Restoring a classic '83 Honda Magna V65 (VF1100C) Motorcycle


So what else is missing?

Again, Jay was there almost everyday, sometimes helping me figure out where things fit, but usually giving preference to the 750. This caused a bit of friction between us, but I knew he was excited about the project. I usually ended up swapping the parts out after he left anyway. In some cases it was a good thing too. I was going to order a speedometer cable for the 1100, but after I looked a little closer, I realized the one I had fit perfectly on the 1100 but had a tendency to 'kink' on the 750 because it was too long.

The turn signals are another example. Although they are interchangable between the 750 and 1100, the turn signal stays (stems) are not. The better ones somehow ended up on the 750, so I still needed a good set of rear signals for the 1100. The aftermarket front signals I had there would work, but at least the rolling frame was together and I was able to install the wire harness and test out the electrical system, brake switches and such using the old battery on a trickle charger.

That is, once I finally got an ignition switch with keys to a matching set of fuel tank cap, helmet lock and alarm system. I don't have the fiber optic cable for the alarm system and it is about as expensive as putting a more modern alarm system on it. I kept going out to the garage just to turn on the ignition and turn signals and beep the horns. It was fun and it didn't get old.

After that, I put the 1100 on the back burner, even though it was the "first" one I owned, but that's a different story. By now Jay and I had found a place for all the parts and knew what we needed to finish putting them together. I really needed to make another trip to the salvage yard to see what they had and what I'd have to buy, either OEM or aftermarket.

So Jay, Nick and I made another trip to Jack's Cycle & Salvage where I bought another 1100cc motor since we didn't have all the parts to the original (sounds familiar?) This trip found us pulling another 750 and an 1100 engine. Jay worked on the 1100 removal while I worked on the 750. The 750 was from a Sabre to get at the exhaust pieces we needed and the 1100 for parts. I had since discovered two of the pistons/connecting rods were missing from the 1100 along with some pieces from the transmission countershaft.
($200 and tax).

Time to get started...

I had the gasket set for the 1100 engine since Feb 2005. It sat, neglected, for a long time while I worked on getting the 750 running, so it was nice to finally get back to this one. Unfortunately, the junk 1100 engine sat in the yard at Jack's for so long with the valves stuck open, the cylinders had rusted. That puppy was rusted solid! I couldn't turn the crankshaft at all.

I was able to remove the cams, cam chain guides and tensioners and finally the heads from the engine. I soaked the rusted cylinders with penetrating oil. I let that sit for at least a week. Still no dice. That engine wasn't turning. So I added more penetrating oil and left it to sit some more. I was kind of torn though as to what to do next. Needless to say, I found other things to keep me busy.

Like finding pistons and rods elsewhere. Now that I owned the 1100 (May 2006), it was time to start working on it in earnest. I started looking for pistons and managed to find a set of four on eBay and bought them. I started measuring the transmission parts in anticipation of putting the engine back together once I got the pistons. I started taking apart the rest of the junk engine, at least what I could access. I tried to loosen the bolt holding the starter clutch on the crankshaft and couldn't do it by hand.

So I got out the impact wrench and low and behold, sitting in penetrating oil all that time together with the help of my impact wrench broke the stuck pistons loose! By the time the eBay pistons got there, I had managed to get the junk 1100 engine to turn! I slowly worked the pistons back and forth, looking for anything that might bind the rings and worked that area clean. I worked it until I could turn the engine all the way over. Hooray! From there it was just a small matter to get the crankcase halves separated to expose the transmission parts I needed and the connecting rod ends to extract the pistons and rods.

Now I was busy measuring EVERYTHING! Piston pin clearances, rod bearing clearances, piston ring end gap clearances, cylinder bore diameters, etc. I compared the parts between the two engines. I had already dis-assembled the heads from the junk motor and compared the cams, valves and springs and chose the sets to use. Turns out that junk engine we thought was an '83 was really an '85. There were some design differences in the transmission, cams and cam chain tensioners, but still interchangable.

Finally! For days I thought I would never finish all the engine, head, valve, cam and transmission measurements. I was able to select the best parts from both engines, heads, valves and cams and put one together. I kept a rebuild record of the parts and their dimensions. In my earlier research when putting the 750 engine together, I found there was a camshaft oiling problem with these first generation (1982-1986) Magnas. Everyone has an oil modification to keep from grinding the heads and camshafts into mincemeat.

Decisions, decisions...

I chose to use the heads, cams, valves and transmission from the '85 junk engine when putting the original '83 engine back together. I noticed some of the changes Honda made between the '83 and '85 versions of the heads and camshafts to improve oiling, so that choice was a no-brainer. The '85 transmission had a new profile on the shift fork drum and the shift forks themselves had been modified.

But the primary concern that drove my choice of which transmission to use was the slop in the '83 countershaft bearing. Because I had just finished swapping out the countershaft on the '87 Super Magna, I knew what would happen to the bearings if I used marginal or questionable ones to begin with. Basically, they would be ground to a pulp and end up in the oil pan.

Another key factor was the rust damage to the '85 cylinder walls. That engine was in great shape otherwise. The cylinders were nice and round with very little taper, EXCEPT for some really deep pitting from rust that would have required at least one cylinder, if not three, be bored out. Must have been a low mileage bike when it came in. It was a shame and I was really questioning why Jack hadn't brought that engine into the barn when it first came to the yard.

Oh well. I had a nearly rebuilt 1100 engine and... some aluminum head and side covers, painted where they should be polished. I used some citri-strip on the head covers which removed the paint very well. Most of it bubbled up with the first coat, which revealed oxidation, meaning each needed polished. That is, sanded with 150 grit in one direction, then 220 grit in the perpendicular direction, then 320 grit again in the original direction.

Making it sparkle and shine...

I find using a ventilated, treated buff with tripoli compound on the aluminum parts does better than using a treated spiral sewn buff, which does better than using an untreated buff. I also find I can skip the 320 grit final polish step entirely, and usually skip the 150 grit, using just 220 grit unless the part is badly scuffed or oxidized. Then a loose cotton buff using white rouge brings it to a brilliant shine.

Every stainless part is buffed with a sisal buff using emery compound to remove most of the 'crud' and give it a uniform metallic sheen. Then a spiral sewn buff is used with stainless compound to bring out the shine. A final pass with a loose cotton buff using white rouge brings it to a brilliant shine. I do this on most of the exposed hardware, like head bolts, engine mount bolts, axles and nuts, etc. I even buffed the banjo connections on the brake lines!

Whew! It's definitely a LOT of work, but that "see yourself" shine is well worth it! Since the engine needed painted, I stopped short of polishing the covers. I had thoroughly cleaned the engine cases and heads and installed the valves, springs and keepers. I used sanding prep cleaner to remove any wax, grease or other contaminants. I followed that by scuffing with a red scotch brite pad to give the paint something to stick to.

Finally, I primed and painted with spray can engine paint, with the not ready for prime time covers in place to keep the paint out of the inside. Then I polished the clutch and alternator covers and head covers. I installed the clutch, starter clutch, and pulse pickups. I still needed to install the starter, after I cleaned it up.

We don't need no stinking lock nut wrench...

I made another special lock nut wrench for the clutch. I've managed to avoid buying one so far, but having said that, probably jinxed myself. The first was for the swingarm lock nut, using a 1/2" drive 1-1/8" deep well socket as a starting point, I marked off the position of the four slots I had to cut. Using a heavy duty cutoff wheel on a dremel tool and a file, I managed to make something that worked for the 750. I repeated this for the 1100 clutch lock nut, but it has six tabs instead of four.

I used spray cans to paint the 750 tank a nice blue metal flake and was fairly pleased with the results until a big mosquito flew into my last coat of clear. The next day, I put my big, fat thumbprints into the still soft enamel installing the tank. Then the seat and control lines "stuck" and left some really nasty marks. It looked good enough from a distance, to put it through its paces, but not good enough to take it anywhere without being embarrased.

I previously purchased the four DVD Paint-U-Cation set from Eastwood and watched all four (note that it is now a 6 DVD set as of 2018). I did more research online and found a couple of good resources and forums. Autobodystore.com and AutoBody101.com are the two I lurked on for awhile. I felt I had a good enough handle on what it would take to paint these bikes. I held off going to the local PPG distributor until I had some intelligent questions to ask.

Between the online advice and the PPG guy's knowledge, I came to the conclusion I would need to make some modifications to my air system. I already had the compressor "plumbed" using schedule 40 plastic pipe, straight to my 30' hose reel and an extension that was supposed to supply a retractable, ceiling mounted 50' hose reel, which was still sitting on the garage floor. The 30' reel would start spitting moisture soon after I started using any tools. Not acceptable for painting and really not good for the air tools either.

Air system upgrades

So I built a wort chiller. Basically, a 25' coil of copper tubing that sits in a 5 gallon bucket, immersed in water, to chill the heated air leaving the compressor. I connected this to a set of motor guard moisture and oil filters/separators. This should condense and trap the moisture, hopefully before it reaches the air tools or spray gun. This is all copper until the output of the filters and should alleviate concerns about heat or oil affecting the plastic pipe.

Next I extended the "pipe to nowhere" to a makeshift spray booth, consisting of a plastic pipe frame and 4 mil plastic sheeting, and terminated it in the retractable, now ceiling mounted, hose reel. At the end of the hose reel, I have a remote regulator and a "last chance" filter before it connects to my spray gun, just in case any moisture, oil or other contaminants make it that far.

The makeshift spray booth is positively pressurized by a downdraft fan I saved from an old Gen-Aire grill we had to replace. I built a plywood box around it to fit standard 12" x 20" air filter elements. I also tried a bathroom fan version of a forced air breathing system. My first try allowed too much air to escape around the impeller case when a small diameter hose was attached. I tried sealing the impeller case but it still didn't work. I decided to use the blower attachment from my shop vac.

The forced fresh air system is primarily a means to avoid breathing the deadly isocyanates generated by the catalyzed urethane clear coat. Colorless, odorless, sneaks up on you in a time delayed fashion. Really nasty stuff. Once you're sensitized, it only takes a small exposure to have a large reaction. That and the "bunny suit" with a hood, gloves and shoes should keep me safe. In case you couldn't tell, I bought the real stuff, PPG epoxy primer, royal blue pearl base coat and catalyzed clear coat, and shelved the rustoleum single stage spray bombs.

Long story short, I stripped the rustoleum spray bomb job off 750 tank down to bare metal, added bondo, and there it sat, waiting for paint. I also started hand sanding the plastic side covers for both the 750 and 1100 as well as the 1100 rear cowl. I had to take a step backward by removing parts from the 1100 rolling chassis so I could hand sand them.

This is too much like work...

Talk about work. Layer after layer after layer of thick, soft, clog the sandpaper black enamel covering primer covering another layer of paint over primer over the original factory paint over primer over a skim coat of filler.

When I finally finished sanding them, I cleaned them with post sanding cleaner and made some two part plastic repairs on the 1100 pieces. I reinforced the patches with some fiber tape, like the drywall tape. The one 750 side cover had a crack on the surface, right on top of one of the mounting posts. That got fixed too, so it didn't show up in the paint later.

So that's where I was in September (2006). I was still shooting to get it done before Biketoberfest (again). I still needed to rebuild the front forks and anti-dive unit, polish the wheels, rotors, and fork sliders. I had new tires on the way, just needed the bead breaker and tire mounting tools. Almost bought new MAC megaphone mufflers, but wanted to see how well the old OEM ones cleaned up first. Turns out I have two right mufflers and no left muffler.

Now that the engine was finally rebuilt, I needed to put it in the frame, which still needed painted. So I had to take a step backward again and take everything back off the frame. The forks and wheels needed cleaned and polished anyway, might as well be now. I prepped the bare frame, scuffed the old paint, and primed and painted it. Even more work.

This is too much like more work...

Well, I got the tires and parts and tools, oh my. But much to Ann's chagrin, they sat in the living room for a week until I could make room in the garage. I needed to get the rest of the parts on the 1100, including the engine, to get them off the bench, the floor, etc. Out of the way in other words. I tore down the front forks, cleaned and polished them, and rebuilt them. They came out nice.

I took the steering stem out to paint the frame, cleaned the bearings and repacked, installed and...I knew it, I jinxed myself! I need ANOTHER lock nut tool! After trying and trying to hold the bearing nut with one of my hands while I tried to tap the locknut tight with my other two hands, it really looked like I was going to have to buy it. Then it dawned on me, I could just use the impact hammer with a blunt tip. It only took two hands and worked like a charm.

I polished the top bridge while it was off and now it shines too. If I installed the forks I couldn't leave the frame sitting there on the mainstand and the jack since it wanted to keep tipping forward from the weight of just the forks without the swingarm or wheels to balance it. I couldn't permanently install the swingarm until I got new grease seals.

So I had to polish the front wheel, rotors and axle and mount the new tire. But first I had to remove the old tire. That week turned into two, but Ann had moved the tire mounting tools closer to the garage. The old tire ended up being an old tire AND an innertube. Good thing I already bought a new valve stem.

I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed that wheel until I couldn't scrub it anymore. I used a brass wire brush on the bright metal and tire side of the rim to remove the years of rubber, lubricant, and oxidation build-up. Once it was clean, I installed the new valve stem with the accompanying cursing and pounding and straining to make it fit. I finally realized if I pulled on it enough to get the lip started, all I had to do was pull it around in a circle to get the rest of it seated.

Now the hard part, buffing the wheel. First I buffed the outside edge of the rim with tripoli compound by holding the entire (heavy) wheel up to the buffer. Then I meticulously buffed the 'spoke' parts of the rim using a flex-shaft with a mini-buff to get into all the tight places. Then I repeated it all with white compound to get that sparkle. Ready for new rubber!

There must be a trick to this...

I had previously mounted the 750 rear tire by hand, without the help of my new mounting machine, but that experience helped me realize I needed to take the 750 front wheel (and any other for that matter) to a shop with the proper equipment. Well, now I had the proper equipment, but I didn't know how to use it.

Like everything made in China these days, the instructions aren't clear and the drawings or pictures, if any, are useless. So by trial-and-error I figured out how to use the bead tool and get at least one side of the tire on the rim. But after about an hour of struggling with the other bead, I was no closer to having it mounted. So I re-read the instructions again and finally came across the 'trick'.

You can't let the tire beads seat until the ENTIRE tire has a chance to be stretched over the rim. Otherwise, the tire will not have enough 'room' to be stretched over the rim, usually about halfway around. The trick is once part of the second bead is over the edge of the rim, push both the beads on that side together and into the deep part of the dish of the rim. This will give the extra 'room' needed on the other side where working with the bead tool.

It's a little tricky and I needed three hands to do it, but it went from being impossible to stretch the tire enough to that was too easy. I should also note another thing I discovered after I did the 750 rear tire - what that stupid yellow dot is on the tire for! I cleaned all the bluing off the raised white letters, but no amount of scrubbing would remove the yellow dot. Turns out that dot marks the part of the tire that should be mounted next to the valve stem.

Where one is the lightest, the other is the heaviest, and matched together they balance each other out. Usually to the point where it won't need any weights to balance. I was only off by about six inches on the 750 rear tire, but it ended up needing weights, with the yellow dot about the halfway between the valve stem and the weights! Live and learn.

Long story short, I got the tire mounted, polished the brake rotors with steel wool, installed them on the front wheel, polished the speedometer sender, spacer and front axle, and installed the front wheel on the forks. Now I had a stable platform to install the engine and a jack freed up to install it with. First I had to polish the rear exhaust pipes and heat shield and install them before I could install the engine since it's impossible to get to them with the engine in.

The engine's finally in...

After polishing and painting the engine side covers and bolts, I installed them loosely with the gaskets. I polished the engine mount bolts and in the engine went. Finally! We needed the jack to take the engine out of the latest purchase, a 1985 Magna 500 (V30). That is, until we bought a 1983 Shadow VT500 since the Magna VF500 engine was damaged beyond repair without a new crankcase. Nick helped me get it out and tear it down. but that's another story...

Now I could put back all that stuff I had to take off the frame to paint it. With one exception, the auxiliary fuel tank. I had already flushed and coated the main fuel tank before painting it, but the auxiliary tank was rusted where the bare metal was showing through the paint and full of rust inside, so it needed the same flush, coat and paint treatment.

Unfortunately, it had to be the first thing in BEFORE the rest of the items that fit under the seat, like the battery box, fuel pump, relays, breather case, coolant overflow tank, starter solenoid, heat shield, etc. Now I needed another tank coating kit from Eastwood. And before I could paint it, I would need to get some more PPG black epoxy primer since I already used up the quart I had.

While I waited, I decided to install the center heat shield, coils and the tank prop rod. I also loosely installed the stuff under the seat to get an idea of placement. I started sanding the auxiliary fuel tank in anticipation of the Eastwood shipment and a trip the local PPG store. Nick help me by sanding it while I sanded the rear fender and license plate bracket. Two nights straight we sanded them by hand down to bare metal.

I stopped by Ben's Paints to pick up the stuff I needed and had them color match the Candy Wineberry Red color on the 500s. I had to pick it up the next day along with another quart of the primer and hardener. It cost me twice as much for a quart of matched paint as it did for a quart mixed from the color chart. Oh well, the only chart colors close were either too red or too purple and I'm a perfectionist. Too bad they aren't and went for the 'eye' match.

I re-used the chemicals I saved from coating the 750 tank and part of a pint of the white coating stuff from the new kit to give the auxiliary fuel tank the treatment. I had to find somewhere to put the rest of the painted stuff for the 1100 so I could prime the metal parts. First I put them on the frame but they were in the way so I put them on the kitchen counter. They couldn't stay there long with Thanksgiving coming though.

Now where the Hell is it?

With those parts out of the way I primed the other parts Nick and I sanded. I put two coats of clear on the rear fender and license plate bracket later that day. I installed the auxiliary tank the next day and the rest of the stuff, except for a missing breather storage tank. Jay had stopped over to celebrate his new job. Nick, Jay and I searched the garage for hours looking for it. We finally gave up.

Best I can figure is when I was scrubbing it, I found a crack or other problem that rendered it unusable, made a mental note to buy one, threw it away and forgot about it. I went ahead and installed the rear inner and outer fender, cowling, grab rails, taillight and turn signals and everything else I'll probably have to take back off now that they'll be in the way of the missing tank. I found one on eBay, won the auction (23 November 2006) and got it yesterday.

That seems to be a common theme in my endeavours, now where the Hell is it? As much as I've tried to organize and have a place for everything and everything in its place, I still misplace things. Tools, parts, notes, gloves, you name it, I've lost it. I think I've probably spent as much time looking for things as I have spent doing things. Usually the problem is when I don't have a place for something or I got interrupted and didn't put something back in its place.

Oh well, I eventually find it or buy another one. It's usually quicker and easier to buy a new one. So now I have three 4" razor scrapers, two of which I can find. Two staple guns, one of which I can find. Too many hammers, one of which I can find. Yesterday I needed the buff rake to clean one of the buffs, not in its place. Good thing I remembered Nick borrowed it to clean the buff on his Handy Butler. You get the picture.

While I was waiting on the breather storage tank to arrive, I removed the old tire from the rear wheel and polished the wheel, final drive case, rear axle and nut, shocks and disk rotor. I mounted the new new tire and installed the disk brake rotor. I installed the driveshaft, final drive case, rear wheel, rear brake caliper and stays, and the axle onto the swingarm. Something else I needed but didn't have - one of the rear axle spacers was missing - but at least I remembered to order that (1 December 2006).

Why do I procrastinate?

I still needed to tighten the alternator (flywheel) bolt before adding oil. To do that, I needed to install the shift linkage so I could put it in gear and use the rear brake to hold the crankshaft while I tightened it. I broke my strap wrench trying to hold it that way and didn't want to spend the money on a holder tool.

Before I installed the shift linkage, it really needed polished - and the foot pegs too. I bought a spare set for Ann's VT500, so I 'borrowed' some missing parts from them. They cleaned up pretty good. Now I could put it in gear, but still needed a rear brake. Having already cleaned and painted the front calipers and rear master cylinder, I just needed to clean and paint the rear caliper. Or so I thought...

Once I installed the rear master cylinder and caliper, I bled the system and applied the brake, which promptly stuck. So back off the caliper came. It needed rebuilt, not just cleaned. After removing the pistons from the caliper, I noticed the dust seals were missing and the piston seals were hardened. This called for a rebuild kit, so I bought one on eBay.

While I waited for it to arrive, I finally got around to polishing the carburetors. This is one time consuming job, since it's difficult to get into all the irregularly shaped areas of the carburetors and there are four of them. Multiply that by having to buff twice. Once for tripoli compound and again for the white rouge, scrubbing them in between, and you see why I put it off for so long.

Once that was done, I rebuilt them and (tried to) set the float height level. The float needles are spring loaded and the manual says to tilt the carb until the tang on the float just touches the (seated) float needle and measure the height. I did it just like the manual said and installed them and all the fuel tubes, air tubes and linkages onto the air box. I did a quick bench synchronization of the throttle plates and installed them on the engine.

If only installing the air box and carbs were that easy. Even using the trick I found online about seating the front carbs first then tilting the boots on the rear carbs to 'rock' them into position it took forever. I tightened down the clamps on the boots, connected up my auxiliary fuel bottle and opened the valve. I had fuel everywhere! It was just pouring out of every carb. I knew those floats looked wrong!

And I thought installing the carbs was difficult. Just try to get them back off! After loosening the boot clamps and strategically positioning some wood to pry against with a big screwdriver, I managed to get them loose. One by one I removed the float bowls and re-adjusted the float levels. This time I made sure the full weight of the float rested on the float needle, compressing the spring loading, and adjusted the float levels.

When I went to put the float bowls back on, the fuel had swelled the O-ring gaskets to the point they were now too long to fit in the groove. So I had to break into a spare rebuild kit for new ones. This time installing the carbs went a little faster. With the auxiliary fuel bottle in place and the valve open, no fuel leaks this time! Now the question is will the engine start?

Will it start?

It might work better if I install the starter. While I'm at it, should probably tighten that flywheel bolt too. By now the rear caliper rebuild kit had arrived. I polished the pistons, installed the new seals with a light coating of silicone grease, and those pistons slid right in! With the caliper, shifter and pegs in place, I put her into 6th gear, applied the brake and torqued down the flywheel bolt.

Now I was able to tighten down the case bolts and add oil, just as soon as I cleaned and installed the starter. With a large part of the exhaust system still waiting to be polished, I tried starting the engine using a spare 12 amp-hour battery from one of the 500s. It turned the engine over, but it wouldn't catch. Figured that would happen.

So I went to PepBoys where they had an 18 amp-hour battery last time I was there. Well, this time they didn't and the guy even tried to tell me they don't carry them and never did. Okay, I'll take that as you really didn't want my business anyway. Never did like going to those greedy bastages. Seems like all they cater to anymore are those rice rocket, street racing, bolt-on crazed teenage @$$holes with fart-can mufflers anyway. No battery, but they had at least a dozen of those stupid @$$ rear wings!

Sorry, hope I didn't offend anyone, just the way I feel about the whole situation. You watch a show Saturday or Sunday for gearheads like me that shows what you can do to beef up your ride and they say you can buy it at this-or-that shop. So you get to this-or-that shop and not only do they not carry that thing you just saw on TV, but they no longer carry something you bought last time you were there! Maybe someday corporate America will wake up to the fact that some of us are still willing to pay more for good quality and prompt, friendly service.

Not you, the bike! Will the bike start?

Anyway, we were talking about whether the 1100 would start, not getting me started standing on my soapbox. I went down the street to AutoZone to see if they had a battery. They did, just not at that store. The guy was nice enough to check other stores in the area, but none of them had one either. So I had 'em send it over from the warehouse and picked it up the next business day after the Thanksgiving Holiday. I got it home, added the acid, and put it on the charger.

Now the moment of truth... with the charged battery installed and oil in the crankcase, I crossed my fingers and pushed the start button. She moaned and groaned and roared to life. Literally. I hadn't yet finished polishing the exhaust system, so it was just straight ports in the front and the downpipes in the rear. Also no radiator yet, so I could only run it for a few seconds or chance cracking the block like the 500 engine. Hell yeah! LOUD! LOUD! LOUD!

I shut it down as Ann and Nick came running out of the house to check it out. They both had big smiles on their faces. Not as big as mine though. This was it! After nearly two years of tinkering and wrench twisting and researching and eBaying and measuring and cursing and fitting and painting, it RUNS! I was ready to hop on it and ride. Too bad it wasn't ready for me to do that yet.

I test fit the airbox cover along with the new K & N air filter and filter cover. It was a real son of a gun to get that air box cover in between the air box sitting on top of the carbs and beneath the top frame rails. I ended up accidently slicing the O-ring style gasket trying to get it in and out of there. I coated it with rubber gasket dressing and tightened it down. After oiling the K & N air filter, I installed it and the cover.

Before I could run the engine for any length of time, the engine would need the cooling system installed. Before that could happen, I needed to solder new connectors onto the wire harness for the thermostat and radiator fan, which was missing them. I have spare wire harnesses, in pretty bad shape overall, but replete with all the connectors for just such an occasion.

I selected the connectors I needed, clipped them from the donor harness, slipped some heat shrink tubing over the new connections, then fluxed and soldered them up. A quick 'blow job' on the heat shrink with the heat gun and it was good as new. Next I installed the radiator and tried to install the thermostat. It was not cooperating. There's a really short radiator hose between the thermostat and radiator, but it was wasn't flexing enough to fit.

I dug into the big bin full of cooling system stuff and found there are two different kinds of thermostat covers, one style for the 750 where the outlet comes straight out and another for the 1100 that slants down at an angle. No wonder the hose wouldn't fit. So I disassembled one from the bin and swapped tops. Thank goodness the O-ring gasket is the same.

That's much better. Fits like a glove. I opened the bleeder screw on the thermostat housing and added coolant. Once it started trickling out the bleeder, I tightened it up and put the cap on the radiator. I still needed to strip and polish the radiator covers that someone had filled in the reflector mounting holes on and painted black, but that could wait until later.

I still needed to polish and install the front exhaust pipes with the exhaust collector, after painting it with heat paint, and then the mufflers. But I needed to start the engine shortly after that (within 8 hours) to cure the heat paint before it turned to dust. I didn't want to run the engine without pipes because the shock wave produced will quickly damage the exhaust valves.

I didn't spend a lot of time sanding and polishing the exhaust, at least not as much as I did on the 750. I was able to just buff it. It still involved holding that monster of a piece up to the buffer for long intervals to clean up the pipes, and more time for the aluminum flanges. I test fit it in place and it was loosely held there by the front pipe flanges. I waited to put the mufflers on though. 8^D

Will it cool?

Although the fuel pump was plugged in, there was no fuel to pump. Would I run into fuel pump/relay issues on this bike like I did on the 750? That was a question for later. I used the auxillary fuel bottle for running the engine up to operating temperature to test the cooling system. For now, it holds pressure without leaks, the thermostat opens, and the thermostatic switch turns the radiator fan on and off. Excellent! I was concerned I'd be looking for those parts next.

It was still too loud and leaking exhaust gases though. So I let it cool down and finished cleaning up the exhaust system, masked it and sprayed it with the heat paint and installed it more permanently. The engine definitely ran smoother and it ran until the fuel was gone, without stalling like it was doing before.

I'm not sure why it kept stalling, but while I waited on the battery to charge after running it down trying to restart after it stalled so many times, I sanded the paint off the radiator side covers. Whatever had been used to fill the reflector mounting holes, it was soft enough to carve out with an exacto knife. I was able to buff them up, bolt the reflectors on and mount them on the radiator. I added the radiator shrouds and it looked much better.

Will it pump?

Of course, a test ride (or two) was in order. I'd been looking forward to this day for two years now. All I had to do was get it to run off its own fuel supply, which meant filling the tank and testing the fuel pump. I had left the low fuel sensor out of the auxiliary fuel tank, beneath the seat, and was able to fill it up to the lip of the opening. I installed the new sensor and moved on to the fuel pump.

I jumpered out the fuel pump to run directly from the battery. At first it hesitated like it did before, then it started clunking away. But it wasn't drawing fuel up from the tank. I twisted the petcock back and forth a couple times just in case it was clogged. Nothing. I noticed the fuel filter was empty and thought maybe I could 'prime' it by connecting the test fuel bottle to the supply line coming from the pump. Still nothing.

I realized I could partially fill the main tank to bring the fuel level above the filter and hopefully help prime the pump. I was reluctant to put even more fuel into the tank just in case I had to take it back out. But that was the trick that did it. With the jumpered fuel pump clunking away, I saw the filter fill about half-way and fuel started pumping out the supply line. I quickly connected the supply line to the carburetor line, plugged the fuel pump relay back in and started it up.

Much to my surprise, the engine started and kept running. It still had no mufflers, so I could barely hear the fuel pump clunk periodically, but I knew that much was working. I put the seat on and took it for a quick spin around the cul-de-sac. After that short trip, I realized the front brakes were 'sticking'. Back to the garage it came.

Will it stop?

The front brakes were hot and the brake lever would barely move, as if pressure had built up behind it. I figured the heat had expanded the pads, caliper and pistons. All I knew was I could barely push it. Great. Wonderful. Wonderful. Great. I had to wait for the brakes to cool down before I could do anything. Once they did, I still could barely push it.

I loosened the left front caliper and 'tapped' it off the rotor with persuasion from the rubber hammer. I pumped the brake lever and watched one piston of two move. I thought I already rebuilt these. I used the pads and a screwdriver as a wedge to hold the piston that moved from moving to force the other one to move. I was able to slowly ease both pistons out of the caliper, getting brake fluid everywhere.

I washed the caliper parts, pads and pistons with soap and water and dried them. The pistons needed polished, but the seals were still in good shape. After the pistons were polished, I coated them and the seals with silicone grease and they slid right in. Good. I mounted the caliper, attached the brake line and bled the system again. It was a lot easier to move now.

By now it was time to put the new Mac mufflers on. They'd been sitting in the box since November (2006) and it was almost Christmas. These were (supposedly) slip-fit, no gaskets needed like the OEM versions. Well, the no gasket part was correct, but the 'slip-on' part wasn't. I couldn't even pound them on if I wanted to. I needed an exhaust pipe expander tool.

I stopped by the parts store near work at lunchtime the next day. They had a used one, a loaner that I could get my money back for if I brought it back, but I decided to keep it. I ended up splitting both mufflers trying to get them opened up enough to fit on the exhaust pipes. Even though the mufflers were slotted with a round termination that normally wouldn't concentrate stress, they cracked along rounded end of one slot. It wouldn't show under the clamp and now at least now they would go on.

It runs much more quietly now, but there is still a leak somewhere, I think where the #3 downtube connects to the top of the expansion chamber. Those joints are supposed to have gaskets, which they don't, so hopefully it's not a hole somewhere and new gaskets will take care of it. At least now it looks like a motorcycle and sounds more like one.

Yes, but will it stop stopping?

With the new mufflers mounted and the brake caliper rebuilt, it was time for another test ride. I took a longer trip this time, more than a mile, around the golf course. The front brakes were still sticking and now dragging so badly that the clutch was having a hard time and starting to slip. Back to the garage it went again. This time the brakes were so hot the front wheel was smoking.

Once they cooled down it was time to rebuild the right front caliper. Same problem with this one, one piston was sticking. Again, getting brake fluid all over the place, I eased the pistons out of the caliper. After washing the parts with soap and water, I polished the pistons, lubricated them and the seals with silicone grease and one of them slid right in. The other kind of hung-up partway in but I figured it slid nice until that point and it would be okay.

Wrong. After I bled the system again, another test ride around the golf course revealed there was still a problem. It wasn't as bad this time, the wheel wasn't smoking, but the brakes were still dragging and the clutch was still starting to slip. So off the right caliper came again. This time I removed the seals and burnished the caliper bore where the piston was sticking. This time both pistons slid right in without sticking.

Another short test ride around the neighborhood and the front brakes were already dragging again. I had even bled the entire system again and cracked the connection to the master cylinder open just in case air was trapped there. The common symptom seems to be the brake lever getting harder to pull until the brakes are just on, as if pressure is building up but has nowhere to go.

It's to the point now where the last thing to rebuild is the master cylinder. And thinking about it, if the master cylinder isn't releasing the pressure once the brakes are applied, that would account for the symptoms I'm seeing. I could have sworn I rebuilt it already, but then again, that's what I thought about the front calipers too. I put it on the todo list.

And now for a brief intermission...

Nick and I have been working on rebuilding the VF500 engine and transmission. First, we disassembled the pistons and pins, rings and rods, cleaned them and recorded their measurements. Then we did the transmission countershaft and gears. The next day I cleaned and measured the mainshaft and gears. I also measured the oil clearances with plastigage.

With everything measured and within service limits, I put the transmission and the shift mechanism back together. It's a real Rube Goldberg that's for sure. I put a shift lever on it temporarily and was (finally) able to shift through all the gears and back to neutral. Good. That much is done. This took a few days away from the 1100.

Then Jay called on my Birthday saying his headlight burned out and asked if he could borrow the 750 until the bulb he ordered arrived. I told him I had a spare bulb from the old Magna 500 headlight we could try to fix it with, so he brought over his Honda Rebel the next day and we got to work. Not only did we replace the bulb, but I did some quick and dirty metalworking to restore the headlight ring to its normal (round) shape after Jay's accident about a year back left it a road-rashed out-of-round.

Last night (17 January 2007) I was finally able to get back to the 1100 front brake master cylinder rebuild. I removed the brake light switch connectors and the mirror from the master cylinder. Then I disconnected the brake line and plugged it to minimize brake fluid loss and spillage. With the master cylinder off the bike, I poured out the remaining brake fluid and disassembled it. The piston cup and seals were still in good shape and the spring had some minor rust but nothing to worry about.

After washing all the parts thoroughly with soap and water, I dried them and inspected the master cylinder itself. I was right, the metering port was clogged and compressed air wasn't clearing it. With this port clogged, the pressure builds up in the brake line but has no way of being released and that's exactly what I was experiencing. So now I had to figure out how to clear the clog.

I didn't want to use metal if I didn't have to since this could enlarge the port and alter the braking characteristics. First I tried a plastic bristle from a whisk brush, but it was too big. Then I tried a piece of 30 gauge wire, but it wasn't stiff enough. Then it dawned on me, use a pin. Worked like a charm. Armed with the restored master cylinder, I installed the rest of the piston pieces, coating the seals with silicone grease.

The sight 'glass' was in pretty bad shape too. It was somewhat clear until I washed it, but it turned cloudy and opaque as it dried. It had been leaking around the edges awhile back and I quickly ran some superglue around it while it had brake fluid in it just to stop it. Well now I had to clean that off and try to polish the face to be somewhat transparent again. I ran the tip of the superglue bottle around the edge to seal it, this time nice and dry and in a controlled fashion.

I put the rebuilt master cylinder back on the handlebars and attached the brake line. After filling it with brake fluid, I cracked the brake line connection as I applied pressure on the brake lever to bleed the air and tightened as the lever was released. I repeated this until I had a firm brake lever, topped off the fluid and installed the bladder and cap.

I suited up for a test ride and backed it out of the garage. It rolled easily, a good sign. I thought if this didn't work, I would have to order a master cylinder kit together with two front caliper rebuild kits. This time the test ride went smoothly. The bike rolled nicely and the clutch wasn't slipping at all, even when I got on the throttle and ripped through the gears. Excellent.

Now the brakes are the least of my worries. One of the carbs, or perhaps one of the fuel tubes, is leaking fuel. I'm thinking it's the front carbs though since the engine will stop cranking as if it's hydraulic locking from fuel in the cylinder. When it finally does start, there's a small puddle of fuel beneath the #2 cylinder exhaust port (I haven't tightened down the exhaust all the way yet just in case).

I don't need to choke it to start either and the pipes are already starting to blue indicating an incorrect mixture, most likely rich in this case. That means those blasted carbs need to come back off again. I don't know what the trick is to get the floats set correctly and using the method in the manual isn't working like it did on the 750.

This time I'll use the fully seated approach, only I'll set the level to 7mm instead of 6mm and see what happens. I'm beginning to worry that the aftermarket rebuild kits didn't have the correct float valves and seats. When I get them back off the engine I'll compare all the ones I have to see if maybe there is a difference between them. Beyond that I'm stumped.

So what's left to do?

I'm almost there. There are other things I'd like to do, like find an original left muffler that will clean up to match one of the two right mufflers I have. The new MAC mufflers are nice, but they're straight cut compared to the originals, which have the slant cut. The last thing to do will be to synchronize the carburetors and tune the idle mixtures. Since there's new paint, there aren't any decals, like the Honda wings on the tank or the V65 Magna moniker on the side covers.

Courtney still owes me some tank artwork. I bought her a bunch of photography chemicals so she can do her own enlargement and development at home. The understanding was a "barter", as she calls it, of sketches of airbrush art for the cost of the chemicals. I'll try my hand at the airbrush part of it, but she's much better at the art part of it. Something I always wanted to do, but couldn't study commercial art and college prep at the same time in high school.

Unfortunately, she always has something more important to do and her boyfriend takes up whatever spare time she has left. My idea for the tank is to have a hot looking fairy or pixie arching back along the curved front line of the tank, whose wings spread out behind her, matching the original Honda wings but without the "Honda". I want it to look like war bird nose art, like a Vargas pinup.

For the "V65 Magna" moniker, I was thinking about 'ghosted' bronze leaf letters with some sort of flame or pixie dust trail or something back from the tank art to tie in with and accentuate the lines of the bike. Something that's not the original stock look, but enough like it for someone to recognize it as a V65. This time I think I'll practice first though.

On that note, I still need to figure out what kind of paint to use for the airbrush. Originally I thought about using the water based Auto-Air line sold by Eastwood and was going to buy the $200 starter kit when it was on sale for $120, but the link wouldn't work. About half the links to the Auto-Air stuff didn't work, and other sites that supposedly carried it had long back-order times, so I got spooked. Did they go out of business?

Probably not, but I'm just not sure what paint to use. The 500s need paint first and they will keep me busy enough for now. I finally managed to find a fuel tank for Ann's VT500 on eBay and spent too much on it, but at least I can paint it independent of her riding it. I really need to replace the water pipe seals and the radiator fan thermostatic switch, which will call for some downtime, but that's another story...

(23 March 2007)
Felt I needed to add an update. Ann's VT500 is done! It looks and run great. We usually ride on the weekend, 40 - 50 miles. We thought about going to Daytona for Bike Week this year, but Ann didn't feel comfortable riding in all that traffic and we didn't have a place to stay anyway. Mom and Dad got us their time share for Biketoberfest this year so we'll have a place to stay then. We're looking forward to it.

After finishing her VT500 early this month, I got back to the VF500 which has taken all my time and patience. The fork seals on the 700 really need replaced but I can't get to that until the VF500 is back together and out of the way. The taxes are looming, the fence needs replaced, Ann wants to tear out the bar and repurpose the patio. It never ends. After all that, then maybe I can get back to this classic.

I was going to finish setting the valve clearance on the nearly rebuilt 500 engine last night but Ann wanted to take the bar out. I was hoping it could wait until this weekend but no such luck. We did manage to get it apart and realized we couldn't reuse pieces of it. So now I get to make a new grilling station with a pull out shelf just for the GenAire grill. It will wait until this weekend or beyond. Ann isn't too happy about it, but at least it's started.

Getting back to the 1100... boy I wish! I rode the 750 in to work today and it has more get-up-and-go than the 700 Super I usually ride, but not as much as the 1100! If it weren't for those damned carburetors I'd be done. This one is going to take awhile though. I'm realizing that it will be at least a month or two until I can devote the time needed to finish up. So stay tuned, more to come.

I hope you have enjoyed this 'play-by-play'. My writing skills leave much to be desired, but I wanted to capture the experience as it happened so I wouldn't forget things, without having to look back and try to remember. I admit some of the saga is looking back, perhaps too far back to remember accurately, but again I just wanted to capture the experience before it was all lost to time. Below is a condensed view of what was done and the order in which it was done.

Bulletin, Bulletin, Bulletin...

(22 April 2008)
I was adding Ann's new Harley Sportster and making other updates so I thought I would add something here as well. Everytime I look at this bike, or try to, something else always takes precedence. Now that Courtney is riding the 750 and I really need to take the 700 offline to check the the driveline and finally re-paint, finishing this bike is my only option (short of buying a new Harley myself).

I have yet to find anything I like as much as the Super style-wise though. Maybe I can adapt a rake kit from another bike, lower it, chop it and fab some neat pipes that look like the Super 4 into 4 style. I have an extra set of forward controls I bought for the Super maybe I can adapt as well. I think I even know a way to adapt a VTX headlight to get rid of that fugly rectangular headlight!

Obviously, it's been more than the month or two, actually more than a year. But stay tuned, there's definitely more to come...

IT'S ALIVE!!!

(16 September 2008)
Finally got her back on the road and man does she haul! It took some work, but it was worth it! I ran into a few glitches since then but nothing major other than having to rebuild the carburetors (third time's a charm) and rebuild the clutch hydraulics (again).

The biggest issue with the carbs leaking fuel seemed to be two of the float valve seats, or lack thereof. Once I had the carbs back out of the bike and on the bench again, I was able to connect the auxiliary fuel bottle and diagnose. The number 3 carb had a steady trickle once the the fuel flow was turned on so I concentrated on it. I took the float bowl cover off, reset the float, replaced the bowl cover and tried again. This time better, but still a steady drip, drip, drip.

Hummm. That's strange. This time I took the float out and looked for obvious signs of a leak. None. Then I looked at the float needle valve and seat. Under the magnifier it looked as if the seat was never machined or had been machined incorrectly or improperly. I replaced it and the needle, reset the float level, buttoned it up and tested again. This time nothing, so I gave it an hour under fuel pressure to test. Still nothing, but now it appeared number 2 had a slow but discernible drip. Here we go again.

Same drill, same problem. Unfortunately, I can't remember which rebuild kit the float valves came from. I do remember that the bowl cover gaskets were not pre-formed, expanding after exposure to gasoline, and no longer fit correctly afterward. The good news was after being under fuel pressure overnight there were no leaks! I got out the new carb boots and set about installing them and the now working carbs.

I did (finally) figure out the trick to getting the air box cover on and off, in and out of the frame - slide the breather hose off first, then remove the choke and throttle cables and move them out of the way. This gives enough room to lift slightly and slide the cover back toward the rear bank of carbs, then angle it out with forcing anything and breaking it.

Next step, change the oil and filter and test ride. Before that, install the new mirrors and do the pre-ride checkout, especially tire pressure. Finally good to go, I put on my gear and away I went. I had forgotten just how much power this beastie packed. All in all, a very fun ride. The clutch was slipping, especially once I hit ~7000 RPM in first and second. I was also hearing a 'rubbing' noise, like one of the disk brakes was dragging again. By the time I was home, the clutch was slipping under acceleration and in the higher gears now too.

I wrote off the slippage as the bike having sat for so long with gasoline in the oil and now saturating the clutch friction disks. I figured after some miles it would clear itself up. Wrong. I synchronized the carbs with the mercury manometers, dripping with sweat and cursing the difficult arrangement, but was finally done. I was about to clean up and suit up, but noticed the clutch handle was very difficult to pull in and was only able to pull it back about halfway.

Now the slipping clutch was making more sense. Same thing I went through with the brakes last time I tried to get this monster running. I knew right away it was a clogged metering hole in the master cylinder but after taking the master cylinder cover off and discovering how nasty the hydraulic fluid looked, I decided to overhaul the entire clutch hydraulic system and replace with fresh fluid. That's fixed everything except the over 7000 RPM slippage, most likely a failing / failed one way clutch in the clutch pack.

No Light Speed? It's Not My Fault...

(23 September 2008)
That will have to wait. I'm not tearing this motor apart again now that I've got it all back together and running! Not yet at least. For now, I'll just have to live without warp speed. Besides, this thing is quick enough shifting at 6000 instead of 7000. Now to do something about that back firing on deceleration... like turning the idle jets in about a quarter turn. Now it just kind of pops...

Ann and I took a short ride last Sunday (14 September 2008) and everything was working fine. I was still hearing that rubbing sound but the brakes were working fine and weren't locking up like before. I started riding it to work last week. Today I thought I heard a cop 'blipping' the siren behind me in the school zone about halfway to work. I looked all around and didn't see anything. I made it around the corner and all of sudden something was wailing.

I slowed down and it finally subsided but was still making that rubbing noise, albeit much louder. I guessed it was the speedometer cable in need of some lubrication, so I turned around and headed for the 'barn'. Once back home, I called the boss to let him know I was having some difficulties, but wanted to try something and would be there shortly.

I got out the oil can, loosened the cable at the speedometer and put a few squirts in and let it soak in. A few more squirts and I buttoned it back up. I made it around the corner before it really started wailing and then the needle started back and forth wildly until it broke off against the stop. Great. Just great. I ran back home, disconnected the speedometer and rode it to work with no speedometer. It turns out the auto turn signal cancelling stopped working so it is somehow connected to the speedometer as well.

Light speed out of the question and now not even knowing my speed... That night I pulled the speedometer off the instrument cluster. I found there is a magnetic reed switch that 'counts' the rotations of the input and feeds the cancellation circuit and removed it. Then I began patiently working my way around the curled lip of the bezel with a small screwdriver. Around and around and around until it finally came loose almost an hour later. I took the mechanism out and lubricated it.

I ran it about a mile and a half with the drill to make sure it was fixed. I glued the broken needle back on, cleaned the glass bezel and put it all back together. I placed it face down on a towel on the bench and began patiently tapping the lip of the bezel with the tack hammer, curling it back on tight. I put it back into the cluster and buttoned everything up. I've been riding without a problem ever since. I never knew how much I'd miss auto turn signal cancellation until I had it briefly then had to do without it.

We planned on heading to the Sunshine Mountain Bakery in Mt. Dora this weekend. The starter motor has been growling and running a bit slow of late, so I took it out and overhauled it by cleaning out the bearing pressed onto the armature shaft, which barely moved, relubricated it and put it back together. Could have sworn I'd done that already too. Works great for now.

There are a few other annoying things that eventually need to be taken care of as well. Ann noticed my brake light stayed on solid on the way back from the bakery, so I rebuilt it this morning (6 October 2008) before leaving for work. I have to check my tire pressure and fill the front tire every morning before I leave as it's usually down 5 - 7 PSI. Maybe that's why it had an inner tube in it before? The clutch slippage is annoying too, but that will have to wait until the Super is rebuilt so I'll have something to ride.

Already Making Modifications

Little by little I've been making modifications since then. I removed the KG Slider rack and adjustable backrest from Ann's old Shadow and actually managed to get it to fit the V65. I really need to have a new set of side rails fabbed to properly mount it since the ones I borrowed from the 750 rack are a bit short. They'll work for now though.

Next I installed the MC Enterprises crash guards I bought that will fit either the 750 or 1100. I'm still looking at getting forward controls to work but may just opt for a good set of highway pegs mounted to the crash guard. The pads that came with it are useless. Beyond that, maybe some saddlebags. Who knows? I'd really like to add some rake to the front end, even fab some mufflers to look like the Super and even some round tail lights.

For now, I'm sticking with trying to restore the original. I tried to order some of the OEM mufflers, clamps, and gaskets I needed to finish back in September but Service Honda said they were No Longer Available (NLA). I have to ask what someone is supposed to do when in need a new radiator cap? Surely they can't be serious? And yes, I'm calling them Shirley! Actually, I spoke with Jen...

She told me all I could get was the hardware stuff like nuts and bolts and the like. I asked her if this was a policy change at Service Honda or these items were truly NLA, but didn't really get a good answer. It's somewhat irritating, too, considering a number of other parts sites still show them as available. I've spent nearly $3000 buying from Service Honda, one would think that would count for something. Guess not...

In any case I did find a set of OEM mufflers, still in the original cartons, on eBay. They were more expensive than buying them directly from Honda, but then again, I didn't have to worry about f...ing around with whether they were NLA or not! I also scored a set of exhaust chamber guards in good condition. Now all I need is a new set of muffler clamps...

I suppose I could reuse the one I have, but I don't remember which one I have or what kind of shape it's in. Probably not the best. I did find that the Magna 500 uses the same clamps, and I do have another set of those, but they're in pretty sad shape - rusted and corroded from sitting out in the elements. If I could somehow polish them or sand them smooth and paint or powder coat them, that would be an option too.

Since Nick needs some parts for his dirt bike from Service Honda, I'm going to give them one more chance and see what happens. If I get the NLA like they're going out of busines and no longer ordering parts from Honda, then I'll have to try one of the other online sites that say the parts are still available. I really don't know what to think, but I know I'm not happy about this at all. First Bridgestone stops making Raised White Letter (RWL) Spitfire tires, now this!

Making Repair After Repair...

(15 October 2008)
I'm already having to fix one little thing after another and it's starting to get to me. Not only am I losing faith in my Honda parts supplier, I'm losing faith in my Honda vehicle as well. I guess it's time to face the fact that every system on this bike is 25 years old. After all, this is a vintage bike (according to the insurance company anyway).

The most recent issues seem to be related to all the fiddling around with the instrument cluster I've been doing lately. First it's the tachometer acting up after repairing the speedometer when it started acting up. Next it's the turn signals after having the instrument cluster apart and fixing the tachometer. And finally, the instrument cluster itself after fixing everything else!

I took the tachometer all apart in the same painstaking fashion I had used to repair the speedometer, but all I found was my glue job from long ago on the plastic case hadn't taken. It was still cracked. I try plugging it in and it still doesn't work. I 'borrow' the one from the 500 but it doesn't work either! So now I realize I should have buzzed it out first, before taking any of those blasted things apart!

Looks like that wouldn't have helped either since the harness checks out, power and ground both there. Now what in the world is going on? Not finding anything to fix other than the cracks, I try again with the plastic weld solvent and MEK, neither of which show much sign of improvement over the last time. I button it all back up, start the engine and still no tachometer. Oh well, it has to be something in the harnesss I've accidentally loosened or broken. I'll look at it this weekend...

Leaving for work Thursday (16 October 2008), the start of Biketoberfest, I see that the tachometer IS working, but... Turning on the left signal causes the right indicator on the cluster to blink and vice versa. Using either signal causes the instrument cluster to reset itself. Without provocation, the high beam indicator dims and both turn signal indicator lamps illuminate dimly, then it all reverts to normal operation.

Gremlins! I know it's a classic bad ground, sneak path issue, but I don't really want to tear into it during the middle of the week. That night I did open up the headlight case and fix the bad ground. On the way to work Friday morning, the signals work fine but now the instrument cluster is really acting up. Depending on how I turn the handlebars, the instrument cluster will blink, reset, or just refuse to operate.

Other strange things are happening, too, including the dreaded ignition shutoff without touching the key. I had the same issue with the 500 and the 750, but all it took to fix that was restoring the proper strain relief to the switch harness to prevent movement. That night I began removing things from the front of the bike, starting with the headlight. As I got a little further into it, I decided to wait for Saturday morning (18 October 2008) to do any more on it.

Taking My Time Making Repair After Repair...

I'm glad I waited because now I can take my time and look at how everything is affected. After removing the fuse panel, fuse box cover, horns and instruments, I am able to compare what I have with what the service manual calls for. One place ALL the manuals seem to be severely lacking is routing diagrams. I took pictures to help me remember how it came apart, just in case. Can anyone really remember where all these connectors really go?

The tachometer needle broke yesterday on the way to work after having it all apart already so I had to take it apart again. I noticed the glue job on the plastic case still had not held and decided I needed to do something about that once and for all. I donned some nitrile gloves and used the slow acting grip (super) glue I used to fix the needles. I let the glue set up while I resumed work in the garage. I put it all back together when I finally needed the instruments to finish up the job.

I carefully worked with the diagrams and followed them almost exactly. The only difference I could tell was the way I routed the brake hose below the right headlight mount, instead of above it which made it look streched and unnatural. Everthing else appears to be where the manual page calls for it to be. The final placement allows the handlebars to swing from lock to lock without streching or binding any cables.

I was waiting for Ann to get home so we could take a ride, and she was home early this afternoon, but before I could say anything she already had a beer in hand. Oh well, I could take a test ride by myself or I just wait until tomorrow. Ann went in late on Sunday so she could have lunch with her boss for Boss' Day, which was Saturday, the day before. As usual, nothing went as planned. She came home late and pissed off that they didn't end up bothering with lunch and once again she already had a beer in hand. Monday it is...

Nice...

(20 October 2008)
Monday is here. The ride in to work is as pleasant as the weather, mid 60s this morning, with a high of 81. Everything works like a charm; speedo, tach, turn signals, instruments, lights, engine, ignition switch; everything. We may have missed Biketoberfest this year, but then again, we didn't plan on going either. The way the bike was acting last week I'm glad we didn't. I'm glad I decided not to take Friday off and ride up there with the guys from work too.

The next high priority repair is the front wheel. Not only is it still losing air way too fast but I've also noticed that it seems to want to 'wobble'. When letting off the throttle or at steady throttle with a loose grip, it wants to quickly oscillate back and forth, like the caster wheels on a grocery cart. From what I've read on the forums, it probably needs balanced, so I bought a wheel balancing stand on eBay today.

I ride to work without issue until Wednesday night on the way home. Just as I'm getting comfortable with everything working, I hear that sound again, like I'm dragging a muffler. There's no place to pull over until I round the corner, so I pull into the bank lot, once I've turned, and stop. It's still making that noise and I'm not rolling so obviously nothing is dragging. When it finally does stop, I know it has to be the radiator fan.

I figure I can't do anything about it here in the parking lot, so I head for home, hoping I can keep moving so the fan won't need to turn on again. I do pretty good and it doesn't kick on until I park in the driveway. I thought maybe the fan was hitting against the long(er) mounting bolts that came with the engine guard I installed. I look and can't see anything so I turn it off.

Not So Nice...

(22 October 2008)
Later that night, after I put it away in the garage and it has cooled off, I pop out to have a look and see a small puddle of coolant that has dripped off the low corner of the radiator. Great! Now I'm thinking I need a new radiator so I begin the job of removing it by draining the coolant. Next off are the side covers, then the mounting bolts, the electrical connectors and finally the clamps and hoses.

It fights me a bit, but now it's out and I can plainly see the entire fan motor has come loose! The last bolt actually got trapped between the radiator and the fan and is still inside the shroud. Not sure where I lost the other two... but it looks like this one left a lasting impression - on the core! So I look it up on the parts fiche only to find those parts are not called out by number or identifier. Great! So how do I find what size replacements I need?

I decided since I had at least one bolt left, I should be able to find a couple more that size. In my search I come across a baggy with three cross-head, 6mm machine screws with lock-washers, and a scrap of paper with "radiator fan" written on it. Most of the 1100 parts we're already separated and labelled like that when I first bought it in parts. I knew it! I meant to put those in but must have forgotten! Note to self: Use loctite this time!

Thursday morning as I'm complaining about all the problems I'm having with this bike, Ann asks what I've found. I comment that I'm sure seeing a LOT of gremlins for having a gremlin bell... Ah hah! That's the problem! My gremlin bell is missing! I have a spare in my tool box, but it's one I bought. From what I'm told, they work twice as good or won't work at all unless someone else buys it for you. Guess we'll see.

By now I know it's not going back together before I have to leave for work and I'll be taking the truck today. As I leave the house I grab the radiator, just in case I manage to find a radiator shop close to work AND have the time to take it there. I'm concerned there is a circle the size of the fan where I'm seeing the bright copper color of the fins and what looks like a nasty nick from that loose bolt in one of the core tubes.

I found two radiator shops, one close to work and one close to home, but it's already quitting time. Tomorrow it is. I'm bummed that I won't be able to ride but it's supposed to rain anyway. Friday I head out at lunch time to find the shop close to work, Radiator Moya. Right away I'm drawing looks from everyone like they think I'm lost or something, so I roll down the window and ask where to find the shop.

About the time the guy points down the way, I catch sight of the sign, so I thank him and pull on down and park. I walk in to find find a couple of guys working on what looks like a new truck radiator. I start to explain to them I need mine to be pressure tested, repaired if it leaks, and the loose metal 'flap' on the bottom secured. They have a look and tell me to call after 3:00.

I call about 3:15 and I'm told it's done, no leaks, and it will be $10. I said I'd stop by around 5:00 to pick it up on the way home. Same thing this time, everyone looking at me like I'm the 'lost gringo'... I just have to laugh.

Making Repair After Repair After Repair After...

(25 October 2008)
One more thing to do. I'm looking at the repaired area and the bare copper on the radiator core and decide it needs painted before I put in back on. Another 'todo' is to finish restoring the exhaust system to original equipment. I like the sound of the MAC mufflers I bought, but they just don't look right now that I've seen the OEM versions.

Before I can put the OEM mufflers on, I need to take the rear wheel off to allow better access to install the gaskets on the rear downpipes anyway, and while I have it off, I need to ensure the drive shaft damper case has gear oil in it and the seal is still good too. Ann dropped Nick off at his friend's house to work on their science project. When she got back, we went to have a look at kitchen cabinets and living room furniture and made an unplanned stop for lunch at Shake -n- Bake afterward.

About the time we get home, Nick calls to say he was ready to come home, and Ann thinks she has to pick him up. She lucks out and his friend's Dad drops him off. Meanwhile I do some more research on the radiator, exhaust and front suspension while Ann and Nick run over to Marshall's to return some things we bought there a couple nights before. The more I look at it, the more I don't want to work on it, and I still need those muffler clamps. I put it off as long as I could, but now the time had come.

After a long wrestling match with the junk exhaust from the Magna 500, complete with an air chisel attack and penetrating oil bath, I finally do manage to get the mufflers loose from the power chamber and have clamps in hand. Maybe I'll have Nick take some steel wool the spare 500 mufflers and list them on eBay. Maybe I'll clean up the power chamber, paint it with high temp paint and install it on the 500 so it will cure and I can list it on eBay too. Later. That's all I'm doing today!

(26 October 2008)
Sunday is here and Ann is making a big breakfast, once her and Nick get back from the grocery store that is... biscuits and sausage gravy, cinnamon rolls, bacon and scrambled eggs with cheese. Yumm! After we're all stuffed and the kids take off, I decide to get back to work. I start by laying out some masking paper, prepping the radiator and hitting it with some engine paint. Next it's removing the aftermarket MAC mufflers.

Now the hard work begins, getting those soft gaskets in between the rear pipes and the power chamber. I remove the rear wheel and set it aside. Next I loosen the nuts holding the final drive case to the swingarm and the rear shock and remove tham and the final drive case and drive shaft. The shaft separates from the case with no leakage, meaning the shaft damper was running dry.

That's what I was afraid of. Now I'm wondering if I should check the Shadow 500 and the Magna 750 as well. I didn't realize when I put these together it needed lubrication until I came across that section of the 700 manual, reading about something else. The seal still looks good so I grab the gear oil and fill up the damper case and reinstall the shaft and drive case. One down...

One Repair Done

Now back to the repair at hand, installing those gaskets. They are made of some soft metallic looking material, have very little strength and feel 'slippery'. Graphite perhaps? In any case, I loosen the clamps holding the rear pipes to the power chamber and the nuts holding the front pipes to the head then loosen and remove the power chamber mounting bolt. This allows it to drop just enough to get the gaskets installed.

The mistake I made was not making sure the clamps were over the 'ears' of the power chamber BEFORE inserting the pipes, complete with gaskets, into them. Now I really have to fight those clamps to get them over the 'ears', which have now spread open due to the thickness of the gaskets. I eventually get them to open up enough to get them over the 'ears' and tighten them down.

I use the floor jack to help me hold things in place while I work. I am counting on being able to slide the gasket further down into the power chamber on the right rear pipe to (hopefully) seal where one of the 'ears' had rusted and broken off. It was too soft and would not cooperate, so I just slid the clamp farther down to at least cover the opening and seal it.

With the exhaust system in place and tightened, minus the mufflers of course, I tried slipping one of the OEM mufflers in place. It fit fairly well, except for the missing gaskets, so I figure the MACs go back on until I can get the exhaust gaskets from Honda. I'll put those on last though since I still need to balance and install the rear wheel and torque everything down first.

One (More) Repair Done

So I get out my new wheel balancing stand and get to work on the rear wheel only to find out it looks like the shaft that came with it is bent? Had I realized I was buying the cheap, made in China junk version, I would have waited for the more expensive, and hopefully higher quality one to go on auction. I get it as good as I can and hope and pray I did it correctly.

I put the rear wheel in and proceeded to torque everything down to the correct specs. Then I installed the MAC mufflers and set my sights on balancing the front wheel with the hopes of eliminating that dreadful 'wobble'. I am even more worried about this one since the cones that are supposed to fit into the wheel are ever so slightly too big to fit inside the bearings. I have to reposition and retighten them three times before I am satisfied with the results.

I'm ready to be done because the mosquitos are out already. I get the front wheel back in and everything torqued down and concentrate on getting the radiator back in. I get all the hose clamps tightened down, open the bleed screw on the thermostat housing and add coolant. The very last that I have! I tighten the bleed screw, put the cap on the radiator, back it out into the drive and fire it up.

It's a bit quieter, but still pretty loud, so I start running my hands around the various exhaust joints to see if I can feel any leakage. Nothing. Then I run my hands around the power chamber and find my problem - actually two of them - holes rusted in the rear wall of the chamber itself! Great. Another 'one more thing' I need - and the cost of this bike and parts is already up to $4300!

Oh well, I'm comforted by the fact that she's back together and running (again). I'm filthy and sore from rolling around the garage floor and busting my knuckles all day. It's already past 9:00 and I need to get cleaned up before I sit down anywhere in the house. I cross my fingers and decide the test ride will be tomorrow's ride in to work.

The Finishing Touches

(27 October 2008)
It's amazing how quickly the weekend goes by when I'm working on something. I get my coffee and tell Ann my progress when it dawns on me that I forgot to tighten the upper radiator mount and would have lost the nut and bolt on the way to work. That would have sucked! A quick twist of the wrenches and it's no longer a problem.

I take it easy on the way in, listening for any new noises or different sounds. If anything, I hear a more resonant note from the exhaust. Not bad. I let go of the handle bars and the 'wobble' is still there, so now I know it's an alignment problem or something in the forks or triple trees is bent, but I'll mess with it later since I don't plan on riding no hands much anyway. 8^D

From there, the only other things that need done are the tune up and some other cosmetic issues, like decals and painting the radiator shroud insets. I did win an auction for a triple tree set on eBay so I could experiment with increasing the rake, but I may have to use it to fix the 'wobble'. Oh, and that damned front tire constantly leaking air!

The Finishing Touches Will Have To Wait

(19 November 2008)
Well, I'm still riding to work every day and the temperature is again in the mid 40s in the morning, thankfully. I say thankfully since the damned thing marks its territory with a puddle of coolant everytime I park it when it's in the 80s! Those clowns at Radiator Moya told me the radiator had no leaks! Maybe it's a slow leak or I should have had them test the radiator cap too. I asked twice and they said they didn't need it... I knew better.

Needless to say I won't be going back there again. Now I'm not sure what to think, but I have my eye (and a bid) on a replacement on eBay. This time it's going to Millikan Radiator in Apopka, a company that's been in business over 30 years, and hopefully more adept (or at least less inept) than Moya's shop. I'm thinking I'll take the replacement there and have it checked out first, then once I swap them out, take the old one and have it tested and repaired if need be. I may keep it as a backup or just list it on eBay.

The front tire still leaks air and the front end wobble is still there, but I just won a front fender on eBay that's (hopefully) better than the one I have. Since I'll have to take the front wheel off to change it out anyway, I may just use the front axle to check the wheel balance one last time then take it to have the leak checked. If it still wobbles after that, I guess I'll have to check the steering head bearings and loosen the entire front end, allow everything to properly align, and tighten everything back down. If it STILL wobbles after that, I'm out of ideas... HELP!!!

In any case, I'm hoping to scuff the chrome off the old fender and paint it the matching royal blue pearl color I painted the rest of the bike. I managed to score another right side cover but I'm still looking for a left one since I managed to ruin both the ones I already had by lifting the fuel tank BEFORE remembering the tops mount to the tank. SNAP! SNAP! SOB! I still need to apply the decals and and glass coat the tank as well.

The performance is still bothering me too. The clutch still slips starting around 7000 RPM and the mixture is still so rich I swear I can actually smell raw gasoline! Doing some research on the K&L Tools site, I found a handheld 4 gas analyzer, then about fell out of my chair when I saw the nearly $4000 price tag! Back to the Gunson GasTester for just CO in the $250-$300 range. Oh well, the finishing touches will have to wait until AFTER I get her running reliably.

Not quite sure where to go or what to do next but it should be interesting. Hopefully it won't be another year before I post updates. Stayed tuned...

The Saga Continues

(13 January 2009)
Okay, it hasn't been a year yet, but we've been busy remodeling the kitchen and I haven't really had time to do much else since last update. The one thing I HAD to do was repair a leak in the old fuel line between the fuel pump and the connection to the carburetor line. I keep close track of my fuel economy and felt it should be better than the 27 MPG or so I'm getting. Even after adjusting the mixture I still smelled raw fuel and thought perhaps one of the carburetors still had a float level problem. After all, that number one cylinder exhaust pipe is looking pretty well blued compared to the other three still shiny chrome ones...

It takes a while but I finally figure out it's a slow leak in the fuel line. Every time I walked into the garage I got a whiff of raw gasoline, and every time I looked for the tell-tale puddle of fuel under her, but never found it. So finally it dawns on me there was one time I had to get rough when I put the seat back on and could have pinched the fuel line in doing so. Probably wouldn't have taken much to damage it when you consider that fuel line is 25 years old. When I pull the seat off I really catch the scent of raw fuel. I touch the fuel line and the braided cover is wet with fuel. That's it! That's where it's coming from!

The next step is to get a new length of fuel line and some new (black instead of red) braided cover for it and replace the entire thing. For now, I just cut about six inches out of the old line and spliced it with an emission control union I had and some hose clamps. Works great so far. No smell and I got another five to six miles on a tankfull before the reserve light lit. Even if it's just a MPG or two it's worth it to me. We'll see once I fill her up again tomorrow, that is, if it's done raining by tomorrow morning.

I was reading on the Super Magna Owners Group (SMOG) forum this morning and came across a new post about an old how-to that inspired to me fix both my speedometer and tachometer. Had Tom not detailed how to get the bezel and glass off, I would have been stuck bidding on and winning an eBay auction for an instrument cluster, then waiting for it to arrive. Instead, I sat down with my patience, and the instrument in hand, and went for it...
(NOTE: The SMOG site has been down for quite a while now, but the SMOG Forum is still viable as is the FaceBook group.)

So now I'm thinking maybe I will just go ahead and get another cluster and swap it for the one I have while I rebuild the original meters with new faces like Tom did on his. I may take a shortcut and just cut some clear polystyrene or polycarbonate instead. It would be nice to just avoid the whole eBay thing but I'll have to take both meters apart to get the patterns I need... Decisions, decisions. First I should probably put the Magna 500 instrument cluster back together from when I took it apart thinking I could just borrow the speedo for this one.

Guess it would be a better idea to figure out whether the clutch still needs replaced or the hydraulics just need cleaned out and bled (again). It would be nice to be able to just romp through the gears full throttle instead of babying it to just around 7000 RPM. She's due for the break-in oil change anyway but I'm worried if I take the engine cover off the gasket will tear and I'll have to order a new one and wait for it to arrive too. I'm pretty sure I used the trick of gasket cement on the cover side of the gasket and anti-seize on the engine side, but I won't know if it worked until I take the cover off.

The front tire is still losing air and a puddle of coolant appears periodically as well, although I think I may have figured that one out too. The only time the coolant overflows is right after I turn off the engine. I do occasionally catch a whiff of coolant when I'm sitting at a light, but no overflow that I can see. It occurs to me that the radiator cap pressure seal is sealing to the lower neck opening of the radiator and operating correctly, at least enough to seal it during normal operation. However, the top seal may not be tight enough between the top of the radiator and the cap and line to the overflow tank.

I take the cap off yesterday morning to make sure the radiator doesn't need topped off before my ride into work and it's full to the top? That's when it hits me it must be the top seal and only when there's a lot of pressure on it. I have tested the overflow line from the overflow tank with the Mighty Vac and it works fine so it must be the top seal, and only when under pressure, since it appears to be drawing coolant from the overflow to top itself off automatically.

I've read on the forums where the radiator neck can get deformed to where it is no longer flat. Just a wild guess, but I take my biggest screwdriver and pull up a bit on the top rim where I always have a problem getting the cap started. That seems to have done the trick, but then again, it's been on the cool side lately too - lower fourties in the morning and low to mid sixties in the afternoon. Not the best weather for testing the cooling system.

Here's my "vanity" pic on the CMSNL site.

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Things done...

  • Assembled 1100 Rolling Chassis Before Restoration
    • Assembled front trees, forks, disk rotors, disk calipers, wheel and axle.
    • Assembled instrument cluster and ignition switch.
    • Mounted rider and passenger pegs.
    • Assembled sub-frame to frame.
    • Assembled main and auxiliary fuel tanks.
    • Assembled battery box, fuel pump, brake fluid reservoir and coolant overflow tank.
    • Assembled rear swing arm, shaft drive, disk brake master cylinder, rotor and caliper, brake lever, wheel, shocks and axle.
    • Assembled rear fender, fender liner, tail light, sissy bar, holds and seat.
    • Assembled carburetors
    • Mounted handlebars, left and right electrical controls.
    • Installed shocks.
    • Installed wire harness.
    • Tested electrical, replaced faulty bulbs and parts.
    • Cleaned and sealed main fuel tank.
    • Stripped and sanded fuel tank, side covers and rear cowl.
    • Restored fuel tank and repaired plastic side covers and rear cowl.
    • Painted fuel tank, side covers and rear cowl
    • Rebuilt engine.
    • Installed engine.
    • Polished instrument cases and front brake manifold bridge.
    • Rebuilt clutch hydraulics and bled system
    • Polished and rebuilt front forks.
    • Polished rotors, front wheel and mounted new tire.
    • Cleaned and repacked steering stem bearings and installed steering stem.
    • Polished top fork bridge, headlight case and ears and fork equalizer.
    • Installed top fork bridge, front forks and equalizer.
    • Installed front rotors and wheel.
    • Installed instruments, fuse box, turn signals with new stems and headlight.
    • Disassembled rear brake master cylinder.
    • Cleaned and painted front brake calipers and rear brake master cylinder.
    • Rebuilt fuel pump, or at least got it to work.
    • Cleaned and painted swingarm and rear brake stay arm.
    • Polished rear brake arm stay nuts, bolts and spacers.
    • Cleaned and polished front brake hydraulic lines and connections and oil bolts.
    • Rebuilt brake hydraulics, installed front brake calipers and bled system
    • Installed center heat shield, coils and main tank prop.
    • Cleaned and sealed auxiliary fuel tank.
    • Installed battery ground, positive and starter cables.
    • Installed rear heat shield.
    • Sanded, primed and painted auxiliary fuel tank, rear fender and license plate bracket.
    • Installed auxiliary fuel tank.
    • Installed battery box, coolant reservoir, rear brake fluid reservoir, breather case and tubing.
    • Installed starter motor cable and case clips.
    • Rebuilt rear brake master cylinder and installed.
    • Cleaned swing arm bearings and repacked, replaced grease seals and installed.
    • Installed rear brake stay arm and caliper arm.
    • Cleaned and painted rear brake caliper.
    • Rebuilt rear brake caliper, installed new pads and installed to caliper arm.
    • Cleaned and polished rear brake line, connections and oil bolts.
    • Installed new fuel lines for main to auxiliary fuel tank connections.
    • Installed new fuel filter and fuel lines for auxiliary fuel tank and fuel pump.
    • Installed main fuel tank.
    • Installed rear fender, license plate bracket and light, tail light and rear cowling.
    • Polished grab rails and sissy bar.
    • Installed tool box, grab rails and seat.
    • Installed new rear turn signals and stays.
    • Polished final drive case.
    • Installed drive shaft, new thrust spring and final drive case.
    • Polished rear brake rotor and installed on rear wheel.
    • Polished rear wheel, mounted new tire and installed - needed spacer!
    • Ordered rear axle spacer and some other needful things from Service Honda (Dec. 2006)
    • Polished carburetors and airbox.
    • Rebuilt carburetors and bench synchronized.
    • Polished brake arm and pegs and installed.
    • Installed shift linkage so I could shift into 6th gear with brake applied to tighten flywheel bolt.
    • Removed alternator cover, torqued alternator (flywheel) bolt, installed alternator cover.
    • Cleaned and installed starter motor.
    • Added oil to engine and final drive.
    • Installed carbs, airbox and filter, throttle and choke cables and adjusted.
    • Polished, painted and installed exhaust system.
    • Installed radiator, thermostat and coolant.
    • Installed new Big V Cruiser Grips
    • Started engine, tested cooling system and cured heat paint.
    • Tested mechanical. It's sound, but I forgot the right swingarm bolt cover was loose and lost it on a test ride.
    • Tested brakes. They broke...
    • Rebuilt front brake calipers and bled system. Still broke.
    • Rebuilt front brake master cylinder and bled system. They work! (Jan. 2007)
    • Ordered and received new exhaust gaskets for rear down pipes to exhaust collector.
    • Replaced two float valves and seats and adjusted carburetor float level (again) (Sep. 2008).
    • Drained and replaced gasoline saturated oil and filter.
    • Fixed the radiator overflow tube being too short kludge.
    • Synchronized carbs and 'tuned'. Installed fuel line clamps.
    • Repaired broken posts on side covers with marine epoxy. (don't ask!)
    • Rebuilt clogged clutch master cylinder and grungy slave cylinder.
    • Mounted new barrel bag with 'zip' ties.
    • Disassembled, repaired broken needle, lubricated and reassembled speedometer.
    • Installed mainstand pinch bolts, overflow tube guide and breather tube plug.
    • Tuned carbs 1/4 turn leaner.
    • Removed KG Slider Rack / Backrest from Shadow and installed.
    • Remounted new barrel bag on KG Backrest.
    • Installed MC Enterprises Crash Guard.
    • Rebuilt (lubricated) noisy starter motor bearing.
    • Rebuilt rear brake switch, lubricating with dialelectric grease, and adjusted.
    • Ordered new OEM mufflers, clamps, gasket 'rings' and a new rear brake switch - Service Honda said NLA
    • Bought NOS Muffler from prodloc - not the cheapest, but at least he didn't give me the runaround BS about NLA
    • Won auction and received exhaust chamber 'guards' - still need gasket 'rings' and clamps.
    • Disassembled, repaired, and reassembled tachometer - then did it again to fix broken needle.
    • Skipped Biketoberfest 2008 due to intermittent electrical issues with instrument cluster.
    • Disassembled and rerouted front end cabling to fix intermittent electrical issues.
    • Tuned carbs 1/8 turn leaner.
    • Purchased wheel balancing stand to fix front end 'wobble'.
    • Drained coolant and removed radiator after fan motor vibrated loose and sounded like a muffler dragging.
    • Had radiator pressure tested and loose bottom flap repaired.
    • Touched up radiator with heat paint.
    • Installed radiator fan with locktite on screws.
    • Balanced? front and rear wheels! Still have front end 'wobble'.
    • Installed new exhaust gaskets between rear down pipes and exhaust collector. (It's still LOUD!)
    • Installed radiator, shrouds and trim and refilled coolant.
    • Test rode to work starting Monday (27 October 2008) and still riding in mid 40s weather in the morning
    • Temporarily 'fixed' the leaking fuel line from the pump to the carburetors

Things left to do...

  • (Nearly) Completed 1100 - Fully Assembled and Restored
    • Replace the old fuel line temporary fix with new line from the pump to the carburetors
    • Locate and repair air leak in front tire.
    • Take some more 'after' pictures and post them.
    • Adjust the handlebars? The right one seems to need to go out just a 'smidge' more.
    • Paint the radiator cover insets where the buffer removed paint from where it should have been.
    • Prep, apply and clear coat the OEM decals.
    • Get a good tachometer, try the tuning method in the manual and re-check synchronization.
    • Ride to work everyday possible.

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Last Updated: 9 Jan 2018