Simple solutions:
When you buy a bike, keep everything that comes with it!
First thought in restoring the engine was to remove it for dismantling and have all the parts aqua-blasted. The parts look better than new. But there was nothing wrong with the engine and a rebuild was unnecessary. I asked around the Kent experts and few came up with an answer. The consensus was that to blast a complete engine was risking the chance of abrasive media getting into the motor. That was a non-starter. Local Edenbridge paint and CBX expert Geoff Coker came up trumps though, suggesting that I have the engine soda cleaned, a non-abrasive process. So with the help of Richard at JB Motorcycles, who applied his power tools to release the seized up engine bolts, and some hacksawing of the non-standard coolant hoses, the engine was eased out and bundled off to Geoff. Preparation work involved securely blanking off the exhaust ports, the inlet ports and the coolant intakes before it was sent off for cleaning. It returned clean with a finish looking almost ‘works’-like, although still vulnerable to the elements. Geoff agreed to prime and spray the engine in a standard silver lacquer, so the next step was to mask all the items I didn’t want painted which was a painstaking task because of the many bolt heads. Most of the stainless cap screws on the clutch and generator covers were removed. The engine came back from Geoff’s looking brand new and sparkling, much like the six-cylinder CBX engines he’s restored. Only the remaining cap screws needed the paint removed with thinners. Before replacing the engine in the frame I needed to check the condition of the single-sided swingarm’s bearings. The arrangement was novel when aluminium-alloy frames were introduced because they’re not just bolted up tight on spacers. For the two rear engine supports, there’s a screw adjuster that takes up the clearance before the main bolt is tightened. One through bolt is also the spindle for the swingarm which rotates on a ball bearing position by a circlip on the right and a needle bearing on the left, which in effect is floating. These bearing needed flushing of debris and repacking with grease. Luckily, despite the amount of rubbish that had been attracted by flung chain lube and spare grease, the bearings were okay.
A key concern was the need to replace the coolant hoses which when I’d bought the bike were protected by braided stainless steel and had been sealed with a rock-like material. Searching the obvious Honda parts suppliers for the three main hoses such as Dave Silver or Wemoto was fruitless, because the parts had been discontinued. To be fair, other parts are available from them because they are common to many later models like the NTV600 and Deauville. That led me to the Honda Hawk Gt/bros forum where a plea for a source of hoses was responded to within a day or so by Hawk fan Rob Rank in Yorkshire. He asked if I was the same bloke who’d tested a Laverda 3CE triple at nearly 140mph back in the Seventies. I couldn’t deny it, I said. “That’s why I bought a 3CE and still have one,” said Rob when we talked on the phone. And so a conversation started in which it was clear that we were both Bros fans, except Rob had bought his in the US in 1988, still owned it and had accumulated a number of parts over the years. He also owned a Yamaha Tracer, the faired version of my MT-07. Clearly he is a man of taste and discernment. Rob had a set of the coolant hoses, all bagged with their part numbers, which he was prepared to sell me, and so a very good deal was done. Thanks mate! In the meantime, various steel spacers, brackets, bolts and washers were cleaned up and polished (remembering Allen Millyard’s advice) for bright zinc plating at YB in Crawley who are bike fans and prepared to turn a bag of parts around in a week or so for a few quid. Next step is to wiggle the engine back into the frame without damage and reconnect all the various hoses, wiring, cables and plumbing. I must confess that this must be carried out in a garage not much smaller than Millyard’s yet somehow mine is more crammed with dismembered motorcycles and the detritus of domestic living, making even a lift impossible to accommodate. With another project coming up, something’s got to give.