DEVIL'S BRIDGE

Went to Devil's Bridge bike-meet on Sunday and a black Superdream rolled onto the carpark! I walked over to admire it and was very pleased to meet the owner - Gary Weldon. Gary has been following my blog for some time, offering help and advice and is a friend on FaceBook, so it was nice to meet face to face at last.

Gary restored his own SuperDream and it looked pretty fine (unlike this photo).

CARBS DOUBLE-CHECKED

Don't know about you, but I always doubt myself before I doubt others! Feeling completely stumped by this problem, I decided to take the refurbished carbs to a professional mechanic to have them checked over. If I'd screwed something up and he found the problem, then apart from feeling a bit embarrassed, I'd at least have sorted the bike out.

Today I got my carbs back from the mechanic and basically, they're spot on!! So God knows what to do to resolve this issue. Think I might just let it all take a bit of a back seat while the sun shines and come back to it when there's bugger-all better to do.

Thanks to everyone for their tips, advice and general comments.

PUZZLED!

The new eBay carbs arrived today so I installed them, replaced the oil and filter and fired her up. It's worse than before!! She would barely tickover! Attempts to rev the engine just resulted in a stall. With very careful and steady application of the throttle, I can get it to 7000rpm but it's missing like hell.

The left exhaust downpipe was stone cold and the right was hot, which obviously indicates that the left cylinder isn't firing, and yet when I disconnect the left hand plug-lead, the bike stalls immediately!

There's a spark going to the left plug, and if you examine it, it's wet as if it's not firing, and the downpipe is stone cold, so why the hell does it stop running when I remove the plug-lead???

This thing is doing my head in! LOL

MIGHT SELL "AS IS"

I have STILL not spent any more time on the CB250. Just too damned busy with other things. I was thinking of putting it on Ebay as one of those famous "unfinished projects". I'd lose a fortune, but losing money is no stranger to me :-)

Any offers?
.

STILL NO CHANGE

Reluctantly removed the float chambers last night (saves taking the carbs off). Fitted some new (old) floats and brand new float needles. Bike still flooding! Walked away again, avoiding direct eye contact with the hammer hanging on the wall.

FUEL PUMP

Someone was telling me that years ago (before spirit levels), they used to get the height and level of the Dado Rails perfect throughout the house by using a hosepipe full of water, so I thought the same principle could be used to see what was going on inside the float-chambers. 


So I connected some clear tubes to the floatbowl drain spouts and opened up the drain taps. As you can see from the photos below, both carbs were pretty much the same in terms of float levels. After all, they're fixed floats anyway! So, as suspected, the floats were working fine and were at the correct height. So what was the damned problem?


I removed the plugs and sat there scratching my head for a while. Then I noticed that the right-hand fuel level had risen dramatically and was flooding the right bore. I switched off the fuel tap and spun the engine using the started motor to eject the petrol through the spark plug holes. And believe me, there was a lot in there! The engine was acting as a fuel pump!  And to add insult to injury, the petrol would have contaminated the engine oil, so another oil-change is due. Grrrrrr!


So, it looks like the carbs have to come off again!! I'm gonna order a couple of new floats and valves from David Silver.

CB250 SUPER NIGHTMARE

I removed the carbs tonight and stripped them down. There was nothing wrong with them - all the jets were fine and clean. The one thing that puzzled me though, was the fact that it had fixed-level floats! I've never seen these before. As you can see from the photo below, the float on the left is the "usual" type with and adjustable metal tang, but mine (on the right) are all plastic and none adjustable. Everything else seemed fine though, so I put it all back together and fired her up. It was immediately apparent that the bike was much better. The engine revved freely and smoothly up to 10krpm. Great, I thought. I pushed the bike outside, put my helmet on and set off onto the main road for a spin.

Sadly, the bike started to splutter and die under load. DAMN this bike!! Damn it to hell! Walk away Tom, walk away.

WASTE OF MONEY

Fitted the new Coil, CDI and Battery tonight and they made no difference!  So that's it - it simply HAS to be a fuelling issue and the carbs will have to be removed. I should have done the job tonight but I was feeling a bit pissed off with it all, so I left it for another night.
.

MORE NEW PARTS

I really didn't want to spend any more money on this project, but this "5k rev-limiter" problem is not going away. I've ordered a new coil from David Silver, a new battery and I've got this used CDI to install. I will, of course, install each one individually and find out which part cures the problem and report back. Personally, I strongly suspect it's going to be the coil. Luckily, the coil was only £19, but the battery was £30.

UPDATE ON YESTERDAY

This morning I popped back into the garage before going to work and found that the Advance Dial on the back of the Gunson Timing Light had been turned up from its normal "zero" position. Must be from when I lent it to a friend. Anyway, as a result of that movement, it meant that my previous readings had been wrong. When I put the dial back to its default position, the timing on the bike is correct. So new CDI ordered for nothing :-(

Another thing... yesterday I was checking the timing using the left hand cylinder and didn't bother with the other side because the reading indicated that the timing was out, but since realising that the timing light dial was set incorrectly, I took a reading from the other cylinder and guess what? There was no reading at all because the inductive pickup wasn't detecting a pulse. Hmmmm. I checked to see if the spark plug was sparking and it was, so I removed the plug caps from their leads and snipped off 5mm of cable. I then refitted the plug caps into fresh cable. Connected the strobe and bingo! Looks like there had been enough connectivity between the cable and the cap for high-voltage to pass through, but not enough for the inductive pickup to detect. Sorted now!

So, it looks like I'm back to removing the carbs to find out what this problem is with the 5k rev limit.

.

IT'S DEAD! IT'S DEAD!

Well, my rejoicing soon came to and end when I discovered (enroute to the MOT station) that the bike won't pull beyond 5000 revs. It starts to cough and splutter and die until the revs drop back down. This is normally because the high circuit of the alternator (the blue wire) has failed. So I checked the voltages (white and blue circuits) and found them both to be producing healthy AC voltages which increased with revs. Checked the timing with a strobe and it was out slightly so it's looking like the CDI has gone kaput! Damn!!! New CDI ordered. MOT postponed.
.

IT'S ALIVE ! IT'S ALIVE!

I put £6 worth of petrol in the tank (yes, a gallon!) and connected a Battery Booster. Ignition on, starter pressed, VROOOOM!!!! Nice one.

SNAGGING LIST : (bet you misread that)

1. Petcock leaking.
2. Carbs need balancing.
3. Exhaust blowing slightly.
4. Clutch plates stuck!

That last one's a bugger! While I had the right hand engine cover off, I should have checked the clutch operation but didn't think to. I've tried rocking the bike backwards and forwards in gear but it ain't working. Dammit! I'll have to drop the oil and buy another cover gasket. Grrrr! 

Other than that, I'm really happy with everything. The engine sounds lovely and quiet and the bike looks great.

UPDATE :

Pushed the bike down the street, built up a little pace and knocked it into gear. Sticking clutch plates no longer sticking! Also cured leaking petcock by inserting the sealing-washer which was sat on my workbench, D'oh! Another problem has reared it's ugly head though - at tickover and low-revs, it's all sweetness and light, but at higher revs the engine splutters and dies until it drops back into the low rev-range. There's a STRONG smell of rich fuel mixture, so I'm thinking that the carbs are going to have to come off to see what's going on.  
.

LESSON LEARNED!

After walking out on the bike last night, to teach it a lesson, I returned tonight and it seemed to have worked! I removed the headlamp and almost immediately found the short. It was a bullet connector which had come loose and was shorting against a steel bracket. Last night I recall thinking how easy it was, getting the headlamp to push into the cowl with that mass of cables and connector blocks.  Getting the headlight back in the cowl tonight was an altogether different story! Grrrrrr!

Anyway, I switched on the ignition and everything seemed to work. Sidelights, main beam, dipped beam, horn, starter motor, panel lights, warning lights, but no indicators! Huh? I examined the connections at the relay and all seemed fine. There was no choice - that damned headlight had to come back out to examine the indicator wiring in there. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

So, I removed the headlight, checked the wiring and everything seemed fine. So what the hell could be wrong??? I sat there studying the wiring diagram for about half an hour, scratching my head. Then something dawned on me. Did the brand new indicators actually come with bulbs?? Hahahhaa, of course not! I installed 4 bulbs, put the headlight back on again, and all's well with the world.

I put the battery back on charge and left it for the night. Tomorrow I'll go get some petrol and fire her up.

BAD START TO THE END

Went into the garage tonight and fitted the battery - main fuse blew instantly! Grrrrrr!  Not really in the mood for it tonight, so I disconnected it and locked the garage up. That'll teach it!

NEARLY DONE!

Another beautiful day and quite a productive one for me. I did quite a bit of fumbling around the garage before finally getting down to some serious work. Today I fitted the tacho and speedo cables, finished all the dreaded wiring in the headlamp, fitted the headlamp itself, the gear-lever, balancer box, downpipes, silencers and chain tensioners. Made a dramatic difference to the way she looks!

They look so good together :-)

IT'S NEVER REALLY LOST!

You think you've lost something, but you haven't really. What you're searching for is sat right there under your nose. It's just waiting for you to order a replacement and then it'll pop right up! Take the chain-tensioner bolts for example; I order replacements on Friday and the old ones turn up today. I order a new number plate and the one I'd already bought turns up. Hey ho!

And then right at the back of the garage, I found this...

MORNING GLORY

I was up nice and early this morning and had to pull the old girls out of the garage so that I could blitz it. After 8 years of dumping stuff in the garage, it was starting to look like a real shit-tip!

Anyway, it's all done now and I'm feeling much better about it. If I had the money, I'd drop this garage and build a new one, but I ain't, so it'll have to do for a couple of years at least. At least now I have much more room to move about.

TIME FOR A BRAKE

After work today, I started putting the front brake assembly together. I fitted the front caliper, thoroughly cleaned the pads, pins and shims, applied Copaslip, and put them in situ. Then I moved to the master cylinder and was pleased to see that the paint finish was looking fairly good and seemed to have hardened off. After fitting the Goodridge stainless steel braided hose, I bled the brakes and tested them (as best I could). The white plastic reservoir was marked as a result of me trying to get it off the cylinder, but I'm not spending £61 to replace it with new! Everything else seems spot on, so tomorrow morning, I shall be spending my day having fun emptying the garage. Hope it's sunny!

WHAT A DUMB ASS!

The new number plate arrived today so that was the first job for this evening's session. It seems to have a very subtle "glittery" sort of finish which I can't say I care for too much. Other than that though, it's the usual high quality stuff from myshowplates.com. Also arriving today was a parcel from Wemoto - the new handlebars. Look exactly like the old ones, but shinier, lol.

Then two things annoyed me. First up was the fact that I couldn't find the chain-tensioner bolts. I've ripped that garage apart and they're nowhere to be found. And worse than that is the fact that I can't find any substitute bolts out of the thousands that I've got stashed in the garage. Grrrrr!!!

To make matters worse (in a good sort of way), I found a brand new heavy duty chain and sprocket set that I'd forgotten I'd bought! Dammit, the rear wheel had to come off which inevitably meant that I'd mark the new paint on the brake plate - and yes, I did.  Anyway, I fitted the new kit and then attached the chainguard. That's about it for tonight. Oh yes, I also applied a few more light coats of satin black to the brake master cylinder throughout the course of the night and I fitted and routed the engine breather hose.

On Saturday morning, I've got a skip arriving and I'm gonna totally blitz the garage! Everything that hasn't been used for more than a couple of years is being binned - I don't care what the wife says! In fact, she won't be here this weekend, so she's not even got a say in the matter. When that job's done, it'll give me lots more working space and I can get the dump much better organised. Looking forward to it!

A LITTLE CLOSER

Tonight I carried on with the wiring. Found the old solenoid and wasn't too impressed with the state of it. Grubby to say the least, so I spent a few minutes cleaning it all up including the terminals and posts. Then I cleaned up the long starter motor cable and routed it along the frame, over the right coil and down to the starter. Next up was the battery cables.

Pretty soon it was all connected up to the main loom. Glad I took so many photos of the bike before I stripped her or I'd have struggled to figure out which way the cables were routed. One thing that cheesed me off a bit was the reflectors at the front of the bike. Ages ago I had decided that I didn't like them and wasn't going to put them back on the bike but tonight I realised that the clutch cable and starter cable were held in place by them Grrr. So I then had to pull the garage apart trying to find it. Jeez, what a job! Luckily I found the bugger and cleaned it up best I could.

VJMC PLATE

I could have sworn that I'd already ordered a new number plate for the 250 because it's always the very first thing I do with a new bike, but after searching high and low, I couldn't find one so I ordered another.


In the "COMMENTS" section of this post, Matt is stuck with part of his rewire. Below is a diagram of the main harness showing approximate routing but there's still some twists and turns to take. If anyone wants to ask questions, refer to the number in red to indicate which part of the loom is troubling you and I'll email you some pix of my routing/connections.

MONDAY, MONDAY.

Normally on a Monday evening I feel tired after work but this evening I went straight into the garage and started to detach the reservoir from the master cylinder. Inside was a truly disgusting mess as you can see. I can't imagine how the brake worked at all!

I swabbed out as much of the gunk as I could and then refitted the lever so I could flush the system through with clean brake fluid. Then I carefully scraped off the dried and hardened gunge and flushed through again, before blowing it through with an airline. The seal looked fine, so I reused it and refitted the reservoir. Looks okay now, so I can start work on the exterior finish.

After that, I moved on to the rear indicators. The fitting brackets were painted over the weekend and the paint had completely dried. Only took a few minutes to install them to the rear fender. Then I completed the wiring, using heatshrink tubing to keep connections nice and tidy. A couple of tie-wraps and everything was looking good. Finally, I fitted the seat cowl to the seat and slipped on the side panels and petrol tank for a quick photo.

SUNDAY - DAY OF REST?

No day of rest for me! I was in the garage at 8am this morning, sanding, priming and painting bits of brackets and what have you. It's all stuff that should have been done a long time ago and it's now slowing me down. So the only "real" stuff I've done today is fit the seat catch, the side-rails and the rear fender assembly. Doesn't sound much, I know, but it was interspersed with lots of other preparatory work.

The wiring to the rear brakes and indicators was a God-Awful mess, so I ripped it all out and started from scratch. I always feel better when electric cables and connectors are new. If anything fails to work or sets on fire, then there's only myself to blame! Although not shown on here, I also fitted the oil pressure switch and connected up the neutral light today.

I also spent a great deal of time overhauling the front brake Master Cylinder which is in a right old state! Lots of alloy corrosion on the outside and lots of shit and gunk on the inside :-)

Finally, I did something that could have been left until much later, but I brought it forward as a bit of a motivator. Might sound daft, but I installed the clocks today because (in my head) it's a kind of a milestone and makes the bike look much more finished. This will encourage me to keep going. Luckily, I'd spent a lot of time on the clock components previously, so it was just a case of assembling all the bits, testing the 6 bulbs and fitting a brand new ignition lock. Looks pretty good! Yes, I know the bars look crap - I've got some brand new ones on order from Wemoto.

IAN PIKE's CB250N

One of the visitors to my blog is Ian Pike and when he first started following my progress, he assumed that his own project wouldn't be completed before mine, but he underestimated my laziness, lol. Here's Ian's silver 250. You've done a great job mate!

A DAY IN THE GARAGE

Well, despite the beautiful weather and the temptation to go out on the CB450 for a ride, I pushed my self to spend a whole day in the garage working on the 250N. To be honest, it feels like I achieved very little considering the hours spent in there, but that's how these things go isn't it?

I spent my time preparing the back wheel to be fitted. Considering that I've had the wheel on previously to roll the bike around, it felt like I was repeating myself, but of course I'd never spent anytime refurbishing any components on the wheel and was surprised at how much I had to do. Polishing the alloys was not a problem - they're in good nick and that little job was finished in no time at all. But the brake cam was seized solid and it took a long time to get the bugger loose! Once it was out though, it was all very straightforward - just a case of cleaning everything up and lubricating it all ready to go back in the drum.

AFTER THE CLEANUP

The brake plate (pictured above) was painted with a few coats of Smooth Silver after having applied a light coat of Etch Primer. The piece was then "baked" in the oven at low temperature for 20 minutes (much to the delight of my wife). I'm guessing our next oven-cooked meal will have a nice Hammerite odour, LOL. I gave the sprocket-guard the same treatment...

I could hide my cockups from you, but it's best to allow others to benefit from one's stupidity I guess... after fitting the rear brake lever and the torque arm, I installed the wheel. Then I tried to fit the operating rod to the brake lever but had absolutely no chance of getting the clevis-pin through the hole because the right hanger was in the way, so I had to remove it, grrrrrrr. Ah well, you live and learn. Everything's fitted apart from the chain-tensioner adjustment bolts. I can't find them! This project has dragged on now for 18 months and all the bits in the garage have been moved about and kicked around I don't know how many times! No wonder I can't find the things I thought I'd marked so well, LOL.

That's it for now. Hopefully, it won't be too long before the next installment!

THE FINAL PUSH

I've decided to get off my backside and make the final push to completing this project! It's dragged on far too long and is in danger of becoming one of those "Unfinished Projects" for sale on Ebay. So, I thought I'd set myself a target and that target is the 16th May 2010.

On that date, there's a big show at Samlesbury Bottoms for vintage Jap bikes, organised by the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club, so I thought it might be a good idea to bring the 250 back to life in time for that. Watch this space!

WHEN IS WORK GOING TO RESUME?

People email asking when is the refurbishment of the CB250N going to resume and I never know what to say because I don't really know. Could be tomorrow or next month. Basically, when the mood takes me LOL. Mind you, I'm guessing that I'll be spending time polishing and riding my lovely 1970 CB450 Black Bomber instead.

UPDATE : I've started a "CB450 DIARY" HERE

TAPER ROLLER BEARINGS

KrazyJuiceDan wrote in the comments sections asking where the steel-washer from his newly bought Taper Roller Bearings went. Well here's the answer Dan....

CARBS & AIRBOX

Realised tonight that before I could fit the battery-carrier, I had to fit the airbox, so I decided to do that along with the carbs. I had to take the back wheel off again to make room for the airbox. It all went back together without a hitch, a curse or a scuff. Before fitting the carbs, I applied a coating of AFC-50 Corrosion Block Grease to all the various bars, rods, cams and attachments to prevent them rusting, cos they're a bugger to reach once the carbs are in situ, and tend to get ignored during normal maintenance work.

Biggest problem tonight was finding the right bloody bolts. I thought I'd catalogued everything?!?!

Since taking the above photo, I've been back in the garage and fitted the battery-carrier. I'm quite enjoying these 60-minute stints in the garage each night!

Also finished the seat off tonight. Previously, I'd removed the leather cover, prepped the base and painted it black. Tonight I refitted the cover and it looks pretty good.




Tomorrow night is dog-training though.....

DID A BIT MORE OF THE WIRING

Didn't have much time tonight because my daughter and grandson came over to visit, but I did at least manage to get the loom routed correctly and tied in place. You know, you'd think it was very easy and obvious where such a simple loom went on a bike, but when you look at the original photos, you'll be surprised at the twists and turns. Anyway, it's all pretty much in place now.

As you can see, I placed a strip of insulation-tape at strategic places around the frame to avoid the cable-ties rubbing against the painted frame.

Next job will probably be the fitting of the battery box.