Tilting the engine on a stock '81 or '82 CBX is a requirement to remove the carburetors. It also improves access for valve cover removal, valve adjustment, and head work. The Honda shop manual doesn't provide a comprehensive explanation on how to tilt the engine, making the first attempt at this procedure a bit of a learning experience. Here is my step by step process for tilting the engine.
- 1) Remove the leg shields.
2) Remove the seat.
3) Remove the gas tank.
4) If present, remove the engine guard or crash bar.
5) Removing the fairing is optional. Its removal improves access to the valve cover and carburetors. Having an extra person on hand for faring removal is helpful.
6) Disconnect the spark plug wires from the plugs.
7) Remove plugs 1 and 6. Vacuum them out beforehand and place a bit of rag or paper towel in the holes to keep debris out.
8) Remove the front engine hangers. These are large triangular metal brackets attached by three bolts to the frame and front of the engine. There is a set of smaller secondary hangers further back that will be disconnected later.
9) Remove the exhaust system. Having a second person on hand to help with this step might save you a ding or two.
- a) You can actually get away with just removing the rear retaining bolts and letting the exhaust pipes tip up as the engine rotates forward. Eventually the crossover pipe hits the frame or rear suspension linkage, which limits the forward tilt. However, for most tasks this gives you enough tilt to get the job done.
- a) Dismount the throttle assembly from the handlebar. Don't forget to unplug the front brake light switch wires before pulling the assembly off the bar. You may need to slacken the throttle cable tension before the assembly will clear the end of the handle bar.
- i) If you are planning to remove the carburetors, you may want to disconnect the throttle cables at this time. Unscrewing one of the cables requires spinning the switch assembly. The easiest way to free up the assembly so it will rotate is to disconnect its wire harness at the junction box under the instrument cluster and pull the harness free. The other option is to disassemble the lower portion of the switch assembly. This involves removing two small screws. Be careful on re-assembly, as you are screwing into plastic that strips easily. Hence, removing the harness is a better long term solution.
12) Remove the tach gear cover and tach gear. The shop manual recommends this to avoid breakage of #4 camshaft holder when rotating the cams. Even if you are not planning to rotate the cams, I figure better safe than sorry. Breaking the cam holder would be a major headache.
13) Loosen the rear wheel and slide it all the way forward. If you don't do this, the drive chain will stop the motor from rotating forward.
14) Presuming you have the stock air box in place, loosen the band between the air filter box and the carburetor splitter air box.
15) Remove the two bolts that run through the top of the frame into the air splitter box.
16) Disconnect the oil drain tube on the left side of the air splitter box.
17) Disconnect the crankcase vent tube from the splitter box or engine casing.
18) Place a jack under the engine. A small piece of plywood placed between the jack and engine prevents scratches and provides a bit of slippage as the engine rotates forward.
19) Remove the upper rear engine mounting bolt. This is a long bolt that runs the width of the bike.
20) Disconnect the secondary engine hangers. Remove the two upper bolts so the carburetors don't hit the hangers as the assembly rotates forward.
21) Pull some slack through on the throttle and choke cables.
22) Slowly lower the jack. The connection between the air filter box and air splitter box should pull apart easily. Watch for the throttle and choke cables binding up and hanging the engine as it rotates forward and down. Keep feeding slack to the cables.
As long as the drive chain is connected, it will eventually stop the engines forward rotation. This acts as a nice safety.
nope, only undo top bolts