Topic: Black Friday - a red 1965 CB160 build.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, those steering dampers are a nightmare Alan, so far I've saved one out of three, so keep working on it, and don't forget to take a gas torch to heat it up to allow the deep creep to suck into the bottom joint.

Are those friction plates flammable? I doubt I could find another set.

They probably are if you're silly enough to hold a flame on them long enough mate, but seeing that you're heating the centre where there's no friction materiel, you shouldn't have a problem, I certainly didn't. I used a mapgas torch where I could just heat up the threaded end at the bottom of the damper "rod", then sprayed some WD40 penetrant on it, the heat helps suck the penetrant into the thread.

Steve, re: Insuring your Z1, get it done now, don't wait for the big day when it's on the road, get it covered now for fire and theft. I insure all my bikes, plus my twin turbo Subaru with a specialised insurer that only insures "collectable" bikes and cars. I have "Laid up" insurance on all of my project bikes, and even had my K0 insured from the time it left the PO's place in Queensland, in case the transporter flipped on the way here and the bike was destroyed.

When the guy delivered the very rough looking parts he said to me, "Why did you bother to spend $500 to transport this junk?" I explained that once restored it'd be worth upwards of $25K (AUD) here he almost fainted.

K0 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Christmas bike storage 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[Alan F.]

I wasn't able to get out there today, it was a rare long day at the day job. But my order from 4into1 arrived with those grooved rear brake shoes, Vesrah exhaust gaskets and chromed steel cable adjusters. Sorry I don't have a pic yet.

[Alan F.]

Tapered roller steering kit from AllBalls arrived today:

[Alan F.]

And I took the handlebars out of the Evaporust where they sat a few days with paper towels loosely wrapped around them to keep all of the important areas damp. They came out ok and I gave them a coat of CorrosionX inside and out. The drippings were caught on another paper towel, half of which I stuffed into the top of the head pipes to spread it's goodness inside some more.

I repositioned the front fender and loosely wrapped and draped the same bunch of damp paper towels around and over it again. Once finished I think I'll hit the fender with rubbing compound, we'll see. Not much to get pics of today.

[Terry in Australia]

I was watching a YouTube vid of a guy restoring a weird looking motorised saw yesterday and saw that he had a 50 gallon drum of Evaporust that he was dunking everything into and I was immediately jealous! I think it’s around $200 for a gallon of it here?

[Alan F.]

$200 wow, let's check the website....

Lowest I see is $743 USD which is like $1050 AUD
For $200 I'd give it a go if you tire of your phosphoric acid soak.

Oh crap, I read that completely wrong. You said $200/gallon! Yes that's in the territory of STUPID EXPENSIVE. There are plenty of alternatives to that.

It's only ~$25/gal here. Pricey but only borderline stupid. I'm only using it because I don't want any plating damage, I just want the rust gone. Otherwise I'd use vinegar.

[Terry in Australia]

$200 wow, let's check the website....

Lowest I see is $743 USD which is like $1050 AUD
For $200 I'd give it a go if you tire of your phosphoric acid soak.

I used it once to clean out the tank on the ZZR1100, but I wasn't overly impressed, the Phosphoric acid is about 40 bucks per gallon and one gallon makes 10 or 15 gallons when I water it down, so cheap and cheerful. (like me)

[RAFster122s]

Oxalic Acid powder does a very good job of chelation of the rust from parts. I have switched from EvapoRust/Metal Rescue/similar products to using Oxalic Acid at one pound of powder to the gallon and using very warm to hot water to encourage the solution to work quickly.
Amazon sells 5 pound bags of Oxalic Acid powder for about $19.
 

I use Citric Acid in radiators and recirculating in the motor with thermostat pulled to remove any build up in the motor or in a radiator on water cooled bikes.  I setup a submergible pond pump in a 5 gallon bucket spliced into the cooling system of the bike to do an overnight flushing of the motor after pulling the thermostat. Then drain the block and system before refilling with coolant and distilled water once I pop the thermostat back in and restore the radiator hoses to normal.
I prefer to use hot mix of Citric Acid with radiator out of the bike so I can flush and visually inspect it as much as possible.
The Citric Acid doesn't attack the aluminum block or seals but eats and calcium type deposits left by the antifreeze...
FWIW...

$19 of Oxalic Acid powder and 5 gallons of distilled water are far cheaper than typical chelating cleaners previously mentioned...


David

[Alan F.]

David that's brilliant and probably works quite well overnight, especially if it's warm out.

[RAFster122s]

David that's brilliant and probably works quite well overnight, especially if it's warm out.

Few guy on CX forum added a big aquarium heater to their bucket systems so it was a hot solution…

[Alan F.]

Horn arrived this morning. Seller says it doesn't work, we'll see about that!

[grcamna2]

Horn arrived this morning. Seller says it doesn't work, we'll see about that!

Alan,you may be able to pop the cover on it and convince that 'car horn' style stock CB160 OEM Honda horn to sound-off again 

[Alan F.]

That's what I'm thinking too. I'm hoping to take a trip over to storage later to check on that steering damper, I'll pick up my multimeter so I can measure resistance and hopefully continuity through this horn's coil windings. Then I'll try it with a 9v battery just for fun, if it sounds I'll probably just shine it up. Fingers crossed.

[grcamna2]

That's what I'm thinking too. I'm hoping to take a trip over to storage later to check on that steering damper, I'll pick up my multimeter so I can measure resistance and hopefully continuity through this horn's coil windings. Then I'll try it with a 9v battery just for fun, if it sounds I'll probably just shine it up. Fingers crossed.

Does it have an adjustment screw? I've played around with a few M/C small horns by screwing the screw inward quite a way,then backing it out again.The best way was hook it up to an auto battery with 12 vts. as that always loosened them up if they weren't all rusted-out.A little 9vt battery won't do much for you.
They're a thin steel 'diaphragm' of sorts with an electromagnet on one end which vibrates the diaphragm when you apply power to it;when they get older the thin steel diaphragm sticks in place & needs to be 'shocked' loose again.
I once dropped one on a concrete floor and the shock of that was enough to get it working again.

[Alan F.]

There doesn't seem to be an adjustment screw like you'd see on a younger horn, that's probably why you see so few of these around, people just toss them and bolt on new ones.
But good news, the coil measures good and isn't shorted to the housing. I'll have to find a screwdriver and pop that domed cover off & have a look.

[Alan F.]

In other news the steering damper knob finally relented, just the way Steve said it would. Oil & wait followed by urging it one way then the other.
Lots of pics today!

[grcamna2]

That's great news Alan;a type of Holiday present to you,plus you can save and re-use the original OEM parts !
I've seen a Lot worse-off parts on a vintage bike that old;will you clean-up the original frame and tins paint,or repaint everything fresh ?  I'll be interested to see the condition of your forks when disassembled;looks very nice so far 

[Alan F.]

Thank you Bill. I'm not planning to paint anything at all. I wonder how well I'll get away with that...

Oh my seat cover arrived from Thailand tonight too!

[Alan F.]

I've been playing with that horn with no conclusive results. I think I'll have a look at the wiring diagram before I give up. Otherwise everything seems mechanically fine with it.

Edit: I think it's just out of adjustment, after monkeying with it I can get it to cluck with a 9v battery now at least.

[grcamna2]

I've been playing with that horn with no conclusive results. I think I'll have a look at the wiring diagram before I give up. Otherwise everything seems mechanically fine with it.

Edit: I think it's just out of adjustment, after monkeying with it I can get it to cluck with a 9v battery now at least.

Give it 12vts.
The trick is attach the ground wire to a clean spot on the frame of it,then snap the + on the terminal on and off quickly:it will shock/vibrate the electromagnet against the steel diaphragm inside and free it up.
Hook up an automotive 12vt battery to it:a quick shock on and off,it'll work.

[Alan F.]

Yup, that seems to be what it needs but I'm calling it good for now. I wish I had shop space and could just plug in the big-ish battery charger and fry it until it beeps, but not tonight.

You know to be honest I don't even know if this is a 6v bike or 12v.

[grcamna2]

Yup, that seems to be what it needs but I'm calling it good for now. I wish I had shop space and could just plug in the big-ish battery charger and fry it until it beeps, but not tonight.

You know to be honest I don't even know if this is a 6v bike or 12v.

12 vt system.

[Alan F.]

Ah, and when I clean the old road dirt from this label, looks like 6V 2A

[RAFster122s]

CA95 Benly Touring 150 of similar vintage was a 6V bike...

6V horns work on 12v at least for a while... They are very loud on 12V...
You usually can get away with it because a horn typically is not used for long periods...

[Alan F.]

Hmmm, I may have the wrong horn?