lil' things, lil' things

I did a final cleaning of the fuel tank this weekend, poured two gallons of phosphoric acid in to the tank and let it sit overnight. I would have to say that between the electrolysis method and the acid baths the tank came out to be very clean; I would also never recommend using BB's as an abrasive media, they are just way to hard to get out of the tank.



I put the new finger screen on and installed the fuel selector in the tank, after installing a new 7/16 dia. fuel line I was able to fill the tank with gas. The selector showed no signs of leakage until I turned it to the on position, I then began to get a steady stream from the center of the selector but that quickly turned in to a seep and     after a bit I had no more fuel leaking from it.



The tires were flat and so I had to give them a shot of air, but after that, with a few kicks the NS started up and drove around the neighborhood several times. The pictures are a bit deceiving as the tank is not permanently installed, I will have to remove it to put a new air filter in and install the breather cover. Running the bike around the block without the cover made for a pretty throaty sound from the air intake; and its been a while since I’ve ridden this bike, but I had to get in to some pretty high revs to get the bike rolling, about 3000 RPMs or so.



Exhaust Plumbing

                                                          Once the bike was underway it seemed to be fine; I never made it higher than 2nd gear going around the block. The bike also begin to settle a bit with the amount of exhaust it was creating, but the two lower exhaust pipes had some oil seeping past their seals, especially the lower right one.






So it runs and can get in motion, now it's down to a bunch of little things. I need to change the gear box oil; I should have done that prior to running down the road maybe but I don't think it will make much difference. I need to tighten those exhaust pipe connections, possibly make some new gaskets. I will need to find some foam to make an intake filter out of and put the airbox back together; then find all of the scattered bits and pieces, tighten up hardware here and there and then....get some new rubber put on it. There'll be a new video of the bike in motion on the blogs main page if anyone would like to take a look.



A Rainy Day and Motorcycle History

It was cold and grey here today, so no working on the NS. But it was a great day for going to the Barber Motorsports Museum and walking through a bit of motorcycle history.

Lets start with the most important bike in the building; Barber's 1986 Honda NS400R. Its not in the Rothman's livery, but it's still cool.

Here are just a couple of shots of the museum, give ya'll an idea of how big this palce is.

A 1966 Honda 350, my dad had one of these but in red.

An RC30, just one of many moments where you sigh and say "I wish"

A 1985 Honda Interceptor, sold in the U.S. this bike had parts that were interchangable with the NS, and currently my NS has a front wheel from one of these bikes, mine was bent and swapped prior to my getting it.

A Laverda, my father-in-law surprised me once when he told me about his favorite brand of motorcycle, the Spanish made Laverda, he would have liked to have seen this one I think.

A Ducati 851, remember Doug Polen?

Look at this! A 125cc Cagiva, with the Ducati 916/748 bodywork, sweet.

A Vincent Black Shadow, if you know motorbikes, there's nothing more to say.

Imagine opening the Sears catalog and being able to order one of these.

Daytona stars, Duhamel, Jamie James, Two Brothers, Team Hammer and Rich Oliver, wow.

A 1975 Honda CB500, my dad has one of these in his shop, though his is a 550.

Here is a 1990 Honda VFR400R, really nice bike, and very similar to mine, though it's a four stroke.

This is a view from the back of the museum, these guys are taking part in Kevin Schwantz's school. He may even be on one of those bikes.

Barber collects cars as well, and here were only two. A Dino Ferrari and a 1958 Chevy Impala.

And here is the one that started it all, technically the first motorcycle ever built. The 1885 Maybach Daimler, meant as a test bed for their four wheel projects, it was used to test an invention of theirs, a component that mixes fuel and air, later known as a carburetor.

The Barber Motorsports Museum is here in Birmingham, Alabama and if you love motorcycles or just the complexity and beauty of motorized vehicles, then this place is not to be missed. It's five stories tall and houses hundreds of motorcycles and motorcycle paraphernalia with a few cars and a small collection of outboard boat motors as well.

Please remember that if you would like, you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

It's Alive!!!!!!

Beautiful day here today, great day for rebuilding the carbs and getting the bike running.

The Picture to the left is of the new and old slow jets side by side. The new jets are 28mm long compared to the original at 23.5mm, however, the extra length is only from the threads down.

To the right is a picture of the old jet in situ in the fuel bowl, as you can see it is recessed by about 4mm.

And here is a photo of the new jet in place, flush with the end of the housing. I really didn't think this would cause an issue as it would not be protruding in to the bowl.



And...
...after the carbs were back together and reinstalled back on the bike; and with a only a few kicks, the NS lit off and ran for the first time in 10+ years!

Weekend update

Didn't work on the bike this weekend but I did get a new part I've been waiting for...the new fuel finger screen.
The new screen is shorter than the original by about two inches; but as you can see in the picture it will still clear the top of the fuel pick up and the o-rings are correct so this will be the one we will use.
Also, here is a picture, better picture, of one of the three slow jets (idle jets) that are preventing the bike from running. A Honda shop here in town has some, but they are 28mm long, compared to mine at 23.5mm. I might take a drive over there tomorrow and see how they fit.

Carbs...The inside story

Got the carbs up to the shop today and I believe I found the problem. After I got the bowls off and started cleaning the carbs in the parts bath I found that the orifices that flow fuel during idle were blocked in two of the carbs.

So I removed the two blocked orifices, tried copious amounts of cleaner and compressed air and no luck. Next step, getting on the net and trying to find replacements.

Fuel...or lack thereof

Got the bike started again today, but it just won't stay running without continuously spraying fuel down the intakes with a spray bottle...so therefore there was no choice left but to remove the carbs and inspect them. I pulled only one of the float bowls and I'd have to say, everything seemed pretty clean. The float was in good shape and there wasn't a lot of gunk down in the bowl, the seat for the metering pin was clean and not gummed up, it'll be interesting to see what the other two look like tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrvDqDWzXqs

Rust Removal...Day 2

I pulled the anode from the tank today and WOW! This method really works. However...



I am still not completely happy with the results.


While it did remove a lot of rust it just hasn't done everything I think it can do.

So after getting all of the BB's out of the tank, which true enough was a chore...


I decided to give it one more go with the anode and charger, at least just through this afternoon. I did up the voltage on the charger though; maybe put a bit more of a pull on the rust towards the anode...

Removing Rust.... Again

So today is a beautiful day here in Birmingham and tomorrow is suppose to be just as nice. I had planned on getting the bike running this weekend but a piece of equipment I ordered from Amazon has not arrived. In the interim I will continue with the rust removal from the fuel tank. When I looked in to the tank this morning I was surprised to see that it hadn't flash rusted after my last attempt to clean it and that there was only some stubborn spots of rust remaining, which made me pretty happy that this is all going the right direction.

My first item in the order of things was to rinse the tank with some CLR; it's not as good as straight phosphoric acid but the only phosphoric acid I could find yesterday was in a huge jug and I really didn't need that much. CLR does do a fairly good job with rust and my intentions were to just loosen and rinse any large particles of rust at the start up. The picture to the left shows the equipment I'm using today. Battery charger, steel rod for use as an anode and baking soda.


If anyone is not familiar with the electrolysis method of rust removal, it goes something like this. The tank is filled with regular tap water to the brim, baking soda is added (approximately 1 tablespoon per gallon of water), a sacrificial anode is placed inside the tank, now the important part here is that the anode not be allowed to touch the inside of the tank itself; I accomplished this by placing a large wire nut on the end and running the bar through a rubber stopper at the filler. Once the set up is in place the negative lead from the battery charger is connected to the tank (I connected it to the forward mounting bolt bracket) and the positive lead is connected to the anode. With the power on some magical scientific process takes place that electronically frees the rust from the tank and attracts it to the anode. Essentially its an electromagnet where the ferrous rust particles are attracted to the positively charged anode. Check out you tube for some great video examples of how this works.

So now with the process up and running we will let it sit for about 24 hours, checking the water level and cleaning debris from the anode as we go. I guess I should mention the "danger" involved in this process. The chemical reaction that takes place creates hydrogen gas and THAT as anyone who has ever seen video of the Hindenburg knows, can be a bit volatile. So, I will be back here tomorrow with the results, wish me luck...

What the hell?

Ok, so what happened? A year went by and no posts, no progress on the bike, everyone was just left hangin, in suspense I'm sure too... No? well that makes sense; but we are back at it and this time have the means to finish it.

So what has changed? Well I am living in a house now and have a garage so I have access to all my tools and a work space without having to leave the home. Also, I just took out a small loan to buy some of the necessary items that I will need to complete the bike. I have made contact with Ian Wright with Classic Race Replicas in the UK and will be ordering body parts soon. I have also spoke with Scott Moore of Fast Finish Painting and have some idea of what direction and cost I will be looking at for the paint

The fuel tank never was completed, the ability to get all of that rust out using the acid etching and BB media method was a bust. But I have a plan, I'm going to try the electolysis method. I originally did'nt want to, but it will make for a better paint job if I just paint the whole bike, tank included.

Scott at FFP said it will make for a much better paint job if I use new plastic vs. trying to put new paint on repaired 24 year old plaastic, and so I will be ordering new upper and lower cowls and a new windscreen from Ian along with a complete new decal set.

So, again a plan is in place, let's see what happens...........

Repairing the rusted tank, Day 2

Continued working the tank today, The over night bath did really well on the areas that were submerged, however there is still plenty of rust in the tank.





I had to remove the finger screen from within the tank today as well, there was no getting it out intact, but i found it torn at the top end anyway. It will not be fun trying to find that particular replacement, I see an inline fuel filter in the future for the NS.



The instructions for the POR 15 state that you can coat over treated rust but that just doesn't seem right. I've treated enough corrosion on airplanes over the years to know that if you don't get it all out, it will come back, even under the treated surface. So I believe I got about 80% of the rust out, but I am going to keep going till I believe we are all the way there. Very difficult working in the tank though