1962 Superhawk Restoration: Here I go

e3steve · Post by **e3steve** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:07 pm

I made the mistake of spraying some WD-40 in there once which leaked into the starter button area, therefor completing the circuit and forcing the starter to kickover everytime the ingnition was turned on. Oops.

Scott, WD40 does not conduct! Water might cause a short, where copper contacts are used, by electrolytic effect (meaning an element of voltage must be present to create an electrolytic path across the contacts; this would occur via hysteresis where the voltage passes through the starter solenoid [magnetic switch] and will present itself on the starter wire at the button contact -- the ignition would have to be ON to cause this electrolysis). WD40 will purge any water immediately, but not necessarily the electrolytic path. However, I reckon you may have a shorted starter wire inside the throttle cave.

Experience 1, WD40 saves the day: Back in '75 I had a MkII Mini 1275 Cooper S; ploughed it too fast through a rather large puddle that was deeper than I anticipated and literally flooded the distributor, thus stopping the car in the middle of 6" of muddy water. Lifted the bonnet (OK, hood), shin-deep in chilly water, removed the distributor-cap & leads, sprayed the inside of the cap with WD40 and shook it out. Stuck the whole lot back together, squelched back inside, flicked the key and it fired up. Drove out of the bloody puddle/small lake v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y! That's at least 10,000 volts of HT, so it definitely won't 'track' or short out at 12 volts.

Experience 2, copper contacts, water & volts: Take one Sunseeker Predator 58 with poorly-fitted windlass footswitches on the foredeck; add heavy rainfall during the night and mix well with rainwater seepage into one of the footswitches. The recipe of water & copper contacts caused the contacts to 'make' sufficiently to pull the solenoid and pay out the anchor chain, all by itself; the anchor was secured with its safety clevis pin in place so the chain bunched and jammed the gipsy, the gipsy clutch was wound tight so the windlass motor burnt out.

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:28 pm

Interesting stories. I understand that WD-40 stands for "water displacent, 40th atempt", but the only thing that really changed was the addition of the WD-40. I first checked for any points of contact, that being the most obvious cause, but alas, everything looked good. Only after some time and troubleshooting all the other possibilites is when I theorized the WD-40. After cleaning it out completely the porblem was solved and hasn't happened since. At no time was any water introduced to the bike. I guess we'll never know for sure on this one.

e3steve wrote:
I made the mistake of spraying some WD-40 in there once which leaked into the starter button area, therefor completing the circuit and forcing the starter to kickover everytime the ingnition was turned on. Oops.
Scott, WD40 does not conduct! Water might cause a short, where copper contacts are used, by electrolytic effect (meaning an element of voltage must be present to create an electrolytic path across the contacts; this would occur via hysteresis where the voltage passes through the starter solenoid [magnetic switch] and will present itself on the starter wire at the button contact -- the ignition would have to be ON to cause this electrolysis). WD40 will purge any water immediately, but not necessarily the electrolytic path. However, I reckon you may have a shorted starter wire inside the throttle cave.

Experience 1, WD40 saves the day: Back in '75 I had a MkII Mini 1275 Cooper S; ploughed it too fast through a rather large puddle that was deeper than I anticipated and literally flooded the distributor, thus stopping the car in the middle of 6" of muddy water. Lifted the bonnet (OK, hood), shin-deep in chilly water, removed the distributor-cap & leads, sprayed the inside of the cap with WD40 and shook it out. Stuck the whole lot back together, squelched back inside, flicked the key and it fired up. Drove out of the bloody puddle/small lake v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y! That's at least 10,000 volts of HT, so it definitely won't 'track' or short out at 12 volts.

Experience 2, copper contacts, water & volts: Take one Sunseeker Predator 58 with poorly-fitted windlass footswitches on the foredeck; add heavy rainfall during the night and mix well with rainwater seepage into one of the footswitches. The recipe of water & copper contacts caused the contacts to 'make' sufficiently to pull the solenoid and pay out the anchor chain, all by itself; the anchor was secured with its safety clevis pin in place so the chain bunched and jammed the gipsy, the gipsy clutch was wound tight so the windlass motor burnt out.

Gunner_CAF · Post by **Gunner_CAF** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:58 pm

I saw this on the History Channel, WD stands for water displacement and was made for the space industry. Water in the cold of space is not good. I'm not sure how it conducts electricity, contact cleaner is what I would use to clean electrical contacts.

I had to re-solder the end on the starter switch contact, and I had a wild strand that shorted out the starter switch. My solution is hot glue. It works great when you need to insulate bare wire in tight spaces like on the end of switches. It also adds a bit of mechanical strength to a joint.

Gunner

e3steve · Post by **e3steve** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:49 am

Gunner_CAF wrote:I saw this on the History Channel, WD stands for water displacement and was made for the space industry. Water in the cold of space is not good. I'm not sure how it conducts electricity, contact cleaner is what I would use to clean electrical contacts.

I had to re-solder the end on the starter switch contact, and I had a wild strand that shorted out the starter switch. My solution is hot glue. It works great when you need to insulate bare wire in tight spaces like on the end of switches. It also adds a bit of mechanical strength to a joint.

Gunner

It doesn't. I suspect Scott was aiming to prevent galvanic corrosion, where WD40 will help, but I have used silicon grease since I was first apprenticed in '71. It can be obtained in aerosol form also. In exposed connection areas (low voltage, i.e. up to 40V) I assemble connectors -- including RF (I loath self-amalgamating tape!) -- stage by stage using silicon grease. Ne'er a problem, even in the harsh marine environment. It's water-insoluble and it isn't affected by temperature changes from -20ºC to 200ºC. Lithium grease will work too.

Great call; I agree. And it can be relatively-easily peeled away for future servicing.

I still maintain, Scott, that the application of WD isn't what caused the problem. Invest in an aerosol can of silicon grease, or buy a tube from Radio Shack and 'pot' the handlebar switches with it. Don't use ordinary grease or Vaseline; it will melt in higher temp climates and ooze out.

rgtaylor2 · Post by **rgtaylor2** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:19 am

The hot glue idea is super, could solve several problems. Thanks Gunner

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:36 am

Thanks for all the feedback guys. All great ideas. I actually picked up a can of silicon grease as well as some white lithium grease for my new tach cable, which I imagine can come in handy a few other places as well.

Its been quite the learning processes for such simple things as "what kind of grease should I use for a throttle assembly?". I just wanted to take the time to deeply thank everyone that has helped along the way. And say what a great community this is. I only hope I can give back as much as I have been given.

Thank you everyone!

Gunner_CAF wrote:Contact cleaner is what I would use to clean electrical contacts.

My solution is hot glue. It works great when you need to insulate bare wire in tight spaces like on the end of switches. It also adds a bit of mechanical strength to a joint.

e3steve wrote:Invest in an aerosol can of silicon grease, or buy a tube from Radio Shack and 'pot' the handlebar switches with it.

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:45 am

I threw the header collars and exhaust sleeves in a Simple Green solution overnight. All it did was rust them more than anything. Took a sandblaster (aluminum oxide) and grinder to them afterwards with excellent results (see here) Special thanks to Jason at MartiniHenry.com for all the help and use of his sandblaster

And here's the header joints post sandblaster and grinder. Excellent results. I still need to take a dremel to them and grind away before I either clear coat them or paint. What do you think would be best? I can't tell if they're aluminum or steel. If clear coating is the way to go and their aluminum I assume they would polish nicely beforehand.

I also did the engine case nuts (located on top). A before and after the grinder and wave of sandblasting with aluminum oxide. Quite the difference. Again, do you think clear coat or paint would be best?