Author Topic: The $500 Challenge (Read 19812 times)

mcswny · « **Reply #75 on:** March 31, 2014, 01:44:26 PM »

Yeah never really heard if those valve seals were still smoking?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tugboat · « **Reply #76 on:** March 31, 2014, 02:14:08 PM »

Still smokes some, at idle and when coming off throttle. Not so much when you're cruising down the road. Could be running rich, but haven't done a plug chop yet. Just happy to finally be moving!

Tugboat · « **Reply #77 on:** April 08, 2014, 09:02:03 AM »

So the lighting coil has tested bad. Total bummer. Three weeks to go and now this..

The lighting coil on the parts bike motor has tested good though (continuity, at least). I removed all of the LH case cover bolts and tried heating it up with a heat gun & hitting it with a rubber mallet for about a half hour and couldn't get it it loose at all. Is there a secret to getting it to come off?

I'm working without a shop manual here, so please excuse my ignorance. I assume that the cover has a couple of locating dowels holding it in position? And that once I get it off, and get the one off the running bike, I'll just need to unbolt the one good stator from its cover and swap it over? The cover part #'s are different for for the 74 & 76 models, so I'm not sure I can just swap over the whole assembly. But yes... do that and then make sure the gasket surfaces are clean, replace the gasket and bolt it back up?

We are also exploring using the battery circuit with some sort of low-power LED setup, but that's looking expensive and/or unreliable. And evidently just running the 35/36.5w CB100 headlight off the battery circuit will eventually fry that coil because it can't keep up? That's what I've been told at least.. because we thought about just getting another battery & swapping them out every couple of hours but if it's gonna fry the coil that's a no-go.

On the plus side, I got it up over 60mph last night. Seems like it's gonna run okay if we can just get this lighting issue sorted.

One other thing we need to fix is the header-to-muffler gasket. There's one on ebay for $25 + $5 shipping and that's not even close to being within our budget. We do have an exhaust leak at that point, and would like to try & seal it up. Any suggestions? We were thinking about shimming it with a couple of beer cans but aren't sure it would actually work.

Here it is as of last night - now with seat!

DustyRags · « **Reply #78 on:** April 08, 2014, 10:24:00 AM »

You mean that little round ring under the header? That's, like, sub-$5 on eBay?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/350687325765?lpid=82

Operator · « **Reply #79 on:** April 08, 2014, 11:34:11 AM »

Can't wait to see how this rolls out!!

Tugboat · « **Reply #80 on:** April 09, 2014, 08:53:57 AM »

No, it's actually this piece that goes between the header & the muffler. Gonna post another thread about it and maybe somebody will know what I can use here.

Tugboat · « **Reply #81 on:** April 09, 2014, 09:04:41 AM »

Oh, and I rode it into work today! Oddly, when you first start it up it doesn't smoke; but after about 15 seconds it starts to. Not sure what that means. If it was smoking at all when I got to work (~20 min ride) it was minimal. Got it over 65mph.. 5th gear seems to be more of a cruising option, and doesn't have much power. And I didn't wind it out in 4th but I think we'll be okay to cruise at 60mph during the challenge. Headlight is running off the battery and the coil that charges it. I should have charged the battery overnight and brought my meter to see how much juice it ate up on the way here, but alas.. Regardless, the plan is to get the working coil out of the parts motor & swap it over this weekend.

grcamna2 · « **Reply #82 on:** April 09, 2014, 01:56:27 PM »

Tug,
Your local Honda dealer(or another known good one)will do a Honda Dealer computer parts search for that muffler to headpipe packing ref# 16 on the parts break-down diagram.I know of a dealer who does that for me over the phone..they've found plenty of NOS parts for me that way.Have you ever had a dealer do one for you ?

mcswny · « **Reply #83 on:** April 09, 2014, 01:59:17 PM »

Quote from: Tugboat on April 09, 2014, 09:04:41 AM

Oh, and I rode it into work today! Oddly, when you first start it up it doesn't smoke; but after about 15 seconds it starts to. Not sure what that means. If it was smoking at all when I got to work (~20 min ride) it was minimal. Got it over 65mph.. 5th gear seems to be more of a cruising option, and doesn't have much power. And I didn't wind it out in 4th but I think we'll be okay to cruise at 60mph during the challenge. Headlight is running off the battery and the coil that charges it. I should have charged the battery overnight and brought my meter to see how much juice it ate up on the way here, but alas.. Regardless, the plan is to get the working coil out of the parts motor & swap it over this weekend.

Lookin' like a fun little bike to rip around on!

Tugboat · « **Reply #84 on:** April 10, 2014, 01:49:38 PM »

Finally got the alternator cover off the parts motor. A half hour of constant heating/tapping with a rubber mallet. Ended up using a piece of a 2x4 to hit it from near the sprocket - 1st whack, nothing. 2nd whack, a TON of old oil mixed with water (wtf?!) gushed out the now-open seam and made the biggest mess I have yet to make in my basement. There was no oil plug present so I'd assumed that it was empty: nope. Anyways, here are a couple of pics I snapped after I cleaned up a lot. I've already ordered a new gasket (p/n 11395-329-306) and will either remove the stator from this cover & swap it over to the running bike, or swap the entire cover - just depends on which way will mean less gasket scraping. NOT looking forward to doing that with the motor on the bike, but whatchagonnado?

mcswny · « **Reply #85 on:** April 10, 2014, 01:53:02 PM »

loving the progress on this, excited to here how the race goes in the end.

750cafe · « **Reply #86 on:** April 14, 2014, 10:06:07 PM »

The packing between the exhaust pipes is expensive. I would try to peel a layer of muffler packing sheet off and make one.

Eric

Tugboat · « **Reply #87 on:** April 15, 2014, 08:41:31 AM »

Some of my team came over on Sunday and whipped the bike down the road a couple of times to warm it up. I'd put some Seafoam in the case to scrub it out a bit. I've probably added at least a quart of new oil to the bike since we got it, so it wasn't all old stuff that came out of the drain - but it was still pretty nasty. And the cover turned out to not be nearly as much of a pain as I thought. Some of the screws had been replaced with Allens, but the lower ones had not and I had to (of course) use the impact driver to get 'em out. Once that was done, the cover pulled away from the case pretty easily with a couple of taps from the rubber mallet. It barely wouldn't clear the flanged part of the front lower motor mount though, so I cut it off with a Dremel. Got the idea from Hondaman's book, where he talks about cutting a little chunk of the front motor mount flange off to get a crucial extra 1mm of clearance for motor removal. I'll just touch it up with a lil' paint and nobody will be the wiser. Hopefully my gasket comes in today and I can make the swap tonight.

Also, I may have found the source of an oil leak: just across from 9:00 on the sprocket is a bit of old gasket material that may have been left there (not cleaned off well) by a PO. The gasket that came off with the cover seems to be intact, and I DO have a weird leak coming from somewhere under the sprocket cover...

grcamna2 · « **Reply #88 on:** April 15, 2014, 08:55:05 AM »

tug,
You mentioned in an earlier post about your spare bike engine having lot's of residual oil in the engine.I wondered if the oil plug will drain out all the oil as it should ?

Tugboat · « **Reply #89 on:** April 15, 2014, 09:32:19 AM »

I think so... about two quarts' worth came out of the drain. I think that the parts bike had been left out in the elements for a long time, without the exhaust or carb hooked up, no spark plug... and a bunch of water got in the motor causing the top end to lock up; but also flooding it in areas that wouldn't normally be totally full of oil or whatever. Hardly any came out when I took the cover off the good motor. Good point though.

kpier883 · « **Reply #90 on:** April 15, 2014, 02:42:52 PM »

Good progress! I am enjoying your journey.

grcamna2 · « **Reply #91 on:** April 15, 2014, 03:42:19 PM »

Tug,
How do you think it would handle if you lowered the fork tubes an inch or 2? might be better aero in a headwind on the journey.Have you reached your $500 challenge limit yet ?

mcswny · « **Reply #92 on:** April 15, 2014, 03:43:48 PM »

Quote from: grcamna2 on April 15, 2014, 03:42:19 PM

Tug,
How do you think it would handle if you lowered the fork tubes an inch or 2? might be better aero in a headwind on the journey.Have you reached your $500 challenge limit yet ?

I was thinking the rake looked a little long, is that stock for the bike?

Tugboat · « **Reply #93 on:** April 16, 2014, 08:54:36 AM »

We currently have the forks pushed up in the tubes about an inch. That's about all we can do without the fork tops hitting the bars.

Our budget stands at $475 currently. We've been fortunate enough to sell about $100 worth of stuff off the parts bike so far, and that counts against our total expenditures. I might add too that shipping costs are excluded from the total, as are fluids & general shop supplies. Total actually spent so far, including gas to find the bikes and other exempt items (tires, tubes, brakes, speedo) is about $1k.

Tugboat · « **Reply #94 on:** April 16, 2014, 09:01:44 AM »

Progress report:

The stator on the parts motor tested good, so I got it cleaned up and swapped over. The gasket on the cover thankfully came off as one piece, and I only had a few little spots to clean up with the razor.

Here's a shot of a spot on the case - next to the clutch push rod - that had some old gasket material stuck to it. Pretty sure somebody has been in here before, and I think that since this is a weird spot to try & clean up that they just put a new gasket over this old bit. Maybe this is where (one of) our oil leaks was coming from? There was a bit seeping from under the sprocket cover but I couldn't quite tell where from. Hopefully cleaning this up fixed it.

A couple of pics - front & back. Getting close!

grcamna2 · « **Reply #95 on:** April 16, 2014, 10:10:19 AM »

Quote from: Tugboat on April 16, 2014, 08:54:36 AM

We currently have the forks pushed up in the tubes about an inch. That's about all we can do without the fork tops hitting the bars.

Our budget stands at $475 currently. We've been fortunate enough to sell about $100 worth of stuff off the parts bike so far, and that counts against our total expenditures. I might add too that shipping costs are excluded from the total, as are fluids & general shop supplies. Total actually spent so far, including gas to find the bikes and other exempt items (tires, tubes, brakes, speedo) is about $1k.

Don't forget to add in your labor time tug.

That was fortunate for you w/ that gasket removal One piece !

Tugboat · « **Reply #96 on:** April 21, 2014, 07:53:11 AM »

Got the XL out for its first highway run.

15/45 gearing let me cruise at around 70 mph most of the time. I discovered that our "minor" oil leak is actually pretty major - used a quart of oil in 90 miles, and that's about how far I was able to go until I had to switch to reserve. Not nearly as good of gas mileage as I'd expected but it's probably due to the high revs? I was able to pull over & put some oil in, but there is a little smoke coming out of crankcase vent. Blow-by. Rings? Ugh.

Also, the kicker spring is either busted or has come loose. Gotta take that apart tonight & have a look.

So does anybody know if you can you take the top-end apart with the motor on the frame? Seems like you should be able to. If we can afford it, I'd like to at least throw some new rings on there and put some new gaskets on to try to stop this horrendous oil loss.

grcamna2 · « **Reply #97 on:** April 21, 2014, 08:48:28 AM »

This isn't an easy $500 challenge

Tugboat · « **Reply #98 on:** April 21, 2014, 09:33:45 AM »

...for us! Pretty sure none of the other teams are having this much trouble.

grcamna2 · « **Reply #99 on:** April 21, 2014, 06:56:48 PM »

I think that one may need to have the engine removed from the frame for top end service considering the height of the head Tug.

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Author Topic: The $500 Challenge (Read 19812 times)