Paul's Crazy Motorcycle Restoration Log

I've been procrastinating for quite some time with this log entry, simply because I've been too busy riding!

There comes a time in every motorcycle rider's life when a choice has to be made. That time comes when the repair bills start mounting up, and you find yourself spending more time working on a bike than actually riding it. I found myself in this position this summer, and I was forced to make a choice.

Trusty Xeno was starting to cost me a fortune in upkeep. Cables were breaking, things were wearing out at an alarming rate, and I was spending valuable riding time up to my elbows in oil, break fluid, and other icky stuff. Some rudimentary math made it clear that a few hundred dollars and countless man-hours of work were needed to make Xeno a trusty long-term bike.

Every time I had to go to the dealership to get yet another special-order part, I would find myself looking at the new bikes which were glittering at me in a seductive way. You know what I'm talking about. They all seemed to be whispering, "Hey. You know, you could be out *riding* on this glorious day instead of waiting in line at the parts counter."

After a few weeks of this, I caved in. I spent an entire week reading reviews, test-riding everything from F650's to VFR800FI's. In time my wallet and I agreed on bike that fit my needs: a 1998 Suzuki GSX600F Katana in blue. I even managed to get more for Xeno than I had spent on it to this point. Not too bad.

So, it was with mixed emotions that I handed in the keys to Xeno and rode away with this new Katana (it's still unnamed). I was sorry to see Xeno go. It introduced me to motorcycling in all its glory and pain. Before I met Xeno I didn't know the difference between a cotter pin and a compression ratio. But, over time I learned a lot about the mechanics of keeping a bike running and this did nothing but increase my confidence and magnify my enjoyment of motorcycling. I miss Xeno.

But the shiny newbike more than makes up for that with the amount of smiles this bike brings to my face! Comparing Xeno to the Katana ("Kat", for short) is like comparing a truck to a sports car. Both earn respect, but you wouldn't one to do the job of the other. Since I am so inexperienced with reviewing bikes, I won't make an idiot out of myself by making stupid off-the-cuff generalizations. Here's what I will say, though:

1) Unlike Xeno, it doesn't have a kick-starter.
2) The clear-coat is a bit thin and the turn signal indicators are a bit hard to see in daylight.
3) It has more acceleration power than my 1978 CB750F.
4) It looks really cool.

This last point in rather important. Everywhere I stop I get comments to the effect of, "What a nice looking bike!" (and this is coming from prime Harley land, too). One of the things that attracted me to this bike was its unique look, something between "exotic" and "refined." I'm just happy that it's not festooned with flourescent pink and green lightning bolts like so many other rice-rockets are.

Ride safe.

April 30th, 1997,

I finally took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course, and I'm happy to report that I passed! I aced the written (100%), and got a 95% on the riding (I tipped a cone and had trouble with a tight left hand turn). Today I go to the DMV with my completion certificate and demand my license.

I can't stress enough how useful (and fun) the course was. Anybody who is even thinking about riding a bike should take it -- they teach you things that would be impossible to figure out by "teaching" yourself. Besides, where else can you rent a bike for the weekend for $70.00 (in NH, at least)?

I plan to take some pictures today, so in the next couple weeks this page should be festooned with pictures of me and my bike.

As for the bike itself:

* The front fork seals have been replaced. Even with my limited riding experience, I can tell how much better the bike handles. Don't delay replacing yours, should they need it.

* The little oil leak near the alternator cover has gone away. Good riddance.

March 10th, 1997,

Well, what more can I write about?

On March 19th, 1997, my bike travelled 1.5 miles under its own power. Noel successfully managed to coak the bike out of the driveway and around the block. The restoration would seem to be complete.

On March 28th, 1997, I took my first shaky ride solo on my bike. It was an experience that I'll never forget (does anyone forget their first ride?). After my buddy Noel took me for a ride on the back of the bike, he got off and asked me, "So, are you read y?" Of course I wasn't, but I donned my helmet and sat astride my bike. I was scared to death, but that turned to amazement as a few gentle flicts of the wrist later I realized that I actually was /riding/ my bike, and not crashing into the dirt on the si de of the road. I have a long way to go before I think I can pass my driver's test, but at least I'm over the initial "Dear God, I can't do this!" phase of self doubt.

Also on that day I got the bike registered, and by pure luck managed to get assigned the plate "1975F". No, I couldn't have been 2 people further in line and picked up "1978F" for my 1978 CB750F. So close and yet so far.

So what remains to be done?

* The front fork seals need to be replaced. The bike dives like a panicky submarine at the slightest provocation.

* There's a very tiny leak oil near my alternator cover. Nothing to worry about, but being the perfectionist, I would like it to go away.

* I need to complete the MSF course and get my license.

* Spring. I need Spring to arrive. With a vengence. No more 30" snowstorms, thankyouverymuch.

March 10th, 1997,

I'm so close I can taste it: eveything on the bike is done, save getting the correct drive chain installed. The chain I bought many moons ago is 2 links short (my bike needs a 630 88-link chain, and I was given a 86-link chain). Once that is done, and no other problem rears it ugly head, the bike is ready to be inspected.

The bike was started up again this weekend (the first time since its initial rebirth a while ago), and it appears that the leaking carb problem has gone away. The "new" gaskets sem to have done the trick.

The new Avon AM18/AM20 tyres (they're British, so I'll use "tyres") look really nice and make the bike look a little less like a heap, and more like a performance machine. I'll see how they perform once I actually start riding it.

The old muffler (aka: "Low-income wasp and rust housing") has finally been replaced with a Mac chromed canister. Luckily, my original header pipes were just fine (a little steel-wool action brought back the shine), so I din't need to replace them.

Last weekend there was a 'cycle show here in Boston, and I had a lot of fun looking at all the new bikes that far outclass my meager machine. The stealth-like CBR1100XX was just scary, and it's amazing to think that my 20-year old bike is related to it.

I did mention before that I bought a new helmet, but I didn't follow up with many details. Here are some:

* It's a HJC FG10, black combination fiberglass and Kevlar helmet.

* I used 3 coats of Blue Coral AutoFom to polish it, and now -- try as I might -- a thumbprint will not show.

* I also used RainX on the visor: RainX anti-fog on the interior, and RainX on the exterior.

We'll see how all this buffing and babying holds up under actual use.

"Actual use." That's an interesting concept. I'm getting tired of writing about my bike -- now I want to RIDE it!

Lessons learned this week:

When reinstalling the exhaust system, be sure the collets (sp?) aren't backwards. I can't begin to describe the horrific sounds the bike made when I forgot to do just that. *DUH!* Guess I haven't outgrown my newbie-ness quite yet.

Worried about breaking the side covers when pulling them off? Following Noel's advice, I filed down the 3 pegs on the covers (to make them a little norrower), and coated the rubber mounting spacers with some white silicon grease. Now the side covers are held firmly, but can now be removed without fear of breaking.

February 18th, 1997,

It's been a little longer than it should have been since my last entry, but I'm happy to say that I have nothing but but good things to report.

The throttle cables have been replaced, so I no longer need to worry about something snapping when I'm barreling down some isolated road.

The brakes are now 100% (well, 99% at least) functional. The rear pads have been replaced, and all 3 calipers have been cleaned and rebuilt. They all still need to be bled again (air gets in everywhere when you take them completely apart), but even in their current condition they seem great. No longer do they have the grip of death!

It's a very nice feeling to have all the nasty stuff behind me. There's nothing left to do but buy new tires* and a new muffler. With any luck, I should be able to do both this week. After that, there's the tedious work of getting it inspected, registered, and insured.

Then, of course, there's learning how to ride. I've taken the first two steps, though: I've bought a new helmet (a black HCJ FG-Tech 10),and registered for the beginner's motorcycle safety course here in NH.

*mini-update: I now have new tires. Avon AM18 & AM20's with Kenda tubes. I probably will be annoying the motorcycle gods by putting British tyres on a Japanese bike, but what the hey. I like them, and they were inexpensive (relatively speaking).

January 29th, 1997,

Well, the seat finally has been reupholstered! Now, once again, I can sit on the bike. I also got the rear signal stalks straightened out and the lights working again, but they don't blink yet (a sticky relay). The bike is now at a stage that, if you ignore the missing muffler, looks like it could pass inspection. Of course it can't, but that's not the issue right now.

Interesting note: there is a beeper hidden somewere in the front of the bike that beeps to let you know that the directionals are on. I like this -- it's going to be really hard for me to forget that my blinkers are on when the bike is loudly beeping at me.

More lessons I've learned:

January 21st, 1997,

"Fix this, break that" was the story of this weekend's progress. I worked on bending the rear signal stalks to a horizontal position and found that one of the wires had broken off (going to have to do some soldering there, I guess). Installed new grips and one of the throttle cables broke (better to break now than when I'm puttering down the road -- it was frayed in at least 3 locations!).

However, despite all this, Noel had a great idea regarding my leaky carbs: instead of spending $60.00 on new gaskets, why not fill the gap in which they sat with PTech (sp?) and then replace the old gaskets on top of the new substrate? We did, and hope that it will prevent more massive leakage.

I have also entered into the world of foam carving. My seat's original foam is in need of repair, and I am doing it myself. Now to buy some spray adhesive and finish the reupholstering. Boy it'll be nice to be able to sit on the bike again....

More lessons I've learned:

January 13th, 1997,

IT LIVES !!!

At around 1:00pm on Saturday, January 11th, the Cockroach sprang back to life after more than a decade of neglect. Nary a whiff of white or bluish smoke was to be seen, but I wouldn't say that it "purred like a kitten." More like "growled like an angry lion." This is a powerful bike. The term "SuperSport" is not hyperbole.

Hearing the thing start up for the first time made me understand, at least partially, some of the adolescent power fantasies attached to motorcycles. I can imagine myself screaming down some empty highway at a zillion miles per hour, and I'm pretty sure that this bike could propel me into the triple digits. However, I know that will never happen. To be honest, the bike frightens me right now. What have I gotten myself into? I think it's this healthy respect/fear combined with the "I'm gonna live forever" attitude that draws so many people to the two-wheeled monsters.

But back to the bike.

While the engine does run perfectly, there are still minor problems to be ironed out. The carbs leak mightily from the float bowls, so I need to buy replacement gaskets and rebuild them again. However, even with this problem the bike idles nicely at around 1100 rpm, and we even got it down to about 750rmp before it gave up. The sounds the engine makes convinces Noel and I that everything is tuned properly and nothing was put together incorrectly (remember the forgotten cam-chain tensioner?). This all means, of course, that I have no choice but to plod forward and get everything else perfect now that it runs. Springtime is not that far away!

Oh, and I've started reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. Hopefully this will help shed some of my "newbie-ness." So far it is a good read, and I heartily recommend it.

More lessons I've learned:

December 31st,

Happy New Year!

Well, it's been a long time coming, but the engine is finally back in the bike. It hasn't run yet, mainly because I'm trying to figure out how all those hoses and cables need to be re-attached. I started to reinstall the carbs, but I think they may not be in all the way, and the choke & throttle cables seem to be a bit tight. Make that really tight. Make that "You'll soon have the grip of a gorilla if you use the throttle on this bike." Even with this problem, though, we are only a few hours away from actually starting the engine. And what a glorious day that will be, I can tell you.

All that remains is for me to fix this carb problem, get a new muffler and set of tires (Dunlops, I think), reupholster the seat, and fix the brakes. Oh, yeah: and learn how to ride. That might help.

More lessons I've learned:

December 23rd,

It's been a long time coming, but the engine is now (mostly) back together again! I say "mostly" because my haste and inexperience caused me to forget to re-install the cam chain tensioner. I still have to re-install that, and make sure that the cam is still in the right location afterwards (off with the valve cover again, I'm afraid). Noel helped me a great deal by adjusting the gaps on the intake and exhaust cam rockers (to .002 and .003, respectively).

I have also started focusing my attention on getting the seat back to a point where I can actually sit on it. So far I have removed all the pieces of the old seat cover and repainted the little logo on the tail piece (spray painted it black, then wiped off the raised areas with a paper towel). Now to buy some foam and spray adhesive to repair the original foam base.

More lessons I've learned:

December 6th,

Well, I seem to have done a lot since I last made an entry, but the bike is still not running. Here's what I've done:

I took off the front fender and removed a few dents as best as I could. A rubber mallet, a piece of wood, and a great deal of patience seemed to do the trick. It may not be perfect, but it looks great from a distance now.

I finally got replacement levers. Now the clutch and front brake levers look like new! Well, that's because they are new. Duh.

The seat assembly has been completely taken apart in preparation for a new seat cover to be installed (a SaddleSkin by Travelcade). Unfortunately, the rear cowling (is that what it's called?) is so faded that I'm going to have to cover it with lots of silly stickers. Here's a good chance to "personalize" my bike.

More importantly, the evil broken sparkplug in #2 has finally been dealt with. I took the cylinder head to the dealer and had them install a HeliCoil (tm). Noel and I tried to drill out the offending plug and then re-thread the hole (remember that 1.25mm x 12mm tap?), but it didn't work. But now it has been done, and a spark plug sits in the hole as it should. Now to put the engine back together and get the poor bike running.

More lessons I've learned:

November 18th,

Well, this weekend was supposed to be the culmination of many weeks work, but it ended up being anything but spectacular. We had planned to actually put the engine back together again and start the poor thing, but due to the lack of a 1.25mm x 12mm tap (to re-thread the hole that the evil broken spark plug had been drilled from) nothing was done.

We did manage to completely rebuild the carbs, so it wasn't a complete waste. The necessary tool should arrive tomorrow, so next weekend should be the end of the engine part of this project.

Lessons learned this week:

November 12th.

Well, after a week of no progress, this weekend was a welcome change of pace. The carborators are now mostly clean, and the head is about ready to go back onto the engine. The goal is to have the poor thing running this weekend. To acheive this lofty goal, I have to a) drill out the still broken spark plug, b) prepare the head (clean the gasket surface and the valves), c) put the engine back together, and d) pray to the mighty Honda gods and hope they call my bike's vital spark from the nether-world for duty on this world again. Oh, and I need to make sure to spray the new spark plugs with an anti-sieze compound. I *never* want to go through this again.

Oct. 28th
After a trip to Sears (*ewww*) and buying a narrow-profile 10mm drive, I finally managed to get the head off the engine to see what I truly was dealing with. What I discovered was very promising. All the pistons and cylinders looked OK. The only visible problem was with #1 -- there was some rust near the middle of it, which led Noel and I to beleive that it was on the exhaust stroke, which allowed water vapor to enter, rust, and become a general nuisance. A little steel wool action should return it back to normal, though. There also should be no reason to go so far as to replace the rings -- I'm just going to get the head cleaned and the valves lapped. After that, it'll be time to slap the engine back together and worry about other things.
Oh yeah. That nasty broken spark plug is still nasty, broken, and stuck in #2. Even though we could now get at it from both sides, it still refuses to budge. We'll let the "pros" deal with it at the same time that they clean the head. No use risking us botching the job (we'll let someone else do that).

Oct. 23rd

Not much to tell this week. My main accomplishment was to take some fiddly-bits off the carburetors (all four of them) and soak everything in a noxious mixture of gasoline and paint thinner. The carbs looked like the inside of a smoker's lungs, and never before have I seen gasoline in its crystaline form. *ewww*

Oct. 15th
Well, everything that is chrome is now as shiny as I am likely to get it. There is still a lot of oily gunk that needs to be cleaned off the frame, but aside from that, the bike is clean.

However, the engine is not being as easy to deal with. The broken spark plug is still firmly entrenched and refuses to budge, even when abused by an "easy-out." We began to take the head off (to see if we could attack the problem from the other side), but 2 of the bolts are located in very narrow channels that our collection of tools could not wiggle into (bolts #19 and #20, for those of you following along with your Clymer manuals at hand).

A trip to the hardware store is needed before we can do more.

Oct. 7th
Whoa, do I have a lot to tell now.

In flagrant disregard for the way "things should be", I shall give the bad news first:
I broke the left side panel when trying to remove it. It was brittle, and the rubber stoppers were not very pliable. Live and learn.

Now, on to the good news:
The engine is no longer siezed, so I no longer need a replacement! Noel, in his infinite wisdom, attached a box wrench to the alternator bolt, attached a cheater bar to that, and told me to bounce on the starter while he leaned on the cheater bar. I did so, and Lo!, the engine did start to turn (it sounded like it was cracking pepper in the cylinders, though). After a few more turns, things moved nice and smoothly. It must have been that a couple piston rings had rusted into place, and nothing more.
Our attention now turned to removing the engine so that it could be rebuilt. We did so (with a bit of grunting). It now is scattered about the garage in many plastic bags and oil-soaked rags. I hope we can put it back together without any "missing pieces" showing up later.

Lessons learned this week:
1] Pull side covers off gently.
2] Be sure to drain the oil completely before removing the engine. For a time, it looked like Exxon had paid the garage a visit.
3] Don't leave pans of oil outside overnight. "Things" have a habit of committing suicide by jumping into them for no good reason. Unless you want to have a foul-smelling little version of the La Brea Tar Pits for your very own, and like the idea of scraping petrified frogs from the bottom of the pan, don't do it.

Sept. 22nd
Things are looking up for ye ole bike. The brake systems seem to be AOK, and the electrical system also seems to be in good shape. After I replace the rear signal bulbs and lenses, and perhaps work on the horn, everything should be fine there. I can not (and will not) give up now.

Sept. 15th
Well, assuming that this poor thing ever moves on its own power, it now has the ability to stop. After pouring what seemed like quarts of brake fluid through the system, the brakes now actually grip. Cleaning out the old fluid ("fluid" isn't the right term -- "jelly" describes it better) was like cleaning Jello from a straw using only a toothpick.
I also replaced the rusted rear shocks with shiny "new" ones (they were new back in 1980 -- they came from my parts 1980 cb750f chassis). The old rusted (and former wasp nest) muffler has gone into the trash as well. Luckily the header pipes are in essentially perfect condition (not even a dent underneath!).

Sept. 11th
I finally managed to open the front brake fluid resevoir, and was startled to find that it actually had fluid in it (unlike the rear). I also found a few sources for engines, and it may be possible to put a "new" engine back into the beast for ~$300.00. The bike also has a name now: "The Cockroach." Somehow, it seems fitting and almost flattering.

Sept. 8th
The 1980 cb750f is not worth restoring, so I'm back to focusing my attention on my 1978. If the brake and electrical systems are OK, then I'll examine the possibility of buying a parts bike and/or a "new" engine. However, this poor bike is getting very close to being sold for parts. :(

Sept. 1st
Well, it down to pure economics now. This week I'll be trying to figure out if it's worth spending the money to Frankenstein these two bikes together into one usable bike. If it's not, away to the junkyard with both of them. I would prefer *not* to do that, though. It seems like such a waste....

August 24th
Oh Dear. The engine, which at first seemed OK, was found to be no more than a rusted, siezed, oversized paperweight. My choice is now is to: a) give up and get rid of the thing, or b) focus my attention on restoring the 1980 cb750f that we were going to use for parts. It's engine runs fine, but is missing just about everything else. *harumph*

August 19th
Received both Clymer & Haynes maintenance manuals. Now the fun begins.

August 18th
Cleaned the bike. Now it's a clean rusting hulk!

August 11th, 1996
Bought the bike. Silliest $75.00 I have ever spent. It's original condition is as follows: