doing it right this time

Last weekend was, according to the weather guessers, going to be in the high 40's-50's. Unfortunately, it ended up being about 30 with freezing rain and snow. This didn't slow us down too much but didn't make work any easier. With the heaters cranked and breakfast in our bellies, Funkz and I got to work. The goals for the day were fairly simple, pull his engine and finalize what we could on mine. It's a good thing we double, wait, triple checked the valve clearance on the 450. Turns out we were doing it the wrong way before. Thankfully, it didn't run long enough to cause any serious damage. So we got the valve clearance set, timing was still good and we moved on to the carbs.

Oh Honda and your stock carbs, how I love and hate thee. The Keihin carbs are a pretty basic set up and easy to set/tune. The hate part comes in when you try to install an air filter on the right side carb. There just isn't enough clearance to squeeze it all in there. This is one of the many reasons I stopped using the pod filters. Well, the stock filters didn't fit either, so it was time for a bit of 5lb therapy administered via mini-sledge. After a few good whacks, the box moved just enough to fit the filter without being to small for the battery. Now both carbs and filters are one and hooked up. Step back and look at the picture...."what's missing?", I ask myself. Uh...dammit, hose clamps! Three steps forward, two steps back.

Fast forward past lunch, the carbs are, complete with hose clamps and all. The mixture screws are set and the cables are synched as close as I can get them without making an adapter to use a mamogram-0-meter, I mean manometer. Hell, we even have the inline filters in and tank installed. But once again, we're missing on very important piece of the puzzle, gas. That's right, we're out of freaking gas at the shop. So, no test starts that day!

With the Frankencycle buttoned up as best as we can, it's time to pull the mighty 750 engine. I have a feeling we jinxed ourselves on this one.

"Looks pretty simple to remove, definitely easier than the 450...".

That's the moment Mr. Murphy stopped by to visit. Most of the mounting hardware was mismatched. Some a 13mm, others 14mm and even a 12mm for humor's sake. Once all the old hardware was removed, we used the bolts as lift points and began wrenching the engine out. It would move a couple of inches only to catch at a new spot. Clear that one and BANG, two more points are rubbing. The exhaust studs finally became too much for us and won the battle. So Funkz bike sits with the engine half hanging out...waiting. Waiting for the proper tools to remove the studs and finish it's surgery.


until then...