Looking back

Looking back I have to wonder how I ever managed to take the engine out of that VW, rebuild it and get it all back together considering my lack of experience and limited tool box.

Specifically I have to wonder how I ever got the pistons back into the cylinders without a ring compressor, but I know I did, which led me to try it again with the Honda.

"How'd that go?" you may ask.

"Not too good." I'd reply.

I mean I didn't screw anything up, but I couldn't get it back together either. I probably would have screwed something up, but realizing as I do now that parts for this machine are rather hard to come by, I wasn't willing to push my luck too far.

I put the rings on, hooked the pistons to the rods and tried to balance the cylinders over the pistons with one hand while trying to compress the rings and work them into the cylinder with the other. You probably already know that doesn't work and once I got the first piston @ half way in I started thinking about how was I going to even possibly do the other side considering I'd only have about half the room to work with. So wisely I stopped and went out to buy a ring compressor.

When I opened the box I was faced yet another problem. All ring compressors aren't created equal and the one I just purchased, while it would definitely compress the rings, it definitely wouldn't get those pistons into those cylinders while they were attached to the connecting rods. It was wider than the rod was long. Furthermore, if I got one piston in there was no way to get it off afterwards as it was a closed circle in every shape. Furthermore, with one piston installed it was too big to fit over the other.

So I looked online for some words of wisdom. I found a picture of a guy using a very similar ring compressor to put a piston in cylinder. The big difference was he was working on a one cylinder engine. Every one else was using a specialized tool, which I found I could order, but then I'm waiting again.

With the tool I had the only way to do it would be; put the pistons in the cylinders before attaching them, then try to balance all that while getting the wrist pins and circlips installed. That didn't seem too likely, but the alternative was to return the compressor I had, order the specialty tool and wait.

I decided to give it a shot.

It was kind of tedious and a lot frustrating trying to hold the rods still with one hand while balancing the cylinders with the other while trying to slide the wrist pins in with...what? And I managed to not drop either circlip into the crankcase while installing them, (I plugged all the holes before starting)

I'm pretty sure the purists would say "you did what?" And I know that's not the way to do it but...

If you can't stand the heat...

After several false starts I set the top of the engine in place, finger tightened the bolts, but...
...it's like 110 deg in the garage so I'm heading for the pool.

It's always something...

...and now there's this:

The little broken tab indicated by the arrow, is, as far as I can tell, the only thing that keeps the sprocket from sliding around on the shaft.  Is there supposed to be something else that was already missing when I got it?  I don't see any indication of another part in the manuals or the parts diagrams.  Would it be possible to use some kind of washer behind the sprocket?  Somehow it doesn't seem so unless you could be sure it wouldn't wear out and become a bunch of metal shavings in the crankcase, which wouldn't be too cool.

The sprocket doesn't slide so far that the rollers and springs fall out of the starter clutch...but almost.  However, it does slide far enough that the chain has worn a groove in the casting, and that doesn't seem like a good thing

So... what to do about this?  Have looked at several parts sites on the web and they either list the part as "not available" or don't list it at all. 

It's so tedious trying to find something like this on E-Bay.  I looked through 17 pages of CB500 parts yesterday, and the closest thing I saw would involve buying a box of mixed junk and trusting to providence that the part i needed just happened to be miraculously one of the parts in the box.  (They used to sell "grab bags" at a little store near my Grandpa's shop when I was a kid.  ...my cousin Billy and I used to bum change and buy them.  Seemed that Billy always got the good stuff, so I'm not real big on grab bags.)

Got a feeler out on a motorcycle maintenance forum for a part or advice, and I still haven't decided what I'm doing about the last problem.

Been back from vacation for almost 2 weeks now and not making a whole lot of progress so it looks like my estimate of 3 weeks was overly optimistic....but then I've always been a 'half-full-kind-of-guy.'

Back from vacation....hit a small snag

As I was getting set up to continue the engine reassembly the other day, I noticed a small (I hope) problem.
The return stop for the kick-starter was worn / broken off.
I'm now in the process of gradually building this back up with several layers of J&B Weld.  Hopefully this will work and I should be ready to resume assembly in a few more days.