More carb work

I got all the parts cleaned up and am ready to start assembly. I haven't ordered all that I need yet, but they still can get back to a bank of 4.

Here is a pile of all the parts that will be replaced. Primary and secondary jets of course, the needles were worn so I will replace those, one of the needle jets got dinged taking it out (oops...) so I'll replace those as well. The rest is bowl float needles, o-rings, and hardware.

Here is the new stainless hardware I ordered for the carbs. The o-rings I had to buy a minimum of 20, so I have extras I could try and sell.

These are a few parts right after the parts cleaning. Pine-sol did a pretty amazing job (destroyed my hands though). It took varnished gas right off of the bowls and carb bodies very nicely. That brass fuel "T" was black when I took it off!

Not too much to see on the carb bodies, but they are definitely much cleaner than before.

Here's an easy illustration of how well the ultrasonic cleaner with pine-sol works. I only ran the ultrasonic timer for 3 minutes on half of these brackets.

I got the carb bank back together, but I don't have a picture yet. Still have to buy all new jets and needles, bowl gaskets, and o-rings that come with the rebuild kits. That will probably wait a few weeks though.

1979 Honda CB750F

With it so cold out, I haven't spent any time finishing up the Yamaha, so I grabbed the carbs out of the Honda I bought in the spring. On the work table I set up in the basement, I began the tear down so I can clean them up and rebuild them for the spring. This will be my first 4 banger motorcycle I've worked on, and the first one I don't plan on selling.

When I bought the bike the seller told me that he had the carbs all set to go with the correct jets. That didn't really mean much to me since most of the bike was apart, so when I opened them up I wasn't all that surprised. He had HUGE jets in the wrong spot, screws missing, gaskets missing, passageways plugged, diaphragms torn, the list goes on. I even found a bent choke plate.

The next step is to clean the bodies. I picked up an ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight, and it sounds like Pine Sol is an excellent cleaner for them. I need to order rebuild kits which will include stock tubes, jets, gaskets, and seals. I'll also end up buying jets that are about 15% larger than stock so that I can run high flow filters and exhaust. This is where having 4 cylinders instead of 2 gets pricey. I have already bought new stainless hardware to replace the rusty and stripped old philips head bolts. This was only about $15.

Back on the road

After I got the peg mounts welded back up, I went for a cruise with some guys at work. The new foot placement is so much more comfortable and the bike handles even better now too with my weight centered more.

Cut up again

Well, yesterday a co-worker setup an after work cruise with some people down to Pittsburgh. So I decided that because of the route we are taking the bike needed the foot pegs moved finally. I've been thinking about doing this for the last couple weeks because hard left turns my toe hits the ground if it is under the shift lever. This will also help take some of my weight off of my hands having my feet in front of me a little more.

With that decision made, I jumped right into it. Got the rear half of the bike disassembled, I estimated the amount I wanted to remove, and cut with a sawzall. Tonight I have to get the grinder down there to clean everything up and weld it all back up.

little update

I'm a little late on this as usual, but here's some pictures. We were on vacation back to CT last week, so just before we left I was able to get the bike on the road. I'm over 100 miles now. Still no blinkers, the license plate mount is done, heat wrap is on, and the handle bar and foot peg locations are a little uncomfortable. I moved the bars above the top tree and that's a little better, but I think I need to move the foot pegs up and forward to take some of my body weight off of my hands.

For now, here's some pics. I'll get more with a more detailed update this weekend. 

Almost there...

Spent Labor Day working on the bike and got a good amount done. The trailtech speedometer/tach is on, the ignition switch has a bracket mounted under the seat, and the front blinkers have brackets. Last night the new muffler came in. It's made from stainless steel by Cone Engineering. It is their 2" "quiet-er" muffler, and it is definitely quiet-er than I expected, but still very very nice.

Things that are left to finish:

license plate mount

rear brake rod (currently en route via USPS)

exhaust paint and heat wrap 

rear blinker tabs 

wire front/rear blinkers

I also need to modify the steering stops because I re-positioned the handle bars to be in a more comfortable riding location but now they hit the tank at full turn.

Seat is Done

Finished up the seat cover this weekend. Super happy with it, especially for my first time sewing. The seat pan is painted with epoxy paint for rust prevention, there's a whole ton of steel rivets with washers, and has the hardware through for mounting to the tail section.