back to work on the CA77

[e3steve]

G'luck with the race, Susan!

[nevada72]

Some things I've come across when dealing with these issues -

Honda still sells oem fuel line. Just go to a dealership and ask for the "medium" fuel line. Is it exactly the same? Don't know, don't care. It works perfectly and it's Honda OEM.

Buy a little clear in-line fuel filter. Why? - more filtration but also you can see if your getting gas. Why wouldn't you get gas?....

.....check the rubber gasket in the fuel shut-off. It degrades and will clog preventing fuel flow. Or, the screen is totally clogged. Careful when removing the cup! No mar. A rebuilt fuel petcock (parts on Ebay) is a joy. ;)

The new Keyster carb kits are a joke. Try to save every original part (especially the float bowl gasket) you can when rebulding the carb.

Get a new battery. You can wreck your rectifier using a worn out battery.

If the wiring is that bad (in the headlight) maybe buy a new harness (Ebay). Don't buy the "new" ones, but rather a good one from a different bike. Not too expensive and fairly easy to swap out.

Fresh plugs - nuff said.

[Greggie-e]

Before pulling your carbs apart try this for a little trick, this is what I did to my bike after it had not run for 20 years (apparently).

get some carby cleaner or "Start you bastard" (an ether based starting helper we have here in oz)
then take the fuel line off from the fuel tank.
Fill the line with the cleaner. Let is soak for a little bit.

I then used a jump pack and connected I up to the bike and pushed the start button.

it fired up after about 15 seconds. It has run perfectly ever since.

I think what happens is that the old fuel evaporates in the carbs leaving a residue. You need to clean this out i order for the carbs to work properly. A liberal soaking in a solvent is what is needed. Sometimes you have to pull them apart, sometimes you can get away without doing it.

[Susan]

wow, it's been ages!

big old messes in my life have kept me and my Honda from spending any good time together - bought a fixer-upper house, had some persistent health issues. cold and snowy winter from hell!

but here I am, it's March, and I'm back on the 305 full steam - my new place has a tiny garage but it's not set up in a manner that's conducive to wrenching for long hours. I am friends with the guys who run the local vintage MC/scooter shop though, so they have loaned me a lift and offered shop time and tools. I have a running old Vespa that needs some love and attention, and an old Serveta in pieces that's aching to be built, but everything is on the back burner to the Dream right now. yay!

I removed the tank last week, it was full of sludge and quite a bit more rust than I wanted to see. I rinsed and dried it - I haven't decided whether I'm going to just put it back without further attention just so that I can see if I can get the thing fired up, or whether I'm giving it a muriatic acid rinse -or- rinse plus some sort of liner. I have a tendency to make simple projects unnecessarily complex though, so I'm leaning towards putting it back on and attending to the other issues. If I can get it running, then removing it again and doing whatever needs to be done should be an easy weekend job.

I am having the devil of a time getting the damned carb off! I think there is an incorrect nut on the end of a bolt, so that when it's loosened there isn't enough clearance to remove it. I have no idea how someone got it on this way, but it's a huge source of frustration. I'm hoping to do whatever I need to do and finally get it removed tomorrow. The shop has a new ultrasonic cleaner - I've never used it but I'm hoping it's thorough and gentle.

I have some proper-size fuel line to replace the too-tight stuff. And it turns out that my inline fuel filter was on backwards (WTF?).

So...clean tank & carb, proper fuel line, and a new battery (my previous "new" battery of course lost its mind as punishment for the neglect, it won't hold a charge. luckily new one was cheap). That's the easy stuff, and I hope it will givce me some quick satisfaction.

There is still the matter of the headlight - I am prepared to dremel/replace/epoxy, but I still wish I could talk to someone who has done it who can tell me what size/kind of mount/bulb I need to use to get a proper functioning light with the correct focal distance et c. If I have one shot, I would really like not to screw it up!

so that's that! if all goes well I hope to have it running and registered soon. I have a signed Virginia title, but unfortunately it's also dated over a year ago and I never registered it in VA before I moved to DC so I hope the DMV doesn't give me a hassle over it. I am sure I have a spring full of other maintenance (chain looks like it needs replacing, and then there's the wonky harness that I might want to try and get right).

I haven't been on the forums in a very very long time, so I'm going to do some searching on the headlight issue again and see if I can pick up any tips.

[greg78gs750]

hi susan,

welcome back, i have read your thread and wondered whatever happened, but it's so common to see unresolved threads here, i didnt think anything of it. glad to see you are back at it!

one comment about fuel tank lining, if you decide to go that route, i recommend AGAINST the "creem" stuff....imo it has a nasty reputation for not working well. if you do line the tank, go with either POR-15 or the caswell plating product...much better quality. again, in my opinion.

greg

[Susan]

greg, thanks!

I have heard horror stories about creem. Well, more accurately I've heard that it's great if you get it perfect, but that it's very very difficult to get perfect. I am really thinking that I'm going to take the lazy route and just put it back on there until I can determine whether I have some mechanical issue other than gunky carb stuff that's preventing it from running.

the guys at the shop are saying POR-15 if I want to use anything, so I guess I'll research that and the Caswell for future use.

[Eljeef]

Hi Susan. Just wondering; did you ever try to start your bike using starter fluid? Are you sure you are getting fuel to the carburetor? How's the petcock? Are the downtubes going to it clear of sludge? My petcock was toast but a little kit from RetroBikes took care of that. Also, and I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think the bike will start with a dead battery in the system. I realise you have a new battery now but have you tried everything using said, new (fully charged) battery? I, too am pondering coating my fuel tank with something (probably not that product that starts with the "K") Good luck and keep us abreast. Jeff H.