So after the previous post, I essentially ran out of time to work on the bike that summer. Me and my family took a trip to Tennessee, after which I had to go back to Columbus for school. However, during the year I was able to make a few trips back to Toledo and get some simple stuff done on the bike. I don’t have a lot of pictures from this unfortunately, but I can give a general overview of what I did.
First off, I put on the hand controls. This includes the brake and clutch levers, accelerator, and the electrical controls. I ended up buying new cables for the clutch and accelerator, because the old ones I had were in very poor condition. I also ended up ordering a pair of generic motorcycle controls for the electrical stuff, because the old Honda controls were in bad condition and the OEM parts were extraordinarily expensive. In light of that I had to make some minor modifications to the way controls were wired, but it all ended up working okay in the end.
Unfortunately, most of what I did during the school year was discover problems I hadn’t noticed before. Firstly, I realized that the way I had put together the points advance and contactor was incorrect. So I disassembled that with the intention of reassembling it and setting the timing during the summer. Additionally, I had to open up the clutch activator housing, because I was getting a loud metallic snapping noise from the clutch when I attempted to disengage it. This was also something I decided to leave until summer.
I discovered the biggest problem while attempting to finish installing the front brake assembly. The forks are not symmetrical – there is a left and a right fork. The left fork actually bolts to the brake to prevent it from spinning, making it an integral part of the brake’s functioning. So rather than risk brake failure trying to jerry-rig a solution, I figured I’d do the right thing and swap the forks. This required completely taking apart the front fork and putting it back together again. This was extraordinarily difficult, as I don’t have a winch or any kind of jacks that would work with the bike, and the bike was at that point about 10 times heavier than when I first put the front fork together. In the end I had to get some help. It took three people to put it up on a stand, where we had one person hold the bike while the other two switched out the forks. It was a long and very difficult job, but we got it done.
This done however, allowed me to put together the front brake assembly. Also, with this done I am very close to completion of the project. The bike itself is almost entirely rebuilt at this point, and all that really remains is getting the distributor working and the motor running (well, that and mounting the gauges). I have the summer to get it finished.
To-do list:
- Fix distributor
- Set ignition timing
- Set valve clearances
- Install speedo and tach (along with gauge lights)
- Clean up and mount seat
- Install rear lights (brake light and turn signals)