Topic: What did you do to your non-SOHC4 motorcycle today?

[Magpie]

Yesterday, picked up a 1983 CB1100F that has been parked for over 20 years. It needs a lot of love. Great winter project. It does turn over thankfully. I was having second thoughts about, buyer's remorse, until 2 people at the ferry terminal talked about what a great bike it is and one saying he wishes he bought the 1100 instead of the CX turbo. That made me feel better about it. Cliff.

[grcamna2]

Nice bike Cliff 

[Mr. Mike]

Yesterday, picked up a 1983 CB1100F that has been parked for over 20 years. It needs a lot of love. Great winter project. It does turn over thankfully. I was having second thoughts about, buyer's remorse, until 2 people at the ferry terminal talked about what a great bike it is and one saying he wishes he bought the 1100 instead of the CX turbo. That made me feel better about it. Cliff.

As far as that feeling when “it turns over” after sitting 20 years is a smiley kind of internal feeling. Gives you a sense, “I’m sure I can get this puppy to run”.
Same feeling when I purchased my ‘78 750. It turned over so that in itself eliminated a lot of the fears at least for me. It had sat for 12 years, but turned over. IIRC, I sought advice from members here as to how much would someone pay for a non runner. Some were like, “I wouldn’t offer but $500”. Others were like “no more than $1,500”. So I went the $1,500 route and the lady even said, “ It’s (your offer) is a bit low, but since you’re my neighbor…..” SOLD! I’m not sure where she was getting her info, but she might’ve been correct.
But congrats on the new to you project.
That faring…not OEM is it?

[Kelly E]

We got lucky when we got our 83' CB 1100F. The original owner contacted us on fakebook and wanted to give the bike to us for free because we put them safely back on the road. It sat for at least 25 years in the back of the garage. Paul made him take $300 so we didn't feel bad.
It's a bit rough but all there and will be a lot of work. We will hopefully get started on it before the winter is over, I hope. 
So far the worst is the exhaust is dented up and the clear plastic gauge cover is cracked in half. The gauges on ours are built into the fairing.

I see a few differences like the wheels, rear grab bar and standard guages. I like the gold boomerang wheels and grab bar. I'll be looking forward to watching your progress.

[richmagee7]

Awesome score Cliff, looks great.  Friend of mine sold one a couple years ago, wish I had bought it.

Rich

[Alan F.]

I bolted on the 21" front wheel that I built last spring for my RE Interceptor 650.

[grcamna2]

I bolted on the 21" front wheel that I built last spring for my RE Interceptor 650.

The front rotor looks to be a good diameter;should give you plenty of stopping power.

[Alan F.]

I bolted on the 21" front wheel that I built last spring for my RE Interceptor 650.

The front rotor looks to be a good diameter;should give you plenty of stopping power.

320mm if I remember correctly.

[CycleRanger]

Got the starter clutch working on my CL350. It was just dry and sticking a bit.
With the engine now cranking I verified I was getting oil to the top end.
The next thing is getting the exhaust back on. It's getting close.

[Magpie]

Found a unicorn on another forum, a stator cover for my 1983 CB1100F. It was a bit tired so I had a chance today to freshen it up. It still has some scars/patina on it.

[Kelly E]

Found a unicorn on another forum, a stator cover for my 1983 CB1100F. It was a bit tired so I had a chance today to freshen it up. It still has some scars/patina on it.

Our 83' CB 1100F covers are intact, but only because someone put case savers on. Too bad they disabled the the front rubber engine mounts.

[budman]

Changed the oil in the Scout and broke my 6mm hex bit on the first crack of the the first of two drain plugs.  Good thing I had a spare.

Now if Revzilla would only send me the air filter I ordered…

[Kelly E]

Did you break it by hand or a small 1/4" drive cordless impact driver? We've had really good results using the 1/4" impact driver.

[budman]

Did you break it by hand or a small 1/4" drive cordless impact driver? We've had really good results using the 1/4" impact driver.

By hand.  I don’t think I can fit my 1/4” impact under the bike.

[Alan F.]

I broke out a ratchet strap and compressed the forks on my RE Interceptor to make sure the 21" front wheel had at least some clearance to the exhaust headers.

[Magpie]

Over the last week or so I've been trying to save the black chrome exhaust on my recently acquired 1983 CB1100F. Lots of surface rust and a hole in #2 pipe. A local magician repaired the hole, sand blasted the headers and collector, and cleaned up the mufflers. They have a few scars but the stock system is very hard to find. I've used glossy black VHT caliper paint. The purists will hate it but the it should look good.


Repaired pipe.

[RAFster122s]

With the caliper paint withstand the heat on the headers? Last time I looked at it a few years ago it was rated for 600F, headers often exceed that temp. Hope it works or products heat rating is much higher now...

[grcamna2]

I like using VHT Caliper paint #SP739 which is advertised to withstand up to 900degrees? and I use it on engine or frame parts;I haven't used it on black exh. yet.
I imagine if the pipes are double-wall,it could stay on there for a bit? 
Ceramic coating is the best($)but I hope that VHT hangs-on there,as it looks very good when it's cured w/ heat.

[Alan F.]

I slipped the fork tubes down flush in the triples, factory spec is raised 9mm and I wanted that 9mm where it can do the most good. I'll clean up the fork tubes later on.

Then I messed with the fender, I knew it was close to the back of the tire but it appears to have rubbed a little. I'm thinking longer spacers are needed, or a few layers of cardboard between the fender and tire and some time spent with a heat gun.

[budman]

So last week I did an oil change.  Took a long ride on Saturday and everything is cool.

Revzilla dropped the ball on the air filter I ordered.  They finally sent one and it arrived yesterday.  So, a little while ago I decide to go ahead and R&R the air filter.  Got the bike ready, read the manual, watched a couple of YouTube vids, grabbed some tools and got after it.  I figured the most difficult part of the job was going to be removing the gas tank.  The airbox is underneath it.  It ended up being pretty painless.  Remove and few bolts, disconnect the fuel line and the fuel pump power connector and the tank comes off pretty easy.

Next, just loosen the six machine screws that hold the air filter to the airbox and install the new one, right?  I put the new one in place and tighten all the screws.  It doesn't seem right so I get down eye-level with it and there's a gap.  I look over at the old filter on the ground and notice I installed the new one upside down.  The screws on the new filter where already in place on the filter and I didn't pay any attention to the orientation.   I start removing all the screws to move them to the other side.  The filter plate is plastic and there are six metal threaded inserts in it.  I tried to screw the screws down and they won't go in all the way.  I thought the inserts were installed upside down, but they were the same as the factor filter.  The threaded inserts only have about four threads in them, on the top side of the filter.  The other side of the inserts have a larger diameter.  The machine screws are only partially threaded so when they are in all the way there are no threads grabbing the bare part of the screw shank and they spin freely, but don't fall out.  I suppose they did it this way so you don't drop screws down into the intake.  Turned out, that on the after-market filter the ID on the threaded section of the inserts was too small and they stop the screws from going in all the way when the bare shank contacts the threads.  I couldn't get the screws to go in all the way so that the heads were flush with the filter plate, and they didn't spin freely.  That's probably why the bozo at the factory put the screws in the wrong side.  They will go in all the way in from the wrong side, but they don't spin freely so that you can screw them into the airbox.

Good thing I have a numbered drill bit set.  I had to incrementally drill the six insert threads little by little so the screws would go in all the way and spin freely, like the factory filter.  I could have drilled the threads out completely, but thought it was a better idea to leave the threads so a screw wouldn't have a chance of falling into the intake.

Finally got done.  Should have been about a 15-minute job.

And I got an email from Revzilla today saying the original filter was being delivered today and I can go ahead and keep it.  I guess I'll know what to do when I have to change it again.

[BenelliSEI]

Over the last week or so I've been trying to save the black chrome exhaust on my recently acquired 1983 CB1100F. Lots of surface rust and a hole in #2 pipe. A local magician repaired the hole, sand blasted the headers and collector, and cleaned up the mufflers. They have a few scars but the stock system is very hard to find. I've used glossy black VHT caliper paint. The purists will hate it but the it should look good.


Repaired pipe.

Cliff….. that is one good looking machine!

[Terry in Australia]

For the last few weeks Spotty and I have been playing with my 1977 KZ750. It was a "Freebie" from a work colleague who has owned it for many years, but last rode it 10 years ago. Last weekend we put a battery in it and put a gallon of fuel in it, but as soon as we turned on the petcock fuel just ran straight thru the left carb and out onto the lift. I took the carbs off and brought them home, and stripped them for a clean. They sure needed it.

The reason why the fuel had run straight thru the left carb was because there was a hole in one float, and the float was seized in place, so rather than fight it, I decided to put it in my 30 litre ultrasonic cleaner with the float in place, figuring that the heated bath would loosen it, and it did.

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I emptied a year or so of sludge from my ultrasonic cleaner and gave it a clean out, then tipped in 5 litres of cheap ($15) water based degreaser from Amazon , not expecting much as I'd previously only had so/so results after using Simple Green Aircraft Parts Cleaner ($200 for 20 litres) but I was really impressed with this stuff, 5 litres of cleaner and 25 litres of water, and it ripped off the grease, corrosion, fuel varnish etc.

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

This morning we re-installed the carbs, gave the petcock a quick clean (I'll need to take it off the tank again and put it in my little 1 litre Amazon ultrasonic cleaner that I cleaned the small parts in as it doesn't work in the "reserve" position, so it's probably full of crap too) installed clear fuel lines and because I didn't have any new inline filters, I'd cleaned the old ones in my little ultrasonic cleaner too and was happy to see fuel running to the carbs,

Right. Carbs were in place, we knew it had spark, it had fuel to the carbs, we'd done an oil and filter change weeks ago, and installed a new front brake master cylinder last weekend, so there was nothing left to do than press the button, and hope..... It cranked and cranked, but didn't fire. Fcuk. We pulled the plugs and they were wet, but produced a nice fat spark. Hmmnnn. Plugs back in, sprayed some carb cleaner into the airbox, crank, crank, crank, KABOOM!. FCUK! It was ear splitting. We tried again 2 or 3 times, with the same result, no firing, just an ear splitting boom. WTF?

We thought about swapping the plug wires, in case it was firing at the bottom of it's stroke, but as it only has one coil it wouldn't have mattered, so we removed the points cover and removed the points cam from the advance unit and turned it 180 degrees, but it made no difference, crank, crank, crank, KABOOM! Double Fcuk. We replaced the points cam and roughly timed it and adjusted the points gap, but weren't confident that this would make any difference, so were both surprised and delighted, when it fired right up! Woohoo!

Not a valid youtube URL
We quickly screwed everything back together so we could take it for a ride! I've never ridden a KZ750, but it seems to have a bit more power than my Yamaha XS650 or even my son's Royal Enfield GT650, and was actually quite pleasant to ride. Considering that it only had a gallon of fuel in it and reserve wasn't working we only did a couple of laps, but it went well.

It has a slight flat spot just off throttle, so I'll take my timing light over next weekend and we'll see if we can't sort that, one blinker globe is dead and the speedo isn't working, but it looks like there's a new one in the milk crate of spares that Rob gave me with the bike, and even though the rear brake works fine, we might flush the brake fluid. There's some dusty corrosion on the engine cases so we'll have to scrub that off, then I need to take it for a longer ride, to see if it's gonna be a "keeper" or a "flipper" I know I can't keep them all, but it's growing on me.........

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr


 

[grcamna2]

For the last few weeks Spotty and I have been playing with my 1977 KZ750. It was a "Freebie" from a work colleague who has owned it for many years, but last rode it 10 years ago. Last weekend we put a battery in it and put a gallon of fuel in it, but as soon as we turned on the petcock fuel just ran straight thru the left carb and out onto the lift. I took the carbs off and brought them home, and stripped them for a clean. They sure needed it.

The reason why the fuel had run straight thru the left carb was because there was a hole in one float, and the float was seized in place, so rather than fight it, I decided to put it in my 30 litre ultrasonic cleaner with the float in place, figuring that the heated bath would loosen it, and it did.

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I emptied a year or so of sludge from my ultrasonic cleaner and gave it a clean out, then tipped in 5 litres of cheap ($15) water based degreaser from Amazon , not expecting much as I'd previously only had so/so results after using Simple Green Aircraft Parts Cleaner ($200 for 20 litres) but I was really impressed with this stuff, 5 litres of cleaner and 25 litres of water, and it ripped off the grease, corrosion, fuel varnish etc.

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

This morning we re-installed the carbs, gave the petcock a quick clean (I'll need to take it off the tank again and put it in my little 1 litre Amazon ultrasonic cleaner that I cleaned the small parts in as it doesn't work in the "reserve" position, so it's probably full of crap too) installed clear fuel lines and because I didn't have any new inline filters, I'd cleaned the old ones in my little ultrasonic cleaner too and was happy to see fuel running to the carbs,

Right. Carbs were in place, we knew it had spark, it had fuel to the carbs, we'd done an oil and filter change weeks ago, and installed a new front brake master cylinder last weekend, so there was nothing left to do than press the button, and hope..... It cranked and cranked, but didn't fire. Fcuk. We pulled the plugs and they were wet, but produced a nice fat spark. Hmmnnn. Plugs back in, sprayed some carb cleaner into the airbox, crank, crank, crank, KABOOM!. FCUK! It was ear splitting. We tried again 2 or 3 times, with the same result, no firing, just an ear splitting boom. WTF?

We thought about swapping the plug wires, in case it was firing at the bottom of it's stroke, but as it only has one coil it wouldn't have mattered, so we removed the points cover and removed the points cam from the advance unit and turned it 180 degrees, but it made no difference, crank, crank, crank, KABOOM! Double Fcuk. We replaced the points cam and roughly timed it and adjusted the points gap, but weren't confident that this would make any difference, so were both surprised and delighted, when it fired right up! Woohoo!

Not a valid youtube URL
We quickly screwed everything back together so we could take it for a ride! I've never ridden a KZ750, but it seems to have a bit more power than my Yamaha XS650 or even my son's Royal Enfield GT650, and was actually quite pleasant to ride. Considering that it only had a gallon of fuel in it and reserve wasn't working we only did a couple of laps, but it went well.

It has a slight flat spot just off throttle, so I'll take my timing light over next weekend and we'll see if we can't sort that, one blinker globe is dead and the speedo isn't working, but it looks like there's a new one in the milk crate of spares that Rob gave me with the bike, and even though the rear brake works fine, we might flush the brake fluid. There's some dusty corrosion on the engine cases so we'll have to scrub that off, then I need to take it for a longer ride, to see if it's gonna be a "keeper" or a "flipper" I know I can't keep them all, but it's growing on me.........

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry,it's a KZ750 twin w/ a 360 crank  must have lot's of torque.

[Terry in Australia]

For the last few weeks Spotty and I have been playing with my 1977 KZ750. It was a "Freebie" from a work colleague who has owned it for many years, but last rode it 10 years ago. Last weekend we put a battery in it and put a gallon of fuel in it, but as soon as we turned on the petcock fuel just ran straight thru the left carb and out onto the lift. I took the carbs off and brought them home, and stripped them for a clean. They sure needed it.

The reason why the fuel had run straight thru the left carb was because there was a hole in one float, and the float was seized in place, so rather than fight it, I decided to put it in my 30 litre ultrasonic cleaner with the float in place, figuring that the heated bath would loosen it, and it did.

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 26 October 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I emptied a year or so of sludge from my ultrasonic cleaner and gave it a clean out, then tipped in 5 litres of cheap ($15) water based degreaser from Amazon , not expecting much as I'd previously only had so/so results after using Simple Green Aircraft Parts Cleaner ($200 for 20 litres) but I was really impressed with this stuff, 5 litres of cleaner and 25 litres of water, and it ripped off the grease, corrosion, fuel varnish etc.

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

This morning we re-installed the carbs, gave the petcock a quick clean (I'll need to take it off the tank again and put it in my little 1 litre Amazon ultrasonic cleaner that I cleaned the small parts in as it doesn't work in the "reserve" position, so it's probably full of crap too) installed clear fuel lines and because I didn't have any new inline filters, I'd cleaned the old ones in my little ultrasonic cleaner too and was happy to see fuel running to the carbs,

Right. Carbs were in place, we knew it had spark, it had fuel to the carbs, we'd done an oil and filter change weeks ago, and installed a new front brake master cylinder last weekend, so there was nothing left to do than press the button, and hope..... It cranked and cranked, but didn't fire. Fcuk. We pulled the plugs and they were wet, but produced a nice fat spark. Hmmnnn. Plugs back in, sprayed some carb cleaner into the airbox, crank, crank, crank, KABOOM!. FCUK! It was ear splitting. We tried again 2 or 3 times, with the same result, no firing, just an ear splitting boom. WTF?

We thought about swapping the plug wires, in case it was firing at the bottom of it's stroke, but as it only has one coil it wouldn't have mattered, so we removed the points cover and removed the points cam from the advance unit and turned it 180 degrees, but it made no difference, crank, crank, crank, KABOOM! Double Fcuk. We replaced the points cam and roughly timed it and adjusted the points gap, but weren't confident that this would make any difference, so were both surprised and delighted, when it fired right up! Woohoo!

Not a valid youtube URL
We quickly screwed everything back together so we could take it for a ride! I've never ridden a KZ750, but it seems to have a bit more power than my Yamaha XS650 or even my son's Royal Enfield GT650, and was actually quite pleasant to ride. Considering that it only had a gallon of fuel in it and reserve wasn't working we only did a couple of laps, but it went well.

It has a slight flat spot just off throttle, so I'll take my timing light over next weekend and we'll see if we can't sort that, one blinker globe is dead and the speedo isn't working, but it looks like there's a new one in the milk crate of spares that Rob gave me with the bike, and even though the rear brake works fine, we might flush the brake fluid. There's some dusty corrosion on the engine cases so we'll have to scrub that off, then I need to take it for a longer ride, to see if it's gonna be a "keeper" or a "flipper" I know I can't keep them all, but it's growing on me.........

KZ750 Saturday 2 November 2024 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry,it's a KZ750 twin w/ a 360 crank  must have lot's of torque.

Thanks Bill, yep it’s definitely got some grunt off the line, and to be honest I don’t really know why it finally decided to run, but we’re happy with it and I’m looking forward to taking it for a longer (legal) ride.

[Alan F.]

Congrats on another revival Terry & Spotty.