'R'estoration

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:48 am

The motor in my R is a little tired, low compression on 3 cylinders, cam shafts are worn below bottom limit and it has more rattles that I like. So I figured this winter I would pull the motor out and rebuild it.

Then I thought well if I am going that far why not got all the way. So I revised my plan to a full strip all the way to the frame then rebuild back from there. That plus a motor rebuild was more than I could get done over the winter so I elected to take a year to do the motor and in the interim put the bike back together with my spare 900 motor and ride the 2013 season with that.

So the bilke is now totaly stripped. The frame is off being powder coated along with fork legs and shock springs to ensure the red matches. Swing arm being done too. I sent all the smaller black brackets and parts off to Tom to PC black and started on the 900 motor while awaiting all that to come back.

The 900 motor is in really great shape. I picked it up a couple of years ago not knowing what the condition inside was like. However when I checked the compression and pulled the sump it was perfect. In readiness to put it in the R I decided to replace the valve guide oil seals as I know how to do that now. That is so easy with the motor on the bench.

Of course I set the shims and tensioned the cam chains while in there, also really easy without a frame in the way. While I was poking around I saw some very light scffing on a couple of the cam jounals. Then I noticed one of the end plugs was missing from the inlet cam. It was sitting in the oil gallery just below the end of the cam. I am guessing that when this popped out the oil warning light came on and whoever was riding stopped and never got around to fixing it. This I think might explain why the motor has so little wear on it. As mentioned before the sump was clean, no brass shavings so I dont think it went far with the plug out. Guess I will find out for sure when I start her up again. Anyhow put the plug back with loctite and closed the motor up ready for clean and paint. Also measured up a set of spacers I am going to make to replace the rubber engine mounts of the 900 for the rigid mount of the R.

More pics to follow as it progresses

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:08 am

You have work enough in your spare time now Nick.
I have started with my RD restoration also.
The complete body kit is at the paintshop now.

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:10 pm

Hey Nick! Good luck with the rebuild, funny how what starts out as an idea of what you need to do, turns into a full blown what I really 'want' to do project!!
Hope your shoulder is feeling better, take care mate.

Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:28 pm

Good luck with the rebuild Nick.

I'm about 50% through mine… amazing how the really annoying jobs hold you up (that and the bottomless pit I appear to have dug to throw all of my disposable income into!)

Very Happy

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:45 pm

Keep the pics coming .... I parked mine once I brought her home. I need to get it apart before it gets too cold and bring everything down into the basement where I can work comfortably Very Happy

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:27 pm

Succes with the rebuild Nick,will follow this one ofcourse,
Wim

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:37 pm

metalganz wrote:

Succes with the rebuild Nick,will follow this one ofcourse,
Wim

+1, I bet we all will, Wim.

Rock on, Nick!

(That sounded like Jebby, LOL.)

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:44 pm

Thanks for all the encouragment guys. I will keep this updated with pics as I go along. Just getting into the rear shocks now. After 30 years they still have about 100psi of pressure in them! That is assuming the PO(s) did not pump them up over the years. From what I know of how the F shocks go together I think I will be able to do an oil change on these. They are not leaking so no need to try and cut them open.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:24 am

While waiting for all the parts to come back from PC (TomK for all the smaller stuff I can ship and a local guy for the frame) I have been getting the 900 motor ready. A good spray with a really agressive degreaser (don't spray on paint that you dont plan on re-painting) followed by a pressure wash then blow dry and we are getting ready for paint.

Next will be a final rub down with scotch brite then mask and spray.

I also took a good look at the shocks and figured out how to get into them. So stripped as far as I could without any cutting. Drained out the old oil, flushed, painted the red top and polished and laqured the air tank. Polished the chrome parts as well. I would love to fully strip and get them re-chromed but that would be a path I could not turn back from and right now they dont leak. So I will save that project for another time.

Rebuilt and filled with fresh oil then pumped up to 100psi. There was close to 100psi left in one of the shocks when I started so I figured this to be as good a place as any to be. Just need the springs back from PC now.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:59 am

Wow Nick!

Tearing into those shocks has to be one of the most intimidating things on these bikes. Excellent work!!

Steve

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 2:07 pm

SteveG wrote:

Wow Nick!

Tearing into those shocks has to be one of the most intimidating things on these bikes. Excellent work!!

Steve

Yeah you kind of have to take a deeep breath and go for it. Having done the work in the past on the F shocks gave me enough confidence to try these. However I did go one at a time and slowly.

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:20 am

Looks good Nick,and about the chrome it looks not bad ,so he the bike is 30 years old altough the chrome is not 100% for me it would not be an issue.

Wim

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:19 pm

great restoration project, good luck.

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 2:32 am

Lots of good stuff arriving back from the powder coaters. I stripped, blasted and shipped all the black brackets off to TomK who performed his usual magic.

Took the frame and swing arm up to QC Coatings along with the fork lowers and and rear springs. I stripped, blasted and masked the fork parts, QC did all the prep workon the frame, swing arm and springs.

All these parts just look gorgeous, the pics dont do them justice. I now have a good deal of assembly work ahead of me. New bearings, seals, rubbers etc. all ordered and arriving slowly.

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 10:00 am

So far so VERY good Nick,have my plastic bib on my labtop prevents the dribble from making damage Smile

Wim

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 2:57 pm

Really nice Nick, I can't wait to dive into mine ... I may need to quiz you on the codes for the powder coatings at some point.

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 3:22 pm

Stunning results Nick ! beerchug

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 11:52 pm

petrat wrote:

Really nice Nick, I can't wait to dive into mine ... I may need to quiz you on the codes for the powder coatings at some point.

I will have to ask QC what the code was. Bill just looked at the frame when I took it in, rumaged around, pulled out a part that was PC red and said 'how about this?'. It looked perfect to me so off we went from there. I also found a rattle can color that is almost dead nuts which is what I used on the shock bodies as I could not PC them.

Shocks are finished now, just need stickers when I get around to buying a set. Smooth and progressive, damping works and they hold pressure. I put in new top rubbers as a final touch. Not too shabby.

On to the forks now.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:19 am

I would like to see the face of that german fellow again!
Wim

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:11 pm

Looking good!

Love those RED parts.

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:46 am

Forks are now rebuilt with new seals, rubbers, bearings and a set of progressive fork springs. Belray SAE 7W fork oil.

Love the detail that the red brings out.

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:52 am

swiftnick wrote:

Forks are now rebuilt with new seals, rubbers, bearings and a set of progressive fork springs. Belray SAE 7W fork oil.

Love the detail that the red brings out.

Nice work Nick beerchug

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 10:42 am

swiftnick wrote:

How did you get that seal to stay so beautifully in there. I fitted new seals to mine and cleaned out the hole and the damn thing keeps popping out!

Confused

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:54 pm

Andylarkin wrote:

How did you get that seal to stay so beautifully in there. I fitted new seals to mine and cleaned out the hole and the damn thing keeps popping out!

Confused

Ah yes I know exactly what you are talking about. I had the very same problem when I tried to install the rubbers and clips on the freshly Powder Coated parts. I had masked the bottom surface of the recess these rubbers go into but not the sides that the clip presses against. Thus there was some PC on the side wall and a nice rounded corner. I used the tip of a Stanly knife to scrape out the PC back to the aluminum but I also put in a slight negative angle (only a few degrees) undercut while I was scraping. Thus when the clip expands against the edges it is biased a little in, as opposed to out. The height of the wall also varies around the circumference and I found the clip was most secure if the open gap was not located at a place where the wall was at its shallowest. Finally if you look closely at the clip you will see it is a stamped part with a sharper edge on one side than the other. I made sure the sharp edge was on the ‘facing out’ side to help it dig in.

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:47 am

Got the swing arm reassembled and ready to install. New shock mount rubbers and bearings.

Found somthing interesting in the swing arm pivot bearing. The center tube is/was 0.85mm longer than the width of the thrust bearings on each side. I found this very same condition on my 900 when I put new bearings in that after powder coating it. I guess Honda made the center tube long enough to ensure the swing arm never gets pinched if all the tolerances go the wrong way.

So as with my 900, I shortened the center tube until it was only 0.15mm wider than the width of the thrust bearings. This should take out that little unnecessary side to side slop. I may need to place a shim between the bearing end caps and frame when I put it back together so as not tweak the frame too much. Not hard to do.

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 3:50 am

Nick

I thought the bike look brilliant in photos you send me just before you started the rebuild. Mate it's going to look like just came out of the factory when you are finished the rebuild. Can I please have a new photo for my garage wall when you are finished. Can you please slow down so I can finish my 900 first. Very Happy

Alan

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 2:54 pm

I am going through a similar, slightly less elaborate, process on my first R. And we just clarified an often discussed subject last weekend: The fairing is definitely NOT carbon fibre. It is fiberglass. I always suspected if it was indeed carbon fibre, it would have to be much lighter. After cutting into the fairing to repair some of the worn out holes between upper and lower, the body specialist confirmed that it is fiberglass. And to pre-empty some counter-arguments: The fairing is original. It has the rolled edges, the separate headlight bezel etc.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:26 pm

DOHCRob wrote:

I am going through a similar, slightly less elaborate, process on my first R. And we just clarified an often discussed subject last weekend: The fairing is definitely NOT carbon fibre. It is fiberglass. I always suspected if it was indeed carbon fibre, it would have to be much lighter. After cutting into the fairing to repair some of the worn out holes between upper and lower, the body specialist confirmed that it is fiberglass. And to pre-empty some counter-arguments: The fairing is original. It has the rolled edges, the separate headlight bezel etc.

Yup have to agree with you there. I thought mine was carbon after I found black powder rubbing off on the inside of the lower fairing. However I later discovered that it was the original black paint that had oxidized. I scrubed it all off and repainted the fairing inners with a satin black paint. Mine is also OE with the woven texture matting and rolled edges.

Made lots of progress over the last week or so and will post more pics shortly.

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 3:18 pm

So as mentioned above I shortened the the center tube on the swing arm pivot bearing to make it 'fit' the actual width of the swing arm. Then when I put the arm into the frame I found even more slop. A 2.5mm gap between the frame and end cap widths.

I know the frame willl likely pinch in when the center bolt is wound up but that seems wrong to me so I slipped a spacer washer in on one side. Now with the swing arm in place and the bolt tight I have a perfect bearing with zero play that moves easily. Once I get the wheels on I will look at the alignment and see if my spacer needs to swap sides or get shared equally across both sides.

I also refinished the foot peg plates, polish and lacuer and cleaned the chain.

Steering head bearings are so easy to set up perfectly when there is little other crap hanging on them. You can 'feel' them in to just the right preload. Lower yoke has been refinished with clear lacquer, upper with semi gloss black.

This bike handled well before I started this work but with all the little deatails I am getting now I have hopes of even better.

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 6:55 pm

It's looking really great, another inspirational build!