Fresh meat!

[jleewebb]

Wondered who bought those Silver books...you got an e-bargain, I paid 50 bucks for mine.

Retrobikes doesn't have the rear brake cable, I just checked when I bought new flat bars, petcock kit, and tach cable from them. Aftermarket version is available from canadian company, check ebay, but it doesn't appear to have have grease fitting, and that cable looks pretty hard to lube otherwise. I'd like to find a real one too. ???

They do have your air filters, best price you'll find.

As for tire sizes, lots of folks put bigger tires on back in the day, including me, mostly to look cooler. I'm going with stock size and style tires on my restoration based on experts recommendations here and realization that these bikes were engineered and designed to handle best on the narrow, sticky tires they came with. They wear out quicker, being softer, but they're relatively cheap. Olypen (retrobikes) sells them too.

Welcome to the monkey house, you're gonna have fun.

[Loudo]

I found a little time to take some baby steps toward getting the bike serviceable. Here's a couple photos post-snow Seattle style.

My first goal was to replace the throttle cable because the broken cable made start-up unmanageable. Now I understand that these bikes are cold-blooded under any condition and they don't have modern cold-starting fuel systems, but not being able to manipulate the throttle was just a joke. I purchased a new throttle cable from an eBay vendor. After removing the old cable, I noted the new cable was a couple inches shorter. Cause for concern. I was especially puzzled since I have the low bar bike and can't see the need for a shorter throttle cable for any bike in the series. But I forged ahead and replaced the cable.

After snaking the cables under the coils into the position matching the route the old cable had taken, I noted the slides did not fall to the bottom of the throttle body even with the throttle hand grip in "throttle off" position. Not even close, like a half inch or more of daylight below the slide. I got a little back by screwing the cable adjuster all the way in. Still not there. I noted that I had only screwed in the curved ferrule portion of the cable into the handle bracket a few threads because that was the position of the old cable. I figured I could get a little more needed slack in the cable if I screwed the ferrule in all the way, but this could only be done by twisting the cable around and around. So after staring at it and thinking dark thoughts for a long moment I bit the bullet and removed the freshly installed cable in order to do this screwing in thing. Isn't it amazing how something that took one a half hour to do the first time takes about four minutes the next time? Wait...I mean the next five times.

So after doing this I think I might have enough cable length. The slides are juuuust at the bottom of the carbs with a peek of daylight below them. I can turn the throttle grip about 1/8" before the slides move, and I understand this is important to have a little slack. There's not as much as I'd like, I'll worry about that later if I have to. The cable label says KSI part number 17910-268-810, and I note that the 1969 parts manual says it should be 17910-268-000. Did I buy the wrong part even though it was described as fitting my bike? I don't even see the "810" part listed in the parts catalog.

I received the Bill Silver books this weekend and it's just a fire hose of information. I'll be doing some reading. Some pics with comments are below.

All comments, suggestions, and admonishments would be greatly appreciated.

[Loudo]

I must have been up against the file size limit so I couldn't load all the photos I wanted in the last post. Here are some more pics with comments.

[davomoto]

The 810 cable you got is for Honda CYB clip on bars, hence shorter than what you had. If it works out for you fine, but if not, I have a CB77 with clip ons that could use that cable. Let me know if you want to sell it.

davomoto

[Gun]

the badges are the honda issued replacements for the acrylic badges that were prone to warping in the sun and scratching etc...

I'd probably buy two new carb kits and replace those floats/jets/needles.

i'm actually going about that same process on my bike.

i'm not knowledgable to comment on the slides however.

[Gunner_CAF]

I am no pro, but over the last year I have cleaned over a half a dozen carbs from cycles, snowmobiles and garden tractors. They all have been sitting for years with fuel. They all worked much better when I cleaned them. Here is what I did.

Take off the carbs, buy a can of carb cleaner. Clean one carb at a time so you don't mix the parts and if you don't remeber how it went together, you can watch closer when you do the second carb. Remove the floats and needle valve. With a screwdriver, remove all the orifices and the needle valve seat. Carefully turn in all adjusting screws and count the turns until they are all the way in, record this then remove them.

Use the carb cleaner with the straw attached and spray out every passage. If you study it closely you can see where the channels go and they do all so someplace. Wear eye protection because it is not pleasant to get carb cleaner in your eyes. If any are blocked, compressed air will help clear them. Soak the bowls and the small parts. I used a small needle to make sure all the small orifices are open. Inspect the needle valve and seat, if these look worn, they may need to be replaced. If the float have any holes, or have gas in them, they will need to be replaced. If not, they can be cleaned up with Carb cleaner.

Once you are sure all the channels are clear, and everything is clean, put it back together. Turn all the adjusting screws in and back them out to their original position. Make sure the slides are clean and slide easily. Make sure the pin and grove are lined up an do not force these or they could get damaged if they are not aligned correctly.

Once back together, it should be good to go. If needed, adjust the floats and tune per the manual or the instructions here in the FAQ.

Another thing I found with My CB77 in the fuel line connection, I think it's called a banjo joint. It's a movable joint. It had a lot of junk in this joint, so I cleaned it out with carb cleaner. It has a screen that was also plugged. I read someplace these can be removed. I have in-line filters, so I cut these off and cleaned this joint good.

Gunner

[Loudo]

In the mail tomorrow should be my carb rebuild kits, air filters, and shop manual. I was able to order the shift lever oil seal from the local Honda dealer...$11, but whaddya gonna do?

I've attached photos of the stator, points and battery ground cable and have these questions:

1. The cloth covering over the stator coils appears to be quite oily. I don't know much about this stuff, but when I think "electrical" I think "dry is good." The parts diagram doesn't show an oil seal in the area, but is there a chance I have an oil seal in need of replacement? Is this something that needs urgent attention or not?

2. Similarly, in the bottom-most mounting screw below the points plate resides a drop of oil. Assuming that the oil seal (16287 size) needs replacement, is this a pretty common malady that should be corrected right away?

The first photo shows a problem with the kickstarter/rear brake pedal. Evidently the bike got dropped some time in the last 45 years and shoved the brake pedal under the kickstarter. I plan to remove the brake pedal and give it a different shape. Shift lever suffers similarly and will get the same treatment.