Newbie from Indiana

[woodgum]

Hi everyone, this is Vic, newbie from Indiana. I have a 1970 SL100 that's been languishing in the garage since I picked it up back in 2010, with the intent to learn about the machine by working on it. 5 years and 2 kids later, I finally found some time to work on it, learning a ton by lurking around DTT for a long time. Bad carb float, bad rectifier, minor wiring and cable issues... managed to get the engine to fire up now
Although it still takes a dozen kick or so... idle a little erratically but can't seem to find any vacuum leak, and a shot of starting fluid will make it choke (doesn't that mean that I have a good mix?). But, just thrill as well to see the darn thing running. Any idea what else to check to get it to run better?

The bike still has probably the original Nitto 2.75 x 19 front tire and a non-DOT 3.5 x 17 rear tires. I've read that many CB100 folks run the gazelle 3.0 x 17 tires with not much complains. Probably a stupid question, but is this something I can do on the SL100 as well? If not, what are the best options for me. At this point, I just want to make this a functional run-about town bike.

 

[mark13018]

Welcome!! There's a few of us on here from Indiana...

You can run gazelles, I have before on my old cb200 and about to put them on my new cb200. They're perfect.

As far as your bike running, do you check point gap and dwell? Timing? Compression?

 

[whynot]

Welcome from Georgia.

Nice looking little 100.

 

[woodgum]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I've been lurking around DTT so much that I feel I already knew some of the folks here.

hey mark, so, a 3x17 gazelle for the rear, what about the front? I don't see any 2.75x19 gazelles. I probably should replace the inner tube as well, is there any particular size/type that I should be getting.. :-[

Have not check any of the point, timing and compression yet, but I'll look into that next. For learning sake, can you elaborate as to how each of those affect the way the engine runs, or symptoms if they are not tuned properly?

 

[woodgum]

One other thing, I attempted to check the points but one of the screws on the cover is seized, and felt like it was gonna strip so I quit.

Any tips on how to get the seized screws out? The screws on the right crankcase are behaving the same way too.

 

[coyote13]

Get yourself a set of JIS tip screwdrivers, Honda did not use standard Philips head screws in the 70's

I've found that an impact driver usually works well enough, but I don't think you want go that route on the points

Oh and welcome aboard. I have a little cb100 I tinker with sporadically, basically the same as your sl. There aren't a ton of resources online but the manual is free in PDF format, you should be angle to find it through a quick google. Definitely a necessity if you don't have one

 

[mark13018]

Just get the closest size tire you can. Same with inner tube...

You may want to try to find the PDF factory service manual for your model and it will walk you through a lot of the general maintenance and adjustments you are wanting to look into...

I'm not sure how the points base is but you provably don't want to use a manual hammer type impact. I use a battery operated impact for almost everything... It gets all case, engine, control/switch, locks, seat hinges, etc. Phillips heads which strip easily and I haven't stripped one in a long time... You can get JIS tips for impacts, both powered and manual, as well as just basic hand screwdrivers. While there's a huge debate weather the screwdrivers are even made with JIS standards anymore is debatable but a good quality screwdriver is always nice... Personally I like the vessel set that's red with the rubber grips... Too bad I left my #2 at the junk yard awhile back. FML. Lol.

 

[woodgum]

Thanks for the quick response.

Yup, I have the PDF service manual, which helps alot for sure... studying like my life depends on it.

Believe it or not, the bike came with the original service tool kit, with the HM logo on it. I supposed those are JIS? I was using that and it seems to fit very well, but I just can't turn the darn thing. Maybe I'm just not strong enough. :
I'll try to get my hands on a battery operated impact and go from there...

Just wanting to get it road worthy as I count down to the days when I get my court-ordered title...

 

[woodgum]

Engine wouldn't start... Checked spark plug and it was a little wet. Checked compression with finger over the port and got a nice pop and feels warm so I think it's good.
Proceed to remove carb bowl only to find rust dust accumulated in the bottom. Is that normal? I do have an inline fuel filter because I know that there's gonna be rust in the tank.

Put the bowl back fuel started overflowing. Not sure where I screwed up.
So I went ahead and took off the carb and clean the whole thing even though it's a new carb that I got from wincycles. Everyone seems to have good things to say about them, so I'm OK with that. While I'm at it, Decided to go ahead and lube the throttle cable with WD-40 since it was a little sticky. The difference was like night and day, so definitely worth while exercise. Also, I realized that the throttle cable was set such that the needle was sitting a little high in the carb... I wonder if that's why it was idling high.

Clean and oiled the air filter Also rerouted the cables as I didn't like that the clutch cable running down the right side along the throttle cable. Had to remove the fuel tank as well and zip tie those cable in place.

Before today, I had set the air screw on the carb to only like a quarter turn from the bottom otherwise it would idle really high even though I couldn't find any vacuum leak. But since I cleaned everything and adjusted the throttle cable, I thought I'd set it back to 1.5 turn, just for shits and giggles.

Kicked it.. Nothing! Removed plug.. It was wet.. Probably from the flooding before. Clean it dry it, put it back in... Kicked it twice and it started and idle with this nice little rumble that I've never heard of prior to this. It was sweet music to my ears. I actually played with the air screw a little and turned it maybe another 1/8 turn out, sounded maybe a bit better, but will have to check again later.

To think that all I was trying to do earlier was just to take it out for a little spin and now 4 hours of tinkering later, boy am I glad I did it.
And the little sl seems to appreciate it too. ;D

 

[woodgum]

Hey guys, I have a question/problem that you guys can problem answer.

I'm able to shift through all the gears on the sl but it takes me several tries to get into the neutral. What could be the problem?

 

[adventurco]

Neutral can be touchy on a lot of motorcycles. Sometimes I have to roll the 360 a bit in gear to get it to pop into neutral (with engine off) I usually never shift into neutral while riding. Try letting the clutch out a bit until it starts to creep, clutch in again and then try neutral. Glad to hear you got her running well. I try to stay away from the inline fuel filters when possible, but if you arent keen on cleaning the tank it shouldn't be a big deal.