Oil Sump & Strainer Cleaning

Alright! You’ve got your latest barn/field/junkyard find home, it still had good compression, so after cleaning the carbs, topping off the oil and putting in fresh gas it actually fired up and ran okay. Yeehaa! now comes the hard part, do not immediately go running in the house to scour the internet looking for the thousands of dollars worth of parts & accessories you need to restore or customize your new to you machine, there is one more thing you must do to be sure that you don’t need to tear the engine down to bare cases, or perhaps just throw the whole damn thing in the trash. Most vintage Japanese & British machines have an oil sump (oil pan to some of you) strainer, that has probably never even been looked at since the machine left the factory. For this lesson we are going to remove the oil sump (pan) from my personal 1980 Honda CB650 and see what we find inside. After a few minutes running time  & a valve adjustment this old thing has less the 8 p.s.i. difference in compression from the lowest to highest cylinder, I can live with that, if there is nothing wrong in the bottom end. Lets have a look shall we.  First if you have a lift put it up on the lift securely.

1980 Honda CB50 on Harbor Freight Motorcycle lift

Let the serious work begin!

The mufflers are off of mine because I am planning on binning them anyway, it is not necessary to remove them for this job on this motorcycle.  On some bikes it may be required, refer to your service manual for details.

Locate the oil drain plug,

Honda CB650 oil sump drain plug

the location of the drain plug & oil pan bolts

and remove it with the appropriate wrench and drain the oil into a catch pan.

Honda CB650 Drain Plug Location

be sure to catch the aluminum sealing washer.

Since this involves changing the oil you might as well go ahead & change the filter too. On these old air cooled Hondas the filter is a cartridge in this housing on the front of the engine.

Honda SOHC Four oil filter housing

Oh no! this bolt has pliers marks on it. Not cool.

Remove the filter and housing, be sure to move the catch pan so that it catches the oil from the housing.

removing the oil filter bolt

removing the oil filter bolt

Now move to the bottom of the machine and begin loosening the bolts on the sump. The CB650 has 10 bolts that are all the same size & length, so all I have to do is don’t lose any. If you motorcycle has different size or length bolts holding the sump on be sure to note which bolts go into which holes.

the motopsyco hard at work

the motopsyco hard at work

Before you completely remove the last bolt and thus the sump be sure you slide the drain pan back into place beneath the engine.

Before you rush to dump the oil pan set it on the bench and have a good look at the goo stuck in the bottom of it. This will tell you a lot about the health of your engine. Believe it or not the crappy looking mess in the picture below is actually what you hope to find.

inside the CB650 oil pan

inside the CB650 oil pan

This one has a thick coat of clutch dust & what ever dirt that got into the engine & settled out of the oil, what I don’t see are any pieces of gear teeth or metal shavings that indicate an serious problem with the engine or transmission. Now take a magnet & swish it around in the muck to see if it picks up anything. Mine came back clean this time. This is no 100% guarantee that all is well with the transmission etc. but it does make me feel better about buying the parts needed to get it ride-able.

<cb 650 oil sump craftsman magnet tool>

Now it is time to inspect & clean the strainer screen.

location of oil strainer Honda CB650

location of oil strainer Honda CB650

While you are down ther3 have a peek up into the engine to see how everything looks.

<inside the bottom of a Honda engine>

this all looks good in here

On a CB650 slide the drain pan back under the engine & pull down on the strainer, it should slide out.

remove CB650 sump strainer

just pull it straight down.

Once you get it out carefully inspect the screen and if it is damaged or loose replace it. If it looks good wash it out in the parts washer.

1980 CB650 oi sump screen

Inspect the strainer & its o-rings if you have any doubt about their condition, replace them.

Now you just have to clean everything up inspect & replace all gaskets & o-rings as needed, and reassemble everything in reverse order installing a new oil filter & fresh oil. NOw you know that you have one less thing to worry about.

Peace ‘Yall

The 2013 AMCA Southern National Meet!

Indian Chief

A fantastic motorcycle but just a little out of my price range.

This was the first time I have attended this event, the AMCA Southern National Meet. I went on Saturday & had to duck a few showers in the morning but other than that it was a great day! There were some truly outstanding motorcycles on the grounds along with a few neat old bicycles too. Here are a few of the pictures I took around the show grounds, enjoy!

Schwinn Cycle Truck

Kinda Rough & Crusty

Ross badge on Schwinn Cycle Truck

I have no idea why it had a Ross head badge on it.

<neat little bobber>

Triumph in a Bubble!

Triumph in a Bubble!

antique Harley with a saddle

Giddy Up!

Triumph Cubs

Triumph Cubs Hard to resist!

Vintage Vespa & old moped.

Vintage Vespa & old moped.

Carbide Bike Headlight

Who doesn’t love an old bicycle?

rusty Monark Super Twin

rusty Monark Super Twin

BSA Motorcycle

A nice ride able BSA!

antique Benelli 2 stroke

antique Benelli 2 stroke

another great vintage Triumph

I really enjoy seeing bikes like this Triumph Scrambler getting ridden. instead of merely displayed.

another nice old hog

old Harley with bare sheet metal

BSA B50MX

BSA B50MX

crusty project for sale

crusty project for sale

<old motorcycle>

The theme for this year was British Iron and the were some first class examples placed inside of one of the exhibition halls.

Ariel Square Four

Ariel Square Four

A Magnificent Triumph

A Magnificent Triumph

beautiful restored Vincent

beautiful restored Vincent

 cool custom Bonneville

cool custom Bonneville

AJS all decked out for touring

AJS all decked out for touring

Harley Davidson Sprint

I would like to have one of these

1960 Triumph Thunderbird

my dream machine

1960 Triumph Thunderbird

fantastic looking engine

Thunderball BSA

Thunderball BSA

<BSA Thunderball>

Cushman Eagle V2

Cushman Eagle with v twin engine

 coolest dog at the show

coolest dog at the show

Harley K model

Harley K model this would be a great restoration project

<Harley K>

kool tow trucks

kool tow trucks #1

kool tow trucks #2

kool tow trucks #2

field events pictures

field events pictures

Cushman in plank  race

Cushman in plank race

winner of the plank race

winner of the plank race

slow race

slow race

slow race

slow race

immaculate Moto Guzzi Eldorado

immaculate Moto Guzzi Eldorado

immaculate Moto Guzzi Eldorado

Moto Guzzi Eldorado another of my dream bikes

Briggs and Stratton motor wheel

Briggs and Stratton motor wheel

This was the first time I had ever seen a Briggs & Stratton  motor wheel. Neat old piece. The same gentleman also had the Smith motor wheel pictured below.

Smith motor wheel

Smith motor wheel

This event is held each year at Denton Farm Park in Denton, N.C. This is a fantastic venue for events of this type check their website for a schedule of different interesting events throughout the year.

The 2013 Honda CB1100!!! A Psyco Road Test & Review!

2013 Honda CB1100

2013 Honda CB1100

Today, I went for a fantastic ride on a great motorcycle! The motorcycling press has waxed semi-poetic (some get it & some don’t) about the new 2013 Honda CB1100, and when I finally saw one live & in the flesh at the Charlotte International Motorcycle Show, I captioned the picture, “finally the retro bike we’ve all been waiting for.” Well after riding it I can definitely say it is the retro looking bike that I was waiting for.

<13 CB100 florence honda>

In the Florence Honda showroom.

Yes, I have lusted over so many motorcycles over the years, but no matter what I have logged more miles on Hondas than any other brand.  I have actually owned, a CL125, XL500S, a 99 750 Nighthawk, and personally put over 100,000 miles on a 1980 CB750F. I sold the 750F after buying the Nighthawk which is the only new motorcycle I have ever owned. Oh yeah, I just remembered a few weeks ago I bought an 80 CB650 project bike that I’ll get back to work on soon.

Let me go ahead and give you my little disclaimer, this motorcycle was loaned to me for review by my former employer Rusty Davis at Florence Honda in Florence S.C. We parted company on good terms when I was ready to get out of working on motorcycles for a living, and I still consider him to be a friend and will tell anyone if you want a good deal on a Honda motorcycle, atv, or generator Florence Honda is the place to go.

Enough nostalgic fluff let’s get down to my impressions of the CB1100. First of all it is not a modernized version of the original SOHC Honda CB750, The engine bears a remarkable resemblance to the DOHC CB750/900/1100 fours of the early eighties. But it is much smoother with almost no perceptible vibration even if you touch the engine directly while it is running. The power delivery is turbine like and smooth. Yes my old 750 had a 10 & ½ grand redline instead of 8500 rpm but I didn’t miss the extra revs one bit today.

To me the styling is more like the mighty CBX especially the shape of the tank, side covers and that broad comfortable seat. Homage to the Hondas of the 60s shows up in the tank badges which would not look out of place on a CA160 Honda Benly. The four into one exhaust pipes look like the typical aftermarket headers most of us installed on the old Hondas back in the day. I wish they could have mimicked the sexy pipes found on the old CB400F. Of course the fit & finish of all components was typical Honda, that is flawless.

<cb1100 exhaust>

Two big analog gauges flank a small digital display that handles all of the idiot light functions. Now I love technology & tend to be an early adopter whenever possible but give me a good old analog tachometer that is easy to read day and night, when I’m flogging a motorcycle.

CB1100 Speedometer & Tachometer

CB1100 Speedometer & Tachometer

The best part about it is that it is not some super-sized pig of a bike. The seat height is actually lower than my old 750F was, and though this bike weighs in at over 500 pounds it felt very light & nimble at parking lot speeds. The fuel injected engine is responsive and ready to go time you hit the button.

<Motopsyco on the 2013 CB1100>

Motopsyco on the 2013 CB1100

Motopsyco on the 2013 CB1100

The chassis is a basic steel frame with a 41mm fork & pair of chrome shocks on the rear. Nice looking 18 inch wheels on both ends with conservative but competent steering geometry serve up decent handling when you want to dance a little back roads boogie. You can’t follow the latest liter bike repli-racers around a road course but for just plain fun riding at a surprisingly swift pace the big CB works very well.

After circling the parking lot a few times to get used to the surprising light steering and easy to modulate brakes, I rolled into the traffic on Palmetto Street in Florence and headed west a mile or two and turned onto Meadors Road. This two lane road has a few nice long sweeping curves at the end closest to Palmetto, but once you get past the golf course & it’s accompanying housing development it is an arrow straight 2 lane for the next few miles. The big wide bars, and the big wide easy to use mirrors made flicking through the traffic easy even when some bitch in a beater Yaris turned right across two lanes of traffic just to get in front of me. Not a problem, bleed a little speed with the predictable brakes, check my six in the mirrors, checked the right lane to make sure there was room, got back on the gas and just zoomed around her. You can’t slow a fast man down! I didn’t get to a really tight & technical twisty road with it but I can tell you with utmost confidence just from the few fast sweepers I rode that the handling is there and the ground clearance is superb.

Motopsyco on the 2013 CB1100 playing in traffic

Motopsyco on the 2013 CB1100 playing in traffic

The experience was rather sublime, sitting in a comfortable up right position, with the engine’s torque smoothly available at all times, and it just felt so right. I really hated to give this one back at the end of the ride.

<Motopsyco on the 2013 CB1100>

In the world of retro bikes there is a bit of a paradox, the tendency is to try to replicate, or in the case of some companies maintain the character (read design flaws) of an earlier time. Even Honda got into this with the old Shadow ACE deliberately unbalancing the engine so that it would shake & vibrate to mimic the archaic engine design of the other Brand H. People have forgotten that Honda more than any other company put America on two wheels and they did it with smooth reliable motorcycles that didn’t vibrate, require excessive maintenance, and were fast and powerful. People bought the original CB’s & Gold Wings because they were so smooth, perfectly functional and superior to everything else in the world at that time. This means that to make a truly retro Honda it had to be as close to perfect as possible, with no “character flaws” allowed.

<honda CB1100 review>

Back from the ride!

For the most part however I feel that this bikes biggest competition will not be from the other brand new retro bikes but from the earlier versions of itself. The old CB Hondas are still so good that even in the 21st. century, it’s hard for their devotees to imagine anything better. Trust me on this one folks; you need to ride the new CB1100, it’s that good.  A good original 83 CB1100F can fetch over five thousand dollars if you can find one at all, that makes this new CB1100 seem like a fair deal at $9999 ($10,500 w/ ABS). It has all of the things you loved about the old Hondas wrapped up into good looking thoroughly modern fuel injected package that runs even smoother than legendary Hondas of yesteryear.

UN-RESTORED 1976 Gold Wing

This is Rusty’s all original UN-RESTORED 1976 Gold Wing

I would like to thank Rusty & the crew at Florence Honda for letting me borrow this motorcycle for testing & would like to mention that Rusty is ready to retire and that Florence Honda is up for sale. If you have the scratch and are interested in purchasing a fully operational motorcycle dealership, give him a call at (843) 669 7056.

Until next time

Peace Y’all

Psyco

Why Can’t I Let Dead Dragons Lie?

let dead dragons lie

What I see anytime I see an old Japanese classic left to rot…

Here we go again, I knew this old Honda was bad news the first time I saw it. Years of abandonment & sitting out in the weather had taken a severe toll on every single piece of it, how often do you see a rust hole in the top of a gas tank?

<really messed up Honda Tank>

To make matters worse it is a 1980 model the first year Honda started using that sway backed horse looking frame designed to get the seat closer to the ground in hopes of getting more people into riding and thus increasing sales. And yet here it is sitting on my lift as I am evaluating its potential as a custom possibly a cafe racer. The S.C. inspection sticker on the fork is dated 1988, and this was probably the last time it was on the road as S.C. did away with inspections soon after. The carb float bowls were completely gummed up and one slide was frozen in its bore. But the residue cleaned out okay and corrosion was minimal leading me to suspect that it was pre-ethanol gasoline in the carburetors!. It actually fired up and ran after a fast & furious carb cleaning. Heck I even wire brushed the original spark plugs and stuck them back in as they all 4 spit great big blue sparks during my initial testing.

"<a

It actually was kind of anticlimactic, this ancient corroded cobweb covered corpse fired right up and ran like a Honda. I felt like some  necromancer in a fantasy story that had prepared a powerful magic spell to reanimate the dried bones of a dead dragon only to have it sit up, yawn and say, “well that was a nice little nap,” before I could cast my spell.

<1980 Honda CB650 4 SOHC>

It did smoke a little but there were no strange noises, not even a cam chain rattle. Since the engine is very rough looking cosmetically and I like to be as close to 100% sure about my motorcycles as possible,the next step in this evaluation is to pull the engine from the frame & take the head off and have a look inside. If all looks fixable I start renewing this bike in earnest beginning with an engine overhaul.

<CB 650 standard rear wire b4>

Although I try to kid myself that I am still evaluating this thing, I did purchase a set of wire wheels that I spotted on Ebay at a good price, & to crank it up I bought a new Shorai LFX battery for it. Experience tells me that I should wind up with around 3-4 thousand dollars in a motorcycle that might be worth 2 grand at the most. :O

Shorai LFX  the best motorcycle battery money can buy.

Shorai LFX the best motorcycle battery money can buy.

Help here I go again 🙂

Another Junkyard Dog! 1980 Honda CB650

Man this thing is a raggedy P.O.S. I ought to have my head examined for bringing it home.

seriously rusted out motorcycle fuel tank

bleeping rust

But I’m a big believer in if your gonna seriously  customize something you ought to be fixing one  up, not tearing a nice one down.

SOHC Honda CB650

1980 SOHC Honda CB650 before

Before I even pushed it in the barn I popped the rotor cover off of the engine and made sure the engine would turn. If it hadn’t turned it would have gone on the trailer and headed to the steel mill.

neglected old Honda

Here’s the right side.

After verifying that the engine was actually free, I pushed it into the barn, hooked it up to a battery, and did a compression test on it. All four cylinders had compression but the range between the four was a little more than I would have liked, about a 4o psi variation, but that variation may be due to it sitting for so long. I’ll go ahead and check the valve lash & clean the carbs to get it running again, then even if it seems to be running alright I’ll do another compression check just to be sure the engine is sound. I already have a set of wire wheels coming for it!

Peace Y’all

The 2013 Charlotte International Motorcycle Show Pg.1

<XDL Street Jam at Charlotte International Motorcycle Show>

XDL Street Jam at Charlotte International Motorcycle Show

Hello Dear Readers,

Last weekend the lovely Mrs. Psyco and I attended the 2013 Progressive International Motorcycle Show at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte N.C. Since it was my first time attending this show I wanted to share my experiences with you. We are morning people and like to pretend we are children of privilege so I sprung for the early admission VIP tickets. This worked out very well for us as two weeks ago my lovely wife slipped and fell in the kitchen on our way out the door. It turns out that some ladies shoes are probably far more dangerous than motorcycles. The first picture above is from the XDL Street Jam show.

motopsyco on a 2013 Ducati Diavel

The Diavel made me do it!

A couple of years ago one of my very first blog posts was about the introduction of the then brand spanking new Ducati Diavel. Well I finally got to see one in the flesh and throw a leg across it. It fit very well and everything seemed to fall perfectly into position for me, plus with my but firmly on the seat I was able to put my feet flat on the floor. Now I really gotta go get a demo ride on one. The fine people at Ducati Greensboro provided the bikes on display at the show.

The Nelsonore Custom 76 Honda CB750

Gary Nelson’s Cafe/ Scrambler CB750 was my favorite bike at the show.

Moving on to the show bikes in the J&P Cycles Ultimate Custom Builder contest. The above 76 Honda CB750 is the coolest thing I have ever seen. At the risk of sounding conceited I’ll confess that up until now my all time favorite was my very own Yamaha XT600 supermoto that I featured in an earlier post. But Gary Nelson is one of the most talented vehicle engineers to ever live. Just look at all of his work in NASCAR. No wonder this is my new favorite custom motorcycle of all time.

The Brew Racing CB350 Racebike

The Brew Racing CB350 Racebike

In 2011 Brew Racing Frames was my listing as website of the month for December. Nothing is more awesome than seeing a genuine for real racing motorcycle entered in a show like this against all of the pampered show bikes. Enlarge the picture below for it’s racing pedigree.

Brew Racing CB350 Credentials

Brew Racing CB350 Credentials

Triumph Scrambler

Triumph Scrambler

Here are a couple of beautiful bikes from the Triumph display, one new & one old.

classic rigid frame Triumph

nothing classes up the joint like a beautiful old Triumph.

One of the most interesting things on display was the Tharo EV Scooter by a division of Tharo Systems.  It does have a much more realistic MSRP (around $4200 or so) than most big electric scooters.

Tharo EV electric scooter

Tharo EV electric scooter

Of course since I just love old rice grinders the VJMC booth was my favorite club/vendor display stand at the meet.

Check out this old CL450 Scrambler.

Check out this old CL450 Scrambler.

There’s a soft spot in my heart (or is it in my head?) for old scramblers of any make.

Honda CBX1000 six cylinder

Honda CBX1000 six cylinder

The six cylinder Honda CBX was the epitome of early ’80s muscle bike development. But with introduction of the GSXR soon to come the original musclebike era came to a close in the mid “80s with only the Mighty V Max soldiering on alone until the beginning of the 21st century.

side view of CBX

side view of CBX

That’s all for now, but check back soon as  I will post some more pics and my analysis of the good things, and the shortcomings of the show.

Factory Punch Marks Another Random Tech Tip

This tech tip is for all of the people who are just starting to wrench on their own motorcycles, although I have met a few old timers who may not know it. All of the big four makers do this on most of their machines. I don’t know about HD or the current European brands but all of the top Japanese motorcycle companies do it. They put punch marks on the various components that mount to shafts with splines. Shift lever, decompression levers, drum brake levers etc. almost always have punch marks indicating the correct  alignment of the part to the shaft. Here is an example below from a Honda drum brake.

So now you know one more thing to look for when you start to tear into your own machine, and should your atv or motorcycle not have punch marks like this you can always add them before taking it apart if you need to. After all anything that makes it easier to reassemble your parts and get your machine running in top form is a great thing.

Dirtbike Carburetor 101 Part Two!

Welcome back everyone,

At the end of the last class we ended with the carb sitting on the bench and the intake port in the head plugged to keep out dirt & small critters. Now let’s pull off the vent hoses and turn it upside down on the bench like this.

Take note of the pilot mixture adjustment screw that I have labeled here for you. I will be giving you a tip about it later in the lesson so be ready to refer back to this picture if you need to. Please remember these are not in the same place on all carburetors. I have seen them on the top and on the side depending upon the make and model. Some late model machines have them hidden under aluminum caps to keep you from tampering with them, but if you have a real problem you can remove the caps to repair it. Just be sure to replace them especially if you have to pass emissions inspections in your state. As usual I recommend you consult your handy dandy service manual for your motorcycle just to be on the safe side, because some carbs have more than one aluminum plug and you don’t want to remove the wrong one. Trust me I know….

Of course this bike has none of those annoying issues so let’s go ahead and take the screws out of the float bowl and look inside.

EWWW!

Now I am a fairly environmentally conscious guy, I grow organic veggies, the shop that I work in is powered by solar electricity, drive reasonably efficient vehicles etc. but you will never convince me in a million years that today’s gasoline is good for the environment. Once the lead was removed there really was not that much left to improve. There is no way  fuel that will rapidly break down into this toxic and corrosive sludge as fast as the fuel made in this day and time, can possibly be good for the environment. Just think of what it is doing to your vehicles as they sit in the driveway right now.

Let me get out of rant mode and get on with the lesson; here’s a shot of it with the float removed. You should be able to push the pin out to one side with a small punch and lift the float and float needle (float valve) out of the bottom of the carb.

So when someone tells you the float is sticking this is what they are talking about. Sticking floats are usually caused by either a piece of trash getting under the point of the float valve, or if the motor has been sitting by gasoline evaporating, and gluing it into place with a coat of gunk like you see here.

In this next shot I have removed the jets and the mixture adjustment screw. Even if you have a service manual handy, before removing the mixture screw, turn it all the way in slowly and count how many turns it takes to go all the way in. Write the number down somewhere, and then remove the screw along with the spring the washer and the o-ring that are in the hole under it.

You’ll probably have to dig for the o-ring using a piece of wire or a small pick like I did above.

At this point all of the metal parts are ready for a good long soak in the parts washer or carburetor cleaner until tomorrow. In fact the longer the better. Gather up some supplies.

If you have an air compressor and a parts washer you may not need the spray carb cleaner. If you don’t have a compressor it is mandatory even with a parts washer or a dip bucket of carburetor cleaner. For this bike I did pick up a carburetor overhaul kit. If your o-rings are all still in good shape and you can get all of your jets spotless you may not need it, but it is often difficult to clean the idle jet good enough to work again even with all of the right tools. If it’s my own bike, and I am broke that week, I might chance it, cause hey it’s part of the price I pay for this hobby. If it is your bike, you are getting new parts, because if it does not work, then I would be working on it for free and that would just piss me off. You would probably be upset at me too.

Here’s a teaser shot of everything laid out on the bench after cleaning, be sure to come back for the next lesson!

exploded view!

Click here to continue this lesson!

Dirt Bike Carburetor 101 Part 1 (how to clean a single cylinder motorcycle or atv carb)

Hello everyone and welcome to this multi-part lesson on the basics of carburetor  cleaning for single cylinder motorcycles. The cadaver we will be resuscitating in this lab is an 02 Honda XR100.

“barn fresh” xr100

Believe it or not this bike would still run with the choke on even with the dead gas and clogged jets, gotta love a Honda! This will be a general step by step guide to repairing carbs, so I will not be giving you the actual specifications as they vary so much from year to year on some bikes. As I’ve said before you need to obtain the specific information for your exact bike from a reputable source like say a service manual. For this first post let me show you how to remove the carburetor from this bike.

First let me say that it is possible to pull the carb from an XR100 without removing the bodywork, but A; you need to clean or replace the air filter and B; if it’s been sitting long enough to need the carburetor cleaned you need dispose of any fuel in the tank and clean it out before re-starting the bike after you finish the carb.

Now take off the side covers. This picture shows the location of the air filter cover on the XR100

Next look under the rear fender and remove the 2 nuts holding the seat on. Then pull it up and rearward to remove it.

I like to put the nuts and any spacers back on the studs like this so they will not get lost. In fact whenever possible I do this for all nuts and bolts as it keeps them from disappearing.

Now go the the fuel switch, valve or petcock, whichever terminology you use for it and turn off the flow of gas to the carburetor and disconnect the fuel line. Be prepared to cut it off with a knife and replace it if necessary.

Remove the rubber strap that holds down on the rear of the fuel tank and the two bolts at the front of the tank.

It is not required that you remove the shrouds like I did for this photo, I simply removed them so that I could show you the location of the bolts at the front of the gas tank.

After setting the gas tank aside in a safe location it is time to disconnect the throttle cable. On some models it attaches to an arm on the side of the carb but on simpler ones like this it is attached directly to the carb slide. Unscrew the cap as indicated by the screwdriver and pull the slide out.

This next shot is a little fuzzy but it indicates how the throttle cable is retained in the slide, and the following picture shows the slot in the side of the slide that allows you to remove it from the cable.

Now all you have to do is to compress the spring and push the end of the cable out of its hole, past the end of the slide, pull it out through the slot and then through the big hole at the top.

Here’s the removed and disassembled slide, jet needle, and return spring laid out for you to see.

Loosen the clamp holding the rubber hose from the air box to the carb and then remove the bolts attaching it to the engine and pull it out.

Yes I’m using the obstruction wrenches again. Two tools that I feel are must haves for any serious cycle mechanic are obstruction wrenches of decent quality and some extra long screwdrivers of the finest quality money can buy (i.e. Snap On etc.) Inexpensive wrenches are often okay but cheap screwdrivers will drive you bleeping crazy, by stripping out the soft metal heads on Japanese motorcycle screws.

Here’s a shot of the carburetor on the workbench. I like to use the red toolbox tray shown to help me organize the parts as I disassemble the carb, and to keep the parts from disappearing into the wormhole that exists behind my workbench. No part that falls back there is ever seen again, so I try to keep them from rolling of of the back edge. No dear reader I am not going to move the bench to look for them either. In my shop I coexist peacefully with all matter of snakes and spiders both harmless and venomous, and that is their territory and I stay out of it.

Don’t’ forget to protect the engine by plugging the intake hole while the carburetor is off.

I’ll show you the rest later, don’t forget to bookmark this page or to sign up for the email notification of updates on the right side of this page. Click here for part two!

Peace Y’all

Vintage Motorcycles New in the Crate!

Would you like to have a brand new vintage Triumph or a first year Gold Wing? I know where some are, but I don’t know if you can buy them. They are part of the Carpenter Museum collection along with the 2 MZs that I showed to you in my last post. Take a peek at these pictures!

1976 gl100 new old stock

A Honda collectors dream come true!

Brand new Meridian Triumph

Read it and weep.

N.O.S. Classic Triumph

It would destroy the value but I would take this one out & ride it if I could!