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

[Terry in Australia]

No worries John, it’s great stuff, just don’t put any spokes or other items that have been zinc plated into PA, or it’ll eat the zinc and your spokes will rust like there’s no tomorrow.

[StockRider]

No worries John, it’s great stuff, just don’t put any spokes or other items that have been zinc plated into PA, or it’ll eat the zinc and your spokes will rust like there’s no tomorrow.

I've been debating how to best clean up my rusty KO carb choke choke levers. I thought they were zinc plated so I was hesitant to be too aggressive with them, chemically.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, it's great for removing old zinc plating before you re-plate them mate, but not good on things like spokes, I filled a big tub with PA years ago and was really happy that I could dip a front wheel into it up to the bottom of the hub and clean all the rust off the rim and spokes, but first time I rode that bike in the rain, the spokes rusted horribly. If you throw a spoke in a tub of PA, you can actually see the zinc washing off the steel. Great for cleaning the inside of your tank though, most liner kits (POR-15 etc) come with a watered down bottle of PA to remove the rust after you've flushed all the old fuel varnish out with the degreaser that comes in the kit.

[PeWe]

I read about Phoshoric acid on another car thread.
2 stages, a stronger mix first to remove rust followed by a 2% solution for a longer time when it created a protective layer.

Rust becomes black, right?

I could not find it here for a low enough price. Lowest $12USD/L (85%) + shipping.

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Per, no, the Phosphoric Acid won't make it go black like some rust convertors will, but you may get a very light grey colored film of phosphorous over it which you can wash off, if you want to.

Anyhoo, As opposed to my K2 Bitsa "Ride from Hell" yesterday, my K0 ride back to the Heathcote Bakery for lunch today was a fantastic ride. When I first installed those carbs built by Ebay expert "Carburettor Keith" it was running way too lean, so I adjusted the idle mixture screws which were all over the place, and lifted the needles and it was better, but once I installed the seals on the top of each slide that our "Expert" left out completely, suddenly there were no air leaks, and it was running a bit rich. I should probably do some more adjusting, but being as finicky as K0 carbs are, to save me some heartache, I think I'll swap the stock air filter out for a freer breathing K&N filter in the airbox, and see how they work with a bit less air restriction.

Regardless, it fired right up after 2 weeks of sitting, due to the snap 5 day stage 4 covid lockdown. My only motorcycle riding was collecting my latest Triumph Rocket III on Friday the 12th, then riding my RT3 around my back yard, and of course my K2 Bitsa nightmare ride yesterday, so today I was looking forward to a nice fast relaxing ride on the old red one. I could hear the Heathcote bakery calling me, so I waited as long as I could before I took off, because if I get there too early it's hard to get a table. As it was it was a bit busy, maybe because there was a street drags meet at the Heathcote Park Dragway today, or maybe, like me, after being locked down all week, folks just wanted to get out and about. Luckily I found a table, reserved it by putting my helmet and jacket on the table, and after missing out on a pie last week, stretched my stomach with a pie and a jam donut.

K0 Sunday 21 Feb 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Lots of cars on the road, so I just took one pic of the bike out on the road, under a very appropriate sign post, well, maybe two.

K0 Sunday 21 Feb 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I rode back at warp speed, and was happy that a car driver coming the other way flashed his lights to let me know there was a mobile speed camera ahead, so I had plenty of time to slow down to 60 MPH to pass him as a responsible rider, before I took it up to 80 again. All in all, another great ride.

K0 Sunday 21 Feb 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The ol' K0 has now done 1229 trouble free miles over the last 2 months, and I'm really happy with it. It's definitely my favourite CB750.

K0 Sunday 21 Feb 2021 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
 

   

[Alan F.]

I wonder how many of us would have been drawn in by the Garage Sale on Speed Street?

[BenelliSEI]

“The ol' K0 has now done 1229 trouble free miles over the last 2 months, and I'm really happy with it. It's definitely my favourite CB750”.

Terry..... after all the hard work, go to see there are rewards! That bike is definitely a keeper. I feel the same way about my K1. Some just have a special appeal.

[StockRider]

When I first installed those carbs built by Ebay expert "Carburettor Keith" it was running way too lean, so I adjusted the idle mixture screws which were all over the place, and lifted the needles and it was better, but once I installed the seals on the top of each slide that our "Expert" left out completely, suddenly there were no air leaks, and it was running a bit rich. I should probably do some more adjusting, but being as finicky as K0 carbs are, to save me some heartache, I think I'll swap the stock air filter out for a freer breathing K&N filter in the airbox, and see how they work with a bit less air restriction.

Terry, Quick question on your rebuilt carbs. Did they have the "washer, guide" (Honda #16151300303) under the spring in the throttle valves? When I opened my carbs up those washer, guides were not in there and the springs were riding on the needle retainer clips.

https://www.cmsnl.com/products/washerguide_16151300303/

I am not sure if there would be much of a performance impact without them but it would also be nice to know that all the correct parts are in place.

[Don R]

“The ol' K0 has now done 1229 trouble free miles over the last 2 months, and I'm really happy with it. It's definitely my favourite CB750”.

Terry..... after all the hard work, go to see there are rewards! That bike is definitely a keeper. I feel the same way about my K1. Some just have a special appeal.

I'm impressed you have been riding the past few months. There have been winters when I've ridden every month but not recently.

[spotty]

“The ol' K0 has now done 1229 trouble free miles over the last 2 months, and I'm really happy with it. It's definitely my favourite CB750”.

Terry..... after all the hard work, go to see there are rewards! That bike is definitely a keeper. I feel the same way about my K1. Some just have a special appeal.

I'm impressed you have been riding the past few months. There have been winters when I've ridden every month but not recently.

yep, i've been very impressed when terry gets out on those 30C plus winter days we've been having lately

[Terry in Australia]

When I first installed those carbs built by Ebay expert "Carburettor Keith" it was running way too lean, so I adjusted the idle mixture screws which were all over the place, and lifted the needles and it was better, but once I installed the seals on the top of each slide that our "Expert" left out completely, suddenly there were no air leaks, and it was running a bit rich. I should probably do some more adjusting, but being as finicky as K0 carbs are, to save me some heartache, I think I'll swap the stock air filter out for a freer breathing K&N filter in the airbox, and see how they work with a bit less air restriction.

Terry, Quick question on your rebuilt carbs. Did they have the "washer, guide" (Honda #16151300303) under the spring in the throttle valves? When I opened my carbs up those washer, guides were not in there and the springs were riding on the needle retainer clips.

https://www.cmsnl.com/products/washerguide_16151300303/

I am not sure if there would be much of a performance impact without them but it would also be nice to know that all the correct parts are in place.

Thanks mate, and no, "Carburettor Keith", the Ebay carb "Expert" (and we all know what an "Expert" is....) left them out too, so like you, my springs are just sitting on top of the slides. I doubt that this makes much difference either, but it would have been nice if he'd included them, for $1000 USD (plus shipping) I would have expected that I could just "plug and play" without having to make a ton of adjustments, and find the missing pieces myself.

[Terry in Australia]

“The ol' K0 has now done 1229 trouble free miles over the last 2 months, and I'm really happy with it. It's definitely my favourite CB750”.

Terry..... after all the hard work, go to see there are rewards! That bike is definitely a keeper. I feel the same way about my K1. Some just have a special appeal.

I'm impressed you have been riding the past few months. There have been winters when I've ridden every month but not recently.

Thanks Don, as Spotty has rudely pointed out, it's summertime here in Oz, and some days when it gets too hot, I won't punish my bikes or myself, and I'll just stay home. The best bike riding weather here in Victoria is Autumn, (Fall) when we still get nice sunny days, without the heat. As my old Dad (who didn't like bikes much) would say, "You can always make yourself warmer", so that's when I start rugging up for winter rides. Autumn is only a few days away, so the hot weather will calm down to something much more enjoyable soon.

Now that the big blue Yamaha has left the pride, I'm gonna have to start thinking about what bikes to ride on wet days. Might have to be the Triumph Rocket III's, they'll both have new tyres by winter, and my "Classic" has a nice windscreen to keep the rain from smashing into my face at warp speed.

[Don R]

 I still have old blue, the GL1000 that sat 20 years in an attached garage. I got it as a gift for $100 and probably spent $1800 on it since then. I left the Vetter accessories on it except the trunk. That's my foul weather work bike and the one my wife wants to ride on. It was in the 40's F today and after weeks of minus 10's F it seems warm enough to ride. Still a lot of salt though and here and there ice from melting/freezing.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, a ‘Wang with all the furniture is a great winter time bike. Like most big enclosed watercooled bikes they can get a bit uncomfortable on a hot day, but all that heat wafting over you is very pleasant on a cold, wet ride.

[Don R]

 That's true, I enjoy the lowers on the fairing in cold weather. One day while riding in the rain for several hours I was wishing they were there in summer too.  On my 750 with no lowers I noticed if I put my feet on the back pegs the warm engine air would divert over my legs and help a little.
 

[Terry in Australia]

It's been said that "Success has many fathers, whereas failure is an orphan". After many great rides on the K0 "Old Bill" dedicated to Bill the Demon, who passed around the same time I built this bike, or perhaps "Red dawn" (just to give Don another name option for his K0 thread) I noticed last week, that my 52 year old lady is suffering from a little incontinence. I noticed that my beautiful "Made in the USA" Redwings right boot was getting sprayed with a little oil. Not a lot, but also, If I park it on the centre stand, I get a drip of oil under the ignition side of the engine. Oh dear.....

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

Now today was a PITA, I logged onto the ol' virtual saltmine, and after only 30 minutes, the internet dropped out. Being a technophobe, I had no idea what the problem was, so after trying to reset the modem to no avail, I logged into my service providers website and discovered that the NBN (National internet system) was down for maintenance in various parts of Oz, and wouldn't be back on until 4pm.

Hmmnn, I wandered out to the garage, and looked for the source of the leak. I removed the points cover, and Oh dear again, there was a little pool of oil behind the cover. Now the last time I had an issue like this, the case sealant (some loctite sh1t) had basically melted and oil was running out between the case halves. This didn't seem to be the case (pun intended) here though, as I could still see a thin blue line of RTV, with no obvious leakage therein. I marked the Kokusan ignition plate so I wouldn't have to re-time the ignition, and removed it.

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

When I removed the auto advance unit, I noticed a ring of oil around where it mounts onto the end of the crank.

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And looking at the end of the crank, it looked pretty obvious, that the O ring on the 6mm stud had gone to God.

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Well that was a relief! All I needed to do was remove the threaded shaft! I tried using my Stud remover visegrip tool, but nope, it was tight. OK, so I "double nutted" it, but same/same, it wouldn't move. I could twist the shaft, but it wouldn't crack. OK, last try, my half inch drive stud remover, first with a standard ratchet wrench, then with a 3 foot breaker bar! till no movement, and all the while I was weighing up a small leak vs snapping the shaft off. Fcuk it, what redneck fix could I attempt?

Well, there was a dried out O ring allowing oil to pass through, so why not shove another couple of O rings into that space behind the auto advance mechanism? I shoved a couple of O rings in there, then splooged some high temp silicon on it for good measure. I then put everything back together and tightened down the 10mm nut, and was happy to feel it squishing the O rings etc. I fired the bike up, and not surprisingly, I'd managed to bend the shaft, so I used a sharpie to find the high spot, and gave it a few whacks with my plastic mallet until it was more or less straight again. Sweet. The good news was, that after 5 minutes of running on the centre stand, no drips! I did think about having another go at removing it when the engine was hot, but thought, "Fcuk that, it's not leaking, so leave it alone. Rednecking to the rescue, again.   

But of course, what happens in the garage doesn't always stay that way when you're out on the road, so i decided that, as the wife had gone over to help her 87 year old Ma, and i had nothing to do, I'd go for a ride. My favourite ride at the moment is still to Heathcote for a pie, so I jumped onto the ol' red beast, and took off. Luckily I checked the fuel level and it was low, so I stopped at a Shell station, and filled it with 98. While there, I had the usual admirers come up and want to tell me that they had one just like mine, back in the day, that they wished they still had it, etc etc. This happens a lot.

I stopped to take a couple of pics after jarring my back quite badly when I hit a pot hole mid corner, as much as I love these back roads, they've got lots of pretty bad surface issues. I must throw a pair of Konis on it. It was nice to get off and have a little walk around.

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyhoo, feeling refreshed, I jumped back on and rode on to Heathcote. being a weekday the place was pretty quiet but that was cool, I had a choice of tables, and enjoyed a delicious Beef and Shiraz pie, and a mocca milk drink to wash down my anti-inflammatories.

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The ride back was very pleasant, only one mobile speed camera car hiding in the trees, but I saw him from a reasonable distance (the advantages of being an old Forward Scout) and slowed the fcuk down. At the 116 mile mark I had to switch to reserve and rode on for another 14 miles until I filled up again. It took 13 litres to do around 130-odd miles, so it's getting around 45 MPG (Imperial gallons = 4.54 litres) which, even though I was averaging between 70 and 90 MPH, confirms that it's running a bit rich. The only new consumable I didn't use when I built the bike was a new air filter because I forgot to buy one so I used an old one, which was fine when the top carb seals weren't in place, but has added to the rich running since.

As my K2 bitsa is going nowhere, I stole the K&N filter that has done maybe 500 miles, if it's lucky. It'll flow a lot more air than it's predecessor.

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 9c by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyhoo, it's still going like a rocket, isn't dribbling oil out of the points cover, and I've now done 1364 trouble free miles. I hope the internet's working tomorrow, I really do...........      

K0 Thursday 25 Feb 2021 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

Good that you could fix the leak.
There are moments wher a "take 5" is needed. Too easy to focus too much on removing that stud as orher studs.

Cylinder studs I have removed with double nut method needed 2 u-ring wrenches keeping nuts hard together, a quick twist tighten it further so it came loose. Then the other direction.

My blue K6 got a new advancer stud, crank did not have any when bought. I fastened it with blue Loctite to make it sit.
Very careful not on o-ring nor pass it into the oil hole to crank bearing.
Cleaned threads with scetone, o-ring had a little lube to rotate without killing friction when stud went in.

[Trevor from Warragul]

only one mobile speed camera car hiding in the trees

Have you seen the new ones where the camera is inside the vehicle?  In some ways they are easier to spot, as they can only fit the camera in the back of an SUV, and the silly beggars have put a silver circle around the lens, which can be easily spotted through the back window.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, I bought that K0 crank with the stud already in it, and I think I tried to remove it when I was building the engine but couldn't get it out then. Yep I tried two wrenches to tighten one nut against the other, tried turning them one way and the te next, made no difference. I may try doing it again with the engine at operating temp, but only if it starts leaking again, because otherwise, there's no need.

Still no internet, I rang the techs and they had me reset the NBN box and the modem, but no dice, so they've referred it to their engineering department, and I'll get an update in 12-24 hours. Great......... I might have to go for a ride on the Rocket III to improve my mood, I'm slightly pissed off right now. 

[Terry in Australia]

only one mobile speed camera car hiding in the trees

Have you seen the new ones where the camera is inside the vehicle?  In some ways they are easier to spot, as they can only fit the camera in the back of an SUV, and the silly beggars have put a silver circle around the lens, which can be easily spotted through the back window.

Yep I think it was one of them yesterday mate, as it didn't have all the usual crap mounted on the front bumper. Personally, whenever I see a newish SUV parked on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, my spider senses come up, and I slow down. Nine out of ten have been speed camera cars.

[Alan F.]

My K8 arrived with a broken ignition side stud. After looking up the cost of a replacement and almost regretting buying the project I found a new stud and o-ring in with the carburetor bits.
I've never tried to remove one of these, was planning on 2 sets of vise-grips.

Any other experiences or pointers?

[Terry in Australia]

My K8 arrived with a broken ignition side stud. After looking up the cost of a replacement and almost regretting buying the project I found a new stud and o-ring in with the carburetor bits.
I've never tried to remove one of these, was planning on 2 sets of vise-grips.

Any other experiences or pointers?

Heat is probably the best advice I could give Alan, if the stud is already broken, chances are someone had the same problem as me, and persisted a little it longer than I thought safe. The problem is, that unlike any other fastener on your bike, that stud screws into your crank, so if you mess up the threads in the process, you may as well toss the crank, because unless that stud spins almost perfectly true, it'll affect your ignition big time.

Obviously you can't start the engine to warm it up the usual way, so you might need a gas torch and some penetrating fluid. Do it on the sidestand so the penetrating fluid runs down into your crank heat the stud until it's hot, then spray some liquid wrench or other penetrant into the recess in the crank, and with your "Two Vice grip" method (vise grips 180 degrees opposed, to get a "T Bar" effect) gently try to budge it, either way.

Just don't heat the stud to cherry red or go all Hulk Hogan on it, pretend you're doing brain surgery and take it very carefully. Cranks for CB750's are plentiful, but swapping them out is a PITA.

[Alan F.]

Thanks! I've been searching for the hour since I hijacked your thread and didn't come up with anything as useful, thanks. I'll keep searching for more too.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks! I've been searching for the hour since I hijacked your thread and didn't come up with anything as useful, thanks. I'll keep searching for more too.

No worries Alan, best of luck mate, this one really pissed me off as usually they come out pretty easily.

[Terry in Australia]

A weekend can't go by without a ride as far as I'm concerned, so on Saturday I did my 3rd pie run in a week. Yes yes I know, I need to find somewhere else to ride to, but geez, I do love a good pie, and backroads not crowded with cops and speed cameras so I can let the old red beast have it's head.

Funnily enough, it didn't feel "quite right" on Saturday. It just felt a bit "flat", missing it's usual punch a little bit, and while it started fine and idled well enough (maybe a little ragged) I reckon that even the exhaust note was a bit muted? Now the only mechanical change I'd made was removing the clogged old air filter to reduce the afore mentioned rich condition, but if anything, it should have been running better, not worse? WTF?

Anyway, it still got me to Heathcote fine, and being ever so health conscious, I decided to forgo an all meat pie, for a meat and vegetable pastie. A young guy who was collecting all the plates and crap asked me if I owned the Honda out the front, and we had a 10 minute chat about bikes, cars and other stuff. Surprisingly he was more interested in original bikes than Cafe Racers, and told me that he was saving up to buy a Honda 750 like mine. Nice kid.

I stopped on the way back for the usual pics.

K0 Saturday 27 Feb 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Saturday 27 Feb 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I figured I was probably getting low on fuel so stopped at a Shell station, and filled it up with 13 litres of 98 RON V Power. According to my piss-poor math, my fuel economy had taken a crap too, using around 2 litres more than it has previously. That's just weird, if anything, the freer flowing K&N air filter should have made it run a tad leaner, but it appeared that it was running richer! Crap! Oh well, off I went again, and about a mile or two up the road, it started to run better. Another mile down the road, and it was back to it's old self, complete with raspy exhaust note!

So it was fuel. On Thursday afternoon, on my return from my previous ride, I'd filled it with BP Ultimate, supposedly 98 RON like Shell V Power? Hmmnn, I'm no industrial chemist, but I suspect that BP Ultimate, is sh1t. As I rode back with the K0 running wonderfully again, I pondered this assertion, and it reminded me that while my (relatively low compression ratio) Harley Sportster absolutely hates 98 RON fuel (Caltex, Shell or Mobil) it loves BP Ultimate!

Anyway, the good news is that the ol' K0 is running like a charm, and I actually rode it to work and back today. (50 mile round trip) I just need to remember to keep it away from BP Ultimate, which isn't that ultimate at all, on reflection. I'll stick with Shell or Caltex 98 from now on. Oh, and before today's ride, I hit the 1500 trouble free mile mark, another minor milestone.

K0 Saturday 27 Feb 2021 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I think I'm still going to need to drop the carb needles one notch back to the original positions, but I'll do another 100(+) miler this weekend as the BP Ultimate saga kind of messed up my assumption that the freer flowing K&N filter would lean the mixture enough to negate any further need for adjustment. We'll see how black the pipe is after I've run a full tank of Shell V Power thru it, and see if there's any improvement to the fuel economy. No biggie, I'm just happy with how well it's running.