well its about time for an update. I move slower than molasses sometimes! the other day a bunch of parts came in, and they have been trickling in other days too!
stuff from cmsnl and por-15
I love seeing these honda bags!
got my ultrasonic cleaner in too
finally took part my airbox completely and cleaned it. what a difference so far. forgot to take a picture of the gasket but it made me scratch my head for a few minutes trying to put it on. the PO had a single layer gasket on the one side(which is why I asked if there were one or two gaskets) and putting this new gasket on one side was just too big.....then i realized it goes on the edge of the middle piece effective sealing both sides of the airbox...DUH
got the soda blaster! forgot to take pictures but its the harbor freight one for $34. its a semi open 50lb capacity canister with a hose and gun. bled my compressor of all water and it ran great. only used about 7 pounds of soda on my carbs. here is a bowl that was just blasted compared to one not touched.
carb linkage
got my new fusebox in there. much better, at least for now. when I try to fire it whatever doesnt work is getting replaced, but if it fires then i'll replace it when i do the full tear down and rebuild
thought this looked nice sitting there
here I am reassembling my carbs all separated and labeled and whatnot. fairly easy actually
fairly easy until....I was putting in the first carb's jets and didnt realize the needle holder (aerator/thing main jet screws into) does NOT screw down flush with the carb body. so I started cranking down on it, resistance and all.....and got it all the way down and flush only to back it out and see this horror! I have since learned and have to replace that needle holder and the needle jet that is IN the carb body....sigh
onto the tank. so I bought an extra tank here because mine was beyond feasibility. long story short the tank arrived with a clear "dropped" divot in the gas cap area. we are in the process of working this out.
so...I bought that por-15 kit and I figured if my tank is so buggered anyway then why not go for it? well first I picked up some MEK and put that in. it surprisingly cleaned up lot of the old coating sludge that was in there.
I promise this thing is ugly as all get out in person
the MEK actually let me see bare metal!
I didnt take any more pics of the results of using the por-15 kit, but the MEK was followed by por-strip. so at this point ive had aircraft remover in there, MEK, and now por-strip. that was followed by their marine cleaner.
then followed that with metal ready
now I am drying the tank out with the cutest hair dryer ever. directions state over an over and over and over the tank HAS to be bone dry before the por-15 coating goes in. I figure at this point my tank is actually pretty clean except for some stubborn rust so I am very pleased and am not going to chance messing up the application.
also got my oem handlebars! spend a good hour getting the control wires sorted out in the bucket and unplugged there. LOTS of electrical tape fro the PO and wrapped bare wires. I know he had to elongate the wires to make up for the ape hangers....but a little heat shrink tubing does wonders. pb blaster inside the bars was my friend for helping get it all out. it came out in once piece slowly.
I need a new headlight bucket, one of the 3 places the screws hold the headlight in is chipped and doesnt actually hold the screw....ugh
that's it for now. I have the honda carb gasket rebuild kits coming. I am using all my original jets (they cleaned up great) and still have to get that one needle jet and holder. all of my brass floats are leak free and pretty clean, very happy about that! so my airbox assembly is actually finished with brand new boots, gasket, and clamps. the carbs are all cleaned just waiting to be finished assembled. then I hve the flot height tool to set that as well. waiting on my petcock and screws/gaskets to arrive. mine was actually corroded and metal chunks missing. its going in the trash. got my battery in and filled and charged, now its trickling waiting for me. I have both new positive and negative cables so I have to figure out how those hook up. I know negative is ground on the frame but I dont see a tab it was previously on.
so tomorrow I will finish drying the tank. I cant see any water in there even in the crack but I dont trust it...better safe than sorry. finish putting the switch wires through my new bars, putting the new start button on, putting the new throttle cables on/lube them, and the throttle adjuster screw. then I have to figure out which wire goes where in the headlight bucket (I didnt take pictures again haha). get the battery in place. till waiting for my carb intake boots. coming from germany and I am impatient.
thanks for reading yet again another novel!