One day closer

Not a lot to say, still have some fine tuning and some electrical work to do before I try it out, but it is getting real close now.  And don't forget, there is no oil in the crankcase yet.  (I have to keep reminding myself of that every chance I get.)

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.

...step by step...

Another good day...alright, not as good as the picture.  I did accomplish a good chunk of work today before I decided I had to quit, but I was close enough that I couldn't resist setting the tank and seat in place just to get a glimpse and inspire me.  There's still some wiring yet to be done (but not much) and a few  miscellaneous cables and hoses to attach, and the exhaust system and the pedals and ... you get it there's still a good day at least, but hey, it's shaping up and at least looks like a motorcycle again, at least for the time being.

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.

Together again..

When we were at the beach someone asked how much longer I thought it would take to get the Honda running.  I just kinda threw out a random guess of 3 weeks.  Well, it's obvious that I didn't make that, but it's starting to look like that estimate may not have been too terribly far off.
It certainly looks a lot more promissing now than it did week or so ago.
I spent the afternoon finishing up the engine assembly and after dinner this evening Anna pitched in and the two of us managed to get the engine back in the frame.  (there was a spring left on the workbench that I didn't remember, was't marked, doesn't show in the parts explosions and I can't find any mention of in the manuals...)

A part at last

After a week of expecting to hear back from the place I found that seemed to have the part I needed that they didn't really have the part I needed and that they would be issuing a credit back on my card I got the part I needed.  Kind of a rip-off maybe when the shipping cost is like 3 X the price of the part, (which by-the-way didn't weigh as much as a typical Hallmark card so why does it cost so much to ship?) but what are you going to do after you've checked everyplace you can find, including inquiries to six places that say they specialize in salvaged parts from Japanese bikes and you've scoured page after page of random motorcycle parts on e-Bay and nobody has what you need?

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.