it works , sometimes not. Sometimes it pops fuses when it doesn't work- actually usually it does or it works briefly.

I was using a right side spare coil on the left which changes color codes on the wires. Then I get to looking at ohms and find one wire is grounded to the bracket after working briefly.  Come to find the Left and Right are not exact mirror images- hot wire (B/w)is soldered to a tab. On the right it is on the  side of the coil opposite the frame. On the left it is inside towards the frame, as the coils are not actually mirror image. The bracket has a void where the tab and solder is supposed to clear but doesn't and hence grounds out. I filed the tab a bit and cut a piece of rubber inner tube  to tuck in between to insulate. Fires up easy and both plugs spark and both pipes get hot.  Mystery solved-I'll have to post on Twins Forum to see who else figured this out before they trashed (or parked their bike and trashed by storage default) their bikes. It was certainly the point where the PO gave up after buying new cables and mufflers.

Now to sort out the carb tuning and insure it and ride it until the wheels fall off. 6k miles just isn't enough for a 38 year old.