TL125S

[Skoti]

Well done Dave,

carefully making sure everything is spotless and clinically clean is the only safe way to assemble those engines.

Did you have to renew that timing side main bearing?

[Johnny4428]

That is big leaps ahead there Dave, some great work, good to see it coming together.

[Laverda Dave]

Well done Dave,

carefully making sure everything is spotless and clinically clean is the only safe way to assemble those engines.

Did you have to renew that timing side main bearing?

Timing side bearing was fine Skoti as was the crank. I renewed the gearbox bearings (three of them) because two of them were really noisy after a clean. I also renewed the clutch lifter bearing.
Yep I agree when assembling an engine you have to be really clean, it only takes one piece of grit getting into a plain bearing!

Thanks Johnny, there's light at the end of the tunnel 👍

[Laverda Dave]

It’s been a while since I posted an update to the TL125s. I’ve been on holiday but had to travel back a week early due to a family bereavement and I’ve had little enthusiasm to do much recently as a result.

I spent 5 hours on Monday at Moorfields eye hospital  having been sent there as an emergency by my GP after suffering a bad haemorrhage and severe clotting in my left eye (no idea how I did it, no trauma injury, my BP is spot on as well). I’ve been told not to lift, sneeze, carry heavy shopping or ride the bike for a couple of weeks whilst it heals (I assume they also meant no garage time either?).

There was a minor amount of work undertaken over a couple of days last week.  I fitted the new piston, rings and newly bored barrel returned by Bryan. I ground in the valves and reassembled and fitted the head with a new cam sprocket, chain and tensioner blades. I did find though that the large oil seal that fits between the barrel and head would not fit properly, it was too big in diameter to fit into the recess and stopped the head mating with the head gasket properly. Someone has made a note in the parts books this seal may be too big and to use an O-ring (they actually put the part number in the book as well of the o-ring to use). Once I fitted this the head went on smoothly.  I received a parcel from Ash with the elusive exhaust guard, headlight, wiring loom and a newly softened inlet rubber (thanks Ash). I have now assembled the engine as far as I can go and until I order the oil seal for the points cover. 

I chased up the chrome plating today as it’s been 10 weeks since I sent it and without some of those items being returned I cannot assemble the rolling chassis. And mount the engine into the frame.

I have found a company quite local to me who have quoted me £125 to blast and cerakote the complete exhaust system which is a good price (for London) so hopefully I’ll take that in within the next couple of weeks. I also managed to buy a litre of Synstryp to remove the layers of paint form the fuel tank, I won’t even attempt that job until my eye heals (and I’m wearing suitable PPE because Synstryp is nasty stuff).

[Bryanj]

Looking good Dave, hope you are better soon

[Rozabikes Tim]

That engine looks the dogs. The pinch in the tail pipe on these as it exists the silencer makes me wince. Can't afford to loose any of those 8 ponies.

Get well soon.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

That looks seriously clean Dave, very impressive build.👍👍👍

[Laverda Dave]

Some progress.

I have now stripped the old scabby paint from the tank and found three previous minor dents. TBH I was expecting to find a lot of filler considering the rest of the bike but was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The inside of the tank hasn’t rusted following the good old DEOX-C treatment followed by a drop of diesel swished around the tank to keep it oiled. I’m taking the tank, side panels and headlight rim to Tony at CycleSprays today for its repaint.
Diego (Reddice on here and a site sponsor) has produced a set of tank and side panel decals to his usual immaculate standard.

Peter Horton the master of the clock has overhauled the original MPH speedo that came with the bike and has also found a set of lamp holders. The top bezel was badly dented, the lower bezel was missing and the case had a nasty dent that couldn’t be knocked out. Ash as usual came to the rescue (as he does with most of my restorations these days) and obtained a used JDM KPH speedo for sale in Japan (along with the all important exhaust heat shield that are made of rocking horse poo). Ash sent the KPH speedo to Peter who swapped all the missing and damaged bits over from the KPH to the MPH speedo, an absolute master of his craft.  The JDM KPH speedo can hopefully be sold on, no use for it in blighty.

I also collected the chrome plating a couple of weeks ago from Ashford Chrome Plating, their usual excellent job, you can swim in the depth of the plating!

Next week it’s going to be the assembly of the chassis.

[Rozabikes Tim]

Good work Dave. Hope your mate ain't going to ride this off road as it will look brand new!

Was the kick start knuckle all good as tend to hit the foot peg when people don't lift it as they should!

[Laverda Dave]

The knuckle was fine Tim. Maybe the previous owner also had a 400/4 and he knew the damage that could be inflicted on a knuckle when you fail to lift the footrest up!
I went into the garage earlier today to do some work and walked straight out again, it was 36c in there 🥵.

[Rozabikes Tim]

Got me thinking, there is actually meant to be a hold back clip / spring set up. Mine never had one back in the day but would imagine one of the first things to get damaged and removed!

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[Laverda Dave]

Thanks for that Tim 👍.
I think I best get one just in case. I would have thought it would be a very fiddly arrangement especially when trials riding and it stalling in the heat of a section when you just want to kick it over and get going again!
I got the front forks back on last night but not before discovering a mistake I had made during their rebuild. If you look at the manual it states the oil capacity in each leg as 95-110cc but deeper into the manual at the TL125 supplement it gives a capacity of 135cc (don't quote me, I'm out for the day in Oxford so no manual to look at). I topped up each leg via the oil drain bolt with a syringe as there was no way I was going to remove the circlip again at the top of the leg, they fly off with such force the spring follows it out! Getting them back in and seated in the groove is a nightmare requiring three hands!

[Laverda Dave]

Some slow progress to report with the ongoing TL saga.

The engine is now in the frame ready for ignition timing and final finishing.

The wheels are on and it is starting to look like a bike again however, at the moment it seems I go one step forward to take two steps back mostly as a result of finding even more missing parts during the assembly stage. On Saturday I went to fit the chain and as I was rotating the rear wheel I noticed a hole in the wheel rim, I realised I had omitted a security bolt....aghh! The rim has one security bolt already fitted but for some reason the TL has two of them and of course only one was fitted when I got the bike, schoolboy error! A genuine Honda item was over £50!!! I bought one from Fecked for £5, it’s only a rubber block with a bolt! I tried to get the tire off with levers but as I no longer have the strength in my dodgy shoulder so will have to take it to the local bike shop to get it fitted.

I have had to make an adaptor plate to mount the rear tail light (repro Honda item via DSS) as the original Honda light mounting has been replaced at some point with a horrible universal type and the genuine Honda ones are now stored in the same place as rocking horse poo so it’s a case of make do at the moment. The airbox is on complete with the filter to carb rubber boot that was as hard as steel until Ash worked his magic and made it super supple again, it’s like new .

The one thing that is a real pain is the cables, I have tried three clutch cables and none of them fit either too long or too short. One of these was a £25 Venhill item that was 20mm too long whilst another was a Wemoto part that was 30mm too short! I am now going to try a TSK cable from Bertrams Bike Bits. The front brake cable (Venhill) was also a real struggle to fit. Same with the air filter, I’m about to order the third one of these as well!  Suppliers really do need to check if the parts they are selling actually fit the machines they are listed for. Fecked expect you to pay for P&P to return items that don’t fit! I had one supplier who I bought a set of universal mudguards from sending me a mail to say the items were about to be dispatched and nothing arriving after three weeks. I had to get PayPal involved after the seller refused to respond to messages and phone calls. When PayPal became involved I got a response from the seller saying they were out of stock and no new stock arriving until late September at the earliest, he didn’t tell me that when he took the £80 .

I will (hopefully) have a set of repro Honda front and rear mudguards by the end of the week from Shedworks who agreed to make me up a set in white and not their usual silver colour (Thanks Tim ).

I’m preparing myself to tackle the job I’ve been putting off, the wiring. I have two bitsa looms, one that was with the bike and not connected anywhere because it doesn’t fit and a JDM loom Ash managed to source for me. I hope I can make one good loom from the two or failing that buy a lot of connectors and cable and go from there!

At least it’s no longer in 000’s of parts spread all over the garage and I’m making progress. It would be nice to have it finished by the end of September, I remember saying the same about June and July 

[Rozabikes Tim]

Coming along Dave

I sourced a complete cable set from Japan. No idea on quality but took the risk.

Those rear indicator mounts you made look the part.

Is the front mudguard mount original or a feked product?

Tim

[Johnny4428]

That bike is coming along nicely Dave, you’ve done a great deal of work on it.