What did you do to your bike today?

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wyly
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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by wyly »

Syscrush wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 9:50 am
wyly wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 12:50 pm
And now I also need to find the time and cash to return the cbx to it's oem Perseus Silver appearance, I have all the parts but many of them will need to be restored. Kinda looking forward to a return of the relatively quiet oem 6 into 2.
You put so much work into that blue paint - why the change to OEM colors?
I never painted the original parts, the 2nd tank I got from a friend, the fender from ebay, cowl is aftermarket from SCM.
The oem tank, fender and cowl are 43 years old and show their age so could use a repaint.
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage

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Syscrush
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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Syscrush »

Well, I didn't actually do this TO my bike, but I did it FOR my bike:

I bought throttle bodies from a 2015 Triumph Thruxton. They're not going on my CBX, but they'll be disassembled, reviewed, 3D scanned, and imported into CAD along with models of the OEM Honda carbs to serve as references/guides for the design of custom EFI throttle bodies.
Phil in Toronto
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Pics of Perry, my '79.

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Syscrush
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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Syscrush »

This weekend I pulled the carbs to (finally) get started on the EFI conversion project.

The thought of having to go through all of that effort, plus the presumably more difficult task of reinstalling them every time you want to change jetting explains to me why so many people just learn to live with a midrange flat-spot.
Phil in Toronto
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Pics of Perry, my '79.

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wyly
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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by wyly »

I can honestly say I haven't noticed a serious flat spot worth worrying about. Having said that and even though I can tilt the engine and back up very quickly it's not something I ever look forward to doing (twice in one day on one occasion). It's a chore I'll put off as long as possible.
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage

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Syscrush
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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Syscrush »

wyly wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 6:22 pm
I can honestly say I haven't noticed a serious flat spot worth worrying about.
You have a 6-into-6 exhaust, right? I don't know what their reputation is but I expect they're not associated with the same tuning difficulties as those of us dedicated to a single exhaust.
Having said that and even though I can tilt the engine and back up very quickly it's not something I ever look forward to doing (twice in one day on one occasion). It's a chore I'll put off as long as possible.
Well, I've done it once and if I never got to do it again, I don't think I'd feel like my life was missing something important. :lol:

Seeing the forces required to get the carbs off (and presumably back on) has made me really question my plan to prototype with plastic parts. I think I'll make a point of undersizing the inlet and outlet on any plastic prototypes so that they can slip into and out of the rubbers easily, then go with the correct dimensions when I'm ready to commit to aluminum parts.
Phil in Toronto
A cool guy deserves a cool bike, a dork needs a cool bike...
Pics of Perry, my '79.

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wyly
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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by wyly »

It only looks like a six into six, it fools many it's essentially still a 6 into 2. The centre sections outwardly look like six individual pipes but it's just a collector. Not sure the 4 extra exhaust have much effect

"Seeing the forces required to get the carbs off (and presumably back on) has made me really question my plan to prototype with plastic parts. I think I'll make a point of undersizing the inlet and outlet on any plastic prototypes so that they can slip into and out of the rubbers easily, then go with the correct dimensions when I'm ready to commit to aluminum parts." excellent plan save yourself needless aggravation.
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by NickW »

Cleaned some of the wiring for the headlight to be installed. Still waiting for 1 rubber to arrive in order to mount the headlight bracket.

The before pic. I'll post an after pic when the headlight is in place.
20211116_212736.jpg
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'75 Honda Cb750 k2
'76 Honda Gl1000 Ltd
'79 Honda Cb400f
'79 Honda Cbx1000 z

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by NobleHops »

Cobbler’s kid got some very overdue love all thanks to my pal Joe. And it was overdue. Joe adjusted the valves, synced the carbs, changed the fork oil and engine oil and filter, the 2-line brake line setup was swapped for a stock setup, and the entire cockpit got a lot of refurbishment including some proper sport kit bars to replace the VFR bars I had since I restored it 12 years ago. I put together a new set of refurb gauges and glued up some new footrest rubbers, and blasted the front MC reservoir and powder coated it. Swapped the alternator cover for an aluminum one, and installed a new battery. Plus a half-dozen other little touch ups.

Took it for a ride around the shop neighborhood and the bike is superb, running the best it ever has in my ownership, and the slightly longer bars are a nice improvement in fit for me and make the bike a little nicer to ride at slow speeds. I love it all over again.

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Nils Menten
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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Rick Pope »

:clap: :clap:
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Either garage is too small or we have too many bikes. Or Momma's car needs to go outside.

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Warwick Biggs »

Nils I look at that pic of the top of your forks poking out of the top triple clamp and think I'm so glad CBX forks are so long because I have pushed mine down FLUSH with the triple clamp. That is quite a bit of extra ground clearance which is necessary when you run 17" slicks and really crank it over thru' the corners.

I managed a plethora of little jobs after moving a ton of garden prunings to my burn off pile this morning. First I finished painting the GSXR belly pan where I had to re-profile it (again for more ground clearance). I cut out a 'V' all along the bottom) so yesterday I re-fibreglassed and primed it, While I'm waiting for the crack test results on the NC30 cylinder heads I pulled it's fairing apart and sanded it all back. My on the run rough crash repairs looked so daggy so I cleaned them up, bogged and primed that too ready for fresh paint and numbers so it will look a bit snappier for the Championships. When I came in I was told I looked like a ghost - I was covered in fibreglass dust

After cleaning up a bit I then load tested the 2 lithium batteries on the Lump after charging them both up and reconnected the ignition switch (I have 3 rather over complicated ignition switches in my race loom to manage 6 cylinders and 3 coils and an electric starter all running on total loss), then topped up the rear brake master cylinder. Even tho' the CBX has been under a sheet for 10 months it was covered in a fine yellow dust. I couldn't take it over to Roly for it's new race engine like that so first it had a brush down and then a detailed clean, particularly between the engine fins with a petrol soaked rag and a screwdriver. The dust is actually pine tree pollen from the huge pine forests in this part of the world. Around November the air develops a golden mist as millions of trees release their pollen.

I then dropped the forks a bit for the 1,000 klm round trip to Melbourne on Thursday. It is jacked up so high that the roof of the trailer rubs on the tacho housing which is the highest part of the bike. Contrary to advice I still run pressure in my modified Prolink forks so I dropped that too. The air pressure is said to cause the oil to cavitate when it gets hot during racing but I haven't noticed a problem and it gives me another half inch of ground clearance. Did I mention that I need more ground clearance? Always chasing more ground clearance.

Oh yes, then I had to shoot a 2.5 metre tiger snake that was getting to close to the house. I hate having to do it but they are deadly and fairly aggressive. We have quite a lot of snakes here - red bellied blacks, king browns, death adders and copperheads, all capable of quickly killing an adult so we have to be careful because we are living in their environment. The dangerous time is breeding season but the big risk is accidentally stumbling on them when neither we nor the snake are expecting it.

Roly tells me that 2.5 kgs has been taken out of the CBX crank and that it is ground and balanced to HRC spec. That should make it spin up a bit quicker and reduce the gyroscopic forces that can push you wide coming out of the corners hard on the throttle. The only problem is that he has a ton of CBX work prior to the Oz CBX rally in March so my fiddly race job is going to have to be squeezed in between other more time sensitive jobs. I don't mind that. I'd prefer he did the re-build at his own pace PROVIDED it is ready for the Oz National Historic Road Race Championships at the end of March.

It is the only CBX entered against a swag of exotica in the unlimited Period 5 class (up to 1982) so we are hoping for big things.

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Warwick Biggs »

Incidentally, Nils it looks like you are running the green high voltage Dyna coils in your CBX. Just be aware that they were developed to suit tuned big twins (Harleys mainly). I am aware that TIMS sell them as an upgrade on the OEM coils and they can work OK if properly set up. I also note that we have discussed this b4. My CBX ran without problems with them for a while until I installed a modern programmable digital ignition. Then serious problems emerged and I found that these high output coils can fry a digital ignition. The typical Honda coils draw about 2.4 amps but the Dynas consume more than double that.

In my case it was an Ignitech ignition that was cooked despite assurances from Dyna that they were compatible. Not so. It could have been caused by 'feedback' or inadequate diodes in the original Honda loom. I can't say for sure but the result was one utterly cooked ignition. Others have experienced reliability issues with the Dynas too, presumably because of their high output.

I no longer run Dyna coils in my racer because apart from issues with their high output, 3 of them really chew thru' a fair bit of electrical 'juice' consuming about 15 amps between them. This is of course less of a problem if your alternator is functioning properly (a questionable proposition on many CBX's) and you are not relying on a total loss electrical system like I am. In any event fore-warned is fore-armed.

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by hondaman160mph »

It's my opinion that the performance increase claims by
using Dyna ignition coils over stock Honda ignition coils
are imagined and have no dynamometer real world
proof. I have 2 cb750's and 2 cb450's with Dyna coils in
one of each and stock Honda coils in the other 2. My
CBX has Honda coils.
They all start, run and perform the same. Other people
may have different experiences. A real dynamometer
comparison would be interesting.

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Syscrush »

FWIW, I went with Dyna not because I thought it would increase power (I don't believe it can), but because I wanted a bit less likelihood of plugs misfiring and/or fouling in bad conditions. To me, it seemed like cheap insurance, especially given that I already had an upgraded alternator.
Phil in Toronto
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Pics of Perry, my '79.

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by Warwick Biggs »

I can't really see any performance advantage either. A higher voltage spark might seem attractive at first blush especially if you have any experience with 2 strokes but with a modern digital ignition you can tailor the dwell, duration and timing however you want and if you have access to a dyno that is more likely to provide a small performance advantage in a tuned motor. However, I doubt any real advantage in a road bike and Hondaman's and my experiences would seem to bear this out.

On the contrary, I would expect a higher voltage spark to result in increased heat and deterioration of the coil itself and to also potentially cause problems elsewhere in the electrical system that was not designed for higher voltages. They do get quite hot while sitting immediately underneath the fuel tank.

I cannot definitively point to the Dyna coils being responsible for the burning out of my ignition because it was also associated with another issue as well. With a programable ignition you don't need a mechanical advance because you can set the curve on a laptop. In fact it becomes an impediment to accurate timing so I had removed the advance mechanism altogether and then machined and bolted up the rotor. I had that bolt come loose during a race so the timing became extremely erratic as the pick up went into a wobble causing wild variations in the rpm irrespective of the thottle position. The Ignitech never recovered even with the miscreant rotor rectified.

I seem to recall that TIMS recommend higher resistance leads with the Dyna coils too so you are starting to modify the ignition in other ways not envisioned by Honda so I would ask, why make these changes?

IMO a full digital ignition or Iridium plugs are probably a better investment altho' the green coils look good I suppose.

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Re: What did you do to your bike today?

Post by JoeInTUS »

Installed a Rifle windshield that we had collecting dust in the shop. I was looking for more quiet than stock. It is an improvement but not quite my Gold Wing with a Tulsa shield. I used well nuts for the lower four bolts so swapping back to stock should be painless.

Kudos to Rifle you can still buy these and replacement upper shield in various tints.

I think these Rifle shield looks much better on my silver bike than the white bike it came off of.
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