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April 3, 2003 { |
Okay, so I haven't been updating my site with the work I've been doing. I'll
try to go through a rundown of the things I've fixed. This'll be a long one!
I bought a new Dunlop tire for the front off the Internet. I was too absent minded to write down where I bought it from, but I got it for a very good price- I want to say it was $38? Anyways, I figured I would try to change the tire myself. Let's just say that your average joe with a tire iron will have a HORRIBLE time trying to remove the tire from the wheel. After about 2 hours of struggling and slightly scraping up the circumference of my wheel, I gave up. So I bring the front wheel to the Honda dealer and ask them how much they want to put the new tire on. They want $100! Haha! Yeah RIGHT! So I take the wheel up to a euro cycle shop, who does the job for $30, and get to spend an hour staring and trying not to drool at a few MINT classic BSA's from the early sixties. Not that I'd ever want one, but they're still bikes that deserve some admiration! My front brake pads were extremely worn and needed to be replaced. So I popped off the caliper, opened the bleeder valve and tried to push the pistons back in with a c-clamp, just like I've done car disc brakes for years. The pistons just didn't want to play nice. They didn't slide back in very well. I put the pads back in, bled the brakes again and gave it a shot. Now only one of the pistons wants to push out! I've been less-than-impressed with my local Honda cycle dealer. (there used to be 3, but there's only one now!) They couldn't find me a caliper rebuild kit (new seals, etc). Strike two. So rather than rebuild it, I just bought a used one from Jack's and hooked it up. Once hooked up and running, I noticed that my master cylinder didn't want to return to "resting" position anymore - the little piston would push in and come back out verrrrrrrrrrrry slowly. Too slowly to ride on the streets. I go to unscrew the top screws from the cylinder and they strip right out. UGH. One screw remover, a re-tap of the threads (new screws, too) and 10 obscenities later, the cover's off. And the rubber seal inside the cylinder is completely stretched out. Back to the Honda dealer to get a rebuild kit! Once again, they can't find one. Three strikes, the local Honda dealer is out. I decided to make the 130-mile drive over to Jack's and pick up a new master cylinder, as well as other needed stuff (seats, mirrors, rear signals). Jack's had a perfect condition master cylinder from a VTR250, which is 99% identical to the original. The only difference is that the viewing glass to check the fluid level is on the other side. Fine by me! So after all of this work, I finally got the front brakes up to snuff. Lights, seats, mirrors... The lights are pretty easy to replace. The only complaints about the aftermarket ones from Jack's is that they don't have those really nice rubber boots on the wires to keep them locked in place, and the wires are much longer than necessary for the Rebel 450. Nonetheless, they work fine! Man, my original (and I MEAN original!) seat was a wreck. I was so happy to trade it in and get a re-covered seat set. It's SO much more comfortable now! And other than the dent in the tank, the bike looks wonderful from a short distance! The replacement mirrors I got are of the rounded-triangle style. They look nice, but have so many possible adjustments that it's hard to get them where I want them and make them stay there. I have to tighten them down about once a month. The carb... My 450 had been pushing much less than expected power. It took a LOT of coaxing to get it up to 70mph. It would also backfire consistently when decelerating in gear, 90% from the right pipe. Playing the thrifty game, I decided to adjust the mixture on the carb before tearing it down and cleaning it. It's a good thing I did! The carbs were set (by the previous owner) to maximum richness. Granted, the bike did run cool, but it also stunk like a lawnmower and ran like a beat-up 250! After adjusting the carbs until I got rid of the backfire, and then playing with the carbs until they felt to be about in-sync (the pilot-screw settings are off about 30-45 degrees in rotation), I tightened up the rather-loose throttle cable and took it out. All of a sudden the bike had a LOT more power in high-rpm's and got to 70 like a scalded dog! I'm still not comfortable at 70 and above, so I backed down at that point. Considering how hard it was pulling, I'm sure it'll have no problem getting to 85, maybe higher... once I get comfortable enough to go that fast! :) The Chain... First off, I have to say that the chain tensioning mechanism on these bikes (and perhaps all bikes, I don't know) is really cool! It makes it really easy to tension the chain and align the back wheel! I noticed my chain was loose when I crossed the path of an indecisive cager at a 4-way stop. At first he starts going left before me, then he stops and waves me by. I was still in neutral, so I clank the tranny into 1st and start going. Apparently he was too impatient for me to get into gear and cuts in front of me! So I get off the throttle and on the clutch and front brake. He zooms past me before I stop rolling, so I come off the brake and try to ease the clutch back in (in 1st) on a roll.. Well, I mismatched the RPM's, and the slack in the chain made a THWACK! against the chain guard. Scared the bejeezus out of me until I realized what made the noise. Anyways, the chain had a little of 2-1/2 inches of play... I've tightened it down to about 3/4"... It's made quite a difference to the power delivery on starts! Much more steady in its pull off the line. Cleaning... Minor stuff, really. This bike is dirty and has more than its share of road grime. It's clear that the last owner used it as a workhorse and never had any intention cleaning anything that wasn't in direct view (forks, tank, front fender, etc). I took some Gojo (God's gift to hand-cleaning degreasers) to the grime on the rear wheel around the drum assembly, the engine covers, and the top of the tranny/crankcase. It worked pretty well, and even helped remove a little of the aluminum oxidation on the side covers! The aluminum odixation on this bike is very noticeable. It's all just surface-level, but it's just plain ugly. Gojo didn't do much to it (I didn't expect it to do anything really), but I plan on getting some Simply Green soon to rub in there with some fine-grit sandpaper. Once I get the engine clean-looking again, it'll have to get a high-temp clearcoat to seal in that shiny look! Me being stupid... I moved a few weeks ago. Rather than ride the bike the 20 miles to my new house, I put it in the back of the moving truck as we drove. I tied it up so it wouldn't bump into anything, but the rope snapped! It fell against a dryer, and got some paint scraped off of the tank, right beside the dent. Argh! So now that right side of the bike looks even worse! Oh well, it just gives me a good reason to fix (hopefully not replace) the tank and re-paint everything. Plus, having the tank off gives me a little more motivation to replace the plugs and wires, plus clean up the valve cover and carbeurator caps! |
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