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1967 CB450K0 Black Bomber Rebuild - By Royhall
royhall:
--- Quote from: MrDavo on March 17, 2019, 10:48:09 PM ---I worried after reading the last post, I can’t check right now (I’m up a French Alp) but I’m pretty sure that my CL450 has 8 of the domed nuts holding the head down.
The CMS online parts book shows, like your bike, two domed nuts and six plain, quite why and when my bike got eight domed ones is lost in the mists of time, however as long as it has the right nuts on the two oil feed studs, which it has, as long as the other six aren’t bottomed out (hard to check) there shouldn’t be a problem.
--- End quote ---
Don't panic Dave. Mine had eight rusty dome nuts on as well when I got it. Some people fit them because they look good but that is not standard. Only the right hand stud holes carry oil so the others are okay with a plain steel washer and plain nuts. From memory I think all the studs protrude through by the same amount. You did fit copper washers under the two right hand side nuts didn't you?
MrDavo:
--- Quote from: royhall on March 18, 2019, 03:02:35 PM ---You did fit copper washers under the two right hand side nuts didn't you?
--- End quote ---
Oh yes, and checked that oil was coming up the studs.
Good to see my bike isn’t the only fashion victim, it was probably during its 1970’s metallic purple and ape hangers phase.
royhall:
Now working on the sides of the engine.
When the bike arrived it was badly fitted with a starter motor from a later model, K1 onwards. The original motor for the K0 is a Kukasan item that is longer in the body and completely unavailable. After the K0 the upper crankcase was modified to take the shorter bodied starter. I considered stripping the rear casting off the motor and having two extended aluminium legs welded on. After some thought I decided to leave the motor stock in case it ever required changing, so I made up an extended mounting plate just to see how it looked. I don't think it came out too badly so I have decided to go with it.
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The original starter drive chain was so stretched and loose that there is evidence on the casing where it has been making contact. Another show of how poor the maintenance has been on this engine and how the low mileage on the odometer does not tie up with the wear in the engine. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am sure this engine does not belong in this bike and the engine number was deliberately snapped off due to this.
After a long search I came up with a NOS starter chain and paid a hefty price for it, £80. I was going to get a length of the correct size chain and a soft link and make one up but this popped up before I had a chance to do it.
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Before fitting the stator I gave it a good clean as it was covered in the same black goo that had covered the engine. Whilst cleaning it I found that the wiring was in a terrible state with bodged repairs around the rubber sealing block. I consulted Ash (our resident electrical expert) who suggested I go with a later item that also has encapsulated coils. The plug wiring would be different but that can be modified further on in the build.
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Good old DK came through with a good stator with good wiring at a decent price. To be honest DK seem to be awash with later 450 parts but a bit low on actual Bomber bits. Anyway it fit perfectly first time so looks like Ash's idea is a good one.
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After getting the stator case on I found an issue with the NE gasket set I was using. The gasket is too big on the outside leaving an unsightly lip that will need to be carefully cut off with a scalpel, the inside of the gasket matches the castings correctly. Not good enough really and involves extra work, I am hoping that the other gaskets are okay and this was just a single gasket problem.
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royhall:
I went to refit the grease nipple to the chain case cover and found that the thread had a butchered repair. It had been redrilled at some point and it was way off the correct angle. As the nipple was drilled at 6mm I obtained a stainless nipple with an oversized 8mm thread and prepared to re-drill the cover.
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It's a very awkward piece to hold securely without damaging the paint, so what I did was screw it to the top of the workbench with a couple of wood screws. I found a drill that would fit snugly down the grease hole to gauge the correct angle to drill it at.
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I then carefully drilled and tapped it to 8mm and fitted the new nipple with some thread lock.
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The clutch lifter mechanism, like the neutral switch, is also in direct line of all the crud from the drive chain. Fortunately Honda fitted a good body seal to the back of the mechanism to keep it out. So after a good clean and check of the lifter it was packed with new clean grease and then a new seal fitted, and also a few pumps with the grease gun to completely fill the lubrication passages. The cover was then re-fitted to the engine.
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There is a vital bracket on the rear of the engine that holds the stator cable in place. It is used to hold the cable after the neutral switch to stop it contacting the drive chain. This was missing on the bike when I got it but I managed to find one on eBay in a bag of random bits. The bag also contained a missing clip for under the engine that holds the starter cable in place so was well worth the £12 I paid for it. The clips were pretty rusty so a member on here (wont name them as they will get mobbed with requests) kindly replated them for me. As I say, a small part but vital to the reliability of the machine.
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royhall:
I mentioned earlier that the alternator cover had a hole in it that I was going to get welded and possibly chrome ceramic coated as new ones were all gone. Well what a surprise when one popped up on eBay being sold on behalf of a forum member. It was a bit expensive but I grabbed it anyway, at least I don't need to repair the old one so shame that I had already had it welded. As it had been sitting around for 50 years the coating on it had gone in places so I shall send it out for polishing later on along with all the other chroming and polishing.
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The clutch cover and centrifugal oil filter cover were then fitted. It now became clear that the gasket problem was going to be all of them, so any other gaskets that are required I shall check out and get genuine Honda items as required. I will trim these two but no more, it just isn't worth the effort for a few extra gaskets. The oil filter cover is looking a little battered and bruised but I am going to leave it. A little bit of patina on a 50 years old bike can't do any harm.
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I'm sorry NE but these gaskets are a mess, what does it take to buy some genuine Honda gaskets and check the ones you make are the same. Not too hard I would have thought. I just wonder how many bikes are out there with these gaskets fitted like this. Never mind I will just have to fit a new scalpel blade and spend 30 minutes trimming them down.
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The next part of the build is to refit the cams and cam chain. As I have not done this type of cam layout before it will be a case of following the manual carefully. I'm sure it will be perfectly simple as Honda appear to have designed this engine with easy assembly in mind. After all you don't want to hold up your production lines with difficult to assemble parts.
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