GregT

Those things and the similar 500 have a nasty trick. If the kickstart gear seizes on it's shaft, the whole assembly including the kickstart pedal can spin at the speed of the gear in the box. I'm told it can be spectacular - and painful. Moral is to never let the oil level in the box get too low. Good progress. Well done.

You can sidestep some of the aggro. A fuel pump from a bike - specifically one of the big Hondas or FZR Yamahas on carbs - will have an automatic cutoff which is backpressure sensitive. IE it only pumps when the float chambers need fuel and cuts when the float needles hit the seats. Volume shouldn't be a problem as they're used on sidecar outfits using Methanol.

The weld recommendation comes from one of the world's leading 2 stroke tuners - not me. He regularly uses mallory metal for balancing and invariably tack welds it in.

It can also be tig'd in. Spot welds around the edges.

Is there a damper on the operating arm of the throttle body ? If it's gone west the idle can be all over the place.

That tip about Holden diffs - PK is Paul Kirk, Very experienced and clued-up guy. Known him for decades. I put a used diff head from a 186 Kingswood in my hot 202 LJ Torana when I blew the original. Went down to the 3.55 - and drag raced it. No probs at all.

3rd gear crunch....My experience - limited as it is - suggests that the origin of the synchro damage is the OE very long clutch pedal travel. Combined with the Italian ergonomics - seat well back to fit behind the wheel which makes it a stretch to the pedals - complete disengagement of the clutch is an effort. So on quick upshifts it leads to making the synchros work harder than they're happy with. You moved the seat on this one didn't you ? Did it help ?

Freshly rebuilt plain bearing bike engines i use 20/50 straight mineral as the initial break in lube. After the first change use what you prefer. Don't try and reseat the rings on synthetic, it simply won't happen Ring tensions are very low on Honda bike multis in my experience.

I see you're prepping for engine assembly. As one who's seen the inside of a lot of Honda bike engines, I'd advise having a good look at the oil holes on the crank. Honda have a history of not finishing the holes properly and leaving sharp edges where they break out onto the crank surface. Often they do big mileages before any trouble - but put the engine under stress and a bearing will pick up. I use a small ball grinding stone in a die grinder to chamfer any sharp edges. The tiny amount of material removed won't upset the balancing job.

Forbes and Davies are the agents for NGK bike plugs AFAIK - but there's a lot of overlap.

Ball bearings will be fine as mains. I'd use C3 though. Where did you price the lipped rollers ? I bought a pair locally recently about $290 for the pair. Imperial sizing of course. They looked at their records and said I'd had them before. This time they are for a AJS Stormer twostroke. First time was for a 500cc Rudge special. Same bearing.

Only just seen your request for a baked enameller sorry. I use Industrial Painters 80 Buchan St Sydenham ChCh. Can reccommend. Powdercoaters have the ovens for baked enamel. Ask around the powdercoaters local to you to see if any will do it on the side. My main reason for not using powder is that even with ISO9000 standard prep and prime, if you get water uderneath as can happen from a stone bruise etc, the steel will rust under the powder. Several times I've had a frame for repair and found a lot of powder flaking off rusted parts. Also as most of my frames are race bikes, ease of repair is a factor. If welding is required on a damaged powdercoated frame it's a case of strip it all off as you can't do spot repairs. Paint is easy powder ain't.

It all makes good - and familiar - reading. We were a yachting family when I was a kid. Raced dinghys for years then built our first keeler. Raced and cruised that then built our second. A stub keel, centerboard Van der Stat design originally for the River Plate estuary. Turned out that it planed in the right conditions which meant that sailed agressively it was a winner in local BPCC B class. And the old man having raced dinghys most of his life was VERY agressive on the helm. From another forum I'm in contact with a kiwi living in the Med who runs a rigging business. Superyachts and race boats at top end and maintenance of a couple of hire fleets, He was talling me the costs of rigging using carbon fibre rod stays which are now the hot setup. Un bloody believable.

I'd just replace rings as they look like they've lost tension. Hone bore and wet and dry on piston. Do a crosshatch pattern on the piston skirts as it helps retain oil. Also take the carbon buildup off the top of the exhaust port. Top of piston does look a tad lean. Oil your filter element which will richen it up quite a bit. Timing you should be able to check with a strobe light.

Measuring is really your only criteria with the rods. Still round and within factory specs. I'm assuming it's a mainshaft integral with the web you're thinking is undersize ? Again measuring will tell you how bad it is. Possibly a combination of measuring the new mains and picking the smallest ID bearing and using bearing mount would solve it. There's sometimes a surprising amount of difference between "identical" bearings. Millyard I suspect is like me and a couple others I know. We have a pretty good idea of how bad things can be and still function acceptably. Doing it for 50+ years helps. How long do you want it to last - and how much mileage will it do ? Mine got raced and used as a daily but it gave 8mpg on the road - and 12mpg when raced lol. Not a cheap thing to use these days.

Once again you're in the wrong part of NZ. I've made pins - stepped and plain - myself in the past. EN36 or similar. Machine leaving about .015in grinding allowance. Send away for hardening (used to be good when Farrars were going here. They'd do hardening and finish grind) Hand to a good grinder for finishing - with finished OD's and tolerances. Hardest part was getting a good finish on the bore to avoid stress raisers. It's not difficult. Anton on here - cheap machining in ChCh - could do it. Hardening in Auckland and I'd point him at a guy locally to finish grind.

Did you source any rod kits ? For pins, once you have the dimensions looik through the MX parts sites. ProX is good, you may find correct pins there - or ones you can shorten. I see you appear to have got the oil slingers off. How much crap was in there ?

I'm told there's a show at the Pumphouse on Friday - Matariki 10am till 4pm Can't find it on the net but it's supposed to be a follow up to the one there last year. Custom and classics Mate's taking 2 bikes so I'll be heading along for a look and yarn. If the AJS was complete I'd have it in too.

Don't forget the thermostat controlled fan.....which invariably has stopped working. I was told the light switch on ours didn't work when the PO got it. His wife apparently sat in it flicking the switch until the corrosion wore off. Around half an hour..... Italian motorcycles are just as bad.

Once upon a time you could get a rubber condom for the business end of a coil which kept it all dry. Just slather RTV over it all for the same effect.

Late to this one. Had a customer engine drop a valve seat part way out which produced a similar tapping noise. It'd got too hot on the dyno and dropped the seat while cooling. Only found by finding the seat ring halves in the wreckage and noting the carbon part way up the side. Wreckage was extreme as owner had ridden it like that till the head came off the valve. I wasn't at the dyno run and got to the track too late to stop him going out.

Vaporblast. Leaves a closed pore surface which is less likely to have crap adhere. Mate does it from home in ChCh. If interested i'll post his number.

Glen Durie Engine reconditioners in Coleridge st Sydenham. Every time for me.

Almost any Honda reg/rectifier will work. Common fix.

The early 8V 550's do. This is the late 16V version where the advance is in the box. It is possible to put the early c/f advancer on and run a pair of Pertronic triggers. As pic.