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Topics - Greg65

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1
Recommended Sources for Parts and Services / HiFlow oil filters and more.
« on: September 11, 2020, 03:13:46 PM »
Needed some oil filters for my Honda and Suzuki. Came across these guy, https://www.msa-direct.co.uk/ . 6 filters and £3 postage, came to just over £20. May be of use to you.

Cheers,
Greg

2
Misc / Open / We can play (Within reason)?
« on: May 12, 2020, 07:50:37 PM »
Well it looks like we can scuff the tyres at last.

Here is a link to Bennett’s insurance update,

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/news/2020/may/can-i-ride-motorcycle-during-coronavirus-pandemic

Do you think this means we can play? Just popped into the garage and pit the trickle charge on the battery.

Greg

3
Other Bikes / Glazed bores?
« on: April 19, 2020, 02:17:00 PM »
With time on my hands I’m taking the opportunity to investigate the high oil consumption on my Suzuki GS 1000.

So first up a bit of background information. The purchase was a bit of a spur of the moment, I really should have gone for a sorted GS 550 but a big shiny picture fooled me. If nothing else I have learnt a lot about spannering. The first problem I encountered was the bike was running very rich, you only need your nose to tell that. The standard air box had been removed and cheap foam pods added and the carburettors rejetted. I stripped them and found two bodies had broken pilot screws (the sharp tapered one) wedged in the body. In addition the main jets had been increased 10 steps above standard, way in excess of a pod requirement. So two replacement bodies sorted, all then ultrasonic cleaned and smaller mains put in and proceed to road test and change mains again settling on 3 steps up.

So about 2,000 miles later oil consumption high, no obvious leaks but brown/black staining around exhaust I start to suspect the valve stem seals. So commence top end rebuild not knowing the history, as I strip I am finding a number of new parts, cam chain, guides and healthy looking stem seals. Piston crowns and head are heavily coked, not soft, I think a combination of oil and unburnt fuel.

So here’s some pictures.

So am I suffering from bore glaze due a poorly run in engine? What do I need to check? Will a simple hone cure the issue or will I require new rings as well?

Many thanks for all advice.

Greg

4
Humour / A pets view of 14 days isolation
« on: March 20, 2020, 04:21:30 PM »
Dog,

This is going to be great I can spend time with you have my head stroked then my tummy tickled watch a box set on your lap sharing crisps lick your fingers and you won’t be late feeding me then we can go on walks together and not talk to anyone it will be just you and me spending lots of quality time together this is going to be so much fun.....


Cat,

What the #@%$, why are you still here.

5
Misc / Open / Freddie Flintoff’s Bandit trike
« on: September 12, 2019, 08:22:07 PM »
So a Top Gear muppet missed his braking point, so what. What I’m intrigued about is the engine.

Here’s a link to the BBC website, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49670478

I’m guessing some sort of two stroke with those expansion exhausts but they do leave at the rear of the cylinders. Anyone know more or has been able to google something?

Greg

6
Humour / Surgeons
« on: September 10, 2019, 07:37:30 PM »
A group of surgeons are at a conference and chatting a the end of the day over a beer or two. The first surgeon with glass in and says “ The other day I operated on an engineer. They have to be the easiest patient to work with. Everything is colour coded, connected logically and come with a parts manual.”

Well says the second surgeon. “ You want to try a librarian. Everything is indexed, filed correctly and include a searchable database.”

Well says the third. “ I like accountants as everything is correctly numbered and have a tax deductible value listed.”

The fourth gives his view. “ Construction works are by far the easiest sine they are not upset if a few extra parts are left over or it takes longer than you said it would.”

The fifth drains his glass and looks up. “Your all wrong, politicians are by far the easiest. You open them up and there are no guts, no heart and no spine. Best of all the mouth is interchangeable with the arse.”

7
Tricks & Tips / Tank sealing with POR 15, stolen tips from GSresources
« on: September 09, 2019, 07:59:53 AM »
Found this on the GS Resources forum and hope it useful.

Credit to Wing Man 71.

I've read a bunch of posts on this forum about restoring and sealing rusty gas tanks. A few different manufacturers products were discussed and pros and cons listed. I restore vintage Japanese bikes for a hobby, so I've done well over a dozen gas tanks so far. At this point my favorite restoration kit is the POR-15 Motorcycle Fuel Tank Repair Kit.

FIRST THING: None of these kits will work properly unless you follow the instruction for use exactly. Don't skip steps and don't rush through any of the steps. If you do, you will have wasted your time and your tank will not be properly sealed.

NOTE 1: If you have a tank that was previously sealed but the old sealant is failing, you will need the POR-15 Motorcycle Fuel Tank STRIP and Repair Kit, which also contains a stripper to remove the old failing sealant first.

NOTE 2: A very easy way to plug large round openings in the tank is to use Oatley Test Plugs. They are available in various sizes in the plumbing section of Home Depot or Lowe's.

OK, here are my personal instructions for success with the POR-15 Motorcycle Fuel Tank Repair Kit:

The very first thing to do is to determine just how extensive your tank rust is. If there are just a few spots throughout the tank that are rusted (usually at the bottom) then the POR-15 kit's second step (Metal Prep solution) will be sufficient to remove the rust. However, if you have a tank that is almost all rusty inside, then you have to de-rust that tank with something else before starting with the POR-15 kit. This kit, and most others as well, do not have enough rust remover to deal with an entire tank full of rust.

The best and most safe rust remover I've used is "EvapoRust". Not caustic and you can safely pour it down the drain when its used up. It can be re-used until it's very dark in color, almost black, which means it can't take any more rust. Not all auto parts stores carry it. O'Reilly's is the only one around here that carries the gallon jugs of it. It's expensive, so buying it by the quart is not the way to go. A gallon costs over $20.00. But it's worth it. The stuff is amazing. I usually buy enough to fill half the tank. I pour the two gallons or so in the tank and let it sit in various positions for at least several hours at a time. Back down- front down - bottom down - left side down - right side down - top down. So that means you'll have the stuff in there for probably two whole days. This will get rid of the 99% of the rust.

Don't rinse the EvapoRust out of the tank with water until you're ready to start with the POR-15, otherwise the tank will quickly flash-rust. Once rinsed out with lots of plain water, you are ready to start with the POR-15 Kit.

The POR-15 kit actually comes with pretty good instructions, but I will expand upon those and hopefully my experience using the kit will help others.

The first stage is the Cleaner/Degreaser (used to be called "Marine Clean" in the older kits). This is mixed with a quart of warm water and then goes in the tank and gets sloshed around manually for 20 minutes and then rinsed out with water. Cleaner/Degreaser removes the gum and varnish deposits from the old fuel that was in the tank.

The second stage is the Metal Prep. This is the POR-15 rust remover. It also prepares the metal for sealing by making it acidic. This goes in the tank and gets sloshed around manually for 20 minutes. After the sloshing, you have to let the tank sit in various positions again for about 15 to 20 minutes each to let it act on each inside surface of the tank to remove any remaining rust. POR-15 instructions say to not let it in the tank longer than 2 hours total. Remember that this is only a quart of stuff that you put in a 3 to 5 gallon gas tank, depending on model. So it needs to be positioned so that the stuff contacts each surface inside the tank for 15 to 20 minutes. Then you have to rinse that stuff out with WARM water, not cold water from a hose. It has to be rinsed SEVERAL times to be sure to get all of the Metal Prep solution out.

Now the most important step that can screw the whole thing up if not done right. The tank must now be COMPLETELY DRIED before the Sealer is poured in. There are going to be spots in the tank that hold water but you've got to spend the time to get it bone dry inside. The recommended way to dry it is to open all of the plugged holes in the tank and use a hair dryer or a hot air gun to blow hot air into the gas tank filler hole. If you decide to use a hot air gun, be careful, you can melt the paint right off your tank if you're not careful. Best to use a hair drier for this. Also, I've learned to do these tank restorations outdoors on a hot sunny day. The hot sun is a great help in this drying process. In between sessions of blowing hot air into the tank with a hair dryer I let the gas tank bake in the sun for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. TIP: If after about a half an hour, between the hair dryer and baking in the sun, your tank is so hot that you can't pick it up with your bare hands for more than a few seconds, you can be pretty sure that it is bone dry inside. That's how I measure success when drying. If it's not bone dry and you pour in the tank sealant, it's not gonna stick to the metal and you get to star all over! (You don't want that because this sealant is nasty, like liquid metal, and doesn't clean up well at all.)

NOTE: Once the tank is completely dry, you'll notice that flash-rust (a light reddish-brown surface color on the metal) will have already started to form inside the tank. Don't fret, that's normal and there's nothing you can do about it. The Tank Sealer will adhere to and seal the tank with the flash-rust on it. Just don't wait for very long after the tank is dry to start the Fuel Tank Sealer process.

Last stage is the Fuel Tank Sealer. You want to start this as soon as the tank is completely dry because flash-rust will start forming. As mentioned this is like liquid metal and it's nasty to get off of stuff, like your fingers and your gas tank! Wear some rubber gloves. If you get it on your tank and don't wipe it off immediately you're in trouble. If you get any on your fingers, get it off or else you'll be getting it on everything that you touch. It's best to cover at least the top of your tank about 6" to 8" around the filler hole with something. I use painters tape. It holds good enough to keep out the goop, but not so tight that it may pull the paint off of a very old tank. Don't use duct tape on the painted surfaces of your tank! I've had duct tape pull paint off of an old tank before! Use an old funnel to pour the sealer into your tank. If you miss and pour some on the tank, you're gonna be mad. Use an old funnel that you can throw out when you're done, or make a funnel out of paper like I do, then just throw that out. Now seal up the filler hole and do the SLOW ROLL. You have to slowly roll the tank into all possible positions to get the sealer to cover the entire inside of the tank. SLOW roll is the operative phrase. The stuff is thick like molasses so if you roll too fast it can't keep up. Roll nice and slow. I usually roll for about 10 to 15 minutes total.

Last important step is to get any remaining sealer drained out of the tank. If you have any excess, it will pool in the tank usually down low, and that's a bad thing. It can refuse to harden and may block fuel flow. You can usually get it to drain out of the fuel petcock hole. That usually works. Sometimes you just can't get it all out of the fuel petcock hole but you can still see some pooling through the gas tank filler hole if you tip the tank in the right direction. A time or two I had to use some small pieces of paper towels (about 4" x 4") inserted into the tank with a long-neck parts grabber to soak up some of the excess that wouldn't drain out of the fuel petcock hole. If you do this, be sure to use heavy duty shop paper towels, not the wimpy white ones from your kitchen. Those might rip and then you'll be fishing pieces of paper out of your tank. Also be careful not to get any sealer on your tank when you pull the paper towels out of the filler hole. Have something ready to drop the sealer coated paper towels into when you take them out. Like I said the stuff is nasty to clean up once its on something.

Be sure to rinse the sealant off of your Oatley test plug(s) as soon as you remove them from the tank or you'll never be able to reuse it. Also, don't be tempted to rinse sealant off of anything in a sink in your house! This stuff dries hard like metal and you don't want it in your house drains. Mama won't be happy! Do all your rinsing outside with a hose.

Now the tank has to cure for at least 4 days before you can put fuel in it. Don't short change the curing time. 4 days minimum! Setting it somewhere in direct sunlight helps the curing process. All plugged holes should be open for curing.

So... those are my lessons learned and tips from doing several tanks with the POR-15 Kit. Hope that helps others get their tanks cleaned and sealed properly.

This was also added by Nessism.

Nice writeup! We have had a bunch of threads about tank repair but nothing with that much information all in one post!

If I might add a few comments...based on restoring a number of tanks myself...



1) If there is an old liner in the tank that will have to be removed first. A variety of chemicals can be tried, from acetone to MEK and finally paint stripper, depending on the chemical composition of the original liner. Some media in the tank, such as sharp edged uncoated aquarium rocks, will help scrub the metal and release the liner. Some people use drywall screws and the like but those don't touch all the tank surfaces like the smaller aquarium rocks. They are easier to remove though.

2) Varnish stripping needs to be the done before derusting. That's because the derusting sauce won't be able to get to the metal if it's covered in varnish.

3) Use an inspection mirror and flashlight to look all around inside the tank to verify progress during each step. Don't assume that one step is complete just because you look down into the filler opening and see all the rust is gone for example. Be sure to look all through the tank.

4) The Por-15 rust dissolver chemical is phosphoric acid, which is a great product. You can cut this stuff with water and it will work fine, just a little slower. A quart will do the complete tank but you need to shake the tank to keep the metal wet for a few hours. I wouldn't worry if you go past two hours just don't leave it for days. if you want to get done fast you can buy a gallon of phosphoric acid from Home Depot, sold as Kleenstrip Etch and Prep, for about $16. Throw this into your tank and rotate it through various positions and the tank will be rust within that two hours for sure.

5) After rinsing out the phosphate sauce some isopropyl alcohol in the tank will speed drying. A hair drier aimed at the opening, while the other various tank openings such as the petcock and fuel gauge sensor are removed, will allow air to flow through the tank and dry it completely in less than an hour.

6) Caswell's epoxy sealer is excellent stuff and super thick. I think this is a superior material if your tank has weak metal. Por-15 is excellent as well but it's a paint and much thinner.

7) When coating, keep the material moving inside the tank for about 30 mins and then open the petcock opening and remove most of the excess. Once the stream stops flowing plug the petcock hole back up and start rotating the tank some more. You can watch through the tank opening while a puddle of sealer continues to move. If you pay attention to where the material is flowing you can get an extra coat or two down inside the tank just from the excess material that's still flowing. The ideal situation is to keep this puddle flowing and laying down extra layers until it kicks off and stops flowing. I think this is one of the critical elements that assures a good thick layer of sealer is layed down.

Good fun


Winter is coming and project time soon, though I think with the various chemicals and drying required summer would be better.

Greg

8
CB350/400 / Timing adjustment at limits
« on: September 07, 2019, 03:54:24 PM »
Ok boys and girls advice please.

The timing adjustment on my bike has always been on limits, ie I am now at the point where I can no longer rotate the face plate clockwise any more. Up until now I have set timing by use of multimeter but have splashed out on a strobe unit. This shows me requiring further adjustment, which is not possible. I have stripped, checked the auto advance and reset the contact gap to 0.35. What am I missing or is the cam on part number 196 out of limits? Suggestions please.

Cheers,
Greg

9
CB350/400 / Indicators or rather lack of.
« on: September 05, 2019, 04:18:19 PM »
All indicators stopped working, so consulted Haynes and forums which suggested flasher relay as root cause. So ordered new one from DS and went to fit today, ok it a two pin rather than three so once again checked our forum, left the green disconnected, B to black and L to light grey. Turned on ignition and hey presto nothing. Checked 7A fuse, opened switch gear. There had been a problem there in the past as PO had put a new one in, all nice and clean.

So after a bit of head scratching I put the old unit in for the hell of it. When you turn on the ignition you can hear it click and again when you turn the ignition off but no indicators. So any ideas at what to look at?

Cheers, Greg

10
Misc / Open / Where are you?
« on: August 15, 2019, 10:08:07 AM »
Don’t worry I’m not after you on behalf of a secret government dept.

No this is about letting people know where you are when you are out and about enjoying your two wheel trip and you come across an incident, cause we are safe riders and don’t have incidents!

Up to now I had OS Locate (Ordnance Survey) App which gave a good old fashioned Northing and Easting grid reference as well as a built in compass. However seen a BBC news article about an App called What3words, that defines a 3 meter box with the use of words. It’s free and may well be worth having it sitting on your phone just in case.

Cheers all,
Greg

11
Humour / Getting to the top of the tree.
« on: August 15, 2019, 08:25:14 AM »
A turkey finds his ability to fly greatly impaired and can’t even fly to lowest branches of a nearby tree. Bemoaning his inability to fly he he shouts at the world, much to his surprise he hears a voice behind him. It’s a pedigree bull chewing the cud. “Here’s some advice” says the bull, “If you eat my poo it will aid you in your quest”. “Yeah, right”,says the turkey and wanders off.

The next morning having woken in an even bigger pit of misery, with no one around and nothing to lose the turkey tries the advice. The next morning he successful gets airborne and makes the lower branches of the tree. Delighted with his progress flies down to eat more poo. The next morning progress is even better, he gets halfway up the tree. Loving the results he immediately flys of in search of the the freshest offerings from the bovine advisor.

The next days dawns crisp and blue, three quick steps and he is airborne again, effortlessly reaching the top of the tree to view the wide country. Perched on the uppermost branch he puffs his chest looking magnificent and proud. A passing local farmer spots the magnificent turkey sunning himself in the morning sun, shoots him and takes him home for dinner.

The moral of this story is that you can rise to the top of the tree on bullshit but it won’t keep you their.

12
CB350/400 / Slow engine rebuild progressing,however!
« on: May 19, 2019, 01:49:51 PM »
With weekly commuting and shift work my engine rebuild has been slower than desired however I now have it in the frame. So before attaching the remaining bits I thought I ought to test the gears before I go any further so I attached the sprocket and chain. First up I have no neutral and can not select first gear while manually turning the engine over. The cam is in the indent on the gear shift drum. From this position I can not select first however can shift up.

So what am I missing or need to check? Advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Greg

13
Misc / Open / Timing light advice
« on: May 02, 2019, 08:05:48 AM »
Last couple of years I used to borrow a mates snap on timing light, now he’s gone and moved too far away to pop round and borrow. So looking to purchase my own and need a dit of advice. As money is a bit tight and would rather put any spare money to some rechroming I was wondering if I need spend any more than £20 on a basic accuspark or is there some real benefit in getting more features?

Thanks in advance.
Greg

14
Anorak's Corner / Bearing shells orientation
« on: April 23, 2019, 08:09:47 AM »
I spent a rare hour tidying up the workshop the other day and came across a pot of all the scrap bits I replaced which reminded me of a question I had during assembly. On the 400 manual it specifies the orientation of the shell bearings and requires the locating cutout to be facing forward. So why is this required and what is the significance should some one disregard the advice. Before anyone asks, no I haven’t, I just can’t see an obvious reason for the requirement and I’m curious.

Cheers,
Greg

15
CB350/400 / Video rebuild
« on: March 25, 2019, 07:39:49 AM »
As I never did an apprenticeship or worked in the trade I sometimes found the Haynes manual assumes more knowledge than I possess. Julie’s rebuild has been a wonderful boost and various post have helped however when I was faced with a bench full of clean bits I was definitely nervous about getting it right. Whilst reading the manual again and pondering how to start my son asked me when I would get on with it. So explained my fears, “oh” he says, fingers tapping on his smart phone, there is a you tube video if it’s any good.

This is it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vR-MiqdHi1w

Now I’m sure it’s not perfect but it really helped. So I was wondering, we have a wealth of knowledge on this forum and a lot of people who would like to know how. Would it be possible for a series of SOHC “approved “ on how to xyz be done. It would be a shame to lose the knowledge.

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