Honda Rebuild

More fun with ordering parts

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:03:13 -0400

….the two orders I placed with Beaver Damn and the one from Denis Kirk are both being shipped via UPS. I didn’t have a choice with BD and I really didn’t want to wait a couple extra days for the brakes coming from DK. I’m having them shipped to our apartment instead of my office, so hopefully that will make a difference. Just to be safe I wrote a note about making sure they put the apartment number on the shipping label. Hopefully I’ll have a different experience this time.- Update: I received an email telling me that UPS was delivering my rear break pads from Denis Kirk. According to the UPS website, it should be delivered Thursday the 14th. I’m not holding my breath because of the bad experience I had with them before. We’ll see if they get it to me on time. -Update: I received notification from Beaver Damn that my brake piston and seal are on their way. We’ll see if UPS can get this right.Holy crap. They actually delivered the first package on time. If the other two get here without a problem, I’ll be amazed.

Man, UPS is batting two for three. I have to say that although I still don’t like UPS, they’re at least doing what they’re suposed to do. The true test comes when the third package is delivered. Will it be on time? Tune in to see.

When I got home I found that Beaver Dam shipped both orders in one package, so no third package on the way!

Having a little fun

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:59:34 -0400

I took the bike out yesterday as soon as I got home from work. I managed to ride it further than ever before without any problems. I took it around Candler Park golf course and checked out that area but I didn’t stay out long because the clouds were threatening rain. I have to check the plugs again pretty soon to make sure the bike is running as well as it should. I get the feeling, as I give it more gas, that it’s still running a little rich. Though I did notice when I got home that the bike was purring like a kitten. I should have shut it down and tried starting it again but I just had a nice ride and didn’t want to ruin the moment. On a side note: I’m still a little apprehensive about riding in traffic. It’s going to take plenty of time and many miles under my belt before I gain more confidence in my riding abilities. Also, since the bike isn’t 100% just yet, it makes me a little nervous. I think once I get the front brake piston replaced (I just got notice today that it’s on the way) and the rear brakes changed out (they should be on their way soon) I’ll feel a lot better. Until then, I’m just going to take it easy and try to stay on back roads.

New Discoveries

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:58:06 -0400

Well, I already knew the fuel tank petcock wasn’t closing off when I turned it to the “off” position. What I didn’t realize was that if the fuel was allowed to flow from the tank, it would first fill the carbs then flow into the pistons. This of course isn’t good for the plugs. I tried starting the bike for my friend Rob Wednesday night (just before heading off to the Rush concert, which was awesome!) but it only ran for a few seconds before dying. There was fuel leaking on the engine from where it runs out of the carb overflow valves. I need to fix this when I get the bike over to Dan’s garage. In the meantime, I think I’ll close off the fuel line with a set of Vicegrips. I’ve been looking up information regarding the fuel petcock and it looks like there might be an issue with the seals. Of course, an issues with the seals. Seems like that’s a running theme on these thirty year old bikes. I need to find out if there is seal material I can buy so I can just cut my own seals. It seems like a pain in the ass, as well as the wallet, to have to order a new seal for every thing on the bike. Order a seal kit maybe?? Hmmm…….

Nearly fell over

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:42:03 -0400

Yesterday as I was parking the bike I discovered something important. Ready? Here it is: If you don’t put the side stand down, the bike will fall over. I nearly set the bike down on it’s side as I was getting off because I forgot the put the *;^$ing sidestand down. Lesson learned.

Welcome to the new home of Somemonkey.com

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:20:45 -0400

First let me apologize for the lack of content on the new site. I am working with my developer to get all previous posts moved to tumblr from our old host. We had to change hosts because of the serious lack of security on their end. For those of you who are not aware, our site was hacked and malware was installed on the site. That was the second time the site was hacked and we decided that enough was enough…..Time to move on.

Anyway, I hope to have the site back up and running with our new host within the next week. Please come back for updates and feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Mike.

somemonkey.com

The more I fix, the more I find needs fixin'

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:11:00 -0400

Saturday I spent half the day helping my friend Dan get his motorcycle. It’s a Kawasaki 400 (not sure what year and it’s pretty cool looking. I never even thought about it before I had a bike but something about motorcycles from the 70’s just makes them seem cooler than today’s bikes. It’s going to need some work but once it’s finished, it’s going to be a helluva motorcycle. From the time we dropped off Dan’s bike, I started working on mine. I drained the oil and took off the pan. To get to the pan I had to jack the bike up and balance it on jack stands. That made working on the bike much easier. I had to take off the exhaust pipes to get the pan off but I found that it’s really not as hard as I thought it would be. Just take off a few nuts and the pipes come right off. Anyway, I used J-B weld on the oil pan and let it sit over night.

I almost didn’t mention it because I found it a little embarrassing but hey, what are blogs for if not to tell the world about your stupid and embarassing moments eh? Anyway, As I was taking the oil pan off the bike, Dan pointed out the fact that I had a center stand on my bike and his bike didn’t. I looked real hard at where he was pointing and sure enough I had a center stand. I had owned that bike for a month and this was the first time I realized I could use something other than the awkward side stand to balance the bike. I didn’t even know the thing was there. Damn.

Sunday morning about 9am I called and woke Dan’s wife up. I really didn’t mean to do that but I just wanted her to know I was coming over to let my self in. The last thing I wanted was for her to think there was a burglar in the house and come at me with a baseball bat. (I’m using their garage since they’re nice enough to let me. Also, it sucks working on it in my parking lot because of the heat.) Anyway, I started working on the bike taking off the front brake caliper and replacing the piston and seal. Also, I put the oil pan back on and filled the motor with oil. I put the pipes back on, which proved to be much harder than taking them off, and then replaced the fuel tank.

Showtime….I rolled the bike out of the garage and started her up. There was a little oil coming from around the oil pan but that was to be expected. The seal has to get hot and cool a couple times before it’s 100%. Other than that, every thing looked and sounded good. I took her for a ride around the neighborhood and made sure she was able to run without stalling. Once I rode the bike home I walked back to Dan’s where I had left my car. I cleaned up my tools and put everything away. I felt so relieved to be going home knowing my bike was in better shape than it had been the day before. When I pulled into the parking lot at our apartments I took the motorcycle cover out of the trunk and walked over to the bike ready to cover it up. That’s when I noticed a HUGE puddle of dark grey oil under the front left fork. I followed the oil up the fork and saw that it was slowly pouring out of the fork where the seal should be.

««««photo coming soon»»»»»

Now I had just spend the better part of the weekend trying to improve this motorcycle. I banged my knuckles a couple times and stretched my body in ways I haven’t in years trying to get under the bike. None of that made me mad. I simply smiled and thought, “it’s only going to make me a better mechanic.” Now seeing this large pool of oil bleeding out of the forks made me mad as hell. The anger didn’t last long because I was too tired to be angry. I needed a beer. I covered the bike after clamping the leaking fuel hose with a pair of Vice Grips and headed inside. (Yea, the fuel petcock doesn’t shut off all the way and alows fuel to seep into the carburators so I have to pinch the fuel line.) I’ll search the forums later to see if I can find out what to do about those forks. If I can’t find anything I’ll leave a message in the SOHC forum and someone out there will be more than happy to tell me what I need to do. In the mean time, I’m just going to sit on the couch and enjoy a few beers knowing that this weekend was anything but a waste. Though I found another problem with the bike, I take satisfaction in knowing that I was able to fix a couple others. It’s all a learning process, right?

Fun with ordering parts

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:45:00 -0400

Because the oil pan is leaking and the fact that I’m going to eventually clean the carbs, I decided to go online and order some parts. I ordered a new oil pan, oil pan gasket and a carb gasket set. Unfortunately, I found out today that the oil pan is a discontinued part. After speaking with the guy at Beaver Dam, where I ordered the parts, he told me how I might fix the leak myself. He suggested that since there was no real pressure in that area of the motor, I could use liquid metal or I could take the part to a welder. I think I’ll try the liquid metal first. If that doesn’t work, off to the welder I’ll go. I can’t wait to get home tonight. If the weather holds out and doesn’t rain, I’ll take the bike for another spin around the hood. (I placed a plastic container under the oil leak so when I get home I’ll just pour the oil back in the motor and be on my way.) I also decided to order break pads for the rear brake. They’re about worn out anyway and since I’m not spending $70 on a new oil pan, I figure I wouldn’t break the motorcycle budget I had set aside. Really, I think I wouldn’t mind breaking the budget since brakes could potentially keep me from breaking bones! I didn’t order the breaks from Beaver Damn because I found them at Denis Kirk for a few dollars less. Update: I ended up using JB Weld to fix the crack in the oil pan. Works like a charm.

Ready to ride

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:35:00 -0400

Alright, so now I’ve got what I need. New plugs, clutch cable, tire and tube, rebuilt front brake caliper, fresh gas and a good battery. By Friday evening I was feeling pretty good. I had everything together and was ready to check it out. Power on, engine cut off set to ‘run’. One kick, two kick, VVVRRRRROOOOOM! Awwww, yea. I backed the bike out of the parking space and headed for a trip around the parking lot. She was running a little rough but she was running none the less. I took a quick ride around the neighborhood and got a feel for how the bike rode. It was nice, though I really couldn’t tell the difference between a smooth ride and a rough ride since this experience was new to me. All went well until I got back to the gate. ( I live in a gated complex) The bike sputtered and stalled. I kicked a couple times and got her up and running. When I got back to the oil stained parking spot I’d been working in, the bike just died and I couldn’t get it started again. No matter, I would go inside and sleep well knowing the bike was running, for the most part. The next morning I started the bike and headed over to my buddy’s house.He was letting me use his garage so I could change the oil and he only lives a half mile or so away. When I got to his house the bike died. I pulled her into the garage and prepped her for an oil change that I could only guess was well overdue. I discovered something about old engines. Evidently, if there is a lot of gunk, dirt and oil covering something, there is a good chance it’s keeping fluid from leaking out. This happened to be the case when I cleaned away the muck covering the bottom of the oil pan. After changing the oil, I noticed there was a leak coming from a small crack near the oil drain bolt. The leak isn’t too severe but it does drain about a quarter quart a day. When I started her up to head back home, she was running pretty smooth. When I got the bike home she died on me again. Only this time it wasn’t starting back up. I took out the plugs and quickly found the culprit. Too much gas and not enough air. The plugs were stained with black soot and fouled out. I cleaned them off and replaced them only to have the bike not start at all. It wasn’t until Sunday morning that I figured out how to fix the problem. After reading some more online forums and consulting the manual, I figured out that I needed to check the settings of the air screws in the carburator. After cleaning the plugs again and setting the air screws to one and a half turn from tight, the bike started right up. I was able to ride around the neighborhood several times without the bike sputtering and stalling.I know that I’ll have to take apart the carburators and clean them out eventually, but for now I just want to ride. I figure I can do all the fine tuning this winter when it’s too cold to ride. Clutch Cable: 22870-374-000/ Cost was $15.95 plus $12.92 shipping from Powers Motor Sports.

Trial and Error

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:11:00 -0400

After I got the bike home I realized there were a few things I needed to do before she would be road ready. While I was extremely excited to have a motorcycle, I didn’t really know what it would take to get this bike running. I ran out the battery trying to start it. I charged the battery over night and ran it out again the following day. Then I got smart and drained the gas. Off to the gas station for some fresh petrol and then on to Batteries Plus for a new battery. One kick, two kick, start. Whoo-Hoo! My $30 investment in a new battery and $2 in gas paid off! Or at least I thought. It didn’t run long before it died and I couldn’t get it started again. No matter, I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere even if it did. I don’t think I mentioned this but the front tire was flat and wouldn’t hold air. I spoke with a guy on Thursday about taking the tire and wheel to his scooter shop and he assured me that he could have it taken care of in a couple days. Well, a couple days turned into ten and I was still not on the road. During the wait, I spoke with him the first time and he told me that they just got in an unexpected shipment of scooters and one of the maintenance guys totaled his truck and broke his arm. Because of this, he couldn’t fix my tire right away. The second time I spoke with him he told me that their other maintenance guy got bit by a dog and was out of commission as well. I gave the guy credit because he is a nice fella and seems like a stand up guy. However, I didn’t want to wait any longer because I just wanted to ride! I made arrangements to pick up the tire (and new tube they ordered for me) and take it to a motorcycle shop for repair. Two days later I had a fresh front tire and tube all thanks to a shop close to where I work. Now, while I was waiting on the scooter guy to get my tire done, I was also waiting on UPS to deliver my new clutch cable that I ordered from Powers Edge. Those UPS knuckleheads had refused to deliver the package to my work because there was no company name on the box. The address was correct and my name was clearly on the box but the driver refused to deliver it because, he said, he needed to know what suite or floor I worked on. Look, long story short: All packages are delivered to security and the driver knew this. All he had to do was walk in and ask, “excuse me, but does this person work here?” And the security guy would have looked my name up in the directory and I would have had my F$%#ing package on Friday. Instead I had to wait until Wednesday! Here’s the kicker, when I called on Monday to see if they would attempt delivery, they said they lost the package. Then on Tuesday I asked if they found it and they were still looking. I got a call Tuesday afternoon from some slacker who told me my package was at the sort center ready for me to come pick it up. The hell with it, at least they found it and I could go get it. When I get there they tell me my package is still lost and the lady who called made a mistake! Bitch!! I get home frustrated as hell that evening vowing never to use UPS ever again in my entire life. When I check my email that evening I see that they delivered the package to my work at the same exact time I was at the sort center looking for it. What had I done to piss these people off? Who cares, at least I would have my clutch cable on Wednesday. Wednesday rolls around and I get to work at 6:30am so I can leave work early and get the clutch cable on the bike. I get home and hook it up, call my friends over so they can watch me start the bike and ride around the parking lot. (Hey, I wanted to start off easy and make sure everything was ok with the bike) Everyone gets there and I try to start it. Nothing. The bike is dead. I know the battery is good, the gas is even better (because I put some SeaFoam in it) and everything else seems right. I’m crushed. All this trouble for nothing. Turns out all I needed were some fresh plugs which I had a helluva time finding. While the Honda manual call for NGK-D7ES, nobody actually had them. It took a couple of days of reading forums before I found out that NGK no longer makes D7ES’s. Instead they make D7EA’s to replace them. Once I found those, I was in business.

My new bike

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:52:00 -0400

So I finally found my first motorcycle. After looking for a bike for over a year, I ended up getting it from a neighbor that lives right around the corner. I”ve noticed the bike sitting parked on the sidewalk in front of his place for at least 14 months but I never bothered to stop and ask if it was for sale. It wasn”t until this past May that I finally saw the guy outside and stopped him to inquire about the old Honda. The conversation went pretty quickly but I managed to get the important details like the fact that he was going to sell it, how he only wanted $400 for it, and that a new front tire would be part of the deal. I wasn”t exactly sure if I wanted it because, while he said the bike would run, he was unable to start it for me at the time. Anyway, long story short: We settled on $300 for the bike because he couldn”t get it running. On May 20th he helped me push the bike around the corner to my place and he handed over the keys. I told him I would stop by his place once I got it running and give him updates on the bikes progress. He seemed to feel good about selling the bike to someone that was going to fix it up. I felt good because I spent a helluva lot less than I planned on spending on my first bike. Also the previous owner (PO) came across like a nice guy who didn”t want to sell a lemon. On the Day I got the bike, I emailed my dad with a few pictures. What is it with people and motorcycles? Either they’re totally for them or they’re totally against them. My dad rode motorcycles when he was about my age and used to talk about it all the time when I was growing up. Now he says things like, “I wouldn’t ride out in traffic now, it’s too dangerous!” and “That’s not smart.” Well, of course it’s dangerous! All too often we read about how someone got themselves killed on a motorcycle for one reason or another. It’s the same thing whether you’re driving a car, motorcycle or bass boat. You have to be careful and assume everyone around you is out to get you. I’m not saying I’m the safest driver on the road but I think I will be as safe as I can be on a motorcycle. I get the “You’re going to kill yourself” routine from others close to me. All I can do is show them that I can be a safe and by taking the MSF defensive rider course. I can understand where they’re coming from but I guess I don’t like it because I feel like they’re attacking my judgement. I know they’re actually just concerned about me and don’t want anything bad to happen but I have to admit that it does sting a little. I’m sure I’ll get over it as I’m crusing down the road with the wind in my face. :-) Don’t get me wrong, not everyone is down on my new project. I have more than a few friends that are as excited or almost as excited as I am about having a bike. To each their own I guess.