[bmartin]

Sometimes you come across some useful build tip that works well and saves money. This might be a special tool that can be had at a hardware store, an easy way to do something hard or etc.

So if you have some neato tip - added here in this thread. I'll stick a few of my favorite ones under this section.

 

[bmartin]

Recently I installed new fork seals on my cb750. I didn't have a seal driver and I'm too cheap to buy one. So I went to the hardware store and got 1.5 ft 1.5 inch plastic plumbing pipe. It fit perfectly and installed the seal with no problem. My cost was $1.83 plus tax.

 

[bmartin]

Installing a cb750 engine...

As you well know a cb750 engine is one heavy mother (about 180lbs) and usually takes two people to lift it into the frame. Even being careful the frame usually gets scratched, you bust a few fingers and you piss off your friends when you invite them over for a "few beers"... You have to hate that.

One tip is to take the point cover off the engine and flip it on it's side and position the frame over the engine. Bolt the sucker in and use the frame to reposition it straight. This works very well usually you can do this by yourself without scratches on the frame.

 

[BANDIT]

One tip I've heard of for getting fork seals out requires a bolted down work bench and a length of 2X4.
Keep the caps on but remove any circlips seal retainers etc, then put the end of 2X4 under the edge of the bench, with the fork standing on end wrap a rag securely around the fork seal, now pump the 2X4 up and down on the fork. The pressure inside the fork will usually pop the seal right out. You can put the fork in a bucket to limit the mess.
Best of all you don't damage the top of the fork lower trying to dig out the seal.
Should be free, most guys have a work bench, a 2X4, a rag and a bucket kicking aroung the shop or garage.

 

[pampadori]

making a seat pan.
Get a .5" thick plastic cutting board from walmart. Put in oven until around 250 degrees. it will be very easy to shape and form to make a seat pan out of. cut the shape out before the oven or after.

 

[borzwazie]

Thanks to branson, et al on this one:

Armorall on the tire beads beats the crap out of soap when you're trying to mount tires on a rim, or pull them off, or getting the tire to seat. Just don't get it on the tread.

 

[Geeto67]

One tip to add to bmartin's about the cb750 engine. If you get a milk crate or a large wooden box of roughtly the same size you can tip the engine sideways so the engine is supported in three places on the main case and head and not tipped on the points cover at all. Makes it super easy fo get the cb750 engine in and out of the frame without putting any pressure on the crank (which standing it on the points side does). I have pulled motors out of whole bikes using this method, and put them in too.

When installing stainless steel cap screws for the first time (to replace the old soft japanese philips heads that are made out of ice cream), coat the threads in some tool oil. It is very light and it helps the threads slip in withoutdamaging the hole in the block and pulling the threads out.

 

[bmartin]

Replacing Steering Head Ball Bearings with a Roller Bearings Kit...

For early CB Honda's one of the best handling mods you can do is to change the steering head ball bearing with a Roller Bearing Kit. Getting the lower bearing on the steering stem can be a little tough. First make sure you have the correct replacement roller bearing - they are not universal. So if you purchased one off say ebay - check the mfg's numbers to ensure this is the correct kit for your bike. If you don't have the right kit - you just wasted your money.

To Install - first use a mic to check the size of your lower steering stem with the bearing. As an example a cb750 steering stem mics out to 300.01 - 300.15cm, while the bearing mics out to 300cm - this is normal. I use sand paper to smooth sand the lower steering stem to clean up any roughness on the stem. For mine application, I started with 400 and finished it with 600 grid. When I was finished my lower stem was nice and smooth. For most applications this bearing has to be pressed on the stem. I first stuck my steering stem in the freezer for about 1 hour, this process will slightly shrink the diam of the steering stem. I used a 1.5 inch gas pipe joint as my bearing driver. (another hardware store item). Place the bearing on the steering stem and use the (bearing driver) to gently tap the bearing into place. You have to do this while the stem is still frozen. A little light oil on the inside bearing race will help the bearing to slide down.

This is one of those installations where a bigger hammer will not help. Using this method the bearing should slide on with light tapping of the bearing driver.

I used my bearing driver to gently tap the bearing into place. Without first using sandpaper to cleanup the stem and the freezing process - the bearing is almost impossible to get on.

 

[joe c]

i use honda polish for tire3 changes. that shit works for everything.


jc

 

[teighlor]

on that comment about laying the bike down on its side to get the engine in the frame, its even better if you have two or three unmounted(haha, mounted) tires to lay it on....

just sayin..

 

[bmartin]

Another Armorall use -

On trick I learned from my neighbor is how good armorall can clean up plastic, metal and fiberglass parts. I had a snowmobile I was getting ready to sell. The inside of the cowling had it's normal gunk look to it. I sprayed mass quantity armorall all over the inside of the sled cowling, engine and plastic parts and left it to dry over night. In the morning I was shocked to find how clean and new the inside of engine compartment looked. I sold this sled to the first person that saw it. I've used this same trick on cars and trucks with the same results.

For motorcycles the same can apply...