1974/75 Honda CB200 Restoration and Modification A.K.A. Colonel Mustard

The forks are pretty rusted but they still look usable. This bike must have been kept at the beach or something to have all this rust on it.

The forks look much better not hopefully minor pitting won't come back to get me. And from what little I have ridden since then the forks seems to function much better.

Sorry for the number of posts. I am having trouble with the uploads.

Here is what the engine looks like pre-rebuild. Let me know if you see anything off.

Little more.

Even more. And my work space. Now with the groves from the cam chain what should be done about that. From following Texasstar's build I know that the tensioner is not great stock. But I don't really know what to do about it. Any ideas? Also since there are groves cut from the chain should I be opening the bottom half of the engine to at minimum replace the cam chain? I am betting this engine had more miles on it than I was told should I be opening the crankcase just because of that? One more question, should I be removing the Walmart level paint job? My Dad believes that it is bad for the engine as he thinks it hampers heat transfer. He also said that there is only one kind of paint that will actually help heat transfer, is that true? I want to be on top of what needs to be done to the engine and as a noob I am needing some guidance. I appreciate any thoughts.

So what do you guys think. Should I replace the cam chain? Turns out all I needed was a rebore to .25 oversize hopefully this fixes my carb tuning issues.

The engine is finally coming back together! ;D I have two questions to ask you guys. Should I be using synthetic oil now? And what is proper procedure for breaking in an engine? I had been running partial synthetic in it and there are a variety of methods for breaking in an engine. What are the pro and cons?

Synthetics will not allow the rings to seat. Break-in should be done with conventional oil, then run what you like. I won't even say a single brand because it is endlessly debatable.

You did replace the cam chain and tensioner, right? Those are common wear-items and it's worth it to replace them now to have peace of mind and not have to tear it down again soon.

Did you clean your valves? Lap them in? Did you inspect them for chips from burns? Did you leak test them with acetone over night?

Are you running equally over-sized rings and pistons? Did you bore to the PARTICULAR pistons you're using? Did you make sure that each piston went into the cylinder it was matched to? What are the piston-to-wall clearances?

This thing will never do the ton with this appalling lack of race livery.

looks good mate I have a stator issue at the moment with my 200 she isn't charging the battery much even with a new rec/reg. looking to re wire it soon.

Checked resistance in the wires? Checked your rotor's strength? May need to be gaussed.

Wow has it really been a month since I updated this? Sorry about that. I am moving really slow getting the engine back together. I guess getting little sleep is not so good for me. I will get conventional oil for the break in. I have not replaced the cam chain tensioner. Should I also be replacing the cam chain? Should the whole tensioner assembly be replaced? How do I check that system for wear? Wear other than what is shown in the pictures I mean. All the valve and piston work was done by a shop. I am using both oversize rings and pistons and I believe the shop mated the bore to the pistons.

I feel that I have a both a lack of tools and skills at this point in the process. But I am learning that was the goal.

Why run an old cam chain and create a need to split everything apart again even sooner? Replace it and be confident in it.

When the shop bored your cylinders, did they mark which piston goes where? At 0.003" clearance, that kinda just makes a teensy difference, kinda.

I see your point on the cam chain. It should be replaced. Should the sprocket and tensioner be replaced as well? I am assuming yes. I wonder if I need to open up the crankcase to replace the chain?

The shop did not mark which piston goes to which cylinder. That leads me to believe that they did not match the bores to the pistons. But what did they do then? Looks like I should have been more on top of things when I took it in. They both fit though which is good. Hopefully I won't screw over the engine with that tiny difference.