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Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:37 am
by pjgoeman
Thanks for the help. I had read that the boot could be a screw on connection, it’s hard to see up inside the boot.

I’ll give it a go later today. I’ll cut the insulation back as little as possible until I see better core than I can see now. The boot is contained in that rubbery thing that holds both boots and secures down into the cylinder head but I think if I warm it up I can get the one spark plug boot out so I can twist it onto the wire.

I did put the chrome pieces back on. I’ll be following Randakk’s instructions as closely as possible although I’m going to wait and see on the needles and seats. Randakk recommends replacing them with Honda parts but that’s about $100 plus tax and shipping.

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:21 pm
by pidjones
Warm the rubber, take the boot off the end of the cap, lube the cap with some silicone grease, it should slide right through. Also makes it easy to twist the cap without taking the rain guard off. You shouldn't need to cut more than 1/8 - 1/4" if you can get contact shoving on it.

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:42 pm
by sparkyrasmus
Following

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:03 pm
by robin1731
pjgoeman wrote:snip...... I’ll be following Randakk’s instructions as closely as possible although I’m going to wait and see on the needles and seats. Randakk recommends replacing them with Honda parts but that’s about $100 plus tax and shipping.
I rarely have to replace any float valve assemblies. If cleaned good they work pretty well. But I do keep OEM in stock for those times when it is unavoidable.

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Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:18 pm
by pjgoeman
I repaired the #2 spark plug cable. I warmed up the rubber cover, used a little dish soap, and the spark plug boot was fairly easy to pull out. Trimmed the spark plug cable insulation about 1/4 inch and found good core wires. Screwed the boot onto the wire, slipped it back through the cover and done. The ohm test was normal and a test crank showed good spark on the plug. On to the carburetors.

Got the carb rack mostly disassembled, keeping the parts sorted in their tubs and paint can caps as suggested. Made it as far as getting the plenum separated, those five screws were really tough to remove. It’s a good thing Randakk supplies new screws in his kit. There were no surprises inside the carbs. Despite the grime on the outside the insides were relatively clean. Tomorrow I’ll finish the disassembly then probably just rewatch the video again from that point forward.
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Thanks again for all the help, I couldn’t do this project without this forum.

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2020 9:19 pm
by pjgoeman
I’ve been busy this week with a few other priorities but still managed to get some work done on the bike. I carefully finished rebuilding the carbs following the step by step instructions on Randakk’s video. I didn’t really find anything out of whack but it definitely needed to be done. Every one of the o-rings was dried out and cracked into pieces when I tried to remove them and a couple of the jets were partially plugged up.
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I replaced the clutch cable and had a hard time because the new cable was really tight and I had no free play at the lever even with the adjusters all the way in. Once again it was ngwclub.com to the rescue with instructions on how to do the clutch adjustment where the cable end attaches (the 3/4 turn adjustment) and I now have the correct free play at the lever.

Today I put the carbs back into the bike, added new fuel lines, and hooked up the pull throttle cable and choke. I have a new push throttle cable from Motion Pro and I could not get it installed, the sheathing length is ok but the cable itself is about an inch short no matter what I did. For now I’ll just get by with the pull cable.

Tomorrow I need to clean up and install the air filter and I think I’ll be ready to see if it runs - fingers crossed!
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Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:37 pm
by pjgoeman
It was a day long struggle - had trouble getting the air filter into position, couldn’t get fuel to the carburetors, fuel leaks, the starter solenoid crapped out - but in the end it ran. Even rode it around the block sitting on a folded up towel and nothing but Fred Flintstone brakes.

If I knew how I would attach a video (if you can even do that).

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 10:20 pm
by pidjones
Usually just upload to Youtube and link to it. Don't worry, once you have fought with the air cleaner can a few times, you will at least have faith that it will eventually go in (or come out). I think it was Randakk that suggests masking tape on the frame and valve covers while wrestling the carb rack. Not a bad idea.

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2020 7:11 pm
by pjgoeman
Halfway through my struggles getting my 78 to actually run the starter solenoid died, at least that was my assumption. I managed to work out the rest of my starting issues and get the bike running by jumping the solenoid terminals with a screw driver - not the best solution but it worked. Today I half removed the battery box so I could get better access to the solenoid and quickly determined that it was getting a 12 volt signal but was not sending power to the starter, so ngwclub to the rescue.

I found lots of references to Chinese manufactured solenoids (generally not recommended), Ford solenoids (how does that fit into such a tight spot), even lawnmower solenoids, but in the Parts Reference Forum I found a mention from Liam to use a GL1800 solenoid. What could be better? Comes from Mother Honda, fits in the 78’s rubber mount, 30 years newer than used 78 parts, even has the same color code on the wires. Found one on eBay for $12.00 and ironically, it was at a parts reseller less than 15 miles from my home. Rode my other bike down to pick it up, cut the plug off, soldered on some bullet connectors, installed it, and the bike fired up before my finger was off the start button.

I really want to ride this thing so it’s on to the brakes.

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Thu May 07, 2020 10:26 pm
by pjgoeman
I been a little busy with some other projects so time on the 78 has been limited. I have been able to read up on some of the caliper and master cylinder rebuild tutorials and I ordered all the parts that I expected to need. The last couple of days were spent disassembling the front calipers and both master cylinders. The caliper pistons were stuck pretty good but I soaked some PB Blaster into them and made up a special nozzle for an air line and they popped right out. The pistons and calipers look pretty good, hardly any corrosion, just fouled up with some brake fluid mud.

The master cylinders were another story. The split rings and the washers underneath them were rusted into place and I had a hard time getting everything apart but in the end I won. Tomorrow I’ll get the rear caliper disassembled so I can move on to cleaning and painting everything for assembly.
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The master cylinder

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 7:29 pm
by pjgoeman
So it’s been about ten days of waiting for parts, rebuilding the brakes, and completing some odds and ends. I bobbed the rear fender and installed the original tail light - it’s a little goofy but it will do until I decide what I want for a permanent tail light. I’m happy with the fender, at least for now.

My first shot at rebuilding brakes has had mixed results. The calipers were pretty straightforward but the master cylinders were tough to reassemble and get all the parts in there and the c-clips reinstalled. I back flushed the brakes to get fluid in them and then bled them in the normal way. The results -

Front - I have a nice, firm lever but when it’s released the master cylinder takes like 30 seconds to fully return to it’s starting position and I can’t figure out why. It’s like the seal on the piston is tight and the spring takes forever to push it back.

Rear - The pedal is pretty soft and there is minimal braking. I was too cheap and reused the old pads so I have ordered new pads and will re-bleed after I install the new pads.

Despite the questions on the brakes I test rode the bike for about eleven miles (there’s a large industrial park nearby and it’s dead on the weekend so I had the place to myself). Overall it runs good, I ran it hard up through third gear and I was surprised how fast it was and it may get even better because a lot of project owners report that compression improves after running a bike that’s been sitting for a few years.

Despite it running pretty well there are some problems. Oil is leaking around the shifter shaft, shouldn’t be a problem to replace the seal. There’s a larger oil leak somewhere around the fuel pump, I’ll have to wipe it clean, ride a short distance, then stop to see if I can determine specifically where it’s coming from. The third problem is the neutral light stays on all the time. I tested it before I put the motor in the frame and thought it was ok but obviously not. What is the normal position of the Internal button on the switch - pushed in when in neutral or pushed in when in gear? I did see the light flicker at times.

Onward and upward.
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Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 7:44 pm
by Rat
The fuel pump leak is probably the tach cable drive .... easy fix with the correct seal .... I’ve even used a fat 'O' ring ....

Gord :IDTS:

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Tue May 19, 2020 8:34 pm
by pjgoeman
I ordered the seals for the shifter shaft and the tachometer drive. They won’t arrive for about ten days so I guess I won’t ride the bike until then.

Today I also disassembled the front brake master cylinder and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I put it back together and the lever snapped back like you expect it to. I reinstalled it on the bike and put the brake line back on. Tomorrow I hope to have my wife work the lever so I can bleed the brakes and confirm that they’re working properly. The only possible reason that I can come up with for my initial problem was that I might have used a little too much of the BrakeCrafters pink grease on the piston seal and when I inserted the piston some of the grease smeared into and blocked that tiny bleed hole or whatever you call it. The pink grease is pretty thick and sticky. If it plugged that tiny hole I would think that the brake fluid would degrade it and keep it from plugging the hole but who knows.

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 9:05 am
by pidjones
Did you lubricate the master parts with brake fluid for reassembly?

Re: Finishing my 1978

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 2:58 pm
by robin1731
pidjones wrote:Did you lubricate the master parts with brake fluid for reassembly?
Yeah, much better to lube with brake fluid than grease. Even "brake grease".

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