Topic: Terry's new new redneck K0 "Special"..........

[Terry in Australia]

They’re great Bill, I have all my bikes insured with them, currently for $170,000 “agreed value”, and if I crash one, I get to keep it. I’ve just realised that I haven’t insured my second RC51, so I better give them a call.

[PeWe]

You get an insurance package deal with that many bikes?
Maybe house and car involved  too?
10, 20% off...

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, yep, I get a great discount, my K0 costs $8 per month for $20,000 full comprehensive insurance and if I crash it, I get to keep the wreck.

[Trevor from Warragul]

currently for $170,000 “agreed value”

I'm starting to consider making a list of my bikes with their current value.  If I suddenly keeled over, my missus wouldn't have a clue what they're actually worth.  I also need to put labels on spare parts, saying what they are & what their value is, otherwise they'll be thrown out as junk...

[PeWe]

Thanks Per, yep, I get a great discount, my K0 costs $8 per month for $20,000 full comprehensive insurance and if I crash it, I get to keep the wreck.

Your wife will get you repaired too and keep the wreck?

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, yes mate, after 41 years she likes to keep me around, although I’m still worth much more to her dead, than alive.......

[grcamna2]

Ha ha, yes mate, after 41 years she likes to keep me around, although I’m still worth much more to her dead, than alive.......

You taking her with you on the road trip to America ?

[Terry in Australia]

Hell no! She doesn't like bikes, or riding on them, which I think is great because I ride them to get away from her!

But I digress. Yesterday my new OEM blinker lenses arrived, so I quickly installed them, and I must say they looked nicer than the poor old faded ones. I had some repro ones I could have put on, but I'm really trying to keep this bike mostly original, where practical, and affordable.

Honda pride Saturday 12 Dec 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The chrome trims for the tank arrived last week, so all I need now is the new cap and petcock to arrive, and I can put the shiny new tank on it, for some "Beauty Pics", before I put the old faded tank back on for daily use. I discovered to my horror yesterday that the old tank, even though fitted with a new OEM cap seal, dribbles fuel out of the cap when the tank is full, and the bike is on it's sidestand. So far I haven't done any damage to the engine paint, so I guess baking that engine enamel on when I painted the top and bottom cover really helped, in the past I've seen fresh fuel just wash the new paint off. 

I've got my new clutch plates soaking in Castrol 4T oil as I intend to swap out the clutch yet again, as I detected a little bit of slip on my last (and first) ride under acceleration. I've been busy doing the engine swap into the K2 bitsa the last couple of days though, so I'll do the K0 clutch when the K2 is fully sorted.

[grcamna2]

Nothing matches OEM NOS vintage Honda parts ! 

[PeWe]

This made me to remember holidays thru Germany, refuel at gas stops that felt like racing pitstops.
People working there filled the tank, often really full when I sat on the bike.
Parked bike to pay for fuel, food and coffee. At one stop I saw a mist of smoke from engine when fuel flooded over. The hot engine made fuel to swell and pressed out. Bike was parked on sidestand.

I was almost sure it should start a fire but not.

When filling tank full, a ride is always done afterwards, at least long enough to remove a few liters of fuel.
I'm rather sure that fill tank full and ride just shortly, park on sidestand fuel will overflow, especially with hot engine.

[RAFster122s]

I was shocked at the rates an independent broker obtained when I shopped prices on identical coverage from various companies. Geico turned out to be over 1/2 the price of many other big companies with good reputations... Progressive whom I have had before was substantial more.

[Terry in Australia]

This made me to remember holidays thru Germany, refuel at gas stops that felt like racing pitstops.
People working there filled the tank, often really full when I sat on the bike.
Parked bike to pay for fuel, food and coffee. At one stop I saw a mist of smoke from engine when fuel flooded over. The hot engine made fuel to swell and pressed out. Bike was parked on sidestand.

I was almost sure it should start a fire but not.

When filling tank full, a ride is always done afterwards, at least long enough to remove a few liters of fuel.
I'm rather sure that fill tank full and ride just shortly, park on sidestand fuel will overflow, especially with hot engine.

Yeah, I never fill the bike right up to the top Per so there's some room for expansion, but as the bike was leaning on an angle and also on a sloping driveway on a hot day in the sun, I shouldn't have been that surprised. No issue now, I stole half the fuel to put in the K2 bitsa tank.

[flybackwards]

Those carbs look like the work of carburetor Keith on e-bay.. he does nice work 

[Terry in Australia]

Those carbs look like the work of carburetor Keith on e-bay.. he does nice work 

Yes they are and they look great, it’s a pity that the #1 carb dribbles fuel out of the bell mouth, (and almost failed the roadworthy inspection because of that, but Jeff at Ace Motorcycles was so happy with the rest of the bike he looked the other way) they’re badly out of synch, and the idle is set way too high.

For what I paid ($1000 USD plus shipping and import fees) I really hoped they’d work as well as they looked out of the box, but no, I’ll have to take them off and re-check Keiths work. He’s said that the mains are 120’s but it is really reliant on the choke when cold, so I would have guessed that they’re more like 105’s, as my K2 bitsa with 120 mains needs hardly any choke in warm weather.

 I’d give them 100% for appearance, but only 50% for function. And looking at Keith’s listing, I’ll give him 100% for self promotion....

[Terry in Australia]

I'm happy to report that the K0 is just getting better and better. Yesterday, after only waiting two and a quarter hours in line at the DMV, (Vicroads) I finally made it legal, and received my "Club Permit" red plate.

K0 Tuesday 29 Dec 2020 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It was too late to go for a celebratory ride, so I decided to sort out one of the bugs from my previous rides. On that ride I had a problem where I could shift up fine, but for some weird reason, I could only change down to second or third at the lights? Bugger. Taking off from the lights in second is doable, but third is a real PITA. Regardless, I wasn't happy. The shifter mechanism on K0's is different than K1 and onwards, and some reading raised the issue that this was changed in later models due to downshifting problems.

K0 Tuesday 29 Dec 2020 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Sadly I can't just change it out for a later setup as I'd have to remove the shifter drum assembly, which is pretty much an engine out job, something I'm not in a hurry to do. I kept playing with it, and realised that the only real problem was that the shifter arm wasn't connecting with the little bars around the circumference of the shifter drum, but rather, was rubbing on the inside of the drum's outer flange. Some careful bending with a screwdriver and some pliers, and a few trial fits, and it was working again. I reassembled everything, took it for a lap around the streets, and everything worked fine. Bonus!

OK, so possibly my last ride for 2020 (depending on weather) on the K0 today, and what a great ride it was! 137 miles on the backroads from my place via Wallan, Romsey, Tooberac and finally to the Heathcote Bakery for a delicious meat and vegetable "Pastie" and an orange juice to wash down a couple of anti-inflammatories to settle my poor sore back. I really need to go back and get more Cortisone shots into my spine, but hey, 5 year old Nurofen Zavance tablets in my jacket pocket did the job, and the ride home was great.

K0 Wednesday 30 Dec 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Wednesday 30 Dec 2020 9b by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The riding position is just about perfect on the K0, and as "peppy" as the engine really is, (thanks to the high comp CB77 pistons, electronic ignition and 98 RON BP fuel, I presume) it's not so fast that it'll tie the frame in knots under acceleration or braking, which, even with new pads front and rear, is pretty sub standard. I'm thinking about having Hugh Robinson mount one of his cast iron drilled disc rotors onto one of my K0 specific disc carriers, as I have a couple of spares. I found that riding in the 60-80 MPH range was the new engine's "Comfort zone", and it happily zoomed along at those speeds all day. The "cackle" from the magnificent Delkevic exhaust was loud, but music to my ears.

I went out of my way to stop at the railway crossing that I always take my bike pics at, it's a kind of a "Rite of Passage" for all my bikes, so I parked up, and took a couple of pics:

K0 Wednesday 30 Dec 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Wednesday 30 Dec 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

If the threatening poor weather stays away, I'm tempted to take my VFR750 for a ride tomorrow, the battery must need a charge, and it's too easy to drive over to the self storage place, fire the bike up, and hit the road. Hopefully I'll sneak out before the weather turns to mud (literally) and/or the wife finds a job that I need to do.

One thing I really need to do is sort out the carbs. I didn't check main jet sizes, the Ebay "Expert" who rebuilt them said they were 120 mains, but it's really reliant on the choke to warm up, unlike my other CB750's with 120 mains, and the idle is set way too high, so when the engine's warm, it's idling at 2000(+) RPM, and unlike the later carbs, it's a PITA to change, so I'll wait until my new "Temporary Carport" has been delivered and installed, and set them up properly. No biggie, it's coming along very nicely......

K0 Wednesday 30 Dec 2020 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[BenelliSEI]

Terry...... congrats on the lic. office! Always a hurdle. Just noticing this Topic is LESS than three months old. Amazing work, enjoy the ride!

[PeWe]

Congratulations Terry!!
A good bike you can enjoy.
More compression make difference.
My K2 got Cruzinimage K7 (392) 61.5mm pistons that improved.

[grcamna2]

Beautiful work on the K0 Terry,it looks excellent !  Did the carb stop dribbling yet? I know shifting will be better also when you're able to drop the idle to spec.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, I'm really happy with it's progress as this "Rolling Project" goes forward, with only 253 miles on the odometer it still needs tweaking, but that's OK, there's nothing really bad to worry about, (unlike my K2 Bitsa with the POS engine I need to rebuild, properly) it starts, runs really nicely, sounds great, and is a pleasure to ride.

The #1 carb still drips out of the bellmouth when the bike is parked with the engine off and the fuel left on Bill, so I try to remember to turn it off whenever the bike is on the sidestand. I'll check for a sticking float and a blocked overflow drain when I drop the fuel bowls to check/replace the main jets from whatever's in it to actual 120's. I'm hoping the self declared "Expert" who rebuilt them used OEM carb kits and not some of the crap Ebay ones with incorrect needles and jets? I'm not that disappointed, the carbs look great, they just weren't set up well.

Anyway, it looks like rain is on the way today, so I'll leave the K0 in the garage, and go over to the storage place and take the VVFR750 for a run. Hopefully it'll fire right up, and I'll fill it with fresh fuel, and probably do the same route I did yesterday, because I do enjoy a nice pie at the Heathcote bakery for lunch. I might have to swap my leather jacket and jeans for my wet weather gear, but that's OK, you gotta do what you gotta do........

[Terry in Australia]

Well the weather has been sh1t for the last couple of days. It's summer here, so should be nice and hot, with bushfires destroying thousands of acres of farmland/national parks etc, but instead, it's been bucketing down rain the last couple of days. I was gonna ride my Yamaha FJR1300 to my mum's place today to celebrate my little sisters birthday tomorrow, but due to fcuking Covid 19 she had to fly back to Queensland before the border closed tonight, so I had to think of something else to do.

I was gonna pull my RC51 SP1 out to replace the fuel pump but would have had to move too many bikes to get it out, and because of the weather didn't want to leave them out to get wet, so I decided instead, to sort my K0 carbs. I bought these "reconditioned" carbs from an Ebay self proclaimed carb  "Expert". You should always be suspicious of people who tell you they're an expert, I'm supposed to be an expert in my field, but discovered long ago that to be an "Expert", you only had to know more about the subject than the HR person interviewing you for the job...........

But, I digress. I started the old red beast, and as usual, it was heavily dependent on the choke, and refused to go anywhere until it'd been idling with the choke half on for a good 10 minutes. That seemed strange considering the seller said it had 120 mains and #40 idle jets fitted? I have the same size jets in my K2 and F2, and on a warm day, don't need the choke for more than a few seconds? Anyway, I rode it up into the patio to strip the tank, sidecovers, airbox etc off, so I could pull the carbs. 

K0 Sunday 3 Jan 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Sunday 3 Jan 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

I checked the mains and pilot jets, and yep, they were as advertised. So why so lean on startup? I checked the mixture screws, and they were all over the place. instead of being screwed out 1 1/8 turns, they ranged from half a turn out, to 1 turn out. No wonder it was so lean at idle, I screwed them all in, then backed them out 1.5 turns, as I do with all my CB750's. Considering I'm running a 4 into 1 pipe, I also raised all the needles one notch.

I had to balance them, so it was then necessary to hook up my vacuum gauges. I pulled out my NOS set of genuine Honda gauges which I would have loved to have used, but the rubbers were so brittle that 2 had broken in half.

K0 Sunday 3 Jan 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Bugger. Oh well, I pulled out the "Morgan Carb Tune" that I bought 20 years ago, and hooked it up. With the K0 carbs, having one control cable per carb, you need to adjust the slide heights by adjusting the cable adjusters on top of each carb to sync the slides. I took this pic as the engine was running at 3000 RPM, and was happy that it was close enough.

K0 Sunday 3 Jan 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I'd just disconnected the reserve tank and the vac gauges when the sky opened, and rain bucketed down. Bugger! I rolled it into the garage and cleaned up my mess in the patio, and tomorrow I'll hook up the fuel lines, install the sidecovers etc etc, and hopefully take it for a ride. It did start way easier and warmed up much quicker with the adjustments I made today, so hopefully it'll run fine. Hopefully......

[MauiK3]

Is that mercury in the carb gauge?
I love the red K0

[grcamna2]

Terry,I never saw Honda gauges in action,that would've been interesting;maybe you can get some new hoses and give'em a go.Were the Morgan Carb-Tune synchronizers invented over there in Australia ?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Guys, the Morgan Carb Tune was recommended to me when I was on The GS Resources, they have either stainless steel or alloy rods (I can't remember which) instead of mercury, which is a good thing. I will get some new hoses for the Honda gauges but it was late on Sunday afternoon and too late to go looking, and the Morgan hoses are much smaller ID than the Honda gauges, which typically for Honda have thin walls and a large ID.

I'll have to re-route the cables, I removed the whole assembly yesterday when I took the carbs off, and when I originally put the bike together I mounted the carbs and cable assembly first and the Dyna coils afterwards, and now the coils are in the way of the "1 into 4" cable puller assembly, so once it stops raining (again.........) I'll go sort it out. I'm looking forwards to riding it (not in the rain) and see if all that work actually improved anything.  

[grcamna2]

Thanks Guys, the Morgan Carb Tune was recommended to me when I was on The GS Resources, they have either stainless steel or alloy rods (I can't remember which) instead of mercury, which is a good thing. I will get some new hoses for the Honda gauges but it was late on Sunday afternoon and too late to go looking, and the Morgan hoses are much smaller ID than the Honda gauges, which typically for Honda have thin walls and a large ID.

I'll have to re-route the cables, I removed the whole assembly yesterday when I took the carbs off, and when I originally put the bike together I mounted the carbs and cable assembly first and the Dyna coils afterwards, and now the coils are in the way of the "1 into 4" cable puller assembly, so once it stops raining (again.........) I'll go sort it out. I'm looking forwards to riding it (not in the rain) and see if all that work actually improved anything.

Terry,did you find anything inside those K0 carb's #1 cyl. amiss ?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Guys, the Morgan Carb Tune was recommended to me when I was on The GS Resources, they have either stainless steel or alloy rods (I can't remember which) instead of mercury, which is a good thing. I will get some new hoses for the Honda gauges but it was late on Sunday afternoon and too late to go looking, and the Morgan hoses are much smaller ID than the Honda gauges, which typically for Honda have thin walls and a large ID.

I'll have to re-route the cables, I removed the whole assembly yesterday when I took the carbs off, and when I originally put the bike together I mounted the carbs and cable assembly first and the Dyna coils afterwards, and now the coils are in the way of the "1 into 4" cable puller assembly, so once it stops raining (again.........) I'll go sort it out. I'm looking forwards to riding it (not in the rain) and see if all that work actually improved anything.

Terry,did you find anything inside those K0 carb's #1 cyl. amiss ?

No Bill, the float needle looked OK, and the overflow tube wasn't blocked, so it's a mystery. I didn't notice any dribbling while I was doing the carb syncing, but it was on the centrestand, and I've only really noticed it dribbling when on the sidestand, so don't know if it's fixed yet.