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CB500/550 / December - Not a good month.....
« on: December 21, 2013, 08:10:45 AM »
So, my fully rebuilt, pristine 500/4 now needs to be done again as much of it is presently missing...... I will explain.
It wasn't running as I liked. Peter, the guy who rebuilt it did not do engines so farmed that out to a local Honda dealer to have done. Based on what we found I wouldn't even trust them to check my tyre pressures!!
After a few miles running around, I popped it over to Buzzard Motorcycles for Ian to have a look at - Ian's been a mate for many years now. A compression test showed it to be low on two cylinders, and a wet test indicated that this was valve related. It was also displaying oil misting from the barrel/crankcase joint at the rear left hand corner and was a tad smokey on one cylinder, so we decided to whip off the head and barrels to have a look - better to be done there as Ian obviously had all the facilities necessary. We also investigated the clutch which was dragging somewhat.
The clutch was simple, the silver steel pushrods had "mushroomed" where the ball bearing goes - new ones ordered. The engine less so though.
Peter had been billed (I have the receipt) for new pistons - these were obviously not new pistons. Every piston had at least one broken ring on it and no hone marks were visible in the bores suggesting that the rings had been renewed - badly!!! Thankfully the bores tested fine and the pistons themselves were in good order. He'd also been billed for new valves but only two (exhausts) were visibly new. On removing them it was clear that they had simply been fitted - no trace of any grinding/lapping on the seats..... Now you know why I wouldn't let these cowboys even check my oil!!!!!! Peter's bill for the engine rebuild was well into 4 figures by the way........
So new valves ordered, plus new rings and a gasket set. Also valve seals which, for some odd reason, were not included with the gasket set and needed to be ordered singly as well - weird! The oil leak from the bottom of the barrels was a missing "o" ring.
Anyway, on Friday 6th (my birthday!) I got a call from Ian to tell me all the bits were in and he'd reassemble the bike on Monday - I could have it back Wednesday - so far so good.
Alas, early Monday afternoon a fire broke out - within 15 minutes the entire industrial unit, complete, was razed to the ground. They got all the bikes out of the showroom (including my rolling frame) before the roof came down but the flames and smoke were too severe to save anything from the workshops. One of the guys suffered smoke inhalation but otherwise, thankfully, no injuries........
The fire, according to the fire brigade, was a complete accident caused by an overheating main supply cable.....
This was taken by one of the unit owners (actually the unit behind Buzzard M/c) within 5 minutes!!!!!! Steve told me that the heat was unbearable even from this distance..... The fire officer reckons that the temperature well exceeded 2000 degrees C!!!
The small industrial estate was completely destroyed, right down to ground level with only the gable end walls on the upwind side remaining standing (it was a very windy day). It was housed in an old RAF building (the complex was located on the old Wing aerodrome, a ww2 bomber base) and it appears that the original roof was made of bitumistic sheets with the galvanised corrugated steel roofing sheets simply fitted over it - no wonder it went up so quickly. Factor in fifty plus motorcycles in the back store rooms....... Other units contained exotic cars (Ferraris!!), all lost, another unit apparently had new crated Harleys in it, again all lost.....
Fortunately all is insured although how long this will take to go through is anybody's guess. My losses should be covered by Leighton M/c's insurance but I've given my own insurer a "heads up" just in case.
I now have my rolling frame back, still pristine, but there's a lot missing, in fact everything removed during the repairs. So I'm missing barrels, head complete, carbs complete, air box and filter, points cover, gear lever, chain side engine cover, rear footrests, exhausts (these had done less than 15 miles!), petrol tank complete, side panels plus all the fixings for these.... Quite a lot really.
A day's 'phoning around has tracked down pretty much everything but the cost is eye watering so I've decided just to buy another bike and break it for the bits, possibly a US import.... There's an affordable import on e-bay at the moment but it has fin damage so no way..... I'd even consider a US spec 550 (just to get it back on the road) as these had the same tank, side panels etc.
I have already ordered another new exhaust system though (from CMS). Whatever I buy is most unlikely to have usable ones!
We've decided to simply repair it, keep all receipts and sort out the insurance bit later as no way should the cost get near the £10k agreed value......
We did retrieve the pipes from the ashes but, alas, they're more Salvador Dali than Honda, having distorted more than a little. Also all the chrome has burnt off...... That said, at first glance the actual silencer boxes don't look too bad so maybe these can be recycled (welded to a good set of downpipes) and rechromed in the future. They got very hot though, even the flanges (cast iron!) have melted and are very mis-shaped so in truth the effect of the heat on the steel of the pipes, however new, is probably terminal.....
I wasn't planning a winter rebuild (at least not on the 500/4) but...........
John
It wasn't running as I liked. Peter, the guy who rebuilt it did not do engines so farmed that out to a local Honda dealer to have done. Based on what we found I wouldn't even trust them to check my tyre pressures!!
After a few miles running around, I popped it over to Buzzard Motorcycles for Ian to have a look at - Ian's been a mate for many years now. A compression test showed it to be low on two cylinders, and a wet test indicated that this was valve related. It was also displaying oil misting from the barrel/crankcase joint at the rear left hand corner and was a tad smokey on one cylinder, so we decided to whip off the head and barrels to have a look - better to be done there as Ian obviously had all the facilities necessary. We also investigated the clutch which was dragging somewhat.
The clutch was simple, the silver steel pushrods had "mushroomed" where the ball bearing goes - new ones ordered. The engine less so though.
Peter had been billed (I have the receipt) for new pistons - these were obviously not new pistons. Every piston had at least one broken ring on it and no hone marks were visible in the bores suggesting that the rings had been renewed - badly!!! Thankfully the bores tested fine and the pistons themselves were in good order. He'd also been billed for new valves but only two (exhausts) were visibly new. On removing them it was clear that they had simply been fitted - no trace of any grinding/lapping on the seats..... Now you know why I wouldn't let these cowboys even check my oil!!!!!! Peter's bill for the engine rebuild was well into 4 figures by the way........
So new valves ordered, plus new rings and a gasket set. Also valve seals which, for some odd reason, were not included with the gasket set and needed to be ordered singly as well - weird! The oil leak from the bottom of the barrels was a missing "o" ring.
Anyway, on Friday 6th (my birthday!) I got a call from Ian to tell me all the bits were in and he'd reassemble the bike on Monday - I could have it back Wednesday - so far so good.
Alas, early Monday afternoon a fire broke out - within 15 minutes the entire industrial unit, complete, was razed to the ground. They got all the bikes out of the showroom (including my rolling frame) before the roof came down but the flames and smoke were too severe to save anything from the workshops. One of the guys suffered smoke inhalation but otherwise, thankfully, no injuries........
The fire, according to the fire brigade, was a complete accident caused by an overheating main supply cable.....
This was taken by one of the unit owners (actually the unit behind Buzzard M/c) within 5 minutes!!!!!! Steve told me that the heat was unbearable even from this distance..... The fire officer reckons that the temperature well exceeded 2000 degrees C!!!
The small industrial estate was completely destroyed, right down to ground level with only the gable end walls on the upwind side remaining standing (it was a very windy day). It was housed in an old RAF building (the complex was located on the old Wing aerodrome, a ww2 bomber base) and it appears that the original roof was made of bitumistic sheets with the galvanised corrugated steel roofing sheets simply fitted over it - no wonder it went up so quickly. Factor in fifty plus motorcycles in the back store rooms....... Other units contained exotic cars (Ferraris!!), all lost, another unit apparently had new crated Harleys in it, again all lost.....
Fortunately all is insured although how long this will take to go through is anybody's guess. My losses should be covered by Leighton M/c's insurance but I've given my own insurer a "heads up" just in case.
I now have my rolling frame back, still pristine, but there's a lot missing, in fact everything removed during the repairs. So I'm missing barrels, head complete, carbs complete, air box and filter, points cover, gear lever, chain side engine cover, rear footrests, exhausts (these had done less than 15 miles!), petrol tank complete, side panels plus all the fixings for these.... Quite a lot really.
A day's 'phoning around has tracked down pretty much everything but the cost is eye watering so I've decided just to buy another bike and break it for the bits, possibly a US import.... There's an affordable import on e-bay at the moment but it has fin damage so no way..... I'd even consider a US spec 550 (just to get it back on the road) as these had the same tank, side panels etc.
I have already ordered another new exhaust system though (from CMS). Whatever I buy is most unlikely to have usable ones!
We've decided to simply repair it, keep all receipts and sort out the insurance bit later as no way should the cost get near the £10k agreed value......
We did retrieve the pipes from the ashes but, alas, they're more Salvador Dali than Honda, having distorted more than a little. Also all the chrome has burnt off...... That said, at first glance the actual silencer boxes don't look too bad so maybe these can be recycled (welded to a good set of downpipes) and rechromed in the future. They got very hot though, even the flanges (cast iron!) have melted and are very mis-shaped so in truth the effect of the heat on the steel of the pipes, however new, is probably terminal.....
I wasn't planning a winter rebuild (at least not on the 500/4) but...........
John
