S.O.S.

The last week or two have been rather disappointing to say the least.
After the last successful rides (which were almost two weeks ago now) I basically haven't been able to get her running again.
At first it was starting but idling only on the left cylinder. We did some tinkering with carb settings trying to be sure both were synced but, and we cleaned the air filters which were pretty nasty, and we put it all back together and then we swapped the wires for the condensers and the spark plug wires to see if that would get the right cylinder firing and tell us if the one cylinder thing was electrical or mechanical...
And now she's just dead in the water. Won't start at all. Switched everything back and still nothing.
It seems that there is spark at both points, but it seems weak at best, and weaker (to the point of maybe being intermittent) on the right. Same at the plug. Spark on both, weaker on the right.
I don't totally know what I'm looking at, but I have to say that the spark doesn't look all that healthy on the left when you get right down to it but like I say, I haven't got any real experience with it.
We've tried disconnecting different circuits to see if something was maybe shorting out and causing a drain on the power, and that hasn't helped.
Tried some new condensers, and that didn't seem to make any difference either.
The condensers and coils seem to pass the bench tests outlined in the Clymer manual, but from what I understand those aren't necessarily definitive as to whether the coil is good or not.
I guess we need to pull the air-boxes back off and see if something we did back there knocked something loose, but it doesn't seem like there was anything that much back there that would prevent it from starting.
At this point we're kind of at a loss and lacking a solid strategy that makes much sense.

Feeling much better thank you!

Well after some frustrations, some progress.
The spark plug caps came and got installed and didn't resolve the problem.  Well they resolved the problem of the resistance being 19 ohms on one plug and infinity on the other but the bike still wouldn't start.
We've only been working on her sporadically, some days not at all, but until today we weren't able to get the infernal machine to crank. A cough here, a sputter there but mostly a lot of nothing.

There is nothing exciting about tracing out the wires and hoping to find a loose one somewhere, so it was tinker some, walk away a to brood, tinker, brood... A couple semi-eureka moments (was that wire loose or did I just tug it a little too hard?) but nothing much encouraging. 

Finally decided to go back to the beginning and check timing and points. Some how ignition timing plate had slipped. Set that back and viola...she fired up.

She's still missing a little on the left cylinder (I don't think that set of points is properly set-up yet) but she was definitely firing some on both cylinders, and it ran long enough that I was able to get some readings on the charging system.  These numbers may be low but I guess they are better than nothing.  At idle speed (@ 1300 rpm) the voltage reading across the battery was 12.2 Vac.  At  @ 2000 rpm reading was 12.7 and at @ 4000 rpm it was reading 13.7.  I'm thinking this may be a little lower than desirable but it is positive so that's sorta OK right?

I didn't think about running the check on the alternator while I was working on her but tomorrow, after I go back through the points and timing I will check that as well.

I was encouraged enough today to forestall the the idea of parting her out on e-bay for another couple of weeks.

what is it?

What is this?  I can't find this mystery piece on any of the drawings for the 1976 CB500T.
What is it, and where is it supposed to mount?

Logic and electricity

I'm not an electrician, not even close, but I can kinda sorta read a schematic some and know that wires, and switches and relays are very much like a computer program flow chart or a logic problem (both of which I studied in college about a 100 years ago and wasn't real good at but I do kind of understand the concept of "if A=>then B" and all that to some degree, and I did work in factory where sometimes I could logically convince the electrician where he should be looking to resolve the problem) so it really wasn't connecting with me as to why doing some static tests on a few component and removing a wire that wasn't going to be used would suddenly make the Honda not start at all.
But now I have a theory at least.
After we scrapped the idea of getting the electrical starter working (mechanical problem, not electrical) I decided to pull the wire, which was an add on and not part of the harness because of some previous owner's tinkering.
I took it loose at both ends, cut the visible ties and tried unsuccessfully to pull it out. Eventually the tank had to be pulled and more ties cut before it came free.
By now the battery is recharged and we want to start it to check some voltages while it's running to see if we can isolate the charging problem but it won't start. Not getting any fire, and not making any sense. Nothing we did should have made a difference, and it was starting so readily two days before.
When I initially reported that the battery wasn't charging some suggested looking for loose wires. A while later, since I seemingly wasn't getting any juice from the coil, I'm looking for some test for the coil. Find one, and the first step is to take the black/white wires loose from the coils to do a test...one of them is already kind of loose in the connector.  Ah-hah, maybe that is the charging problem, but it never came to the point of finding that out because the testing indicated that there was a problem with the spark plug caps and now I wait for those...
But this morning I get a revelation...the loose wire wasn't the charging problem but maybe it was the starting problem.  Looking at the diagram I find that the black/white wire at the coil comes from the run/kill switch, and with that circuit open I'm guessing I found the problem with the no fire issue.
And I'm assuming that the way this wire got loose is that when I tried to pull out that starter wire it tangled in the wire to the coil and pulled it loose...and that is why removing the starter wire made the bike not start (with the kick-starter.)
So I'm hoping that this will resolve the starting problem and that the new spark plug caps (which should be here today or tomorrow) will resolve the firing on one cylinder issue, which still leaves the charging problem...

more baby steps

still not wanting to start, and remember that when it did it seemed to not always fire on the right cylinder.
more routine tests, this time the ignition coil.
according to the book you short the wires from the coil and check resistance from shorted wires to the spark plug wires.  you should get the same or very similar readings on both sides. I'm not getting any readings. [what, oh, wrong setting on the multimeter]
when I remove the spark plug caps and check continuity on them I get 10 ohms and 8.5 ohms.
when I do the above check of spark plug wires without the caps in place I get 10.3 and 10.4 ohms. (someone on one of the forums I go to for advice says this is a good number for the coil.)
when I install the caps again I get 19.0 and infinity. when I switch the caps side-to-side I get infinity and 19.0.
sounds like a bad cap to me. (and the bad cap was on the right side which has been observed as not firing consistently)
2 suggestions from different forums suggests that my evaluation is likely correct.
ordered some caps (paid a little extra for expedited shipping since they were so cheep) and now I wait again.
if I get lucky the new caps will make it easier to start and resolve the firing on one cylinder problem.

frustrated

Saturday we had this thing where it would start almost effortlessly nearly every time with the kick-starter.
Yesterday we were just test testing continuity of a few components to see if we could determine why the charging system wasn't working.
Tested the rectifier and the voltage regulator and they both seem OK based on the testing procedure found in the Clymer's manual. The leads for the alternator all checked as per the book as well.  The only static test we didn't do was the checking of  the alternator core just because I wasn't exactly sure how to do it and ran out of time due to other commitments. So far we haven't found anything we could put our finger on but that's as far as it has gone for now because the infernal machine won't start. Occasionally it will fire and sputter but mostly nothing.
Battery was fully charged when I started this morning (because I charged it) but the engine just doesn't want to cooperate.
I think I'll let it slide for the day and enjoy the company of my lady.

As veiwed from the side-car of the Ural

Sometimes a step backward is really a step in the right direction.
Tony and I had been piddling around with the Honda some for a couple of days without a lot of success. To be honest it was kind of a half hearted piddle, until yesterday.
For a few days it was: try to start it, it catches briefly and dies, and we are looking at on-line trouble shooting guides to find the symptoms...fires up and then just quits. Gradually it gets to sounding a progressively worse, until it gets to the point where sometimes it starts to sound like the starter clutch isn't actually engaging all the time. Then Thursday we began trying to get it started via the kick starter, forsaking the convenience of the electric starter to avoid hearing the sound. The results were the same until...it just locked up. Totally locked up.
In my mind I was thinking that it was the same old problem with the alternator/starter clutch.
So yesterday I pulled the left cover and sure enough... The new starter sprocket retaining plate was bent, the sprocket had just about totally disengaged from the starter clutch, and the starter chain was bound up against the side of the crank-case housing and tight as a banjo string (I used to have a banjo so I know how tight the strings are and that's not just a trite expression I'm throwing around loosely.) For some reason one of the screws attaching the starter clutch to the alternator rotor had backed out (I lock-tited them) and forced the sprocket out of position. This was a problem with this bike before I got it, and after seeing what happened this time I'm figuring this is how the kick-starter shaft got broken in the first place.
I don't know why these screws won't stay tight, I just know they won't and I may be at the point that I don't care.
We take all that mess out, (by the way, all the parts I've been ordering and waiting on for the last month were in that little sub-assembly), readjust the idle screws on the carbs back to the point that someone recommended either here or on facebook, and kick her over and...whoa! Fires right up and is idling smoothly at 1400 rpm! We repeat this several times just to be sure it wasn't a fluke, and it fires up everytime with one or two kicks.
So we spend an hour or so checking and adjusting the brakes and adjusting the clutch (is the sweet-spot on the clutch adjustment really that hard to hit?) before deciding that we've reached the point that there's nothing left to do but to do it.
Tony follows in the Ural and Desiree records the event on her i-phone from the side car.

And now some questions...
At the end it died. The ride was just over a mile. I was just going around the block so luckily when it died we were only about 200 yards from the house.
It seemed to be running pretty well initially. Plenty of power, plenty of pick-up, but after about 3/4 mile it strated coughing and missing pretty bad.
When it stopped the battery was dead. No horn, no nothing.
We pushed it up the street a ways and when we got almost back Tony tried it and the horn was working and it fired up (less than 5 minutes elapsed.)
So, what to look for now? Not charging? Dead short? Where should I start looking and what testing can be done?

What now?

You know the old joke about the dog that's always chasing cars and then one day he catches one?  Now what's he gonna do with it?  That's me with this motorcycle. Now what?  I don't know if I ever really expected I'd get her torn down, put back together, and running or not but here I am...and there it is. 
By the way the juke box (zune) was playing random songs when she started and the song that just happened to be playing was, Joe Ely "The Road Goes On Forever."

I edited this video...cut the first 5 minutes or so out..  Didn't think it would be too interesting watching me try to start it, scratch my head, try to start it, scratch my ass, try to start it fiddle with something on the left side that you couldn't see from the camera angle over and over for five minutes so I edited it.
The spark plug wire on the left cylinder is not in very good shape and not making good connection.  That is the primary reason it wouldn't start at first.

Once it started every time the engine kind of paused it made a funny noise.  It didn't really sound quite the same on the video, at least I didn't think so...does that noise sound bad?
I let it die at the end because I noticed that it was starting to smoke.  It's not real visible but if you watch carefully you can notice about 2 minutes into the video there is some smoke coming up by my right leg.  It appeared to be coming from or around the pre-chamber between the pipes.  Maybe just normal from solvents burning off or a symptom of something bad?
If anyone has any ideas about the noise or the smoke, speak up please, I'm looking for advice.

Trusting your gut

One of the initial problems I had with this bike was the alternator rotor.  The key was missing, and the holes were so wallowed out that the screws attaching it to the starter clutch wouldn't stay tight.  As a result, the hole for the pin which was supposed to lock everything up nice and snug was also worn out, and way out of round.  I never found anyone who could fix it and I couldn't find a replacement.  (My son found one and gave it to me.)
Anyway, when I put this all back in, I tried using the original pin (rhymes with original sin) even though I could tell it was worn.  Not nearly as bad as the hole it was supposed to fit but it was worn and I knew it.

When we originally tried last year to start her (I'm starting to lean towards "Sadie" as a name) the sound of the engine turning over sounded differently as the alternator screws worked their way loose.  I thought I had a hint of that the other day when I tried to restart her.
I knew I was going to have to pull that alternator to be sure it wasn't coming apart again...I didn't want to go backwards but I didn't want to screw up that new rotor either.
Sure enough, things were starting to get loose.  Not bad, not yet, but it wouldn't have taken a whole lot more.
I called around to some local places to see if maybe they'd have at least the pin but no one had it.  I decided to try the place where I ordered the retaining plate for the starter sprocket.
They seemed to have it, so I ordered some new screws and the plate that goes between the starter clutch and the rotor that holds all the little goodies inside and the little spring caps for the clutch because one of them seemed to want to hang up and let the roller kind of flop at times, and I'm hopeful that the order confirmation e-mail I got means that they really did have the parts.  Now I just have to sit and wait by the mail box every day till they come.
It's a real downer to have gotten so close only to have to wait on parts again but... it is what it is. 
I feel good that I had enough sense to check it out rather than to just push blindly forward and screw something up again.
By the way...here is a link to the dealer that I've had some luck with as far as finding parts:
http://www.westernhillshondayamaha.com/

Do it right the first time...or do it over

I was kind of embarrassed to admit it the other day but...
I did mention that it took me the best part of an hour to figure out how to get the first air box on the other day.  What I didn't mention was that I wound up taking it back off the next day.
Friday I put on the left side of the air cleaner.  Then I started to install the carburetors.  I put the left side on first since I was already on that side having just put the air cleaner on, and I found it rather awkward to work on.  The whole time I was tightening up the inside mounting bolt on that left carburetor I was thinking to myself; "How am I ever going to be able to get the other carb on, there's not going to be any room to work."
So I tried it for a while before I reluctantly admitted that the only way I was going to be able to get in there to tighten that inside bolt and hook the right throttle cable up was to take the right side of the air cleaner back off and bolt the mounting flange on first.  Then the loosely assembled carb and air cleaner went back on with no problem and it wasn't nearly as hard getting the air cleaner back on after I'd had all that practice.
Maybe that is the way it's supposed to go....maybe that's what the manual says and I just missed it...most likely the  manual says "installation is the reverse", and since it's been three months or more since I took it apart...
I'm actually amazed that I haven't had more trouble finding everything after all that time what with boxes of parts getting more or less randomly moved around and shoved into various cabinets and closets during little fits of tidying up the garage now and then over the last few months.

Air supply

After a quick spin on the Schwinn to Wal-Mart this morning to pick up some sundries....(I spent almost $50.00 on light bulbs and Band Aids, odd combination I know but I think maybe it was so dark in the house because there were so many burnned out light bulbs that we kept getting hurt and used up all the Band Aids)...I got down to business on the Honda.
I kind of thought that getting the engine back in was a major hurdle, and it was, but it was only the beginning of the real work.
I was pretty careful about labeling wires and such as i was dis-assembling it but I guess I got a little careless when it came to the air boxes.  Who knew air filters could be so complicated. 
I mean when I pulled out the box with the air boxes, I looked at all that junk and thought "how in the h--- is all that going to fit back in that space."

Anyway, I worked for about 4 hours (that equalled about 4 quarts of sweat 'cause it was really hot today) and I got about 1/2 the wiring and cables reconnected, the engine firmly mounted, the chain on and tension set, and one side of the air filter system reinstalled.  And I hate to admit it but I'm pretty sure I spent at least 1/4 of that time figuring out the puzzle of the air boxes, and only got one side done.

I would have thought otherwise before today but based on the progress (or lack of progress) I made today I'm guessing at least 8 hours maybe more involved before I get to the big pay-off, but I am making progress and I'm a lot closer than I was last week at this time so on the whole I'd have to say it it's really going pretty well.

The toughest thing

I'm finding the hardest aspect of getting this motorcycle running is finding parts, or someone willing to work on it. Seems most of the reviews I've read about the CB500T state that it wasn't exactly a marvel of modern motorcycle engingeering and I guess maybe that's why it wasn't produced very long and perhaps why parts for this model, new or used, seem so scarce.
I went to the shop I was referred to last week and didn't have much luck. The place was easy enough to find, and the guy running it was a nice enough fellow, (he seemed to be in the early stages of a project of his own, as he had a very rusty early 30's Ford he was turning into a street rod) but I was about a month late getting there. The guy who NOW owns the shop doesn't work on Hondas, or any other type of motorcycle for that matter, and being new tho the area didn't know of anyone who does. He was friendly though, and did take a look at my cyclinders and confirm that they needed work.
I've got two more leads to follow up on now of shops that supposedly do good work and maybe they do machine work and maybe they'll work on a Honda. Sometimes I get the feeling that part of the problem may just be that some of these guys just plain don't like Hondas, or maybe they know I'm not really a "biker"...or maybe I'm just getting frustrated, or paranoid.
At any rate I plan to follow my two new leads this week and hopefully get lucky.

A word about labels

Well I had everything "tagged & bagged" just as I said...or did I?

I started reassembling the Honda this morning and things were going just splendidly until I got to a point where I needed to attach the caliper for the front brake, but couldn't find the bolts for that.

Hmmm, I know I bagged and tagged everything.  So I looked again.  Went though every baggy in the "small parts" tote.  Not there.  Dug though two other totes where I was sure those bolts weren't and sure enough...they weren't.  Looked through the baggies again, this time I was looking at what was in the baggies, as well as what was written on them.  Not there.  Again, this time spreading everything out to make sure I wan't over looking anything.  Still not there.  Now I've looked through all the parts three times, and I can't find the blasted bolts I need for the front brake.

I know they are here somewhere, so I decide to have a cup of coffee and relax for a few and see if that helps, I mean it can't hurt, right, and it's time for a break anyway.

Look again, nope.  Hey, I think to myself, I've got tons of old bolts laying around...some of those are bound to fit.  I try that for a while to no avail, get frustrated and decide to go on line, look up the parts list, and see exactly what it is I'm looking for.  Simple, two 6x25 hex bolts and one 8x35 hex bolt.  No problem one more quick look and if they don't turn up I'll just run ofer to the local HomeDepot and by some bolts...heck they won't even cost $2.00 probably.  Inconvenient but no big deal.

{note to self:  "If you are taking lots of bolts off of something you should label, them and if certain bolts have a dual purpose, you should probably note that.}

{second note to self:  When you are making the note referenced above, a mental note is not only unsatisfactory, it is totally and irrefutably, unsatifactory.}

{note to you:  If you get these e-mail updates and don't want them let me know and I'll get it stopped.  Also, if you get these e-mail updates and don't click the link for "The Motorcycle Diary" at the bottom of the page you are missing the entire "blog-o-licious" experience which you really should be taking advantage of as a means of enriching your otherwise sordid existence.} 

You see as, I got my keys and prepared to journey to the local merchant to purchase replacements for the errant fasteners, I was overwhelmed by an aura of peace, clarity, and tranquility as I hadn't experinced in the past 30 minutes or so.  It was during this moment that the location of the wayward bolts was revealed to my inner eye. 

Yes, you, perhaps have grasped previously, the solution which vexed and escaped me for so long... The bolts that attach the front brake caliper to the left front fork are one and the same with the bolts which attach the front fender, and there was indeed a baggy labeled "front fender."

Now, all that said and in spite of that seemingly excruciating, frustrating search, I had a rather productive, enjoyable morning/afternoon and it went something like this:

            

 

      

      

This is a good "before & after of the rear frame, wheel, and shock absorber.

So you see, even though there some troublesome moments, I managed to get a decent amount of work done, and next time I can't find something I'll have about 10 fewer baggies to dig through.

I must say that they have found an interesting way of making sure you grease the bearings in the steering column.  Since you have to feed the fork through the housing while somehow keeping 19 loose ball bearings in place on the bottom race and 18 loose ball bearings in place for the top race, you really haven't any choice but to slather the races and balls up real heavy with enough grease to make them stick together until you can get the fork through the housing and the cap screwed on.

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the progress I made today and I'm pretty well all smugged up about how much better the bike is looking after a little TLC.  But...in the back of my mind I'm thinking about "The Dirty Dozen."   To paraphrase Donald Sutherland from that movie..."It's pretty, but will it run?"  Only time and more work will tell.

Baby steps, but in the right direction at least.

I just spent about an hour and a half buffing the rear wheel hub, getting the rust off the rim, and cleaning the corrosion and rust off the spokes.  It's a big improvement but not perfect.  I think its looking pretty respectable though considering it's 34 years old.

Yesterday I spent most of the morning sanding and priming the frame.  The frame appears to be in very good condition, the only damage being a small dent on the bottom left side tube and a slightly cracked weld on the bracket to which the kick-stand bolts. 

 

I painted the frame today and had hoped to start reassembling things but I got a late start due to my good nature and willingness to help a fellow human being in need, so that's going to happen.  Hopefully I get an earlier start tomorrow and don't find too many spots that I missed while painting. (I already saw a spot on the swing arm that needs some touch up.)

It is going to be kind of slow going for a while as I'm intending to clean and degrease parts as I go...plus, although the parts are identified, they aren't exactly cataloged and organized, so there will be a fair amount of wasted time looking for the next part/assembly and the respective fasteners.

4 little words.

Okay so here's where we are with this little project so far, and I really must say so far it has gone pretty smoothly.  During the disassembly, one snap-ring broke, and I dropped one washer that hasn't turned up yet.  (Where do those things go?)  Everything appears to be usable, if not esthetically pure.  All the chrome parts are rusty and pitted to some extent or another (some actually look as though they will clean up better than I originally thought.  Parts are difficult, but not quite impossible to find.  (Ordered some mirrors today.)  I'll just have to be careful cause a lot of the parts on e-Bay look worse than what I have, which makes me think that if I find replacements I can put my old ones on e-Bay and maybe recoup some of my expenses. 
Anyway here's where I am:

Well there you go...I love a fresh start don't you.  I'm pretty sure the worst is behind me.
I'm still looking for a shop to check out the engine, but the frame is all degreased and sanded and ready for a coat of primer.  Then some paint and then finally the reassembly which should be a piece of cake.  I've sneaked a peek and looked ahead in the manual, and there are only 4 little words left.......

ASSEMBLY IS THE REVERSE!!

Yeah, right...

now where did I put that bolt for the alternator...?

How far will I go with this?

Yesterday I was fooling around and decided to see if that tarnished aluminium (?) on the front fork would clean up any and started trying to do that, and decided that it would be easier to do it if the wheel wern't in the way so the wheel had to come off and it actually looks as if there is a little gleam left under that patina.

The thing is that now there really is very llittle left in it's original position and maybe I should go ahead and take those last two or three things off and clean the rust off the frame and repaint it while I've got things torn down.  I doubt I'll go back here if it ever gets running so i may as well, right?

It also looks like the wheels will clean up pretty well also.  There is a little rust on the rims, but the spokes a just kind of tarnished and  with a little work will look pretty good.  You can see the ones I've worked on some in the picture.






I have also dicided that I need to find a shop to take the pistons, cylinders, and heads into for measurements and possible machining if need be.  No obvious problems like that hole in the top of the cylinder I found in that old VW engine but since it's torn apart already it would be a shame to put everything back only to find out there was a problem and have to redo everything.  I know the engine ran last year at about this time but only briefly so I'm going looking for a shop.

Above: before and after of handle bars (after on the top.)

Didn't like the cafe style bars that were on it when I got and Tony had some spare handlebars laying around.

Tried to clean up some of the rust on the rear fender.  Left is the after picture.  Maybe as good as rubbing compound and elbow grease can get it, but I'm gonna try again.

Sweetness

Sunday Tony did in fact come up.

We looked at each other for a while, talked with Kathy and Anna for a whle, then Tony went out in the garage for a smoke. I followed and we sorta just stood around for a while and then I walked over and picked up a wrench and Tony says what are you thinking about and I says lets get this Jeep out of the garage so we have some room to work...so we do and we get that engine pulled out and onto the work bench.

We kinda study on it for a while, then we take turns looking at the shop manual and looking at the engine, trying to figure out exactly what we are going to have to do to get down to that kick-start shaft.

We finally start taking some things apart to see what lies beneath. We get to the point where we have to take off the oil pump in order to get the clutch housing off and it so happens that removing the oil pump takes a special tool we don't have and we aren't having much luck improvising. So we try another angle.

We take the valve covers off to access the cam chain and we find the book says to separate the chain with a chain breaker and we don't have one of those either. So we study some more and realize we're accumulating a nice sized pile of bolts and screws and miscellaneous parts. We realize that as of now we know what everything is and where it goes but if the pile gets very much bigger it could start to get confusing....so we prudently stop and get organized, bagging and tagging all the parts we have so far. then we decide it's getting late and dark and we're a little tired. Not exactly the best condidtions.

Time to jump in the pool and cool off. Tomorrow will be another day.

Monday we kinda laze around for a while in the morning and decide to ride over to Advance Auto to see if maybe we get lucky and they happen to have what we need in the way of specialty tools...not likely but it's something to do and it's close.

They don't have anything I need and say I should try a motorcycle shop but that they think most of them for some reason are closed on Mondays. Kathy's taking off a 1/2 day so we decide to forget it and just hang with her.

Today is Tueday and Tony's plan is to leave around noon. We're drinking coffee and watching the news and I say "Wanna ride over to Tractor Supply and see what kind of tools they may have." Tony says that sounds great.

All they have that might be of use is a chain breaker, which looks way too big for the job but I decide to try it anyway cause the gal tending the rabbits said I could bring it back if it wasn't what I needed. (It wasn't and I did) We also went by the local Yamaha dealer to see if they might have any tools and they weren't encouaging and I didn't feel like driving to the Honda dealer in Rock Hill, so we just went back home to study some more.


Anyway we start in again and things seem so much clearer after stepping back sometimes. Things we read in the book Sunday were making much better sense today and we dug in, somehow circumvented the 'needed' specialty tools, and had things pretty well torn down with all the parts "bagged and tagged" by lunch time.

We had some lunch, patted ourselves on the baack a little and Tony split for home.



After Tony left I was only going to finish getting the parts organized and the put the tools away...but I got to looking at that engine and couldn't help myself. I really wanted to see what that shaft looked like on the inside so I went back to work....got out the manual and the baggies and the sharpy and finished busting that thing open. I had to remove a couple of things that I missed on the earlier readings but no big deal. Once it was opened up, changing out the shaft was pretty simple. I did resist the urge to start putting it back to gether beyond that because logic tells me this is the best opportunity I will have to clean things up and take some measurments to see if the engine needs any machine work or internal parts, and it just wouldn't make any sense to not do it right at this point....although I won't deny I was tempted.

Bob Dylan on the juke box

When Tony saw the blog yesterday he got all excited and contacted me to say he was coming soon up to help pull that engine.

After a couple of e-mails he decided he's coming Sunday, for a couple of days and wants to get the Honda running, or at the least help work on it some.

So I put Bob Dylan on the juke box (Zune) got the tools out and stripped that baby down carefully and methodically.....taking notes, making sketches, and labeling, and now the engine is ready to come out. All I need is the horse power.

Have I mentioned that "Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance" isn't really about fixing motorcycles.

Let's try this again.

After a long hiatus I pulled out the bike and the tools and started to tear into it again. It's been a good long while so I spent a fair amount of time looking at what was what and what went where because I was afraid i wouldn't remember after all this time. Then I started taking things apart. Worked for a couple of hours until I got down to the nitty-gritty and decided to stop and start fresh another day. Most of what I removed today was stuff that I had removed previously, then re-installed when I decided I wasn't going to mess with the kick-starter, but since I now have a kick-starter shaft, I may as well put it in...just in case I'm not able to get the electrical starting system fixed.


I got to the point where, if I went much farther the engine was coming out and I wasn't ready for that. I'm not sure I can manhandle it out by myself...in fact I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be real smart to try.



Next step will be unhooking and labeling all the wires and hoses and cables.