Topic: <<<the simple little question thread>>>

[Greggo]

Not sure what you are talking about.  But, if it is what I think, consider if the chain jumps of the sprocket while the rear wheel is turning.

Cheers,

I'm referring to the metal plate sandwiched up against the rear sprocket (#3).  But how would that help if the chain jumped? 

[TwoTired]

I'm referring to the metal plate sandwiched up against the rear sprocket (#3).  But how would that help if the chain jumped? 

Without that #3 plate, the chain would slide down the sprocket and wedge between wheel and swing arm, jamming the rear wheel.  With the plate, the chain just rides on top of #3, so you can slowly roll to a stop without major damage.
Take a look at the actual bike, rather than the just the parts diagram.  Look where the chain would go if it jumped off the sprocket.
Of course, if the chain never ever jumps off the sprocket you don't need it.

But, I was on a ride in the early 70s along with a guy on a CB450.  He got his shirt caught in the chain and added it's bulk between chain and sprocket. The chain jumped off the rear sprocket and onto that #3 device.  He was half wearing the shirt when the chain grabbed it and that threw him off balance on the bike.  If the rear wheel had locked up too, no doubt he would have crashed.  Instead, about half an hour with a pocket knife digging shirt remains out of the sprocket/chain area, and the Honda tool kit, had him back on the road lamenting the loss of his favorite shirt, rather than loss of skin and bones.

I rather like the presence of #3 on my bikes, I wouldn't care if it was a little bent, so long as it could still do it's job.

Cheers,

[Greggo]

Thank You Lloyd.

I will re paint it and re install.

[thrutheframe]

I'm referring to the metal plate sandwiched up against the rear sprocket (#3).  But how would that help if the chain jumped? 

thanks for pointing this out to everyone.  I just replaced my 79 CB650 sprocket and didn't re-install tha piece

Without that #3 plate, the chain would slide down the sprocket and wedge between wheel and swing arm, jamming the rear wheel.  With the plate, the chain just rides on top of #3, so you can slowly roll to a stop without major damage.
Take a look at the actual bike, rather than the just the parts diagram.  Look where the chain would go if it jumped off the sprocket.
Of course, if the chain never ever jumps off the sprocket you don't need it.

But, I was on a ride in the early 70s along with a guy on a CB450.  He got his shirt caught in the chain and added it's bulk between chain and sprocket. The chain jumped off the rear sprocket and onto that #3 device.  He was half wearing the shirt when the chain grabbed it and that threw him off balance on the bike.  If the rear wheel had locked up too, no doubt he would have crashed.  Instead, about half an hour with a pocket knife digging shirt remains out of the sprocket/chain area, and the Honda tool kit, had him back on the road lamenting the loss of his favorite shirt, rather than loss of skin and bones.

I rather like the presence of #3 on my bikes, I wouldn't care if it was a little bent, so long as it could still do it's job.

Cheers,

I'm referring to the metal plate sandwiched up against the rear sprocket (#3).  But how would that help if the chain jumped? 

Without that #3 plate, the chain would slide down the sprocket and wedge between wheel and swing arm, jamming the rear wheel.  With the plate, the chain just rides on top of #3, so you can slowly roll to a stop without major damage.
Take a look at the actual bike, rather than the just the parts diagram.  Look where the chain would go if it jumped off the sprocket.
Of course, if the chain never ever jumps off the sprocket you don't need it.

But, I was on a ride in the early 70s along with a guy on a CB450.  He got his shirt caught in the chain and added it's bulk between chain and sprocket. The chain jumped off the rear sprocket and onto that #3 device.  He was half wearing the shirt when the chain grabbed it and that threw him off balance on the bike.  If the rear wheel had locked up too, no doubt he would have crashed.  Instead, about half an hour with a pocket knife digging shirt remains out of the sprocket/chain area, and the Honda tool kit, had him back on the road lamenting the loss of his favorite shirt, rather than loss of skin and bones.

I rather like the presence of #3 on my bikes, I wouldn't care if it was a little bent, so long as it could still do it's job.

Cheers,

thanks for pointing this out.  I recently replaced both sprockets on my 79CB650 and left this off because it was rivetted to the old sprocket.  I'll be grinding the rivets off and bolting it in place when I get home.

[HondaMan]

My shot at stupid little questoin.

Rode my bike a liiiiiittle too hard yesterday, and the neutral light stopped working.

67 cb550

Question - Besides the light and the connection to the instrument panel, what should I check first.

I'm assuming it's a connection problem with the switch inside the case, but I'd like to check everything else before I check that, but I'm pretty sure that's what it's going to be, judging by my shifting antics yesterday.

Had this bike for a few weeks now and haven't been riding it very hard until I do some tune up work, but that's just what happens when you hang out with cafe racer crews in Austin, these guys (AND girls) roll hard as fuuuuu....

When the O-ring around the neutral switch finally cooks hard enough, the switch moves slightly toward the shifter drum and prevents the contacts inside from touching each other when in neutral. You'll probably find that oil is starting to weep out of that O-ring as well. Installing a new one will almost always fix it back up.

...this presumes the light didn't burn out...

[thrutheframe]

here's a silly little question directly at Hondaman.  can I use your ignition system on my '79 cb650?  Does it replace the "CDI" units or is it used in conjunction with them?

[HondaMan]

here's a silly little question directly at Hondaman.  can I use your ignition system on my '79 cb650?  Does it replace the "CDI" units or is it used in conjunction with them?

I have long wanted to test the unit with the 650 pickups to see if they could trigger the transistors well enough, or if a slight mod might be needed. The final answer lies with the polarity of the trigger signal from the pickups: if it swings positive on the first excursion, it could work. If it swings negative, it will offset the spark (late) by the width of the trigger pulse (but would likely still work). I just have never had a 650 here to try it with when I also had the time to set up all the equipment. A local rider and I have tried to hook up several times with his 650, but due to scheduling issues we haven't made it, yet.

The main difference: the 650 (and later) Fours use a CDI system that pulses a 2.5 ohm coil. If this unit were adapted instead, the coils would have to revert to a Kettering configuration, which would mean they would require a Resistor Pack of 1.5 ohms in series with the (+) leads to the coils.

I also suspect that I might have to change the bias current on the input transistors for this version: one of these days, maybe this summer, we'll try it out. It would sure be a cheaper alternative to a CDI replacement part!

[thrutheframe]

Thanks.  I didnt think they were immediately compatible, but I wasnt sure if I had missed something.

OK since I have your attention and if you'd be so kind....

Ive seen alot of people talking about sending you thier swing arm for bushing replacement.  What do you do besides pulling the old bushings out and replacing them with oilite bushings?

I bought bronze bushings for my CB650 from cbxperformance.com and new shock bushings from bike bandit.  A little saw action, a nice rubber mallet and a homeade bearing insertion tool, a new grease nipple and I reinstalled it torquing the nut on the pivot bolt to the spec in my Clymer.  I have a shop manual coming in the mail and I will double check the spec from the Clymer.

What else could I have done?

Thanks.

[HondaMan]

Thanks.  I didnt think they were immediately compatible, but I wasnt sure if I had missed something.

OK since I have your attention and if you'd be so kind....

Ive seen alot of people talking about sending you thier swing arm for bushing replacement.  What do you do besides pulling the old bushings out and replacing them with oilite bushings?

I bought bronze bushings for my CB650 from cbxperformance.com and new shock bushings from bike bandit.  A little saw action, a nice rubber mallet and a homeade bearing insertion tool, a new grease nipple and I reinstalled it torquing the nut on the pivot bolt to the spec in my Clymer.  I have a shop manual coming in the mail and I will double check the spec from the Clymer.

What else could I have done?

Thanks.

Maybe a new collar, too? Those wear pretty badly on the post-1975 bikes. If they wore more than 0.0020" at any point, they will also wear out the new bushings quickly if they also don't start out with built-in looseness. The hardening is only about 0.0020" deep on the post-1976 bikes' collars (these are the ones with the single grease groove in the center of the bearing areas). The earlier ones were hard to about 0.0040" deep.

Most of these arms have become flared toward their outer ends because of the OEM phenolic bushings. These were not real strong, so the steel has stretched out on most (more than 75%, easily) of the arms I see, just from cornering loads. I suppose this might be the reason Honda has made steel bushings as replacement parts, but these destroy the collar so quickly as to be terrible parts: even Machinery's Handbook tells you to NEVER use steel-on-steel as a bearing, since it cannot be effectively lubed.

I make tight fits in my rebuilds. The clearances in these collar-bushings should be 0.0008" to 0.0012", and I often go even tighter if the arm is more distorted, after honing the holes to square dimensions. The Oilite won't seize, and the bronze will simply wear first at the tightest site until the whole bore matches up, typically in 100 miles or less. After that, almost no further wear occurs until the grease dissipates, so regreasing is still required.

I keep hoping that the aftermarket bronze bushing builders would get smarter (like the old-timers did in the 1980s) about their offerings. There are some out there that simply don't fit, period. That's what got me started in this thing...

[mark52]

OK here is my simple little question,
I have a 75/74 750 I'm restoring and would like to know where to find paint codes for the planet blue metallic color or a suggest as to other colors/codes that would be a close match for this original Honda color.

Thanks for any help or suggestions

[GammaFlat]

I have a 75/74 750 I'm restoring and would like to know where to find paint codes for the planet blue metallic color or a suggest as to other colors/codes that would be a close match for this original Honda color.

Planet Blue is an awesome color.  You can get a paint kit from DonDirtBiker at dondirtbiker@gmail.com. 

[Greggo]

Here's another...I have a Dyna S on my 500/4, do I need to adjust the timing with every full tune up?

[mark52]

Just what I needed to find out, Thanks Gamma

[TwoTired]

Here's another...I have a Dyna S on my 500/4, do I need to adjust the timing with every full tune up?

Adjust?  Probably not.  Check it, yes.  After it establishes a pattern of consistency, then you can more reasonably ignore it.

Cheers,

[Greggo]

Will a 530 x ring chain work for a 500/4?

[TwoTired]

Will a 530 x ring chain work for a 500/4?

Too wide.

[vrenlos]

Does anyone happen to know the correct ID tubing that will work for fitting a brake bleeder nipple?

[Roach]

sorry don't know the answer to that question but i am sure someone will be here in a few

but here is my question

so do too head gasket issues i am  taking in my head and jugs to be decked
i will be getting it port and polished as well

650 cam will be going in

what kind of power gains should i be seeing will it be mostly torque?

[joerizzo0]

simple question.. are there supposed to be gaskets where the exhaust bolts to the motor? and say there are supposed to be and my PO neglected this what would be some side effects?

[Greggo]

simple question.. are there supposed to be gaskets where the exhaust bolts to the motor? and say there are supposed to be and my PO neglected this what would be some side effects?

Yes, there should be.  There may be some in there already, as often they get covered with carbon soot, and people mistakenly put new ones in on top.

[vrenlos]

Does anyone have any good idea of what to use/where to get cheap and make a shim to go from 7/8" handlebars to something that should bolt on a 1"?  Doing the math it looks like 1/16" sheet should do it, but I don't think I have any laying around, and from what I'm seeing online $9 for a shim is a joke.

[Dave-and-his-550]

Good thread idea. Here's a simple little question:

I got a UNI foam filter for my '76 550 but I forgot to order the oil that goes with it. So what can I use to oil it up? And do I just spray it all over the thing?

[vrenlos]

Good thread idea. Here's a simple little question:

I got a UNI foam filter for my '76 550 but I forgot to order the oil that goes with it. So what can I use to oil it up? And do I just spray it all over the thing?

I'd go with filter oil - it's sold in either aerosol cans or in liquid form at pretty much all dealers and some auto parts stores.  Brand specific isn't all that important (ie, K&N on a UNI filter) though some may disagree.

[Grnrngr]

There's a twist to an old favorite...."what's the best oil to use...on my air filter?" 

[Dave-and-his-550]

Ha! Alright, thanks I'll go check out the stores later.