what did you wrench on today??

[oldGSfan]

I was riding the GS1000 up the road to test the carbs and all of a sudden things got very loud. Immediately I realized the issue and checked mirror to see the baffle rolling down the street. The bolt had come loose and out it came. Gentlemen, check your baffle bolts!

Must have looked like it was having its morning constitutional. No cars behind to run it over and it is OK, I stashed it under a tree and fetched it a few minutes later. I got some V&H batting (?) on sale and wired it up after watching a video - not complicated but I had never re-installed baffle material. The old stuff was all bunched to the rear so maybe a good thing.

 

[tomo]

Spent the last year re-building my 1978 CX500. It was my everyday transport year round for many years, before hibernating in the shed for the last ten. Anyway, finally got the engine into the frame and the wiring re-done. The engine has been totally rebuilt, so I was a little nervous when I put in the oil, filled up the cooling system and put petrol in the tank. Three possible sources for leaks !. She fired up second push on the starter and purred like a kitten. Slight oil leak from the rear cover case but fingers crossed no other problems. Brakes to sort out now, then new tyres, then hopefully get her back on the road.

 

[oldGSfan]

That's great, it's a good feeling to start a long dormant bike and have things go well. That's a tough bike anyway plus it's a Honda, nearly as tough as a Suzuki!

Spent the last year re-building my 1978 CX500. It was my everyday transport year round for many years, before hibernating in the shed for the last ten. Anyway, finally got the engine into the frame and the wiring re-done. The engine has been totally rebuilt, so I was a little nervous when I put in the oil, filled up the cooling system and put petrol in the tank. Three possible sources for leaks !. She fired up second push on the starter and purred like a kitten. Slight oil leak from the rear cover case but fingers crossed no other problems. Brakes to sort out now, then new tyres, then hopefully get her back on the road.

 

[oldGSfan]

More fun with Corvette today, helped seal and top coat the car, came out very well.

Also working on my '66 Norton N15CS and met a guy at the local cars & coffee that had some parts, he has Rickman Triumph and Montesa, and Norton P11. I scored a set of '73 Commando forks, disc brake wheel, caliper and master cylinder, handlebars and rear wheel for a great price, and I will be mating them up to my bike. He had a twin leading shoe front wheel which would look cool but the disc brake is a better stopper and was way cheaper, so I went for that. What's funny is that my spare GS850 shocks will bolt right up and are the right length. Not a long term solution but good enough to get it on its feet.

 

[Guest]

This might be the roughest GS450 this site has seen, but it's a bike that I picked up from someone else this way. I've been trying to make this thing both safe to ride and possible to ride at low speed. While it isn't the best idle and certainly doesn't operate as it should just yet, I'm at least proud to say that this bike now finally idles on both cylinders!

I'll need to re-check the float level on the left carb since I did see it flood after I stopped the bike for a minute or so (was in prime, so a me failure instead of a petcock failure), then there will definitely need a fuel-air adjustment to see if this is workable jetting.

Edit:. Here's a follow-up of tonight's work. That's a cold start. No long cranking. No drama. I can also report that I was able to drive down the block just fine with it, with plenty of power at hand for the size.

Just now get to finely balance out the air/fuel, balance the carbs, and set the final idle speed. The throttle also still hangs a bit, but leaning the mixture helps with that some.
Hopefully that will tune out but if not, I'm sure the problem would be the poorly drilled vacuum slide, which I'd either patch or replace to try to restore stock-like behavior. With this bike as loud as it is, that sadly leaves just a few hours each afternoon to play with this so that I'm not that obnoxious neighbor...

Tonight's improved run video:

 

[dorkburger]

Ugh.... cage sh1t.
While recently addressing an annoying noise on the 08 Pilot, I found that the front brake pads were shot. Maybe a 1/16 inch left. I had extravagant plans of doing a proper job and getting the rotors cut ( if that’s even still a thing), but with a trip planned for next weekend, it just got new pads and the caliper slides cleaned and lubed. Then an oil change. The car has developed a small exhaust leak. The exhaust is crumbling and the flange between the cat and exhaust is a former shell of itself. The nuts were completely rusted off. I was able to pound out one of three studs. Pounding on the other two just bent the flange. I bent them back, clamped them with vise grips, and blew some boogers on the flange with the welder and put a nut / bolt on the one that came out. It will hopefully buy another year or so. Exhaust leak fixed. I also scrubbed off another layer of oxidized paint. I’ve nicknamed the car Chalk ( it’s white, and name fits)

The other was the Jeep. My wife called last last week and said it had “that smell”’again. The smell was from dragging brakes, this time from the rear. Thankfully this time it wasn’t from an ineptly designed brake hose, but a sticky caliper slide pin. I checked and cleaned both sides. Other then time, thankfully Just Empty Every Pocket didn’t apply.

 

[mcycle-nut]

New fork seals and upper bushing on my '82 GS1100EZ. Seems the lower ones are disco.

 

[roeme]

Well, something a bit different for me today: Dishwasher.

Mine, a recent but bottom-line model (it was a gift) complained about something and didn't complete washing cycles. Now since these models are built to a price (and often have the same internal components and only different branding), you'll get error codes only through blinkenlights, no display, nada.

While online manufacturer resources are quite alright (you can enter the model number, and get limited component drawings, manuals and replacements parts), it pointed me to calling a technician quite soon. Not wanting to give up that easily (and the model
is out of warranty anyway, so I'd be paying right from the start), I've set out to troubleshoot it by myself first. Now the error given by the unit's brain could be caused by multiple things; after checking the inlet filter screens on the faucets, and making sure the waste pump impeller was fine as well, only an obstructed outlet remained. The end of the drain hose looked fine though, and letting it drain into a bucket revealed no serious obstruction. Some nasty *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ came out though, and researching on this further, most likely I've had some bio contamination in the wastewater path of the unit's water matrix (This can happen for various reasons, but if you're more than one person in your household and/or run your dishwasher on the hottest cycle from time to time, you'll be fine).

So, the unit could still drain, but electronics detected the increased resistance from the pump (or reduced outlet flow rate), and so stopped the cycle after the pre-wash stage (when it drains for the first time). Now it seems to me that threshold for that was maybe set a bit too low, but I guess if I were in the engineer's shoes, I'd opt for better be safe than sorry as well. On that note, it's amazing what can be done nowadays using simple components and some clever programming (remember, it's a cheapo unit). Instead of working until breaking completely, I got some advance notice.

Anyway, a few cycles with some bleach added got rid of the bio gunk (real nasty crap got spit out the draining hose), and now it's back in service. No excuse anymore for plates piling up...

 

[oldGSfan]

Not working on it, as it's long gone, but a friend of mine got a '68 Shelby GT500 triple black convertible that had a 427 dropped in new at the local Ford dealer (Theodore Robbins Ford of Costa Mesa) as a wedding present. When he was divorcing, it went up for sale. I knew it was a unicorn as soon as I lifted the hood. It did not compute, I knew it should normallyn be a 428, and I know what the 427 was, and looked like. He got maybe $60K for it, back around 1999.

I had been in Australia a couple years and his business had grown, he had a nice shop, and over in the corner I spotted the car. We took it for a nice long drive, it would pin you back and get a lot of attention. I wanted to buy it but was trying to buy a house and no dice. His father-in-law ran a Mustang reproduction parts business. Nice gift. I reminded him of it recently and said "man, you shouldn't have sold that". He asked what would it be worth and I guessed high 6, maybe low 7 figures? Supposedly only 10 made. He says it just sold for $1.2M. Better to have loved and lost is the saying, but I'd rather keep on lovin'.

https://www.americanmusclecarmuseum.com/shelby-vehicles/53-1968-shelby-gt500.html

 

[rustybronco]

Too many miles, too little smiles.

Too many miles, too little smiles.

$85 for new parts. Too much money. $7 of rod more my style.

https://ibb.co/D4qGQx3


https://ibb.co/R6nMYMh


https://ibb.co/mHSKH9f

I need to TIG up all the worn bits from the rollers.

https://ibb.co/B3dX6dL

 

[oldGSfan]

Tearing apart Norton 750, engine and transmission stripped, not terribly difficult, but every other part is a press fit bushing or bearing, so I'm using my $5 toaster oven a lot. My pizzas are starting to taste like 90W. The insides of engine and gearbox are really good, light wear and no signs of ham fisted previous work except on one internal clutch operating lock ring. It requires a special tool and most drift it out with a punch. I had to also use heat in the oven, and a punch, but will make a proper tool for re-assembly. It's one of those cut up a socket to fit the slots deals.

Bike will be pretty cool. $150 is cheap for a nearly complete Norton/Matchless hybrid with a beautifully painted oil and gas tank. Then you consider parting it out, because after a year of rebuilding, and probably $2500 in parts (I keep a spreadsheet, and it's adding up - just the normal wear items and some labor!), you end up with a $5K bike. Which means your time is about $0.65 an hour. But it's fun, and I want to ride it, so I perservere.

Here's a couple pics, first is how I rigged up the vice to remove the countershaft sprocket, using the gearbox mounting plates to secure it, and an old chain to lock the movement. That big nut is a reverse (LH) thread so I've got the screwdriver oriented wrong, but it worked once I adjusted my method. A 1.5" trailer ball wrench I had lying around fit perfectly. I checked another forum and others had found out the same and used with success. The 2nd is the bits on the bench, prior to removing the lock ring with the punch.

The non-unit transmission is very interesting in that it (1) is extremely compact and has just 2 shafts, and (2) the input from the engine is inside the main shaft, and coming back out, the outside splined drive runs the countershaft sprocket. A real pain to change a sprocket that is sandwiched between a primary drive/clutch mechanism and the gearbox.

 

[mcycle-nut]

Changed the middle and final drive gear oils on my wife's '82 GS850. While I was at it changed the final drive gear oil on my Super Tenere as well.

 

[Burque73]

Made some progress on the FJR today. The main stay that holds the fairing and headlight together was twisted. Ordered one used from ebay that was (mostly) straight. Had to make a few adjustments, but it'll do nicely.









Lots to do still though.

 

[Redman]

Made some progress on the FJR today..
.
.
.
Lots to do still though.

Good to hear of some progress.
More parts to get??

 

[Redman]

To get at least some start on restarting the GK engine rebuild project ......

Started looking at getting some familiarity with piston rings. (taint never seen any of my piston rings before this project, and dont want to see any again afterwards).
Reading the factory manaul and practicing with the rings that came with the replacement/salvage pistons.

Was having trouble getting the two in the lower oil ring. Found that soup cans are about the right diameter, and cut them up with tin snips to make something of a ring compressor. That really helped. And managed to avoid slicing myself.... only a small nick.

Hose clamp around it might work for getting into cyclinder (why I made two).

 

[Burque73]

Good to hear of some progress.
More parts to get??

Same here. It's easy to procrastinate on this, especially with another to ride in the mean time. Not to mention the garage being a miserable place to be until now.

Yeah, I still have more parts to get. Am up over $700 now on new/ used parts and still have a ways to go. I'd say maybe another $200 ish.

I looked all over and couldn't find a small part of the inner cowl that goes to the left of the gas tank. This one twisted and broke pretty badly. I found the bigger mid and upper fairing pieces, one new and one from fleabay. Both silver and perfect matches, but this small one isn't in production anymore apparently.

I decided to use a heat gun and sttraighten this one a bit, then weld it back together. Harbor Freight has a plastic welding kit that works pretty darn well. The welding rod it came with is really flexible though so I used black zip ties. It seemed to be a perfect match in consistency. The screen on the back side, once imbedded in melted zip ties, made it super stout and I'm pleased with it. Just needs sanding and maybe some black paint, or not...

20210920_162821 by Roger, on Flickr

20210920_164249 by Roger, on Flickr

20210920_184051 by Roger, on Flickr

20210920_172522 by Roger, on Flickr

 

[Cipher]

I freed a 1/4 inch rusted up socket wrench.
Took an hour.
Wrenched on a wrench.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

I did a ghetto tubeless conversion on a second set of wheels for my fat bike.

 

[bonanzadave]

2012 dodge journey back brakes. One each caliper pins were rusted and frozen into the caliper carriers. What a F'n bitch !!!

 

[oldGSfan]

Gutted my '69 Airstream Caravel for renovation. Inside patch, caulk and paint is done as well as window and door rubber and screens, now onto the rest, big job.