Topic: What did you do to your bike today ?

[dave500]

yeah youll do two rears to one front on road bikes,it was always three rears to one front on dirt bikes!rule of thumb.

[PeWe]

I got the turbo back on the road! Bill

The turbo increase the heat? You must use synthetic oil, right?
My engine is running rather hot (230F) and I'm investigating the market for oil that can cope with the higher temp and eventual oil cooler.
My car ran very hot in the turbo, cooler with Milltek sport cat and exhaust. Synthetic a must there.

[ekpent]

Recently got my everyday rider started for the first time and went to give it a shakedown run and heat it up for a oil change. Got back and the ignition would not turn the engine off, then when shut down the headlight would not go off. Couple other electrical glitches also. WTF ? Disconnected the battery and pulled the sidecover and sure enough the bottom spade on the headlight (middle) fuse had broke as was completing a rogue circuit. Time to dig in the parts bin  those spade conversions sound like a good idea.
  Happier note a friend and shop mate stopped down with his new toy, a 1965 Chevelle and we went out and lit up his new rear tires a bit.
  Good ole Sean Barney also hit the shop on his now nice running F3 and we shot the bull and had a couple cocktails till kind of late in the evening. Good to see you again Sean.

[MoMo]

Out of 40 bazillion bikes you have an everyday rider Eric? ...Larry

[Bankerdanny]

Bought a replacement fuel petcock bung. Some MFPO cut off the perfectly good one on the otherwise very nice tank that came with my '77 basket case. I was going to track down a replacement tank, but I should be able to have this welded on for a nominal amount, certainly less than the cost a replacement tank. I will still need a petcock, but it's a standard 3/8" internal thread and petcocks for that size run about $15 on eBay.

Inch by inch I make progress.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191149859144

[maduncle]

Dropped the bomber off at Ace motorcycles in West Heidelberg and tried to nick Terry's newly laced wheels whilst Jeff's back was turned.

Hopefully Jeff at Ace can iron out the rough spots in the engine performance, the bike started a bit rough this morning as per usual, doesn't like high revs but still pulled pretty well and rode okay for the ten minute across town trip.

[Terry in Australia]

Dropped the bomber off at Ace motorcycles in West Heidelberg and tried to nick Terry's newly laced wheels whilst Jeff's back was turned.

Hopefully Jeff at Ace can iron out the rough spots in the engine performance, the bike started a bit rough this morning as per usual, doesn't like high revs but still pulled pretty well and rode okay for the ten minute across town trip.

G'Day Cliff, I'm glad you like the wheels, I better go get them before they disappear! Hey have you had any problems with those Mikuni's icing up? I've got a set that Murray sent me for a CB750, but it ran like crap with them, so I took them off and put the OEM ones back on and it ran heaps better. I've told Jeff if he needs any gaskets for your 450 I've got some here, if you don't have any? Cheers, Terry.

[maduncle]

Dropped the bomber off at Ace motorcycles in West Heidelberg and tried to nick Terry's newly laced wheels whilst Jeff's back was turned.

Hopefully Jeff at Ace can iron out the rough spots in the engine performance, the bike started a bit rough this morning as per usual, doesn't like high revs but still pulled pretty well and rode okay for the ten minute across town trip.

G'Day Cliff, I'm glad you like the wheels, I better go get them before they disappear! Hey have you had any problems with those Mikuni's icing up? I've got a set that Murray sent me for a CB750, but it ran like crap with them, so I took them off and put the OEM ones back on and it ran heaps better. I've told Jeff if he needs any gaskets for your 450 I've got some here, if you don't have any? Cheers, Terry.

Yep - you better grab those wheels Terry, they sure look nice.

I gave jeff a spare set of cams, a new set of cam followers, an oil seal set and a complete gasket set - I have quite a few spares now, and I am going to buy those two bikes in parts on eBay at the moment.

I have not had any specific issues with the Mikuni VM32's on the CB450, unless they are the reason for the poor performance at the moment! Jeff will tell me.

I have a set of CR's for the Hansen CR450 road racer I am building, so I will be able to compare the carbs.

[bjatwood]

Ran the ol gal hard all the way into work, 32 miles. Running about 5K on the tach, purring like a sleeping cat. 
My speedometer is acting kind of freaky for some reason.
Between 70 to 80 the needle will jump a bit ~ 5 mph up or down. Is the ol speedo on it's way out? I did lubed the cable last season.
What gives guys? 

[Bankerdanny]

Last season was last season. Pull the cable, clean it well and give it a fresh coat of grease.

[flybox1]

Ran the ol gal hard all the way into work, 32 miles. Running about 5K on the tach, purring like a sleeping cat. 
My speedometer is acting kind of freaky for some reason.
Between 70 to 80 the needle will jump a bit ~ 5 mph up or down. Is the ol speedo on it's way out? I did lubed the cable last season.
What gives guys? 

5mph is not bad, but if it really bugs you, this thread has all the info you need to know   http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=78890.0

[PeWe]

Continued with my old oil cooler project from the middle of the 80's. Glued hole in adapter and removed paint from cooler.
Hopefully mount it this weekend.

[CB500_k2]

It was a perfect day.  I put the battery back in my CB500, opened the petcock, choke on, run switch to off, full throttle, let it crank for 5 seconds, run switch to on, pressed the start button again and  she came back to life.  Such a wonderful machine!!  A little air in the tires and off we went.

[Jerilee]

I started a 'list to sell' box of parts from the bike and moved the frames out of the back so I could get to them, then I put the summer tires on the VW and painted some parts I saw rusting, took a long break to houseclean and then filled the shed back up with the crap I'd moved to get at the tires/bike frames.
Before I called it a night for supper I removed the rear axel from the wheel hub and plopped the rear break assembly in the 'sell it' box.
Oh, and I purchased a used seat and tail off eBay, should be here next week.
Not much, but better than nothing

[evanphi]

Switched to 20W50 Castrol motorcycle oil from 10W40.
Adjusted clutch.

These two things seem to have solved my issue with a nasty Grind/clunk into 2nd gear. (See here: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=137208)

Added two washers to the airbox bolts. I had a wacky gap all around the box allowing too much air in because they were bottoming out. This fix enrichened my mixture enough that I had to turn my air screws 1/4 turn out to get rid of the boggyness and threatening to die when blipping the throttle. (See here: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=137209 Thanks iron_worker!)

[ekpent]

Almost seems like an air gap leak would lean out the mixture ??

[evanphi]

Almost seems like an air gap leak would lean out the mixture ??

Yes it was quite lean before so I had to really close off my pilot screws. Now with the air box properly sealed, there is less air going through and my mixture was too rich, so I backed the screws out a 1/4 turn to add more air or the mix.

Edit: I added a word to clarify my original post.

[elizabethgypsy]

Did my first oil change today on my little '73 CB350F! Only issue was, once I got the oil filter housing off, the center bolt was stuck, couldn't get the filter out. It wasn't desperately in need of a change, so I figure it's ok to do next time. Any suggestions on how to get it unstuck once it's off? Didn't want to damage the threads on the inside of the hollow bolt by clamping it and wrenching away..

[ekpent]

Did my first oil change today on my little '73 CB350F! Only issue was, once I got the oil filter housing off, the center bolt was stuck, couldn't get the filter out. It wasn't desperately in need of a change, so I figure it's ok to do next time. Any suggestions on how to get it unstuck once it's off? Didn't want to damage the threads on the inside of the hollow bolt by clamping it and wrenching away..

Lay it across a couple two by fours with the bolt head in the gap and gently tap it out with a rubber mallet. There is a rubber o-ring that must be hanging it up. The filter though should slide right off that bolt pretty easily. Best to get that apart to make sure the spring and washer etc is orientated correctly if they are like the 750's. Never know with a PO.

[elizabethgypsy]

Lay it across a couple two by fours with the bolt head in the gap and gently tap it out with a rubber mallet. There is a rubber o-ring that must be hanging it up. The filter though should slide right off that bolt pretty easily. Best to get that apart to make sure the spring and washer etc is orientated correctly if they are like the 750's. Never know with a PO.
[/quote]

Fantastic idea, I will try that - thank you! I believe the spring set up is similar to the 750's (there's a lot more reading online regarding the 750's than the 350f..) - once the housing was off there was a hollow long washer type piece of metal that was around the hollow part of the bolt, seemed to keep the filter pushed down against the spring, which was under the filter from what I could feel. Will post again if I have issues.
Love having the knowledge available in these groups!

[Terry in Australia]

Did my first oil change today on my little '73 CB350F! Only issue was, once I got the oil filter housing off, the center bolt was stuck, couldn't get the filter out. It wasn't desperately in need of a change, so I figure it's ok to do next time. Any suggestions on how to get it unstuck once it's off? Didn't want to damage the threads on the inside of the hollow bolt by clamping it and wrenching away..

I've never tried Eric's method and I'm sure it works fine, but what I usually do is warm the engine up to operating temp, then use a 12mm socket on a "T Bar" (you may need a couple of pieces of pipe to extend the handles and add to the leverage) and turn that sucker out.

If you can't, and end up butchering the head of the bolt don't despair, cut the head off with an angle grinder and slide the filter canister assembly off, and the bolt will just turn out as there's now no pressure on it.

Buy a new centre bolt (eBay, JC Whitney, David Silver Spares, Yamiya etc) with a 17mm head for around $12.00, and it won't be a problem removing it next time. Cheers, Terry.

[elizabethgypsy]

Did my first oil change today on my little '73 CB350F! Only issue was, once I got the oil filter housing off, the center bolt was stuck, couldn't get the filter out. It wasn't desperately in need of a change, so I figure it's ok to do next time. Any suggestions on how to get it unstuck once it's off? Didn't want to damage the threads on the inside of the hollow bolt by clamping it and wrenching away..

I've never tried Eric's method and I'm sure it works fine, but what I usually do is warm the engine up to operating temp, then use a 12mm socket on a "T Bar" (you may need a couple of pieces of pipe to extend the handles and add to the leverage) and turn that sucker out.

If you can't, and end up butchering the head of the bolt don't despair, cut the head off with an angle grinder and slide the filter canister assembly off, and the bolt will just turn out as there's now no pressure on it.

Buy a new centre bolt (eBay, JC Whitney, David Silver Spares, Yamiya etc) with a 17mm head for around $12.00, and it won't be a problem removing it next time. Cheers, Terry.

Good to know the bolts are easily replaceable, it put up a bit of a fight coming off but good ol ratchet with enough leverage ended up working after letting it warm up. Learning how to wrench with a bike this old.. it's delightful being able to find almost everything I've needed so far.

[ekpent]

So just to make sure you had the housing already unbolted from the engine case and on the bench but just could not get the bolt out of the housing ? Don't want to give you bad advise.  Usually the big problem on newly acquired machines is getting the bolt loose when first trying to just remove the housing. With new gaskets etc they do not need to be strong armed super hard.

[mrbreeze]

Did my first oil change today on my little '73 CB350F! Only issue was, once I got the oil filter housing off, the center bolt was stuck, couldn't get the filter out. It wasn't desperately in need of a change, so I figure it's ok to do next time. Any suggestions on how to get it unstuck once it's off? Didn't want to damage the threads on the inside of the hollow bolt by clamping it and wrenching away..

I've never tried Eric's method and I'm sure it works fine, but what I usually do is warm the engine up to operating temp, then use a 12mm socket on a "T Bar" (you may need a couple of pieces of pipe to extend the handles and add to the leverage) and turn that sucker out.

If you can't, and end up butchering the head of the bolt don't despair, cut the head off with an angle grinder and slide the filter canister assembly off, and the bolt will just turn out as there's now no pressure on it.

Buy a new centre bolt (eBay, JC Whitney, David Silver Spares, Yamiya etc) with a 17mm head for around $12.00, and it won't be a problem removing it next time. Cheers, Terry.

The important thing here is that the new bolt has a 17mm head which will give you better leverage to remove. Always use a 6pt. socket or wrench.

[elizabethgypsy]

So just to make sure you had the housing already unbolted from the engine case and on the bench but just could not get the bolt out of the housing ? Don't want to give you bad advise.  Usually the big problem on newly acquired machines is getting the bolt loose when first trying to just remove the housing. With new gaskets etc they do not need to be strong armed super hard.

Correct, housing off after a good little workout, but the bolt didn't want out of the housing after coming off the engine case. Contemplated trying to pry the filter out with a long flat head, but thought it might be unwise in the event I just broke it, while stuck.