Topic: Terry's Effing F2, return of the prodigal SOHC4?

[jgger]

This bike on the other hand is (from my very short ride yesterday) a really nice old jigger,


So how did I get wrapped up un all of this?  As opposed to what, a cranky old jigger? 🤔

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, “Jigger” is a common phrase in Oz describing pretty much anything, especially something of a mechanical nature mate, so no reference to your good self.

[Terry in Australia]

Well I had the nightmare ride from hell today, thank fcuk it was only a short ride! The weather is miserable today for Spring here in Oz, so instead of the sunny 75 deg F days of last weekend it was more like 50 degrees, overcast and rain, but as the wife was out shopping and the driveway was clear, I thought a sneaky lap on my new (old) CB750F2 was in order.

It started right away thanks to the rebuilt carbs and new Kokusan ignition, and I had a great ride all the way to the gas station, although there's a noise which I think is a buggared speedo, or speedo cable. No problem, I''ve got spare speedo's and cables here, so I can sort that.  I like using Caltex fuel, and I remembered that my original F2 (that could well be this bike) loved 98 RON fuel, so I filled it up with the "good stuff", dragged my "Turtle Neck" neck warmer up into a mask-ish look, and went to pay for the fuel.

No problems, wandered back to the bike, to see fuel dribbling out of the tank at tank badge level? WTF? When I bought the bike, I was impressed at how clean it looked inside, but it has been repainted, and I remembered the first tank I bought for my last F2. It had some bondo under the nice paint, and when I ground it out I found two holes where someone had used sheet metal "self tapper" screws to pull a dent, and then just bondo'd over the holes? God I hope that's not what happened here, but it could be, and there it was, on it's centre stand, with gas dribbling down over the hot engine. Lovely. 

Well I could have called the RACV (Auto Club) for a tow truck, or just risked setting the bike (and myself) on fire, so of course, as "Safety" is my middle name, I chose the latter, and took off. That was when the el-cheapo sh1to chinese coil that fires cylinders 2 and 3 decided to die, so the bike alternated between running on 2 or 4 cylinders as the 98 RON fuel dribbled over the hot engine, and the speedo/cable howled in protest. Fcuk my life.

Anyway, I didn't get caught at any of the 4 sets of traffic lights, and I it got home in one piece, with no explosions. I drained the 21 dollars worth of 98 RON plus Seafoam/lead replacement (yeah, I know I don't need it, but it was there, so I tipped it in) into a fuel container, and tomorrow I'll think about stripping all the paint off the tank and using a rust remover/tank liner so I can seal the tank so this doesn't happen again. While the tank is off I'll piss those chinese sh1t coils off and install a nice pair of Dyna coils, and replace the speedo cable, or if it looks fine, the speedo.

All in all, it was still great to get out on the old beast, and I'm glad I found this problem (leaking gas tank) while I was only a couple of miles from home, I didn't even get any gas leaking over my clothes, nor did I explode, which was good. Success!

Terry's Effing F2.2 fuel tank leak by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[spotty]

are those oil bottles visible in the picture of the ailing effie full of dead oil ? i might take some off your hands as soon as i can get ove r there, very handy for setting fire to large piles of dead tree up in the hills where it is also snowing.....climate change ? no such thing

[Terry in Australia]

are those oil bottles visible in the picture of the ailing effie full of dead oil ? i might take some off your hands as soon as i can get ove r there, very handy for setting fire to large piles of dead tree up in the hills where it is also snowing.....climate change ? no such thing

Yes mate, they're all full of sump oil, and if you agree to take them all, I will throw in a dozen bottles of "Ginger Rocket" which tastes lovely and will put you to sleep, something that you're probably sadly lacking, at the moment? Just don't drink any before our road trip to Lockwood, near bendigo, when we go to collect my mighty CL90, as much as I'm here for a good time rather than a long time, I'd rather be the architect of my own demise.......

[spotty]

ta for that, many and varied are the stupid things i've done in my life but driving or riding off me chops is something i stopped doing a long time ago...mind you , for a very long time i wouldn't get the bike or car keys out until i was well and truly wasted

depending on what uncle dan has to say on sunday i may well be over soon to collect the oil as i've got an appointment with my pyromaniacal alter-ego coming up, one of the burn piles is big enough to hide my car inside

[Terry in Australia]

No worries mate, I'm keen to go pick up the CL90 ASAP, the owner seems like a nice bloke he pulled it out and washed it then sent me more pics today, which I thought was nice since I've already paid him, so he didn't have to.

Terry’s new old CL90 24 Sep 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry’s new old CL90 24 Sep 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry’s new old CL90 24 Sep 2020 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[RAFster122s]

That's some real redneckery sketch poo on the handlebars of your CL90 Terry.  Tank will need some attention too.

Congrats on getting home in one piece...hope it is something simple like missing gasket or the like.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah those handlebar mods will be the first thing that comes off David, followed by the seat cover when the new one that I've already ordered arrives. I'm not going to restore it, restorations are for fat old baastards to while away their final years, trailering their over-restored statues of motorcycles from show to show, to bore people senseless with their rivet counting routines.

I like bikes I can ride without fear of falling off and doing damage to my "investment", bikes are meant to be ridden, and that's what I like to do. I'll clean it up and ride it now and then, it'll be a nice little grocery getter, with plenty of patina. Maybe in another 10 years time it'll be all I'm capable of riding, so might well be an investment in my diminishing motorcycle future. We'll see.

With the Effing F2 (which I'm really enjoying, actually) I'm just about positive one of my chinese coils is fcuked, so the Dyna coils will go on tomorrow, then I need to clean and seal the tank. Oh, and take a look at the speedo cable. It's the only one that I haven't replaced, all the others were seized, some I'm not surprised if it's buggared too.

[PeWe]

Or buy a new tank!
This might fit?
Not much fuel in it but.....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324181236245

[754]

It has the Hooter on the front fender.... rakishly mounted I shall add..

 So in ten years it will get the F2 motor or maybe the 1428 !

[754]

Jaxgarageau on Insta, is now selling CB 750 coils and angle end caps. The stock type may not show on the site yet, but are shown on Insta.. free shipping in Oz looks like.
 They have triple trees and other cool stuff..

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I wonder what I will be riding 10 years from now Frank, like you say, probably another old bike. A work colleague who's just retired and was crying poor a few month ago just bought a Harley trike with all the bells and whistles. It looks great, but he's confided that it's taking him a while to get used to it. I do like the idea of a trike, but I'd like one of CycleX's Honda CB750 trike frames and build my own, although I don't know if they'd get thru registration restrictions here, which are fairly strict. We'll see.

Today, like yesterday, the weather was crap. Pissing rain one minute, sunny the next, so I wheeled the bike out into the driveway, it started raining, so I wheeled it back in the garage, then the sun came out so I wheeled it out, only for it to rain 10 minutes later, and so on and so forth, what a PITA. The batteries for my borescope thingy had gone flat so I couldn't take a look inside the tank to see where the fuel is weeping out, but I don't think there's any bondo in the tank, I did the "tap test" and it sounded uniform all over, so I'm not sure why it's leaking halfway up the tank and not out the bottom? Weird.

Anyway, I pulled the tank off to take a look at the coils. I thought I'd found the problem when I noticed that the signal wire for the left coil that fires #2&3 was loose, so I tightened up all the connections, fired it up, and......... no fcuking difference. OK, fcuk this, I gave it enough chances, and then ripped those POS chinese crap off, and installed a set of Dyna 3 Ohm coils that I had on my K2 before I went back to points last year. (I can't remember why, oh wait, that's right, I did the engine swap and the engine I swapped in had points, so I used OEM coils) I had good NGK caps on the leads, but I like my sparky blue caps, so installed them and kicked it in the guts, and it fired right up.

F2 Dyna coils 26 Sep 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It started raining again, so I rolled it back into the garage, and wandered up to the sheltered workshop to do some work on the 1428 engine. I'll order a tank liner kit, and remember not to put much more than a gallon of gas in it when I go for another sneaky ride, before I seal the tank properly.

[Tintop]

Looks like #2 (&3?) is running a bit hot from the 'blueing'.  Is that from your ignition issues?

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Brian, no I didn't notice any difference in colour across the headers, I'll check tomorrow, but I think it's either shadow or reflection from the black frame. If anything the outer pipes should be blue-er as they've been running consistently, whereas 2 & 3 have been a crapshoot. I will check though, and get back to you.

[PeWe]

Good thing with stainless steel when blue, grind it with used grit 800 or1000 and it will be good again, as new. A long ride and the bronze tone is back.

It leak where the badges sit?

You cannot solder or weld the tank to cure the leak? Sealer is a good chance for future issues, right?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, Yeah I ordered a tank sealer kit last night, and I think I'll completely strip the paint off the tank, repair a couple of little dings, and see if I can work out where the fuel was leaking from, it looks to be coming out from behind the Honda badge? Weird. I better order a new can of paint stripper too, that'll save me some work. I've been holding off painting it until my new left sidecover arrives from the US, but I suppose I can paint the crappy fibreglass one for the time being, and paint the new one when it arrives. I'm thinking a nice dark metallic red, like my car.

Terry's Territory by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[754]

After it gets painted you can tell people it goes with the Territory. ..
 ..groan...

[PeWe]

That red will look like stock on the F2. Especially with matching graphics.

[Terry in Australia]

Good one Frank, I only realised that the blue sidecover is an actual (and fairly rare) colour, so I've decided that a Mazda blue looks pretty close (considering that I'm colour blind) so it'll be blue(ish). I've ordered the paint, hopefully it'll arrive soon.

Tonight I removed the tank and drained the fuel out, and then removed the tank badge. Check this out.

F2 tank strip 28 Sep 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I gave it a light scratch with a hacksaw blade that I'd used to pop the badge off, and sadly, immediately found a couple of pinholes. Bugger.

F2 tank strip 28 Sep 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The inside appears to look really clean, I can't help but wonder if moisture hasn't become trapped between the tank and the badge, and it's actually rusted from the outside in? This goes against pretty much everything I've learned over the last 40-odd years of automotive rust repairs, when car panels in particular, always rust from the inside, and even though CB750F tanks have a well deserved reputation for rusting out, this one appears to be pristine, inside? Weird.   

Oh well, the paint was pretty sh1t anyway, so I took my can of paint stripper to it, and enjoyed watching the paint popping and lifting, all it's own. Don't ya love chemicals?

F2 tank strip 28 Sep 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I borrowed my son's putty knife that he uses to clean the platen on his 3D printer, and scraped off the goop. Look Ma, no dents!

F2 tank strip 28 Sep 2020 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Seriously, apart from a couple of pinholes of rust, this tank is pristine, not a teaspoon of bondo in it anywhere! So what next? Well I think I'll clean out the rust with the chemical cleaner part of the tank sealer kit, and try to either braze or solder the hole(s) then use the tank liner to ensure a perfect seal. Tomorrow I'll strip all the paint out of the underneath of the tank, maybe I'll even find the original colour! I must remember to strip the tank lid flap thingy too, I forgot that tonight.    

F2 tank strip 28 Sep 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[754]

Maybe it did rust from outside.. one thing that can happen is leaves or something plies up and hold moisture.
 This may be worth a try.. clean it and solder it. .. way less heat..
 Too bad it's by emblem mount, tougher to fix.... way better than rot on the bottom  imo..

[CB_Jeff]

I can offer that I had a K4 tank rust out from the outside -> in due to neglect and moisture being held by the stock trim along the bottom of the tank.

[jaytee-nz]

Terry, my K2 tank rusted in the same area as yours has. I put it down to moisture sitting behind the badge and rusting the metal over time. I wonder if spilt fuel had also stripped the paint behind the badge over time, leaving the steel exposed ?
Did you find your tool tray as I think I have a spare one ?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, sorry for not getting back earlier, I'd say I was busy, but in truth, I've just been lazy. I stripped the tank back to bare metal, and apart from two little pinholes, it looks great.

Soldering is a good idea, but I'm worried about the possibility of more holes forming behind the steel strip that the badge mounts onto where there's still some rust that I can't get to, and solder won't stick to, so I'm gonna use some strong "100 MPH" tape to cover the outside of the holes when I line it, then I think I'll use some JB weld to totally fill the space underneath the badge mounting plate. Probably not as good as brazing or soldering, but I'll give it a try, and as I'm only gonna rattle can it, it won't matter if it all turns to poop. I'm pretty sure it won't, but all bets are off if I drop it.

I've got it in the industrial oven to dry out the interior of the tank, there's probably a mix of water and gas in it after using the high pressure hose to remove the paint, and I'm a bit surprised that even though it's been sitting in the oven at 100 deg C all day, there's still liquid inside it? Only a few capfulls, but still surprising? I wish I had some MEK to throw in there, that stuff would turn the polar ice caps into desert.........

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, my K2 tank rusted in the same area as yours has. I put it down to moisture sitting behind the badge and rusting the metal over time. I wonder if spilt fuel had also stripped the paint behind the badge over time, leaving the steel exposed ?
Did you find your tool tray as I think I have a spare one ?

Thanks mate, if you've got a spare one let me know how much you need for it with postage to Melbourne (3082) and I'll chuck you some bucks? What pisses me off today is rust holes in my fuel tank, the weather is magnificent, the bike appears to be running well, but I can't ride it, or it'll dribble gas all over the hot engine and myself, and I might self immolate if I try to ride it until my gas tank liner kit arrives. Leaking gas tanks piss me off..........

Friday bike fettling 2 Oct 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I managed to score the best part of a rolling K0 chassis this week, from QLD, for a bargain price. It's missing lots of stuff, but it also has a lot of stuff I'll need that is pretty much "Unobtainium". It's getting picked up on Monday or Tuesday, but I don't know when I'll see it here, but the good thing is once I strip, clean and rebuild everything I have, I won't need to buy much else to build a half decent K0. I had my K0 engine cases, cylinder block and head etc, vapor blasted a year or two ago, so the engine will look nice and clean, and once the frame has been stripped and repainted (powder coating is good, but not suitable for a K0) it'll look really good. I'm happy.    

K0 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr