Topic: Starting a K8 project with almost no mechanical aptitude...what could go wrong?

[grcamna2]

Nick,did you get a new set of OEM Honda sprocket hold-down nuts to replace those aftermarket ones ?

[scubanerdnick]

Okay so I went ahead and took some detailed photos of both the tongued washers and nuts as well as the bolts themselves.  To me the bolts look fine.  No evidence of anything being improperly threaded/forced on.  I will certainly take everyones advice with regards to the nuts and tongued washers.  I did not buy replacements for these hoping I could just reuse what was already on there.

I will say once I loosened the nuts by tapping on them with the hammer they came off with no issues which was exactly how I'd seen that depicted in the YouTube video I watched.  Tapped them (mostly gently) and then hit them with the impact and off they came, no struggle at all.  Prior to that they would not even budge, even with penetrating WD40.

Below are a picture of what I took off today.  I would welcome any advice you all have on this stuff. 

[grcamna2]

Nick,it almost looks to me like those studs are turned around in the wrong direction.
I may be wrong,but the ends with the short threads go down and thread into the aluminum sprocket hub;the ends with the long threads are facing up toward the sprocket. I would consider getting new OEM sprocket studs along with nuts.

[newday777]

Nick,it almost looks to me like those studs are turned around in the wrong direction.
I may be wrong,but the ends with the short threads go down and thread into the aluminum sprocket hub;the ends with the long threads are facing up toward the sprocket. I would consider getting new OEM sprocket studs along with nuts.

I'll bet if he puts the sprocket on,  the threads are below the sprocket surface

[grcamna2]

Nick,it almost looks to me like those studs are turned around in the wrong direction.
I may be wrong,but the ends with the short threads go down and thread into the aluminum sprocket hub;the ends with the long threads are facing up toward the sprocket. I would consider getting new OEM sprocket studs along with nuts.

I'll bet if he puts the sprocket on,  the threads are below the sprocket surface

The sprocket has a difficult time squeezing onto the shouldered parts of the studs.

[scubanerdnick]

Gents - I went ahead and just bought new lugs and nuts and washers.  I will take a better look today to confirm if you all were right but they weren't overly expensive and if I'm gonna do it, might as well do it right. 

[scubanerdnick]

Nick,it almost looks to me like those studs are turned around in the wrong direction.
I may be wrong,but the ends with the short threads go down and thread into the aluminum sprocket hub;the ends with the long threads are facing up toward the sprocket. I would consider getting new OEM sprocket studs along with nuts.

I'll bet if he puts the sprocket on,  the threads are below the sprocket surface

The sprocket has a difficult time squeezing onto the shouldered parts of the studs.

I was not able to get the new sprocket onto the studs just as you suggested.

[grcamna2]

Nick,it almost looks to me like those studs are turned around in the wrong direction.
I may be wrong,but the ends with the short threads go down and thread into the aluminum sprocket hub;the ends with the long threads are facing up toward the sprocket. I would consider getting new OEM sprocket studs along with nuts.

I'll bet if he puts the sprocket on,  the threads are below the sprocket surface

The sprocket has a difficult time squeezing onto the shouldered parts of the studs.

I was not able to get the new sprocket onto the studs just as you suggested.

I can imagine the guy who installed the sprocket w/ the air gun on High 

[scubanerdnick]

Getting closer today.  Got the wiring harness run up successfully and also got the oil/oil filter changed.  Honestly didn't look that bad but I figured I was stuck waiting on the right sprocket bolts so I might as well move on to other things.  Crossing my fingers that the rest of the last few parts come in this week and I'll have it back to running by next weekend.  This has been quite the learning experience so far.

[Ellz10]

Nick,it almost looks to me like those studs are turned around in the wrong direction.
I may be wrong,but the ends with the short threads go down and thread into the aluminum sprocket hub;the ends with the long threads are facing up toward the sprocket. I would consider getting new OEM sprocket studs along with nuts.

I'll bet if he puts the sprocket on,  the threads are below the sprocket surface

The sprocket has a difficult time squeezing onto the shouldered parts of the studs.

I was not able to get the new sprocket onto the studs just as you suggested.

First off, welcome to the forum, we're glad to have ya! Second, thank you for your service - my entire family is military (mom did 20 years in the Navy [16 active, 4 reserve], dad did 8 years in the Corps [sniper in desert storm] - now a E9 in the Army Reserves here in Michigan, step-dad was a medic in Vietnam for the Army, grandpa died in Vietnam months before it actually started as the "Vietnam War", most of my friends went in straight after high school, ect.

Third, I love the story and history behind your old man's K8 - too bad you can't track it down and get it back.

The K7/8s are awesome in my personal opinion, but perhaps I'm a bit bias!



Anyways, the sprocket should rest just like in the photo. I had initially put mine in backwards and noticed something didn't look quite right. I will say that removing the studs that were in there was an absolute nightmare. I ended up welding the nut to the stud and then torqueing it out with some heat!

[HondaMan]

These sprockets-and-studs are, and should be, a snug fit. In the F2/3 and K7/8 they got tighter than in the earlier bikes, which was a good thing. Some sprocket vendors in the 1970s and 1980s were..umm..not particularly careful about how much space there was between the studs and the holes, and the center one. This led to many sprockets not being concentric with their hubs, which makes a LOT of vibration when at speed, and tears up chains even faster than these bikes were [then] famous for.

[scubanerdnick]

Nick,it almost looks to me like those studs are turned around in the wrong direction.
I may be wrong,but the ends with the short threads go down and thread into the aluminum sprocket hub;the ends with the long threads are facing up toward the sprocket. I would consider getting new OEM sprocket studs along with nuts.

I'll bet if he puts the sprocket on,  the threads are below the sprocket surface

The sprocket has a difficult time squeezing onto the shouldered parts of the studs.

I was not able to get the new sprocket onto the studs just as you suggested.

First off, welcome to the forum, we're glad to have ya! Second, thank you for your service - my entire family is military (mom did 20 years in the Navy [16 active, 4 reserve], dad did 8 years in the Corps [sniper in desert storm] - now a E9 in the Army Reserves here in Michigan, step-dad was a medic in Vietnam for the Army, grandpa died in Vietnam months before it actually started as the "Vietnam War", most of my friends went in straight after high school, ect.

Third, I love the story and history behind your old man's K8 - too bad you can't track it down and get it back.

The K7/8s are awesome in my personal opinion, but perhaps I'm a bit bias!



Anyways, the sprocket should rest just like in the photo. I had initially put mine in backwards and noticed something didn't look quite right. I will say that removing the studs that were in there was an absolute nightmare. I ended up welding the nut to the stud and then torqueing it out with some heat!

Thanks for the kind words.  Sounds like quite the family to have so many military members.  Lots of pride there.  As a Sergeant Major/E9 myself I know just how hard your dad had to work for that. 

I appreciate your note on the sprocket.  I was honestly a little confused when I couldn't get it right back on as it came off.  I appreciate the photo.  If I could find my Dad's bike it would be a holy grail type moment for me.  I am still looking for it but hope at least it is well cared for and not rusting outside somewhere. 

[scubanerdnick]

These sprockets-and-studs are, and should be, a snug fit. In the F2/3 and K7/8 they got tighter than in the earlier bikes, which was a good thing. Some sprocket vendors in the 1970s and 1980s were..umm..not particularly careful about how much space there was between the studs and the holes, and the center one. This led to many sprockets not being concentric with their hubs, which makes a LOT of vibration when at speed, and tears up chains even faster than these bikes were [then] famous for.

That is great information to have and I appreciate the note on this.  As the price wasn't too bad I just decided to start fresh so I knew everything was mechanically sound.  I'll keep everyone posted when I finally get it all together.  I do really appreciate the helpful hints and anecdotes from you experts out there.

[scubanerdnick]

So I had a breakthrough today after putting in a fresh battery.  I am happy to note that my indicator lights came on showing low oil and neutral which was a huge win for me.  My headlight works in hi only but this might be because the light looks a little worn out.  However in my attempts to test the turn signals each time I turned on the left turn signal I popped a 15a fuse (never even got to attempt the right turn signal).  So I'm thinking I most likely installed the winker thing wrong.  Also I'm not sure but I don't think that any of the turn signal lights either on the instrument panel or the lights themselves are illuminating.  I may have them wired incorrectly despite my best efforts.

The winker thing has three posts labeled X, L, and P.  Not sure exactly what that means.  Anyone care to fill me in as to the correct orientation of the wires/blinker thing?

The blinker thing I took off had two prongs and the new one I bought was a three pronged version.  I have three wires so I thought that must be correct and I probably plugged them in incorrectly.  I have a green, a grey, and a black wire.  These wires look very similar to the ones coming from the regulator in terms of wire connections. 

[newday777]

Save yourself the hassle and go back to a 2 prong relay. You admit you don't know enough about wiring. Keep it simple and stock. Changes require you to know what you are doing.

[scubanerdnick]

Save yourself the hassle and go back to a 2 prong relay. You admit you don't know enough about wiring. Keep it simple and stock. Changes require you to know what you are doing.

Yeah I see your point.  I guess I will either learn to do better or just revert back to the old one. 

[scubanerdnick]

Long time no see everyone.  Wanted to provide an update and ask a question.  Spent the rest of the month of August mentally preparing to bury my Dad (the original 78 750K8 owner) at the beginning of September.  Once that happened like many do I went through a bit of a depression where I didn't want to do much of anything.  But I did slowly get everything put back together and get everything (I think) where it's supposed to be.  So I am now back and have almost everything put together, which is where I ran into an issue.

I installed the wiring harness and got everything GTG (all other electrical stuff works) until I went to connect the rear light to the harness.  My rear light has a brown, green/yellow, and solid green wire and those wires match available connectors on the wiring harness.  Through trial and error I've figured out the 15A fuse pops every time I plug in the solid green wire and turn the key on.   

I'm doing some research but thought I'd ask all of you just to make sure I'm not missing something simple.  Hope you all have been well.

[newday777]

Solid green is ground
Green/Yellow is brake
Brown is tail light(running light)

[denward17]

Condolences about your Dad.

If you need a picture of the wiring I can help with that if needed.

[RAFster122s]

Condolences for your Dad's death, tough thing to go through I found when my Dad died in '13.

[scubanerdnick]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.  Tracked my short down and got everything up and running.  Took a 20 mile shakedown ride yesterday and enjoyed the heck out of it.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me with inspiration or assistance during this first rebuild.  I'm already looking forward to the future of this bike going forward.  I'll get some pictures up for everyone soon!

[scubanerdnick]

Wanted to show you guys how I’m doing so far.  Everything is running well minus an small oil leak that I’m gonna take a look at.  Man these bikes are cold in the morning.  53 degrees here on base so no need for a jacket even for the 10 minute ride in after PT.

Project wise next up is getting the original forks I bought set up and ready to go for the swap.  Also have the front brake/master cylinder rebuild at the same time.  It all lines up well for me to go into my retirement leave with a fun project to work on.  This weekend I’ll add decals and badges to the side covers.

I hope you are all well. 

[Stev-o]

Bike is lookin good!

[denward17]

Good progress Nick, looking good.

[scubanerdnick]

Super excited to get these put on as well. 

Appreciate all the encouragement from everyone.  Next big project is taking carbs off to give to a local shop to go through.  Everything is coming together.