1962 Superhawk Restoration: Here I go

e3steve · Post by **e3steve** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 6:33 pm

Scott, listen, it's not all about riding; it's about the thrill of "this machine is 196x and the continuation is all down to ME!"

Do NOT concern yourself with things that you cannot change.

Step back, deep breath and parry!

"Take it without blubbing, boy!" (Steerforth -- 'David Copperfield').

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 6:57 pm

I hear ya. I just feel like I've got some overdue seat time after almost two years of work. You're also right though. Fast Fred gave me a call. He replaced his CL transmission with all new parts for his resto. We're gonna meet up tomorrow and hopefully he'll have some useable stuff he can sell me. Might be back on track faster than I had expected.

Again, you meet the nicest people riding a Honda. Thanks everyone.

e3steve wrote:Scott, listen, it's not all about riding; it's about the thrill of "this machine is 196x and the continuation is all down to ME!"

Do NOT concern yourself with things that you cannot change.

Step back, deep breath and parry!

"Take it without blubbing, boy!" (Steerforth -- 'David Copperfield').

e3steve · Post by **e3steve** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 3:43 am

There may be times that you feel like giving up on the 'old girl', but part of 'her' charm is the quirkiness and the requirement for continued attention (married fellas: sound familiar?). Take your time, do it right, do it once; but don't forget that PO(s) may not have treated maintenance schedules and/or riding style with the same respect that you might.

That said though Scott, I must observe that you seem to have been dealt more than your fair share of shitty luck!

Chin up, mate.....

eyhonda · Post by **eyhonda** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:01 am

Hey Scott! Looking good! Can you go into detail on the xs650 coil upgrade? I want to upgrade my coils too. Did you measure the secondary resistance? I wonder how much extra voltage it is giving. The stock is 8 ohms primary / 8000 secondary or about 1000 times voltage. So, it is sending out about 10-12kv. The Dyna coils are 5 ohms and send about 30-35kv. But they are pricey at about $120+. Post some pics on the coil mounting.

Thanks,
Eric

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 2:12 am

AFTERMARKET COILS

I got the idea from one of the man moderators on the SOHC4 forums. He had a quick little write up. I got the 4ohm coils (Part #17-6805) from Mike's XS, which I felt would be a good middle ground for my e-ignition between street and racing applications. They were very affordable as well at $24 each.

It only took some very minor modifying, added some bullet connectors to the original harness, besides that, there's just a few wires. I wasn't running a condenser either so that was one less thing to worry about. Didn't need any additional grounding. Produces a nice fat purple spark that I'm very pleased with. I knew my coils weren't getting any younger, and if there's one thing my bike has taught me, they were on their way out anyways.

I had to cut off the two bolts that stick out of the body, which are just bolts molded into the plastic (you could heat them up by running the tips on a grinding wheel until they become hot enough to simply pull out out of the body). Then I cut off the large unnecessary plastic hump the bolts were in so coil was a smooth cylindrical shape the whole way around.

At this point they were ALMOST the exact size as the stock coils, just a hair smaller. So I wrapped them in some thin sheets of rubber cut down and fit them extra tight into the existing bracket. No cutting needed.

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 2:16 am

I got my fenders back (finally!). I did some trade work for a friend who builds $100k custom hotrods. I keep trying to talk him into doing a bike. After the astonishing amount of work I see go into these cars, a bike must be cake for him. They turned out great, at little too great as Fast Fred said (he's got an eye for the restos down to the proper quality or lack there of at times).

In any case, I was rather unhappy with the dull and almost white result of the powdercoat. Much happier with this. These were shot with the DuPont IMRON 45040U.

jensen · Post by **jensen** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 2:29 am

Hi Scott,

It's a nice forum isn't it ? Lots of info on the sohc fours.

A little critical note on the rubber sheet around the coil.

Coils are getting warm, and with rubber you isolated it even more.
When the ignition is on, and the engine isn't running, coils get really hot (depending on the breaker situation), be carfull.

The fenders are nice, and I agree with FastFred, almost too nice, but that depends if you're looking for a 100 point restoration or not. Same withe re chroming parts.

Jensen