I’ve been making some progress on the 1972 Honda JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) CB500K I’ve been working on, work that was stalled by the icy grip of winter; well now that icy grip is getting the hell out of here with (FINALLY!) the arrival of warmer temperatures, which are allowing me to get back in the garage and get going again.
Last month however I left off with a description of a burgeoning battle with a bunch of wasps that I had flying around in the garage, so took some steps to battle those little bastards (Huh - with all those "B's, that's almost an onomatopoeia!). I actually like bugs, for the most part (spiders and praying mantii in particular), but if it has a stinger on it I am pretty quick to send them to The Great Hive in The Sky, whether physically or chemically – whichever method involves the least threat to my tender skin.
I’ve employed several methods in this endeavor, from a nifty D-cell powered electrified swatter which I like because it tends to make them stick to the device’s electrical grid and I can watch them literally FRY under the power of electrical current, to cans of wasp killer and brake cleaner that ends them pretty quickly.
Just recently though I wanted to try something else that I heard drives them away, all the better because I have better things to do than spend time trying to kill them all. I came across these fake ‘wasps nest’ things that everybody says does a pretty good job of keeping wasps out - apparently the wasp buzzes in, sees another ‘wasp nest’ and goes in the other direction, so I thought I’d give it a try – and I have to admit, it sure looks real!
They’re pretty cheap, and come two to a package, so I stashed the other one in the opposite corner of the garage where it’s well-illuminated in the hopes that they’ll see it and ‘bug out’, so to speak...
But I’m not taking any chances, so I also got a couple sticky traps that I hung up as high as my six-foot ladder would permit, pretty much in the flight path of any winged terror that flies by.
So we’ll see what happens – although ever since I hung these up I haven’t seen any! So maybe they do work? (Works for me…!) They give off a kind of cool ‘Seventies’ vibe too, don’t you think…?
Anyway – back to the bike!
Since the last time we spoke, I managed to get the engine in, or at least the bottom end. I’ve learned after doing several of these things by myself that it’s easier to get the engine in before you put the top end on because even the bottom weighs about 75 – 80 pounds by itself, not fun to try and get it back into the frame without help and screwing up the paint; put on the top end and you add another 40 pounds or so which adds to the fun. But it’s IN!
So everything was going swimmingly, but I still had to get the new rings in the pistons, and honestly, I rather hate this part – piston rings are relatively fragile, and if you make a mistake and bend them too far they go *SNAP!* and you’re screwed –
Working that scraper ring down...
But I managed it! Whew!
A Clean Engine is A Thing of Beauty!
Next up I fitted the cylinder head onto the case. The tricky part is getting all the new rings to slide up into the cylinders. You can see here I started with the two center ones first, which I’ve learned is the way to go. Once you get those two in you have to gently finesse the ones on the end, being careful not to bend any of the delicate oil rings that have a tendency to stick out a bit. Ask me how I know.
Easy does It...!
I lapped the valves next, to make sure I get a good seal...
This is how you do it, right...?
...and everything was cool until I got to this point...BENT INTAKE VALVE! DOH!!
All the other valves went back in just fine except this one. Oh, it’s bent alright – it goes down about this far and stops, plus you can literally see it rotating out-of-round if you rotate it. I remember I had a problem taking this one out, too, but had forgotten about it until now. It’s Always Something, am I right…?
Which I’m bummed about, because I was getting all excited about finally buttoning up this engine and dealing with the rest of it – the headlight, wiring, etc. so I guess I’ll hit those areas next while I wait for the new intake valve- and keep an eye on the wasps!
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