Busy recommissioning the K1

[Andrew-S]

Well, it feels like I haven't stopped working on the K1 since I collected it on Fri 21 Dec - Christmas and New Year just seemed to come and go.......

So far, I've put about 20+ hours into cleaning it and it's coming up nicely - over the last few days I've been preparing the K1 for starting, as in:

Dropped the air filter and found a nice new K&N
Pulled the float bowls expecting the worse from standing for 3 years, but they were nice and shiny - result.
Oiled and freed off the throttle cables - now snaps shut with a vengeance!
Split the switchgear and cleaned the contact surfaces, so now got a nice smooth action
Adjusted the cam chain
Oiled the cam and running upper running gear as it was pretty dry - also dropped some oil down the bores just in case
Pulled the plugs (what a pig 2 & 3 were!) and changed them - the old ones were an even mid-light brown, so happy with that
Did a compression test but my gauge (Draper) has a fixed tube and reader so could't get it in to do No2 & 3 - No1 & 4 read 150, so hopefully that's indicative of the other two...........?
Dumped the oil and there were no shiny bits in my wife's kitchen sieve (note to self: buy her a new one!), so pretty confident there's nothing nasty going on inside.

My service kit arrived today from DS, including a new battery, plugs and oil, filter etc so the battery is currently on charge and I plan to flush the engine through tomorrow, change the oil and filter, rig up a remote tank and try to fire the old girl up - I'll see where I go from there - fingers crossed.

Cheers
 

[JamesH]

Great start Andrew. Be good to see it up and running again soon..!

[Nurse Julie]

How exciting. Worth checking that Mr Silvers crew have sent you the correct plugs. If you have resisted plug caps they should be NON resisted plugs and vice versa. Worth checking as they usually sell the resisted plugs as standard. So you need D8ES if you have resisted caps and DR8ES if you have the non resisted caps.

[Laverda Dave]

Good progress. I always find time spent doing a 'deep clean' allows you to fully check the condition of the whole bike as well as cleaning all those hard to get at places like the frame behind the engine and rear wheel.
I agree with Julie, everytine I buy plugs from DS I am sent the resistance type. I buy mine from my local bike shop now.
It will be nice to see some photos of your efforts.

[UK Pete]

Nice work Andrew, it was running ok 3 years ago, the Rickman I sold yesterday started straight up as if it was a daily runner that had been off road for 3 years

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Andrew-S]

Thanks folks,

The plugs ordered and DS sent were NGK DR8ES (same as the parts book) which were the same as the ones that came out, with the exception of No1 which was a D8EA.  I believe the caps are the originals.

Must admit, I find deep cleaning very relaxing and my wife Bev always looks forward to the results, she says...... 

Apparently the sun is coming out tomorrow, but it'll only be 4 DegC - so I should be able some decent photos of how it is now and, all being well, a GoPro of the start-up.  Hopefully it'll start straight up like the Rickman Pete - fingers crossed.

Cheers

[Nurse Julie]

So if it has the original caps, (were they metal?, maybe someone can confirm) then yes DR8ES. Very rare to see any SOHC these days with those old metal caps, i thought everyone had ditched them years ago as they were rubbish.

[paul G]

So if it has the original caps, (were they metal?, maybe someone can confirm) then yes DR8ES. Very rare to see any SOHC these days with those old metal caps, i thought everyone had ditched them years ago as they were rubbish.

They used to pull the metal caps off on the pre delivery inspection

[Andrew-S]

So if it has the original caps, (were they metal?, maybe someone can confirm) then yes DR8ES. Very rare to see any SOHC these days with those old metal caps, i thought everyone had ditched them years ago as they were rubbish.

I understood the metal caps were on the later UK bikes, but I may be wrong - these are plastic, which I understand were original to the US bikes.

[Nurse Julie]

So if it has the original caps, (were they metal?, maybe someone can confirm) then yes DR8ES. Very rare to see any SOHC these days with those old metal caps, i thought everyone had ditched them years ago as they were rubbish.

I understood the metal caps were on the later UK bikes, but I may be wrong - these are plastic, which I understand were original to the US bikes.

You're most probably right Andrew. We only have UK SOHC's so i should have guessed it may have been another one of those anomalies. So, are the black caps you have fitted resisted or non resisted? Just interested to know.

[Andrew-S]

So if it has the original caps, (were they metal?, maybe someone can confirm) then yes DR8ES. Very rare to see any SOHC these days with those old metal caps, i thought everyone had ditched them years ago as they were rubbish.

I understood the metal caps were on the later UK bikes, but I may be wrong - these are plastic, which I understand were original to the US bikes.

You're most probably right Andrew. We only have UK SOHC's so i should have guessed it may have been another one of those anomalies. So, are the black caps you have fitted resisted or non resisted? Just interested to know.

I have no idea Julie, but given DR8ES came out then I'd have to say non-resisted caps.

[Nurse Julie]

That's what i thought with one of my old Hondas. It had DR8ES fitted, so i replaced them with DR8ES's and then found out it had resisted caps. It caused me no end of agro until i fitted the D8ES's.

[Trigger]

Well, it feels like I haven't stopped working on the K1 since I collected it on Fri 21 Dec - Christmas and New Year just seemed to come and go.......

So far, I've put about 20+ hours into cleaning it and it's coming up nicely - over the last few days I've been preparing the K1 for starting, as in:

Dropped the air filter and found a nice new K&N
Pulled the float bowls expecting the worse from standing for 3 years, but they were nice and shiny - result.
Oiled and freed off the throttle cables - now snaps shut with a vengeance!
Split the switchgear and cleaned the contact surfaces, so now got a nice smooth action
Adjusted the cam chain
Oiled the cam and running upper running gear as it was pretty dry - also dropped some oil down the bores just in case
Pulled the plugs (what a pig 2 & 3 were!) and changed them - the old ones were an even mid-light brown, so happy with that
Did a compression test but my gauge (Draper) has a fixed tube and reader so could't get it in to do No2 & 3 - No1 & 4 read 150, so hopefully that's indicative of the other two...........?
Dumped the oil and there were no shiny bits in my wife's kitchen sieve (note to self: buy her a new one!), so pretty confident there's nothing nasty going on inside.

My service kit arrived today from DS, including a new battery, plugs and oil, filter etc so the battery is currently on charge and I plan to flush the engine through tomorrow, change the oil and filter, rig up a remote tank and try to fire the old girl up - I'll see where I go from there - fingers crossed.

Cheers
 

As part of a major service on a 750, Honda recommend that the sump pan be removed and the oil strainer cleaned 

[Andrew-S]

That's what i thought with one of my old Hondas. It had DR8ES fitted, so i replaced them with DR8ES's and then found out it had resisted caps. It caused me no end of agro until i fitted the D8ES's.

Pete says it was running nicely before it's lay-up, and Pete knows his stuff, so I'd take it the DR8ES are fitted to non-resisted caps.

A numpty question, but out of interest - how can you tell if a plug is a non-resisted or resisted one?

Cheers

[Andrew-S]

As part of a major service on a 750, Honda recommend that the sump pan be removed and the oil strainer cleaned 

Yep, that's on my list Trigger - it'll get a major service once I've started it up and heard it running. 

Cheers