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.