ian
Member Of The Year 2019 
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407 
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Post by ian on Mar 23, 2021 21:55:00 GMT
The GB got a test ride the other day (essential shopping trip!) and no leaks from the home made gasket, but the 'squeal' has returned, so it's back in the garage for more surgery  . The 'squeal' first happened on a ride last summer. It didn't make itself known 'till about 50mph, but would continue as the bike slowed to about 20mph, when it stopped until the speed went up again. Pulling the clutch in at 50 & closing the throttle didn't stop it until the speed dropped way down, so it wasn't engine related. In the end, I figured it might be that well known speedo/cable problem, so I oiled the cable & squirted some chain grease up the speedo & that was the end of it. Till now. It's probably the speedo again, but seeing we're in lockdown for a while yet, for something to do I thought I'd check the front wheel bearings & brake as well.  Bearings ok, but I smeared a bit more grease in. I noticed that the tyre is 10 years old now, no cracks in the sidewall, but time to start thinking about a replacement. Meanwhile, the spindle & speedo gearbox had plenty of grease on them, but I cleaned them up anyway ready for fresh stuff  Similarly, the speedo cable was oily & free, but I oiled it again anyway. Brake caliper next........ |
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ian
Member Of The Year 2019
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407
mini-profile background: {"image":"","color":"29908d"}
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Post by ian on Mar 24, 2021 21:47:44 GMT
I hate these! The screw-in pad pins locked in with a grub screw  I had them out to clean up the caliper when we got the bike, but it still needed the impact driver again to shift them. I pushed the pistons out one at a time to clean them up, but they moved freely, so I don't think a sticking brake was the cause of the squeal.  Another problem reared it's head at this stage, the steering feels like there's a detent in the straight ahead position. It moves freely to each side, but I can feel a little click as it gets central. Next question - after the gasket saga, will I be able to find steering bearings? Looking up the parts on CMS, and there are 851 models using the top race, but only the 1st 10 are shown, all American market bikes I've never heard of. Bit of luck with the bottom race, all American models again in the list, but at number 10 it's CB400A HAWK HONDAMATIC 1978 USA. Quick check, and yes the GB part numbers are all the same as the SDs, so ordered a set of taper bearings from Marksman  |
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ian
Member Of The Year 2019
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407
mini-profile background: {"image":"","color":"29908d"}
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Post by ian on Mar 25, 2021 21:39:12 GMT
Got the steering stem off today, with all the gubbins suspended on bungy. What grease there was in the bearings was rock hard, so not surprising there was a problem.  At this point, I remembered how much I hate fitting taper bearings, so I put a tray under the steering before removing the stem, but half the balls still ended up all over the garage floor. I collected 36, there's supposed to be 37. No worries, there's been one lying in my toolbox since I last did this job on one of the bikes, so maybe I'll forget the tapers & clean up & refit the ball races. Maybe not......while cleaning up the stem, I knocked the box of balls off the bench & all over the floor. Again. Crawled around for half an hour & ended up with.......36  I reckon this is Karma telling me to go with the tapers - just have to wait for delivery...... |
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ian
Member Of The Year 2019
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407
mini-profile background: {"image":"","color":"29908d"}
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Post by ian on Mar 26, 2021 21:53:37 GMT
More problems today. While they're off the bike, I was going to replace the fork seals. Tried to undo a hex socket at the bottom of the fork before removing them & my 3/8 socked wouldn't shift it. Tried a 1/2 breaker bar & rounded the hex socket It's the shallowest socket I've seen, which probably didn't help. There's no sign the seals leak, so I'll leave that job for now, but I'll need to drill it out one day. For now, I'll just replace the oil - IF I can find the quantity. In the meantime, I cleaned up the legs & painted the bottom yoke   |
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Post by BruceB on Mar 26, 2021 22:06:45 GMT
I found the trick to getting the bolts out, just done two bike sets with the same issue, is to put an impact gun on the nut to crack it. It worked for both sets of forks for me after mucking about doing all sorts to loosen them.
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Post by marktrower on Mar 27, 2021 15:51:19 GMT
New spark plugs just arrived took the old ones out and found out they have acquired a L.the old plugs DR8ES new DR8ES-L, the old plugs are about 8 years old tried to find out what the l ment running ok till I took it for a crafty run round the village .holding back at high reves looks like the carbs off and give them a bath.wants to be 100% for the run out, hope to have some miles on it by then
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ian
Member Of The Year 2019
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407
mini-profile background: {"image":"","color":"29908d"}
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Post by ian on Mar 27, 2021 20:26:18 GMT
I found the trick to getting the bolts out, just done two bike sets with the same issue, is to put an impact gun on the nut to crack it. It worked for both sets of forks for me after mucking about doing all sorts to loosen them. That's something I must add to my toolbox, bet one would have done the trick here too. |
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ian
Member Of The Year 2019
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407
mini-profile background: {"image":"","color":"29908d"}
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Post by ian on Mar 27, 2021 21:30:23 GMT
New spark plugs just arrived took the old ones out and found out they have acquired a L.the old plugs DR8ES new DR8ES-L, the old plugs are about 8 years old tried to find out what the l ment running ok till I took it for a crafty run round the village .holding back at high reves looks like the carbs off and give them a bath.wants to be 100% for the run out, hope to have some miles on it by then I've had a few DR8ES-L, the DR8ES is discontinued & NGK recommend DR8EA as a replacement. I can't work out what -L is in their charts, but the only difference between the EA & the ES-L in the specs is 'Half Heat Range', whatever that means www.ngk.com/ngk-2923-dr8es-l-nickel-spark-plugwww.ngk.com/ngk-7162-dr8ea-nickel-spark-plug |
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Post by BruceB on Mar 27, 2021 22:20:58 GMT
I found the trick to getting the bolts out, just done two bike sets with the same issue, is to put an impact gun on the nut to crack it. It worked for both sets of forks for me after mucking about doing all sorts to loosen them. That's something I must add to my toolbox, bet one would have done the trick here too. Having decent tools does help, however even the best tools can't help if you are the equivalent of a monkey with a hammer, don't ask me why I know this  |
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Post by marktrower on Mar 28, 2021 17:24:18 GMT
giving the superdream a last look over got a earth fault headlight flashers with the indicator main beam warning light not working and the horn not working .messing with the horn seen the front engine mount now off had some black engine paint left i looked at the left engine cover cleaned up and made a mess ,went on great on the a10 barrels but got a crinkle finish will do for now when warmer will get a fresh can and do it again.done more work this last month than in the 13 years its been with me .the 6 year lay off does them no good will soon be the everyday runabout what they were made for   |
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ian
Member Of The Year 2019
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407
mini-profile background: {"image":"","color":"29908d"}
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Post by ian on Mar 28, 2021 20:48:52 GMT
Knocked the cups out the GB headstock today, the top one came out easily enough, but the bottom cup didn't give up without a fight  Trying to work out the fork oil capacity now. There's no manuals available, & google's drawn a blank. |
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Post by marktrower on Mar 28, 2021 21:37:46 GMT
Ian look for a UK Honda with similar front end Honda was quite universal with main components and 10 cc will not make a big difference.carl Slater web site is good for manuals and manuals lib is not bad.and when that fails I join a forum and ask I have always found out what I want.mothers sewing machine broke the other month joined a forum and a very helpful they were carnt wate for here to brake it again
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ian
Member Of The Year 2019
Isle of Man
Posts: 5,407
mini-profile background: {"image":"","color":"29908d"}
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Post by ian on Mar 29, 2021 20:58:40 GMT
Thanks, Mark. From what I've seen on other forums 'cos it was a Japanese market only model there's no English language manuals. Most of the fork components have the model number KL8 in the part number & I googled the part number for the tubes & cases & everything that came up was GB250. I did have a bit of luck though, when I drained the fork oil it looked new, unlike the gunge that came out of other forks I've done. When we got the bike, there was a 'Performance Parts' sticker on the forks, so I think they may have been upgraded recently, springs maybe, with fresh oil so hopefully they did the seals at the same time. Anyway, when I saw the oil was fresh I collected it & measured it - 460cc, so about 230cc each fork. I will have lost a bit in the draining, but if you reckon 10cc won't make much difference, that should be close enough. It's a bit of strange as the SD forks are slightly longer & their capacity is listed as 140cc , but the CB250RSD are the same length & they're 160cc. I haven't got a CBX250RS to measure, but I've got a manual as it uses the same engine, fork part numbers are different, but the listed capacity is closer at 200cc.
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Post by na44superdream on Mar 29, 2021 22:32:54 GMT
Trying to work out the fork oil capacity now. There's no manuals available, & google's drawn a blank. If they are 33mm I would go with the 190ml as the SD. But I think they the 35mm forks? 260ml? Then the VT250FD may be a good comparator perhaps.... at 265ml  The XBR500 has longer stanchions and an extra 18ml over the VT..  |
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Post by BruceB on Mar 30, 2021 19:58:41 GMT
I started building a powdercoating cabinet in the workshop over the last few days. This will make it easier to coat things and less messy once complete.  |
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. The 'squeal' first happened on a ride last summer. It didn't make itself known 'till about 50mph, but would continue as the bike slowed to about 20mph, when it stopped until the speed went up again. Pulling the clutch in at 50 & closing the throttle didn't stop it until the speed dropped way down, so it wasn't engine related. In the end, I figured it might be that well known speedo/cable problem, so I oiled the cable & squirted some chain grease up the speedo & that was the end of it. Till now. It's probably the speedo again, but seeing we're in lockdown for a while yet, for something to do I thought I'd check the front wheel bearings & brake as well.
I reckon this is Karma telling me to go with the tapers - just have to wait for delivery......
