Despair shop 9 – Show me your nuts.
Mr Honda had decided in his wisdom that the tappet nuts on a CBR1000F should be the weirdest size they could find. He got together his entire engineering team, got them pissed on Saki and they all decided that 7mm 0.75 pitch thread would be a bugger to find so that’s what they went with. Fortunately a local company were wise to this devious plan and actually happened to have some. The very next day they dropped through my letter box and I was able to get to the next stage of my project – yippee bloody doo dah.
Now getting the nut on to the tappet adjuster without dropping it in the engine is a bit of an adventure, as is adjusting the tappet up and keeping it in the correct adjustment while you do the locknut up – the gap needs to be an accurate 10 thou or nought point bugger all of a millimetre if you are in metric. I only own proper imperial gauges so that’s what I work with.
Honda have a special tool for this job, I on the other hand, do not. So here’s what I did:
I used a 10mm long socket and an extra long 3mm allen bit with hex drive. By using a pair of mole grips I could do the lock nut up while using my 3/8 inch ratchet to make sure the allen headed adjuster screw did not turn. I left the ratchet out in the picture to hopefully give a better idea of how I did it. Once the method had been established it was actually pretty easy so it was then just a matter of putting it all back together, which was nice.
You can see a video of it here if you feel the need https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skEqnhIFPDc
It all went back together without any drama except I can’t find the right hand side protector panel. To be honest I can’t remember if it ever had it or not, I took it apart months ago then sort of gave up on it as I thought it was going to need a cam chain tensioner and they are bloody expensive so I was tempted to break it. Glad I didn’t now as it is a really gorgeous bike.
I have had a look at all the usual sources and nobody seems to have one and all the side panels I find have them missing too – it looks like a repeat of the Honda Magna saga where every part except one is easily available and that one part is an absolute fortune if you can find it. In that occasion it was a right hand side panel – there were about 30 left hand ones on the bay of e, but not one single right hand. In the end I found one in the states that was the wrong colour. By the time I bought it, got it shipped and repainted, I was about 300 quid down on the deal – lesson learned. I may have to come up with a cunning plan. In the mean time the rest of it will get a really good clean up and I will get her in for an MoT, everything looks good so I can’t see that being an issue.
I have just ordered the oil, oil filter, air filter, a Dzus fastener to replace a missing one and a pair of OEM mirrors apart from the protector panell that should be all I need – one of the mirrors currently fitted is a Chinese shit thing that looks nothing like the one on the other side. I am right out of HF303 oil filters, I think I sold one the other day so that’s annoying. What is even worse is that I just had to pay more for one than I sold my last one for. It’s enough to make you cry sometimes.
It’s a funny old bike, some parts of it are really well thought out and other bits are really crammed in and difficult to get to – the carb adjustments are a complete headache. Some bits are a work of art though and you find yourself nodding in silent appreciation when you see how they have solved the thousands of issues that must come up when they design a bike.
With this one at the almost finished point, I have another decision to make – whether to get on with the Triumph 900 cafe racer I started to build or whether to do the rather tasty Yamaha FZR600R in cocktail colours that I have stashed away. You can just see the yammy behind the nearly finished CBR. It is patiently waiting its turn but might have to wait a little longer.
I really should finish the Triumph I suppose, I started it 2 years ago and have done the frame mods and have even had the thing running, but paying work keeps taking precedence and pushing progress back. Another project that I have been discussing with Scottie and Ian may cause it to be pushed back further. Still, more on that next time.
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
