Author Archive: wae

Quick update:  the 3M 5200 Marine Sealant does not make a good body filler.  When trying to sand it down, it just peels off making a mess.  I’m going to try to get some MEK and ABS shavings and try to make my own filler that way.

A good portion of the weekend was consumed by watching F1 and re-starting the deck re-finishing project, however, I did get out to the garage to make a little more progress.  The front fairing is de-oranged and needs to be wet sanded to take the scratches out.  It also has some gouges that will need to be filled.  I’ve wet-sanded most of the rest of the plastic, and used some 3M marine adhesive to fill in some deeper gouges.  Apparently, the adhesive takes 7 days to cure and I’m only in day 2 right now so we will see if it hardens up enough to sand down.  But progress is being made once again!

It’s been way too long since I’ve updated, but then I haven’t accomplished much.

Basically, everything except the main front fairing is pretty much sanded down and ready for primer.  I am planning to sand and paint the front fairing on the bike rather than trying to take it off and put it back on — there’s just too many parts to worry about there, and honestly, I think I can paint it just fine on there.

Today I purchased from eBay Motors a new lower center cowl piece since both bikes were missing that as well as three new side cover pegs/posts that I can epoxy onto the existing left side cover.  Tonight, I plan to get the front fairing sanded down and ready for primer.

One other problem that I’m having is getting in to the various crevices of some of the parts to get them sanded down.  I’m going to look in to Dremel bits/tools that might get the job done without damaging the ABS.

No new pictures, unfortunately, but I was out of town and Rallycrossing so I didn’t do too much with the bike the last few days. Tonight, however, I took the trunk apart and got the lid sanded down. Also, I did a little test-spray of the primer to see how well it builds and how easily it sprays and I think it’s going to work out fairly well to cover the sanding scratches.

I’ve got the lower part of the trunk and the battery side cover left of the parts that are not currently attached to the ’87. Once those are sanded, though, it’ll be time to take the bike off the road so I can begin working on the fairing and the left and right lower fairing bits. I also need to find and buy the lower cowl bar that goes across the bottom of the radiator.

The fan still does not come on. I think I may just wire up a fan switch and control it manually. The bike cools just fine out on the open road, but sitting in traffic or at a particularly long series of red lights will get the temp into the danger zone.

In other news, I acquired primer, base, clear, 3M 5200, and a lot of sandpaper. I’ve got a bag, the front fender, and one side panel sanded down and ready for bodywork and I’m just wiped out.

I think I may have gotten the overheating problem fixed tonight. I took the sides of the fairing off so I could get to the cooling fan and when I jumped it with a battery, it spun just like it should. The next thing to look at was the thermostatic switch and when I got in there, this is what I saw:

The wires had come apart right at the connector. Fortunately, I’ve got an extra wiring harness, so I went ahead and snipped off the connector. As it turns out, this was one of those thing that seems doomed to fail — the way it was crammed into the other bike, the wires were starting to abrade as well, so I used some tape and heat shrink tubing to shore that up. I get it all reconnected like so:

Tomorrow, I’ll take it out and get it good and hot and see if the fan comes on.

Last night I went out and started with this:

and managed to turn it into this:

It’s still pretty cluttered up, but it’s actually a pretty big improvement. Along the way, I did a little more disassembly on the ’84 so that it’s almost just the frame at this point. The wiring harness is still intertwined, the clutch hydraulics are still on, and I think the rear brake reservoir is still there, but otherwise, it’s the frame plus the front forks.

I still haven’t checked the fan yet, but I did get a new left side mirror in the mail yesterday, so whenever the title arrives in the mail, I’ll be able to get it inspected by the sheriff.

I went out into the garage three or four times yesterday, but each time the intention was just to check the fuse on the 87 for the fan so I didn’t take the camera out. Each time, however, I crossed the threshold into the garage and lost my mind a bit and started take more stuff of the 84.

So I don’t have any pictures, but basically the motor is out, the gas tank is out, the wheels are off, the rear suspension is off, the rear end and drive shaft are off, and the frame is tucked back in the corner a little more.

Tires look decent. They have a 2011 date code, have held air for the last two months at least, and don’t show any signs of rot. They’re not brand new by any stretch, but they’re not that close to the wear marks either. Assuming the speedo will plug in, I will probably swap wheels.

I think each bike has one leaking rear shock and one good one. How providential!

Eventually I got around to checking the fan fuse and it is good, so next I need to try applying voltage directly to the fan to see if the fan itself is bad, then track back through to the temp switch. Good news is that I have an extra one of those!

Everybody says to skip the Clymer and Haynes books because they aren’t accurate and skip steps so you’re supposed to shell out big bucks for the official Honda manual. Let me save you some time and tell you that the Honda manual lies. The gas tank does not simply slide out the back, and they miss a handful of things that need to be done to remove the engine.

It’s a little bit sad to see the 84 nothing but a bare frame in the corner. It did look like there was some oil under the timing cover, though, which could mean a leaking front seal. And since that seal is NLA, I’m not sure that could be fixed with anything short of a new motor. I do know that timing belts don’t like oil, so the only other remedy might be to do a timing belt job every year.

On the 84, I need to start boxing up parts to get them out of the way. Then I’m going to set up my PVC and plastic paint booth again and start prepping to repaint the plastic bits. The 87 needs to have the tires changed out and the cooling fan fixed and then I’m going to try riding it as-is for a while until the bodywork is ready. Then I can do the belts, fluids, and change out bodywork all at once.