In (On) with the New

Sunday, 02.24.2013:  New tires, tubes, and rim strips showed up over the weekend!  Now the real fun begins... wrestling with getting the old tires off and the new tires on.  Definitely time consuming and quite the workout, but the savings is incredible.  Honda of Cool Springs wanted over $120 to mount the new tires...  $80 if I took the wheels off and saved them that labor.  I figured I'd at least give it a shot and if I got fed up with it, I'd concede and pay the dealership's astronomical rates.  It was definitely no small feat, but I did ultimately get the old tires off of the rims.  I had a feeling there would be some significant rust that I was going to have to sand/polish out.  And there was.  Fortunately, my buddy, George, had a couple of different wire brush attachments that can be mounted to a drill, so I was able to save a considerable amount of time using these wire brushes.  Even with the wire brushes, I probably spent close to two hours per wheel getting them to a place where I felt comfortable mounting new tubes and tires.

One of the other headaches with changing tires is removing the wheels.  Mainly the rear wheel.  This bike has an endless chain (as opposed to a chain with a "master" link that allows for easy removal).  And the rivets are smashed or mushroomed, so a chain breaking tool renders useless.  The only way the chain was coming off of this bike was to remove the rear swing arm and disconnect the left rear shock.  Sigh...

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, because while it added another 30 minutes worth of work, it was good practice and provided a greater understanding of how all of these parts go and work together.

A new chain (with a master link) is definitely going to go on this bike down the road, but the existing one appears to be in good enough shape that I can get away with running it for another or so - after I've paid for a couple of other things like a helmet (I gave my old helmet away to my friend, Eric, in AZ years ago because I didn't think I'd ever own another motorcycle after CO.), registration fees, etc.

Here are a few pics of the wheels and drive chain off of the bike, brakes and wheels after some cleaning up, and the rims during the rust removal:

And here are some pics of the new tires just after being delivered and then the rear tire after being mounted:

Out (Off) with the Old

Friday, 02.22.2013:  Spring is right around the corner and that means great riding weather.  I've been tracking my restoration costs to the penny and have been draining my "motorcycle account" pretty much within a day or two of my funds being replenished.  Fortunately I set out on this adventure/project with a budget because I can see where one could easily piss away thousands and thousands of dollars "restoring" a bike.  That being said, one of the last necessary items needed to be able to take the CL450 for a spin was new rim strips, inner tubes, and tires.  The old tires were dry rotted and the front inner tube wouldn't even hold air.  In order to get this thing on the road by mid-march, I needed to sell some stuff.  Enter Craigslist.org.  I had bought a 55 lb thrust trolling motor and battery box for our canoe a little over a year ago and sadly never got around to buying a battery and putting the thing to use, so I listed both items and within a day or so, got a call and an offer which I gladly accepted.  This "garage sale" just became my "new tires" fund!

Here are a few pics of the old tires and the rims before being replaced and the rims being sanded with a wire brush drill attachment:

Setting Point Gaps and Ignition Timing

Point gaps and ignition timing are proving to be trickier than I thought they'd be...  I won't bore you with all the details (like loosening the contact plate screws and turning the entire plate clockwise or counterclockwise to advance or retard ignition timing. Along with turning the alternator crank counterclockwise to get left and right contact points to both open to their widest gaps. And then there's getting the LF and LT marks on the rotor to line up with the index pointer to set the timing of the left piston/cylinder. And the then doing the same for the right cylinder - marked with just an L and T, and so on...).  What I did learn through this process is that when in doubt, buy new points!  In fact, the USPS (in what may be one of their final Saturday deliveries) should be delivering my new points today.  So, that will give me something to do until my broken tachometer, speedo, front brake, and clutch cables get here.  But, I digress...

Getting back to statically setting the ignition timing, I'm finding that it's part art/part science.  I'm hoping these new points make the process a little easier.  Here are a few pics of all of the stripped out screws I had to Dremel to get out and replace.  Along with the contact breaker points, spark advance unit, and alternator.  When I first opened the points and alternator covers, I had no idea what I was staring at.  I read and re-read about a dozen different write-ups about what they do and how to set them and the ignition timing, but it was all greek to me.  After trying my hand at setting the point gaps and timing (using a 12v test light), going back and reading some of the write-ups actually made perfect sense!  I love it when I learn something new.

It's Alive!

Thursday, 01.31.13:  Changed out the spark plugs with brand new NGK B8ES plugs. (Note to self - there are three different styles of spark plug terminal caps: Solid, Loose, and Stud.  Loose plugs have a threaded cap that makes them look like solid terminals, but can be screwed off to expose the stud so they can be used on low impedance spark plug wires.)  The terminal caps were a bear to get off, but after putting them in a vice and using a pair of pliers, I was able to finally unscrew them.  I was short on time, but for grins, I thought I'd try starting up the bike.  I had adjusted the contact point gaps the previous weekend and thought that maybe I could get away with using the old plugs.  They fired sparks after all.  And all of the struggle and confusion with getting the terminal caps off of the new plugs had me thinking I had the wrong ones.

Spark plug terminal caps off!

Here's some video of the bike coming to life:

Friday, 02.01.13:  Tried adjusting/syncing the carbs... To no avail.  Checked the plugs and they are black/covered in carbon.  Also noticed quite a bit of white smoke coming out of my crankcase breather hose, so it sounds like it's running rich.  Am going to set the ignition timing sometime this next week and then give adjusting the carbs another shot.

So Close... Yet So Far Away...

Saturday/Sunday, 01.26/27.2013:  Spent a good portion of this last weekend oiling my air filters, de-rusting parts, and putting things back on the frame.  I had really high hopes of the bike starting.  I tested the spark plugs by laying each plug on top of the engine and stepping on the kick pedal.  Both of them shot sparks, so that would imply that my spark plug wires and ignition coils are still good.  I soldered a severed wire for the back right turn signal.  I checked and adjusted the gaps for my contact breaker points...  The list goes on and on.  I was going to take off the stator (alternator) cover and check and adjust ignition timing, but decided against it until I drained the oil again.  There seems to be some oil inside of that cover.  Surely the alternator isn't completely submerged in oil, but I'm wondering if it has some sort of self oiling mechanism that lets some of the oil in from the left crankcase?

I also lubed up the throttle cable with some PB Blaster.  The housing was broken in a couple of spots and was causing the throttle grip to stick open.  Amazingly the PB Blaster fixed it.  Aesthetically, it may not be the prettiest cable to look at, but it has definitely sprung back to life!

Anyway, got her back to together Sunday morning, poured some fuel in the tank.  Turned the (new) fuel petcock from off to on and... nothing.  So, we turned it all the way over to reserve and finally started to see some gas flow down through my new 1/4" clear fuel lines and inline fuel filters all the way to the carburetors.  So far, so good!  I turned the key in the ignition switch, closed the choke, and pressed the starter button...  Amazingly the starter sounded pretty healthy considering the bike has been sitting for so long.  It wanted to start so badly (or maybe it was me who wanted the bike to start so badly?)!  My buddy, George, noticed that the left carb overflow vent was working (i.e. the float height needed adjusted because the gas was filling up inside of the carbs float bowl and overflowing).  And so that meant taking the left carb back off of the bike, draining it, and then opening the float bowl.  I built a homemade float height gauge out of an old O'Charley's gift card (the float height needed to be 20mm).  Strange thing is, the height was closer to 22mm when I took my initial measurement and you'd think, if anything, that it would have been less than 20mm and would have been the cause of the float not doing its job of keeping gas from filling up and overflowing like it was.  For grins, I went ahead and adjusted it to 20mm anyway.  Buttoned it back up and put it back on the bike.

I poured a little more gas in the tank this time - thinking that perhaps that was why the petcock's 'on' setting wasn't working previously - turned the petcock to 'on' and nothing...  Turned it all the way over to 'reserve' and nothing.  Gas flow to the carbs work by gravity.  So, it could be that there was some residue that I wasn't able to rinse out of the tank that ended up clogging my new petcock.  Or, maybe the inline fuel filters I bought had already clogged?  To troubleshoot this, I'll likely just disconnect the fuel lines at the carbs and work my way up the lines, to the filters, then to the petcock, and finally the tank.  Good times!

Well, it's back to the drawing board...

Here are a few pics of how things were shaping up prior to yesterday's attempts at starting her up.

Carbs Are Back On the Bike

Sunday, 01.13.2013:  Things always take longer than expected when working on a project like this...  Disclaimer aside, I lost steam on Sunday and while originally hoping to get the carbs, fuel tank, fuel lines and filters back on the bike so I could try starting it, I only ended up putting new allen head fasteners on the carbs and putting them back on the bike.  Progress nevertheless...

 

Front Drive Chain Cover and Oil Change

Saturday, 01.19.2013:  Whew!  I had to use a ton of PB Blaster penetrating lubricant, patience, and elbow grease in order to get some of these fasteners loosened up.  Things finally loosened up and I was able to get the gear shifter lever and front drive chain cover off of the bike.

Here are some before and after pics:

Looks like a critter was having dinner inside of the front drive chain cover in the picture above!

Here is an after shot - used a flathead screwdriver, some brake parts cleaner, and some old toothbrushes to get out all of the crud!

Sunday, 01.13.2013: Cleaned out the oil filter/pump, installed a new o-ring, and then drained and replenished 3 qts of Valvoline 10W-40 4-stroke motorcycle engine oil.  Meant to take more pictures here; particularly of the oil pump parts and assembly, but all I got was a shot of this rusty old engine oil drain plug. 

I'll document it better when I change the oil again in a few days.  You may be asking, "You're changing the oil again in just a few days?"  To which I reply, "Yep."  I'm going to dump about a cup of kerosene into the crankcase to help loosen up any funky stuff, carbon deposits, etc. that may have built up over time inside of the engine, let that burn off (assuming the bike fires up), and then drain and refill the oil a second time.