Author Topic: My accidental 1982 Nighthawk 650 (Read 13266 times)

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #25 on:** November 17, 2020, 03:50:33 PM »

Probably need to get this bad boy fixed before getting to crazy getting it running well. Definitely open to suggestions on how to get this repaired.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #26 on:** November 17, 2020, 11:36:19 PM »

That steel is pretty thin and likely rusted inside around the hole. You might consider buying a spare.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #27 on:** November 18, 2020, 04:59:36 AM »

I'd probably buy a spare if I could find one that wasn't in rough shape as well. Kinda seems like these like to break right at that point. It appears like the other side has a repair done to it in the exact same spot.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #28 on:** November 18, 2020, 05:04:53 AM »

I removed the exhaust on this side so I could at least take it a few places for some opinions. I am not currently capable of welding.

There was an inner piece of the pipe that was just rattling around in there too.

I guess the nice thing is you can line up the break and even tighten up the muffler on the bracket to hold it in place where it is aligned correctly.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #29 on:** November 18, 2020, 05:08:54 AM »

Since she won't be going anywhere at the moment, and since I will be removing the carbs again to get the air intake back on, I guess I will take this opportunity to clean up the stock jets and probably stick those back in so I don't have to worry about the cheapo rebuild kit jets causing me issues. Two of the pilot jets look to be completely clogged.

DaveBarbier · « **Reply #30 on:** November 18, 2020, 05:10:18 AM »

I’ll keep an eye out. Maybe that could be repaired but whatever it is it probably won’t last long.

rb550four · « **Reply #31 on:** November 18, 2020, 04:33:24 PM »

Good progress, looking good.
When you change back to factory brass , when removing the carbs and putting them back on, I use a hair dryer on those rubber connectors , a heat gun just wants to burn the outside without actually warming the entire piece. I've found that pointing a hair dryer on the all 4 for a while will aid the carb installation process making it all so much easier.
Did you attach the stock air filter when you took it on a test run? sohc 4s run allot better with them on.
Have you purchased a new battery? I saw that you have been jumping your van . Most of the 650's that I have came to me with burnt cdi boxes from POs jumping the bike off the car,just sayin. And one other thing to consider if you are running a half dead battery,is that it will effect the way it runs. The 650 is known to have a weak charging system too, known to fail if you aren't aware of that.
$100 sounds cheap to open a door to this much fun...Good investment. It would cost you twice as much for a fun night out that you may not remember the next day.... Good investment.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #32 on:** November 19, 2020, 08:18:24 AM »

Quote from: cheddarGoblin on November 18, 2020, 05:04:53 AM

I removed the exhaust on this side so I could at least take it a few places for some opinions. I am not currently capable of welding.

There was an inner piece of the pipe that was just rattling around in there too.

I guess the nice thing is you can line up the break and even tighten up the muffler on the bracket to hold it in place where it is aligned correctly.

If you want an original exhaust, be wary of purchasing used on-line. It's hard to see if the pipes have rust inside, and it's easy to hide outer rust. The original pipes unfortunately use pretty thin stamped steel.

If you don't mind going aftermarket, take a look at Ripple Rock Racers -- and their Hindle 4-2-1 pipe. It's all stainless.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #33 on:** November 19, 2020, 06:48:32 PM »

Quote from: rb550four on November 18, 2020, 04:33:24 PM

Good progress, looking good.
When you change back to factory brass , when removing the carbs and putting them back on, I use a hair dryer on those rubber connectors , a heat gun just wants to burn the outside without actually warming the entire piece. I've found that pointing a hair dryer on the all 4 for a while will aid the carb installation process making it all so much easier.
Did you attach the stock air filter when you took it on a test run? sohc 4s run allot better with them on.
Have you purchased a new battery? I saw that you have been jumping your van . Most of the 650's that I have came to me with burnt cdi boxes from POs jumping the bike off the car,just sayin. And one other thing to consider if you are running a half dead battery,is that it will effect the way it runs. The 650 is known to have a weak charging system too, known to fail if you aren't aware of that.
$100 sounds cheap to open a door to this much fun...Good investment. It would cost you twice as much for a fun night out that you may not remember the next day.... Good investment.

Good to know about the hair dryer. I'll try that. I was hoping getting them in the second time would be easier since the boots have had a chance to form to the carbs a bit.
I did not attach the filter. It was just around the block a few times just to get a sense of what I had. I was worried about going and stopping, not even worried about performance. That will come later.
A battery was the second thing I purchased for it after seeing how it ran with the carbs rebuilt. She is under her own power now. At the time, I just wanted to see if it was even worth putting any effort into or just parting it out. Parting it out was probably the sensible option and that is why I did the opposite.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #34 on:** November 19, 2020, 06:53:15 PM »

I definitely want original exhaust. I am trying to bring it back to original as much as possible. I am definitely concerned about purchasing something that is in near the same shape as what I already have. Everything I have seen is rusted in the exact same spot.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #35 on:** November 19, 2020, 07:03:59 PM »

I removed the other side tonight. It had patch jobs as well. I did not even want to remove them. I am going to take it somewhere Saturday and see what can be done.
I would certainly like to keep it because I am not sure what to do otherwise. Oh what fun.

So in summary, left side exhaust has 1 pipe intact and one completely broken off. Right side is in one piece but both are leaking.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #36 on:** November 22, 2020, 08:50:04 AM »

I swung into an exhaust shop and confirmed that there is no repairing these. I was able to find a complete left side on ebay that looks pretty good, so I pulled the trigger on that. It surprisingly looked rust free so can't wait to see if it actually is. The right side is just as bad so still looking for a replacement for that. Guess I will work on some other stuff in the meantime.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #37 on:** November 22, 2020, 08:58:21 AM »

I have pressure washed this thing 3 times since I got it and I still have clumps of crud all over it. It seems like this stuff is baked on as some of it has needed scraped off. Since I have the exhaust off, I guess I will try to get some of this cleaned up. The grayish whitish stuff seems like some sort of film, it does come off when cleaned but dang it is tough to clean up.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #38 on:** November 22, 2020, 09:18:56 AM »

Since it ain't gonna be running for a bit, I am removing the carb jets that came with the rebuild kit and reinstalling the factory jets. The rebuild kit came with 3 primary jet sizes, none of which were even close to the factory jet size. Not sure what I was thinking to even use the replacements initially, there are some obvious differences between them, which probably won't lead to anything good. I guess maybe I thought I could skip the step of cleaning the old jets, which wasn't difficult anyway. I just dropped them in a cup of white vinegar for a day or two and hit them lightly with a brass brush and they looked good as new and I was able to see through them to confirm they were not clogged.

Factory on the left, rebuild kit on the right.

After doing this, it hit me that I did not use much from the rebuild kits other than gaskets, O-rings and needle valves.

One of the things I did during the carb rebuild as well was replace these boogered up bowl screws. There is quite a bit of messed up fasteners on this bike.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #39 on:** November 22, 2020, 09:27:49 AM »

Since I think, fingers crossed, I am done taking the carbs on and off for a bit, I am putting the air intake back on for this carb install. Can't wait to see if I can actually get them on with the slightly longer intake boots. I did put some silicone around the 2 parts of the intake to try and seal it as there seemed to be some other sealant here when I removed it that was chipping off. Forgot to take a picture before installing and I am not into removing stuff just to take a picture. I hope to not be able to see the blue once I find side covers and airbox covers for it.

DaveBarbier · « **Reply #40 on:** November 22, 2020, 10:19:16 AM »

Nice job and good score on the exhaust, hope it works out!

Never seen that sealant on the air box. Not stock.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #41 on:** November 22, 2020, 06:38:58 PM »

Carbs rejetted and back on complete with the air intake this time. The longer intake boots made it very tight getting the carbs between the boots and the air intake, that was not fun at all. Once I get the exhaust back on, I might be able to take her for some longer test rides before we start seeing snow here.

I have a left side exhaust on the way along with a front fender. Going to redo the patch jobs on the right side exhaust while I search for a replacement.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #42 on:** November 29, 2020, 08:09:58 AM »

Since she is getting close to road worthy, I had to do some troubleshooting on the turn signals. The rear signals were missing when I got the bike, and the since the entire headlight bucket was missing as well I had to verify the wiring. After I though I had everything connected correctly, I got the front running lights to turn on but I wasn't getting anything when I was indicating a turn and found that the flasher relay was bad. I could here it make a sickly noise when it was energized, so I bypassed it and got all the signals to light solid and could make them blink manually. So I ordered a $3 flasher relay. Here is the wiring in the replacement headlight bucket after I removed as much rust as I could and then treated it.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #43 on:** November 29, 2020, 08:26:15 AM »

Turns out the left side exhaust that I had found on eBay fell through. Before it was shipped, the seller contacted me and let me know that it sounded like one of the baffles was rattling inside the muffler. So I opted to cancel the purchase. That is disappointing because it looked like it was in perfect shape. After this, I am thinking that I won't be able to keep the original mufflers. So for the time being I am going to repair what I have to see what my options are. At this point, I am thinking of just going with some slip ons to retain the 4 into 4.

So I dropped both exhaust so I could clean them up a bit too. Nothing too intense right now but I am going to get some of the filth off and treat some of the bad rust spots.

First I did some soup can and hose clamp repairs

And I hit some of the nasty rust with this. I intend to do a more thorough clean up once I figure out what to do with the mufflers.

The thing that has me unsure about using aftermarket mufflers is what to do about the kickstand bumpers afterwards.

The muffler covered with grease is th eonly one that is still in one piece

At least everything back to the mufflers still seems solid, just need to treat some rusty spots

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #44 on:** November 29, 2020, 08:32:07 AM »

Another part that was missing was the front fender. The dude I bought the bike from said that he had it but it didn't seem like I was ever going to get it and I got tired of waiting, so I purchased one from eBay. It arrived and was in much worse shape than it looked in the pictures. Oh well, I guess I will clean it up a little and install it for the time being.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #45 on:** November 29, 2020, 11:59:54 AM »

The shifter must have gotten tweaked when this thing got laid down, it would hit the heat shield when downshifting.

I removed it to see if I could straighten it a bit. It looked like it was bent inwards near the weld, so I warmed it up with a torch and put it in a vice and gave it a few whacks with a BFH.

Before

After

Installed and in the down position, you can see from the rust spot where it was contacting the heat shield.

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #46 on:** November 29, 2020, 12:04:09 PM »

I also did get the carbs synced up. This was the initial reading after the rebuild and bench sync.

I did tweak them so they were all synced but I don't even know if I would have noticed from them only being this far off. Seemed pretty darn close to me. I did make some adjustments during the bench sync though. I did not take a measurement before the rebuild as I did not have the gauges at that time

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #47 on:** November 29, 2020, 12:08:32 PM »

Gas tank and seat back on, fender on, fueled up. Ready to go out for a road test before we start seeing snow.

I do still need to get the speedometer cable hooked up and a new turn signal flasher before I want to do any extensive riding.

Having an issue with the speedo cable, I created a different thread for that.
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,185140.msg2143752.html#msg2143752

cheddarGoblin · « **Reply #48 on:** November 29, 2020, 04:38:33 PM »

Got the speed cable hooked up.

Full writeup here
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,185140.0.html

Long story short, there was a chunk of the old speedo cable stuck in the housing. I pulled it out and the new one installed.

The chunk I pulled out

With a cleaned out connection

New cable installed.

It will be nice to know how fast I am going.

DaveBarbier · « **Reply #49 on:** November 30, 2020, 03:59:14 AM »

Bummer about the pipes. Maybe your best bet would be to look for a parts bike.

And yeah, doing a through bench sync gets you damn close. Some say it’s all you need. Good to have the gauges if only to verify your bench sync was good though.

News:

Author Topic: My accidental 1982 Nighthawk 650 (Read 13266 times)