Scary Tubes

I starting taking apart the fork tubes, first the gaters, then the springs. One tube looks very nice, but I'll show you the other one here.

I need to smooth out these fork tubes if I ever want to have good oil seals. Very tempting to just buy a new fork tube on ebay for about $60, but that's what I've spent already on the whole thing! That would mean the forks would cost $120.

So I'm stuck with these. I found a post on a forum about repairing these things.

You can see it here:
http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7833

1,000 Hand Slap

I had a feeling that I should dismantle the CT90 forks and make sure they are in real working order. I think squishing them with my hands is not a good test.

Here they are, ready to be dismantled. I didn't look up how to do it, and it seemed that my method was not very good. I took out the bolts on the triple tree that hold the fork tubes and pounded on the top of the tubes with a mallet whilst holding the tree steady in my left hand. I couldn't set them on the floor, since I didn't want to damage it.

One of the tubes had some rust, and I was glad that I decided to take these things apart, but very frustrated with my technique. The distance you see between the gater and triple tree was as far as I could pound the tube after a few hundred slaps with the mallet. At this point I started to count.

This was a stupid idea... put top brace over the bolt and hammer down on it. I don't know what I was thinking, but maybe the idea was to create more surface area to pound on. 

In this picture you can see how I was holding it with my left hand, and also the progress after 1,000+ mallet slaps. My hammer arm was getting pretty warmed up by then. 

Almost done! What kept me going was the way I could tell that I was making progress, even if slow! This was about 1,400+ slaps. 

VICTORY! 

I don't think there was really anything wrong with my technique. It was required actually. The tubes are supposed to slip right out, but some crusty rust was preventing this on this tube.

However, I think I should have waited a few hours after loosening the triple tree clamps; the other fork tube fell right out the next morning. Maybe the metal took a while to relax after being clenched for so long. Could it have made this tube come out easier? I'll never know...

Here are the casualties: 

 Oh no! Not my mallet! My most useful tool!

There is no way I am going to spend $3 on a new mallet. 

My left thumb was also a casualty. Holding the triple tree steady for so long was not good for that thumb. Of course, it only felt painful after letting go of the thing. An hour of video gaming later and it was fine. 

Besides, hurting yourself while building a motorcycle just makes you more badass and manly, right? 

I will try restore the fork tubes next! 

Z50 Carburetor Mysteries

I haven't said anything about it, but the carburetor that came with the z50 has been confusing me for a few months now. I want to test the engine, but I have no idea if this carb could really do that. I've looked at many z50s, and I haven't seen a carb like it. It was also bolted on redneck style, since the threads are stripped. It has a gasket, which is also redneck style.

Here it is, after a lot of cleaning of course. When I took it apart, it looked very different from carbs I've seen (I haven't seen very many at all to be honest). I couldn't find any rebuild kits on ebay that looked similar to what I had at all, especially that lopsided circular, float bowl seal.

The main jet (or what I'm assuming to be the main jet) is also very strange and drops out easily if I whack the carb. It seems like half of what I need. It is clean though; I can see daylight through all of its passages.

Here is the float need on the left. The float needle from my C70 is on the right. There is no notch on the Z50 carb float needle that attaches to the float... the parts of this carb are so minimalist! I tested it though, and it works by gravity alone.











All of this said, I asked about it on a few small Honda groups and they assured me that I have everything I need to have a working carburetor. Very interesting indeed.

17" wheels

Got some wheels finally! Had to get them at the post office and tie them to my C70 to get them home... god the United Postal Service is a piece of crap. I won't complain any more than that it took 1 hour for no reason. I ended up getting 3 wheels. I saw 2 wheels that were fine, but then I saw another CT90 rear wheel for 1 dollar! I kind of feel bad for the seller... But here they are! The front wheel seemed like it had a nice tire so I took it down the street to pump it up and whaddya know! It holds air! Well, I can use it for testing and also know that I have a good tube to work with. The third wheel is not pictured... too boring.

Swingarm Troubles

Shortly following the good news about the CT90 fork, I ran into some trouble with the C70 swingarm I already had.

The C70 swingarm does match the CL70 frame width and bolts to it quite nicely. I thought I had won.

However, the curved cross brace prevents much suspension travel. Not enough I would think, unless I had really long shocks, and I am not looking to build a dirtbike.

So I quickly got on ebay and bought a CL70 swingarm. It should work, right? Besides, it was only $10. It's in really bad shape cosmetically. Seems to have about the same travel before the cross brace hits the frame... hmmmm... maybe this is not an issue at all. I'd rather use the C70 swingarm, but they both kind of suck... I will be looking at more swingarms to see what else fits.

IT DOES FIT! (the CT90 fork does)

I got the CL70 frame finally! I had an appointment that night, but I couldn't wait and went straight to my closet to see if the fork fits into the CL70 frame. Awesome! Seems like they were made for each other! And what about the C70 Passport swingarm I have? We'll see next post!

Fork Choice

I've been spending way too much time researching forks. There are a lot of measurements on these things... I very much hope I got something that will fit.

What I chose was a CT90 hydraulic fork; there it is on the left.
It was only $60 shipped and came with the handlebar clamp. The headlight ears were bent a little, I bent them back. One of the cool black gaters has a tear in it as well, which seems fine. I pushed on them and they seem to work alright. I'll have to wait for the frame to come to see if they fit into them.