Mark,
in the current book you occasionally mention where later parts can be used in place of earlier parts. Will you put together any additional info in this area? For example: Pistons, Piston Rings, Cams and Cylinder Heads - what interchanges, what doesn't - both within the K series and between the K & F models (and Automatic). Honda doesn't give much help with their supercession info on rings and pistons, yet I know you can do some mixing and matching.
Most certainly: I get this question a lot.
I'll most likely make it a table or cross-reference of sorts.
In the meantime, the short list 'preview':
The cam question is easiest: all cams interchange, but with varying performance. The 1969-1975 (K0-K6) cam yields more midrange torque than the later version, while the later version is made for more peak HP at 8250 RPM or so. Installing a CB750A cam in a K or F will disappoint the rider from a performance standpoint, but will make his wallet happier with improved MPG.
All of the cams must be degreed-in for proper performance, as Honda was fairly casual about the opening/closing timing on all of them, so long as they made 8mm of lift in production.
The piston question is pretty easy: the early pistons and rings fit everything, even if they lose about 2-3 peak (above 6500 RPM) HP in the 1976 & later "F" and the K7/K8 engines. They breathe better, though, which is helpful for improving midrange torque with hotter (longer duration) cams, and they yield a bit more valve clearance. Conversely, if the early heads are hemi-ed out (as shown in the Performance chapters of this first book) to clear the later domed pistons, and a set of K5 or K6 (i.e., taller) cylinders are fitted to any early "K" engine, and stiffer springs installed, the bike clearly changes its character to a snappier ride, thirsty for more octane, able to leap tall Mustangs in a single bound...
The gearing gets more complicated, but possible, with one notable exception: if the later K4-style shift drum is installed, the shifting will be snappier and the Neutral easier to find.
Some things will be a "replay" of the more subtle, but important things, like using high-quality tranny bearings of the RIGHT clearance, etc., where recently some vendors I've seen have been selling stuff they don't understand so well. (Not your stuff, Jeff: you're on top of it...
)
And so it goes...this will be the "flavor" of the chapters outside of pure Performance in this next one. In some ways, I think it will be more challenging, especially for getting the pictures together! I can say for sure that the Engine R&R part won't be rephotographed.
I'm hoping MRieck will forgive me for having to exclude the things I had once put into the first book, but had to remove when the book got too big: I had to 'tone down' the overall performance stuff in favor of getting the book under $100, and the great stuff he sent me was a big step beyond the overall 'feel' of the text. I'd REALLY like to talk him into letting me have some more shots of his work, and even advice, in this next one. He does more radical mods than I have over the years, and his work is first-rate. For instance, I'd like to have a chapter of "The 90 HP engine"...
That would take his handiwork, for sure.
