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Hey enduro fans, look what I dug out of the back of the shed this spring:
My dad bought it new in '74. He used to take my brother and I for rides around the hill on it, then taught me to ride it about as soon as my feet could reach the pegs. It's been buried at my parents' place since the 80's. Since I'm having so much fun with the scrambler, my dad told me I should do something with the XL. Let the healing begin!
Ha! Yeah, storing a bike inside does wonders. Mice can only eat the stuff that probably needed to be replaced, anyway.
The piston was free when I got the XL out of the shed and my dad found the title, so I felt I was off to a good start. The chrome was heavily pitted in places, and there was plenty of rust, dings and scrapes, but on the outside the bike looked like it'd go.
Note to self: spray WD-40 on everything next time and save your future self some hassle.
So, yeah, the tank turned out to be the first question-mark:
I had almost as much fun cleaning this one as I did the scrambler's. For better or worse, there was no decaying liner to deal with this time, but the varnish from the ancient gasoline was just as fierce. I'd have thought all the liquid gas would have evaporated in 30 years, but there was plenty still in there (and chock full of crystals). I'll spare everyone the endoscope videos, but after much labor and beers I finished scraping out the varnish and treated the rust. The original petcock was a loss but I got a replacement and the tank's now solid, clean, and ready to go. Only one drip mark on (what's left of) the clear coat from a round of acetone gone wrong. Things could be worse- chalk up another win for the iatehtepeach high-tech/low-tech endoscope and coat-hanger method! And maybe drink fewer beers when working with acetone.
When I got the carb apart it looked pretty much like you'd expect. The slide was stuck and no amount of carb cleaner or wishful thinking would get it moving.
I had the same problem on the XL. If you haven't already gotten it out yet, I spend about a week spraying it with PB blaster. Some heat would probably help. I put the carb in the vice very carefully, wrapped copper wire (steel would be better) around the plunger that screws into the slide and the other end around some needlenose or another lever, and pried against a block of wood on the top side of the carb body. Took about an hour of repositioning and winding the wire, but it finally came loose.
Thanks, adventurco! I read that on your turd thread but by that point I'd already gotten my carb cleaned up (timing). Anyway, I can use all the tips I can get so please keep them coming.
The route I took with my carb was a little different. I'd read about the Pine-Sol trick somewhere and wanted to give it a try. So I disassembled what I could and let it all soak for a few hours. The upper body discolored a little and there was still some varnish here and there, but the slide did free up and all the jets and float assembly came apart easily. My bottle of Pine-Sol had been sitting under the sink for at least 10 years, anyway, and watching the concoction turn milky white was worth the entertainment alone even if it didn't work to the magical extent the internets led me to believe might be possible.
There was another technique I'd read about and wanted to test, so next I went to Salvation Army and bought a used crock-pot for $2.50 (!). Then I cooked everything in a quart of antifreeze overnight.
The crock-pot seemed to work about as well as the Pine-Sol, which is to say, in the end I had to pull out the dental pick to scrape off the last bits of varnish and gasket gunk (but not a lot). Then I scrubbed everything one last time in a carb-cleaner bath before replacing the seals with a new Honda kit and reassembling. All the parts appear clean to the eye, for what that's worth, and the floats seem air-tight after a test. I have my fingers crossed.
By the way, crock-pots are normally $5 at my Salvation Army, but on Mondays all "electronics" are 50% off. I didn't know that and just got lucky. So try to go on a Monday.
Sweet. Crock pot is a good idea. I let the stuff soak in pinesol for 2-3 days...but my mix may be diluted with water, cant remember I've had it for a long time. It works well but the aluminum develops surface oxidization within a few hours so I usually clean it with solvent or hit it with WD-40 after.
I actually put the head on the turd in pinesol for a couple days....it took a lot of the carbon of the valve seats, go figure.
That's pretty cool it worked on the turd head. Besides the corrosion it seems that if a part is in close proximity to some material the Pine-Sol dissolves, that part may get coated in the material. Here's a shot of my upper carb body, for example. I'm not sure what that stuff is on the choke lever but I think it may be goo that melted off the float chamber gasket area (it was sitting right above it in the bath). BFD.
Who knows if I'll be able to get it working, but I'm happy to have the original Keihin this time and not a Chinese deal. The carb on the CL is doing the job but I tried getting in touch with "OEM" a dozen times via phone and email when I was having trouble and never heard a word back from them. Creeps. I'm still not sure that carb is 100%.
I made some new intake gaskets, too. The ones I bought NOS for the scrambler literally crumbled in my hands when I replaced its insulator. No more "NOS" gaskets from the trusted Honda dealer (or any gaskets I can't easily make myself).
(Sorry, I got distracted by my other bikes for a bit.)
So I've decided to leave this thing at my mom and dad's house while I work on it, partially because they have more space, but mostly because it makes my mom happy when I visit. Since I haven't been able to get up there recently, I set about cleaning up a bunch of stuff I pulled off the bike the last time I was there:
I was concerned about the pipe after dealing with the rust on the CL's. There was plenty of surface rust on the header but fortunately no holes. The diffuser remained rusted fast to the inside of the muffler, despite soaking in PB for days.
I didn't think it'd come out, but at the end of several sessions of scouring the rest of the pipe with a wire wheel, I heard a "clank" and it dropped to the floor next to me. That was a nice surprise.
I hammered the dents out of the heat shield and polished it with vinegar and aluminum foil. It cleaned up nicely! The hanger, boot-guard, diffuser, and rest of the pipe are ready to be painted, too.
I'm leaving the dents in the muffler, rather than trying to fix them. It might not look so hot after painting but I don't mind a few battle-scars (and I'm lazy).
Japanese airbox glue is no match for the heat gun!
I think I'll need to reinstall this thing once I get it cleaned and the rest of the airbox painted. Otherwise the filter is going to be kinda loosey-goosey on there.
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