On one of summer evenings this year, as I stopped by to visit my friend Ivan, I have spotted 1973 Honda CB 450 sitting under bleak garage lights.
Ivan is a freelance mechanic, and he'd just finished fixing transmission related issue and was about to reassemble the bike. I wondered if I could do a bit of photo-documentation of the process. The mechanic did not mind a bit.
In vicinity of mechanic's work space I spotted "Chilton's Motorcycle and ATV Repair Manual 1945-85". The book was open at page discussing engine and transmission construction for the particular bike. My friend has pointed out that the manual was extremely helpful in finding and fixing the problem. The issue dealt with shift fork being bent and thus not allowing for any switching between speeds. Adjusting that fork back to straight position ultimately fixed the issue.
The moment I started my photo-session, the clutch was about to be installed.
Installing snap ring which is responsible for for securing clutch on the bike.
Gasket that goes on next was cracked and required some quick sealing.
Once the gasket gets on, it is time for installing clutch cable.
On motorcycles clutch position is not controlled via pedal but with a hand puller.
Carburetor installation comes next. Carburetor acts as blender of air and fuel resulting in producing mixture to burn inside an engine, which in turn generates a power for motorcycle to run on.
Time for two exhaust ports coming from the engine to get filled in.
First exhaust pipe gets in nicely, but second one resists. Clement holding two parts of second pipe requires some tuning.
Fuel tank comes on and gets connected to carburetor.
Connecting battery and testing it.
Next morning Ivan tests the bike, and it is ready to go.
According to Wikipedia, Honda CB450, sometimes called Dream or Hellcat, was in production from 1965 to 1974. Interestingly enough earlier models of this bike had a nick name of "Black Bomber".
"Although the CB450 never sold up to Honda's expectations, it had excellent engineering for the time, notably including reliable electrical components, an electric starter, and a horizontally split crankcase, all features distinct from the British twins of the era. The most radical feature was the valve springing. Instead of the conventional coil springs, it used 'torsion bars' - rods of steel that twisted to provide the spring effect."
Artem Balashov, November 2014.
All pictures used in this photo story in addition with a large number, which did not get included here, are available from this gallery:
http://www.artvbal.com/PhotoStoriesMain/Bike-Fix-X/n-WCw3T/i-6VZBpBq
Gallery has multiple pages. To download any images from the gallery, click on symbol with arrow pointing onto the horizontal line. The symbol is located beneath the bottom right angle of the larger image representation.
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