Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A different animal

I thought that surely, out of all my friends, I'd have the oldest bike but R1 buddy just HAD to go out and get himself a 1988 Honda NT650 Hawk.

Now I've never been a huge fan of naked bikes but no one can say this isn't a sexy machine.


So the first night R1 buddy brought the bike home (he's still got a R1 so the name is still valid) it ran, how do i put this gently, like CRAP. When I rode it the first time it seemed to pull slightly WEAKER than my old ninja 250. The Hawk would bellow it's signature v-twin song but not much happens. Hell, cars were beating it off the line. And then when it couldn't have been a larger pile of (very nice looking) crap, the battery died :)



While charging the battery, R1 buddy and I go to work on the Hawk to wake it up from its slumber.

Hawk - seat - gas tank

V-twin carbs are a pain to remove

grrrrr...

ah HA!

Pictures don't do justice to how mind-bogglingly gross that hole is. The gas tank goes in there.

Carb cleaning

KA-POW

While I was carb-cleaning, R1 buddy was going to town on the aluminum with a rag. Shine baby, shine.

If you thought the carbs were a pain to get out well, try getting them back in...

All slapped back together and ready to rock

Last thing we did was swap the hideous (possibly vfr) rim for the oem original


For more pics go here.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Let the rebuild begin

So like I mentioned in my last post the first order of business was to install the alternator shaft which required an interference bearing to be pressed into the clutch side of the upper crank case. This turned out to be a huge pain. Heating the case and cooling the bearing didn't work. I even tried to make a half-assed bearing press which not only failed to press the bearing into place but did more harm than good.

This reeks of fail


Pictured above is a simple bearing press like any other home made device. You have a threaded rod, the bearing is fitted against a socket as shown and on the other side we have a washer to serve as a solid surface.

Oh damn, the stench of fail is overwhelming the senses


But what could go wrong with such a simple contraption? Well when the designer is a fucking moron (yours truly) apparently a lot can go wrong. Long story short, I torque the end with the socket, the bearing starts to slide in a bit and the next minute I realize the washer pictured above had got bent and pulled through the hole it was sitting in. FUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuukkkk!!!!! At least that was my initial reaction. Upon closer inspection about half a mm of aluminum got taken out of the lip and no substantial damage was done.

See? No harm done here, moving along then....


How did the bearing finally get put in place? Well I brought it to a local shop and by gently tapping the bearing with a socket, the dude got the bearing to slide right in.... I was overcome with shame, awe and relief. I imagine this is what people feel when the suffer from premature ejaculation; something real men like me don't have to worry about har har har

This bearing is responsible for ruining my life

Yayy!!! All put together now :)


I turn my attention to the crank and bearings while the transmission is still out; makes mating the case halves much easier.

So much wasted plastic

Alright, LETS DO THIS!!!

Crankshaft, check...

Knockoff plastigauge, check ...

Engine bolts, check

Why, hello there Mr. Plastigauge ...

*crunch*

~0.040mm ... well, a tad on the loose side but well below the maximum


Anyways I move on to the transmission starting with *drum roll*

...the shift drum...

...and shift forks

Next I take a look at the main shaft and ...

... WTF HAPPENED HERE!??! Lucky for me I bought half a spare motor

Thats me peeing on the main shaft...

All the main shaft components in their glory

Now that I have a (small) parts washer and air compressor, I don't know how I ever lived without them

Cleaner than a shaved beaver. Note the ball bearings, I nearly lost them TWICE! Yes I'm that retarded.

The gears look to be in good shape...

...and the fork cavities look to be within spec

Now all we need to do is add some engine oil ...

... and we're off. Note the heavy(ier) duty snap ring pliers; the transmission shafts are a massive pain

Done.

Into the engine we go now.

Now for the output shaft

Doesn't that just look magical? New bearings, fresh gears, clean aluminum and... oops I just messed up my pants

Here's some more tranny porn for your fapping pleasure

Next I do a test fitting of the crank shaft, crank case, and transmission starting with some molly grease

With the crank shaft in and gears in neutral, I mate the two halves together

PRESTO!!!

Everything looks (and feels) about right

So my next step is to find a high quality and calibrated torque wrench to torque up the rod bolts as well as the case bolts. The shitty Canadian tire and Harbor Freight stuff just isn't giving me all the confidence in the world right now. Plus I'm curious as to how a better torque wrench will effect my oil clearance readings....

Until next time.

Picture Album 1
Picture Album 2