Honda-SOHC

An update on the NC30.

First the good news, the wheels and various other parts are currently undergoing blasting and powder coating. I’m collecting all the BZP and yellow passivated parts tomorrow (one week turnaround and £60 for everything in the photo).

I took the frame, bare swing arm and footrest hangers etc for vapour blasting to R D Cox in Reading. Doug advised me not to vapour blast the frame as it is anodised and a vapour blast finish wouldn’t look good on the side beams. He told me to use steel wheel cleaner and a stiff brush. Looking around I came across an alloy wheel cleaner made by Bilt Hamber so ordered some. It was excellent; it cleaned up the castings and the beams really well. It was so good all I needed to do was to use some solvol on the two side beams and they are like new!

And the bad news, I thought the engine was all good and wouldn’t need anything more than a good clean and service. Checking the valve clearances revealed one missing valve shim, oh dear. Looking as best I could down the drive gear tunnel with a torch I couldn’t see anything. The thought of a shim floating around inside the engine fills me with dread so it was off with the sump to hopefully find the shim sitting in there. No luck although it did give me a change to clean out the sump pan. When I took the oil pick up strainer off I found a chewed up piece of metal although not a shim lodged inside (see photo). I have no idea what it is/was. I looked inside the engine from underneath with a torch but no sign of a shim.

Next I removed the cams and the cam gear drive from the front cylinders where the shim was missing from to check if it had lodged in there; it was clear so all that went back in...slowly and keeping an eye on the valve timing marks.  I did notice though some score marks to the underside of the casing looking down from the now empty cam gear tunnel (photo). Something has defiantly been floating around the engine at some point doing some minor damage.

Next up will be to remove the engine side covers to see if the shim is in the clutch area or the alternator. If it’s not there I can only assume it may have been flushed out during an oil change at some point in its past. I know from speaking with Rick Oliver the checking of valve clearances on the front two cylinders is notoriously difficult unless the two radiators are removed first and even then it’s so tricky to change the shims a lot of these engines never get checked. Maybe they were checked at some point and the shim was not properly placed and was spat out when the engine was started.

I have to say though it is a real jewel of a bike, build quality is immense.

Didn't know you had a CBX as well Murf. Jealous now. Keep promising myself that if I get some money together someday and it's not earmarked for the house I'll treat myself to a red CBX. Not the prolink type though, never really liked those. Fancy a CBX550 as well.

Exactly the same thoughts over here Ken. The red CBX was (and still is) so cool. The 550F2 CBX was the same but a lot cheaper although I still couldn't afford one when they were new!

I called Brooks Suspension last week Johnny to enquire about them rebuilding the rear shock of the NC30 (apparentley its not worth doing they said, I'd be wasting my money refurbing a shock that wasn't very good when it was new! They are trying to steer me in the Nitron £700+ route, err.....no!). I asked about replating the front stanctions and they quoted £200 but it would be an 8 week turnaround. They don't do them there, they are sent out although they didn't say to who (Dynasurf???).
I stuck with Philpots in the end as their work is really good quality (I've used them five times before) and I was able to drop them off myself. Price is £330 for both and includes posting back to me when completed. Turnaround time is 4 weeks but likely much sooner.

That's very bad to hear Johnny but not surprising for this day and age. I don't know why but since the pandemic everywhere appears to be going the same way, massive price increases but no longer offering the quality of service they once did.
CWS used to be a good company, even appearing on the motorbike show showing Henry how it was done. Sadly another example of what was once a good customer focused company falling into the trap of believing their own publicity and failing to look after customers.
I was at Phillpotts earlier and was told although they are still really busy not so many people are now using their services for bikes because restoring motorcycles is now so expensive coupled with the over regulation of the platting industry pushing their prices ever higher. Apparently the water company visit once a week ad-hoc to check on what they are discharging into the sewers. I find it amazing water companies can sit on the pollutant high ground when they discharge how many tonnes of untreated raw sewage into the rivers and the sea!

Success 👍. Nigel's method worked at the first attempt and the bolt moved slightly........until the impact driver cracked the driver bit😤. Luckily I was able to extract the extractor bit from the mangled head of the bolt. On to Bryan's method of drilling the head off the bolt and it worked.
I was expecting the same scenario with the second fork leg but no, the bolt put up no resistance at all.
Both legs are now completely apart ready for a big clean and new bushes.
As always, this site and the knowledge contained by the members is the best.

It's been a busy but productive weekend in the garage. The bike is now completely apart with the engine now sitting on its own on the bike lift as I removed the frame today.
Prior to indulging in some heavy degreasing I thought I'd strip the fork legs. Somebody has been in there before me and has managed to completely mangle the head of the hex socket bolt holding the damper rod. Nothing fits what is left of the rounded head.
Has anyone else come across this before and if you did how did you get the bolt out? I think I might have to resort to drilling it out but that is going to be risky considering the head of the bolt is set so deeply in the recess. It's only going to take a slight deviation of the drill and I'll go into the alloy of the fork leg. I was going to try to hammer a torx headed socket in there but knowing how tight those bolts are I can't see the torx head having enough grip in the socket head.
Any ideas would be welcome 🤔.

I use a PVC dip  You dip, let it drain,  then heat in an oven till it cures. You can apply multiple layers if necessary. Trouble is I got it from a rubber/plastic company I worked for a few years back. I will try and investigate though, although the company is long gone.

Another potential, thanks Ash👍

Will do Ken although it's going to be a good while before I get around to the luxury of putting the bike back together, I'm still stripping it down!