POSTING DATE: 5/8/16Several nickel-and-dime issues, such as a broken tachometer cable (the tach end rusted off; it was loose when I got the bike, and evidently got wet). I got a replacement on Amazon.com, of all places.
I ordered new keys from
www.keys4urride.com, and I have to say I was quite pleased with their service. The key number for my bike wasn’t on the list on their site, but I emailed them and they said they could do it for me, so I ordered two. They work well.
The only present issue is the gas cap leak. The O-ring is missing from the cap, and Honda doesn’t list it on the fiche as a separate part. I’m suspicious that it may be the part number 91258-300-013 (68X2.6) unit; I measure the space for the ring at 2 3/4″, which is about 68mm. I’m probably going to have to just take the cap to a dealer to size it.
POSTING DATE: 6/9/16I mentioned the gas cap issues in my previous post. Well, here’s what I did: I took some of my excess vacuum hose, slit it open lengthwise, filled it with some strong contact cement, then put it over the slot (trough?) that the gas cap seal is supposed to fit into. I spread a little motor oil on the tank itself so the cap wouldn’t stick to it, then put the glued cap back on the bike. The idea was to hold the rubber hose in position until the glue set up.
It mostly worked. Unfortunately, a little bit of the glue made contact with the tank, and ate a couple of small spots of paint. Fortunately the damage is hidden under the cap, but it does irritate me that I didn’t foresee the possibility.
Sadly, however, it only partly fixed the problem. I know the cap was leaky because I could see gasoline vapor coming out and condensing on the tank with the cap in place; but, even with the new seal, it still smells of gasoline rather strongly.
Then I made another discovery, accidentally. I put the kickstand down in a slightly uneven parking spot; it didn’t go down right, and I dropped the bike (in slow motion… I was doing my best to stop it, but I just couldn’t). When I picked it back up, there was a spot of gasoline on the pavement.
I put two and two together and figured out that there must be a bad hose in among the carbs. Probably one of those float bowl vent hoses. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I have replacement hose on hand to fix it, hopefully soon. For the moment, I’ve been turning off the petcock when the bike is parked, and that solves the stinky gas problem.
While trying (and failing) to see where the leak is, I noticed some of the carb drain hoses were off their nipples. So of course, I tried putting them back on, but they just cracked. The hose is a different size than the hose I have on hand, necessitating a trip to the auto parts dealer. That, too, is a repair I haven’t done yet, but will get to soon.
Things made of rubber. Old rubber. But wait, there’s more.
To date I’ve put 650 miles on the bike, including maybe 50 on the Interstate at 65 MPH. Imagine my expression when I realized the previous owner never replaced the tires.
I was doing all that riding on thirty-six year old Cheng Shin tires. Egad.
I did the only sensible thing… I parked the bike and set out to order tires. Finding tires that would work on the CB650 was surprisingly hard; I hijacked a thread on this forum in the process, so if you care, you can find out how it went there:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12523In the end I got Bridgestone Battlax BT45 tires; denniskirk.com had the 130/80-17 rear for $95.88 and the front for $93.88, which were bargains. I threw a couple of heavy duty IRC tubes and some Kenda rim strips into the cart (why doesn’t IRC have rim strips? Seems strange to me) and submitted the order.
Last night I put the tires on. It was a good time to try out my new Harbor Freight balancing stand, and it worked quite well. The front needed a single 10g weight, while the rear needed nothing (yeah, I didn’t believe it either, stood there spinning the tire over and over like I had some sort of neurological issue).
So. Progress. Still have some problems to beat with rubber hoses, but at least now I’m not afraid to ride it.
POSTING DATE: 2/26/17I rode the CB650 maybe another 1,500 miles after the last post. The smell of gasoline got stronger each time; I found I had to put the bike away with the petcock closed or the garage filled up with fumes.
I finally quit riding it when I realized raw gas was leaking out of the carbs. I also discovered an oil leak, coming out around the shift shaft and dripping onto the left exhaust pipe. It was evidently leaking only while the bike was running, so there was no puddle in the garage to reveal the leak.
There was no avoiding it… my bike needed professional help.
I asked a fellow rider who owns a vintage Japanese bike who he would trust to do the work, and he recommended Cycle Tech at Fremont, Iowa. When I say “at” Fremont, I mean out in the middle of nowhere north of Fremont (which is itself somewhat like the middle of nowhere).
So I called up the man in charge and discussed my bike’s issues, and he shot me an estimate. It was more than I hoped, but less than I feared, and I took him up on it.
They pulled the carbs, fitted new gaskets and seals, put ’em back together and synced them up. They also replaced the bad seal on the shift shaft… problem solved.
Things made of rubber, you know?
I didn’t think to ask them to change the oil, but I picked up oil and a new oil filter when I went back to get the bike.
So anyway, moving on… last weekend I set out to change the oil in the CB650. Draining it was easy, but the oil filter bolt head was pretty chewed up. I couldn’t get a wrench to grab it, nor would my hex-head vice grips do it.
Finally I put curve-jaw vice grips on it, clamped down as tight as I could get them, and tapped on the vice grips with a rubber mallet. After a few judicious whacks, the bolt broke loose, and I was able to complete the job.
I considered getting a replacement OEM bolt (Honda part number 15420-333-000), but the few places that had them listed the price at around $55.00. There had to be a better solution… and there is. I discovered that Emgo makes a replacement oil filter bolt for the CB650, and it has a 17mm head instead of the 12mm head on the stock unit. Should be harder to round it off. The Emgo part number is 11-46400; Amazon.com has it for $14.97 with free shipping, which is much better than the OEM part price. K&L Supply also makes a replacement for this bolt, their part number 19-1387, available on Amazon.com for $15.93 + $8.74 shipping; still a better deal than the OEM part. Of course, these prices are just good for right now, and will surely change in the future.
Just for the record, I checked some other vendors for this part. Dennis Kirk has it for $16.95 plus shipping. Rocky Mountain ATV/MC does not seem to have it, which I suppose isn’t that odd given their obvious off-road focus, except that they do have many other parts for the CB650 including the K&N oil filter, and they carry other Emgo parts. Didn’t find the K&L bolt on either site.
For the moment I’m going to use the existing bolt, but when the bike is due for another oil change I’ll get a replacement.
While changing the oil, I thought about other periodic maintenance items, and decided I should service the air cleaner as well. I pulled it out and discovered it was soaked with old gasoline. I knew the bike had backfired from time to time, especially when cold or running on choke, so I assumed it had been blowing gas back into the airbox. (I’m hoping that sealing the carbs has fixed the backfire issue.)
Well, then. Time for a new air cleaner. I ordered an Emgo replacement, part number 12-90700, on Amazon.com here. The current price is $10.69 with free shipping. The Honda OEM number is 17211-460-000. Note that they completely changed the airbox and filter in 1980. If you have the 1979, this information won’t apply to you.
The replacement filter came in, so I set about installing it. There’s a rubber seal that fits around the flange on the filter; you have to take it off the old filter and put it on the new one. While I stood there putting the seal on the new filter I noticed a shine from inside the airbox. A wet shine, to be exact. I figured it must be some more gasoline. I grabbed a big handful of paper towel and stuffed it into the airbox, then pulled it back out soaked with sour gas. Did this twice more before I was sure I had it all… I was surprised how much was in there.
I went ahead and installed the new air cleaner and buttoned up the bike. I now had a pile of gas-soaked paper towels… kind of a fire hazard, obviously. I stuffed the paper towels into the box the new air cleaner came it, took the whole mess out to the driveway and set it on fire. After a moment’s thought, I put the old gas-soaked air cleaner on top.
It all burned down to ash in about half an hour. I fished the metal bits from the air cleaner out and threw them in the trash (after ensuring they were no longer hot enough to be dangerous), then stamped around on the ashes to disperse them. All cleaned up.
I’m almost afraid to say it, but I think the bike is done. I’ll try to remember to post some pictures soon!