OK, after not starting her, I moved the Love Cub into the
shed.
I looked at her & thought, “What the hell is it that I am
doing here?”
At this stage I thought I would take a trip to a book shop
to order a workshop manual.
Although they didn’t have one in stock, they were more than
happy to get me a copy; it turns out that I had the last “new” Haynes workshop
manual for a C50 Honda Cub in Australia (Until, of course, the next shipment
arrives!). Although I was not too worried about the bike to begin with (as I had
no real idea of how large the job at hand is, it was terribly reassuring to
have a workshop manual on order, at least so I be able to see what is missing
from the Love Cub!
FYI, the manual turned up on Friday & I picked it up on
the way home after picking up the Boys from school (I bought the boys some
donuts to keep them happy!)
Anyway, back to the strip-tease.
I started with the electrical harness. I have heard many
people comment about the errors that they have made in a restoration job by
randomly cutting the spaghetti that is a motor vehicles wiring harness. I figured
that the best thing to do was to label the wires when I pulled them off of the
frame. For this I used silver tape (the driller’s friend with texta writing of
where the wires terminated).
The wiring to the headlights was a schmozle, & the
cables running from the switch gear on the handle bars was in a bad way as well.
I labelled what I could & hung the harness by the window in the shed (it is
off the floor & in a relatively safe place)! I am not sure, but the wiring
may be a problem later on, but I think I have done as much as I can to help
myself on this count!
I had to disconnect the accelerator cable to free up the
handle bar assembly; as well I had to disconnect the front break too. The gunk
that was on the accelerator slide defies description, but does thick coagulated
grease mean anything as a description?
I then removed the seat & petrol tank; the tank is rather
tiny, but given the general economy of a Honda Cub, this is not a big issue.
The Vespa has a tank around 7 litres & it can go 200+ kms, so a 4 litre Honda
petrol tank should be able to get about the same mileage (altho I generally I hate
imperial measurements as they are hard for me to think in, but considering the
speedo is in miles per hour, I will relent in the Love cubs case).
We shall see what happens when I reach the end of this
adventure. The tank & fuel line was chokers with crud – I am thinking that
this was the reason for the Love Cub not starting (I can only hope!)
After the tank (the handle bars went with the wiring
harness) it was the rear wheel. I found the break-link on the chain &
pulled the rear wheel off quickly. The rear sprocket was razor sharp, further
testimony to the lack of love on the old girl. As it turned out, the rear brake
had seized, so I was glad that the cub was being pulled apart
 |
| Back wheel off & I am beginning to wonder what i have gotten myself in for! Look at the wonderful condition of the seat! |
The front wheel followed next; the brakes were working here,
however one of the pads fell off its shoe! I suspect that I will be doing a
very good job of repairing these later on. The 2 wheels were OK, however, I will
need to get them re-built as well (spokes are loose & there is no way in
hell I will be trying to re-do wheel spokes!
Next I pulled off the broken exhaust pipe & started on
the engine. Turns out that there were 2 nuts missing, so in theory, the engine
could have dropped off of the frame (theory only). I supported it as I lowered it
onto the floor; YAY, I think I am getting somewhere. I put the engine &
gearbox on top of the mobile cupboard (from my old kitchen – I put castors on
it so I could move it around the shed as I needed it, it has a vice bolted to
it too – it is very handy!)
I took a look at the engine & that nagging doubt finally
spoke to me… not only was I saying “Oh good grief, How am I going to get this
back together now?” & the next was
the bleeding obvious “Hey, the fuel tap is broken!”
For those that don’t know, on a motorbike, the fuel tap
takes fuel from the tank to the carburettor & then to the engine; typically, there is a small tap (also known as
a “petcock”) that has 3 settings (not just on & off) – being main, reserve
& off. Off is when you are parked for a while, main is well the main tank,
the reserve is the lowest point in the tank & usually has a small amount of
fuel available so you can make it to a service station/home when you run out. It
is a bad habit to ride on the reserve as it will mean that you are pushing your
bike if you run out!
When I was looking at the top of the carburettor, I discovered
that the slider was missing! Well it turns out that the small tab that controls
the fuel flow has broken of… bummer. I wonder what the chances are that I can
get a replacement?
 |
| The Carby - the fuel tap should be near the 2 hoses to the right of the piccie |
And thus endeth the stripping for the moment. It turns out
that the rest of the handlebars need a special tool – when I ended up
consulting the Haynes manual, it even shows you how to make one (or at least
improvise one).
A Job for when I return from work!
So Mote it Be!
Leigh
No comments:
Post a Comment