honda305.com Forum

Graham, I remember watching a video shot ages ago about the Volkswagon factory in Germany. The term that stood out to me was 'economy of motion". Efficiency. I recalled that term many times while I was up to my neck with Old Girl, and I won't say what my response to it was during those moments!

An interesting flip side to the 'miracle' is how old bike can be made to keep running when all the parts are way out of specification. Only when you strip it down are you convinced that it never could have possibly run and all of those parts need replacing.

When I am over my frenzy of multiple bike restorations I am tempted to try and build something out of all the discarded 'out of spec' rusty and bent parts just to see what could be done.

I love the business of making things new again, but in reality I am building things that I will be barely able to run-in let alone wear out, before I am consigned to the great junk yard......

G

Sort of on the same subject, Go to www.maxbmw.com they have a clip of an R90S they build from NOS and aftermarket parts in four days. Total cost was north of $46,000. wonder what it would cost to build a 305 the same way. BMW does offer a wide array of new old parts unlike Honda but the price is crazy. BMW Bring my wallet. I LIke Bikes!!!!!

Graham, my reply to my Ex ages ago when I was asked what I was going to do with "that old motorcycle" was, "why, it's going to buried with ME".

Peter, pretty cool video! Wow, pricey, yes? But then it is a Beemer!

Engine is on the frame; that lift really, really made life easy. I had everything put back together in less than two hours. Monday I'll get some oil into the engine, put the gas tank on, and find out where the next bunch of leaks are coming from.

There HAS to be a problem! That's the story of this restoration!

Steady as she goes. I Like bikes, 65 f here in metro west today , maybe go for a putt around the hood tomorrow, shameless plug for my Patriots tonight.

Okay. The Rest of the Story.

LM and I decided not to post anything about this until we solved the problem, and it's been done, so here goes.

After I pulled the head off the engine, replaced the knock pins, checked the barrel and head gasket registers for "true", looked at everything Ed suggested that I look at, I reassembled the engine, hung it on the frame (and almost hurt myself doing it, because I didn't have a lift) and started it, it STILL LEAKED OIL.

LM had me back away, cool off, and then go at it again. He was kind enough to send me a new head gasket, crank seal, knock pins, and the outer four copper washers for the head bolts.

I ordered a lift, because I was not going to risk injury to the bike or myself doing some half-assed jury rig contraption to get the engine off and on the frame again (it had involved some monkey-business lifting the frame, sliding the engine, being stupid sort of stuff). I bought new spark plug leads, because I was concerned that the originals were bad (they were).

When everything arrived, I talked to LM again, and we devised a careful plan. I removed the engine (that's when the engine on the lift photo was made), removed the head, replaced the head gasket and knock pins, made sure the O rings were good and were proud of the gasket, put it all back together (the seal arrived a few days later, so I had to wait for final assembly), and then hung it back on the frame.

Yesterday I put oil in her engine and started her up. She lit off immediately with just a touch of the starter button. After some backfiring and farting she settled into a reasonable idle. I watched the "leak areas" carefully, certain that something would start to leak again. Nothing did. She is oil tight! I adjusted the carbs, adjusted the timing, and she runs great! She's not perfect, yet, but she merrily "tump-tump-tumps" along right now!

There is an oil leak from the tach cable - an O ring is missing, and the tach itself still goes beserk. When I get the seal I'll relube the tach cable and address the tach (but I think I'm going to have to pull it and send it to that place in San Diego).

The wheels aren't done yet, but I am going to take them to the Honda shop today and have the new tires mounted. I'll get to restoring them a little later. I have to put some oil in the front forks, too.

I want to see if I can get her out on my street and try her out, but first, the tach cable has to be fixed.