My CBX1000C Restore Project
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:52 am
Hi Everyone,
Well after almost 3 months and what seemed like an eternity waiting, my new project has arrived from the US - I was like a big kid waiting and couldnt wait to get my hands on the bike. Boy am I chuffed, cosmetically the bike has suffered but overall I can see that somebody has looked after this bike well and its only deteriorated during its obviously long storage period. That being said compared to buying a 1982 bike thats spent its life here in the UK there is absolutely no surface or fastener rust anywhere, the bike is a dream to work on in this respect.
The bike is from Michigan, its had one owner from 1989 through to last August on the title. On the rear is an ICOA sticker so I think the previous owner may have been on this forum - As a further clue this sticker is on the screen, if you are still here let me know - So my plan was to give the bike a good check over and assess whether I could go for a start. I didnt intend running the engine for anything more than a minute as I will be doing a complete strip down bare frame restoration I just wanted to find out if the bike had been taken off the road for a worrying reason so I can prepare myself for the future rebuild.
First signs where not good, fuel tank is full of crud and rusty but nothing that wont fix with some effort - The air filter housing has been a nice comfy home for some critters, how did the bottle top get in there! Cleaned up and new filter fitted - I used an inspection camera to look at the bores. Initially my heart sank looking at the piston crowns especially as the plugs where black and oily. But if you look carefully the bores look great, I think the black crud is actually dried up oil - I put a spanner on the crank and she turned over very nicely.
I had a new battery ready so fitted it, held my breath and turned the key. Amazingly everything worked (except the extra horns) so I took the plunge and hit the starter (plugs removed and kill switch off) and the motor spun encouragingly.
Next up was to drop the oil, no nasty fillings and although black the oil smells fine. New filter fitted and oil added.
Now carburetors, I wasn't able to remove any float bowls as the screws are already quite chewed. It is obvious that some work has been done on this bike as I can see many things are not as they where when the bike left the factory. Removing the carb tops showed the insides to look pristine (I wonder if the carbs have been rebuilt at some point before being taken off the road) Float bowls where empty and drain screws again pristine - So I removed the two main fuel lines and poured in some Berryman carb cleaner wherever I could.
Last thing was to check that I had a spark on all 6 plugs which I did so went ahead and fitted new plugs.
I used a syringe to pour some fresh fuel direct into the fuel feeds to the float bowls, replaced some fuel lines which where a bit perished and used a fuel tank off another bike as a temporary measure.
So the moment had come and I hit the starter. Within a few seconds she sprang into life and although only running on 5 cylinders sounded wonderful. I ran as I intended only for around a minute but in any case I noticed fuel coming from the right side overflow and could tell No.6 wasnt firing so shut down. Its obvious to me that the float is stuck and flooding the cylinder, I could possibly give it a few bangs to see if it would free but I have achieved what I set out to do and I can approach the restoration with confidence now so dont intend running it again.
I am absolutely chuffed and cant wait to get stuck in, only problem is I am about to move house and my new home needs a lot of work so it will be some time before I can get started
Some advice, the bike has done 40,000 miles, I will be replacing primary and cam chains and checking out bores, bearings etc. For this mileage is there anything that is a definite must replace?
Well after almost 3 months and what seemed like an eternity waiting, my new project has arrived from the US - I was like a big kid waiting and couldnt wait to get my hands on the bike. Boy am I chuffed, cosmetically the bike has suffered but overall I can see that somebody has looked after this bike well and its only deteriorated during its obviously long storage period. That being said compared to buying a 1982 bike thats spent its life here in the UK there is absolutely no surface or fastener rust anywhere, the bike is a dream to work on in this respect.
The bike is from Michigan, its had one owner from 1989 through to last August on the title. On the rear is an ICOA sticker so I think the previous owner may have been on this forum - As a further clue this sticker is on the screen, if you are still here let me know - So my plan was to give the bike a good check over and assess whether I could go for a start. I didnt intend running the engine for anything more than a minute as I will be doing a complete strip down bare frame restoration I just wanted to find out if the bike had been taken off the road for a worrying reason so I can prepare myself for the future rebuild.
First signs where not good, fuel tank is full of crud and rusty but nothing that wont fix with some effort - The air filter housing has been a nice comfy home for some critters, how did the bottle top get in there! Cleaned up and new filter fitted - I used an inspection camera to look at the bores. Initially my heart sank looking at the piston crowns especially as the plugs where black and oily. But if you look carefully the bores look great, I think the black crud is actually dried up oil - I put a spanner on the crank and she turned over very nicely.
I had a new battery ready so fitted it, held my breath and turned the key. Amazingly everything worked (except the extra horns) so I took the plunge and hit the starter (plugs removed and kill switch off) and the motor spun encouragingly.
Next up was to drop the oil, no nasty fillings and although black the oil smells fine. New filter fitted and oil added.
Now carburetors, I wasn't able to remove any float bowls as the screws are already quite chewed. It is obvious that some work has been done on this bike as I can see many things are not as they where when the bike left the factory. Removing the carb tops showed the insides to look pristine (I wonder if the carbs have been rebuilt at some point before being taken off the road) Float bowls where empty and drain screws again pristine - So I removed the two main fuel lines and poured in some Berryman carb cleaner wherever I could.
Last thing was to check that I had a spark on all 6 plugs which I did so went ahead and fitted new plugs.
I used a syringe to pour some fresh fuel direct into the fuel feeds to the float bowls, replaced some fuel lines which where a bit perished and used a fuel tank off another bike as a temporary measure.
So the moment had come and I hit the starter. Within a few seconds she sprang into life and although only running on 5 cylinders sounded wonderful. I ran as I intended only for around a minute but in any case I noticed fuel coming from the right side overflow and could tell No.6 wasnt firing so shut down. Its obvious to me that the float is stuck and flooding the cylinder, I could possibly give it a few bangs to see if it would free but I have achieved what I set out to do and I can approach the restoration with confidence now so dont intend running it again.
I am absolutely chuffed and cant wait to get stuck in, only problem is I am about to move house and my new home needs a lot of work so it will be some time before I can get started
Some advice, the bike has done 40,000 miles, I will be replacing primary and cam chains and checking out bores, bearings etc. For this mileage is there anything that is a definite must replace?