Cleaning it up and putting it back together

[Griff]

Based on the advice good advice from the forum members here I decided to clean up the motor real nice before reassembling it. I also wanted to bring the good, smooth clutch feel back.

I can NOT believe how much crap was in that clutch/cam lever assembly! I'm also surprised at the poor design of putting the clutch push rod an inch from the chain where it collects all the gross fling off...it was caked with junk.

So a couple hours with a Dremal with a brush adapter, a couple cans of engine degreaser and lots of paper towels I got it to this point today (I'll do a bit more tonight to make it perfect).

The cylinders are coming back this week (.25 over). The head will too. It was ultrasonically cleaned and pressure tested and it was fine with a light lapping.

Gotta find a good quality engine gasket set now (any ideas/leads?).

[Spokes]

Talking gaskets should be fun. You should get alot of opinions. But here are mine, based on rebuilding the exact engine.

A set from an Asian source in the mid price range works. Pay less usually means thinner. I have one gasket that I have custom cut thicker, and that is the right side case gasket (clutch basket side) I have it made about twice as thick.

Another part of the gasket set is the "o" ring set for the rocker covers, and a tiny "o"ring that fits in the engine head. The ones you will get will leak after a short while.

Replace all of the "o" rings with an exact set of VITON "o" rings. They cost me $3.50 ea. But keep their seal under heat.

I actually have a set for that engine, but they are my "copy" set and custom cut would be 3 times as expensive as the asian ones. (4 times including the viton rings)

Don't forget the engine oil seals. Remember what you saw when degreasing the clutch parts? Well the same grime wears out the engine seals. Buy the seals from the Honda dealer. They are 91206-200-000 clutch push rod seal +91204-200-00 Shift fork seal and sprocket seal 91202-200-000

Don't forget to get these seals as well: 91305-202-010 + 91201-201-000 and 91207-201-010 (all of these numbers will be superseded) These seals are found in your flywheel stator housing and starter sprocket. Very important, it keeps oil out of your stator housing.

Additional advice will comes in, there are alot of quality seal materials that you apply from a tube. If you go this route, always follow instructions exactly.

Last but not least, make sure the head gasket has a metal ring around the bores.

Oh, use a nice synthetic grease in your clutch mechanism. I use aircraft grease.....but that's way overboard.

[Spokes]

One more suggestion.
Since the engine will be refreshed and riding the bike around town is the goal, you may want to take advantage of this time with the engine removed..to check your front and rear wheel bearings.

Both front and back bearings most likely have old and hard grease. This will wear out the bearings fast and cause the bike to wobble.

It would be well worth the effort to get new wheel bearing seals, clean the bearings and relube them. When your ready (should you want to do this part) let me know. I have a mechanics "trick" to remove the wheel bearings from these old Honda wheel hubs. Maybe I will start a thread on this procedure....

You also have 4 rubber dampeners that the resr sprocket hub fits into. These are most likely dry if original. Replacing them would be a good thing to do.

[Smithers]

Very nice looking engine. Minimal corrosion and it seems like everything came apart nice and easy. I was bringing my Benly back from the grave compared to your engine. It seems like you are just freshening yours up. Yeah those clutch actuator assemblies get slimed bad with grease and chain grime but maybe it was designed that way to stay lubricated no matter what. hehe. You never know. Wheel bearings are important as you can never ever tell it they have corrosion inside them or any grease for that matter, after they have sat so long. I just had a new front tire put on my front wheel of my streetbike and I found out that the bearings need to be replaced ASAP. You can barely hear them making clicking noises but upon closer inspection they are trashed. The good news is that bearings are cheap. I need to inspect my old Honda bearings as well the next time I put tires on her.

[Griff]

I think I'll head over to the dealer and see if I can order these seals tonight. Might as well do it now that the motor is apart.

The wheel bearings on mine feel fine but as you noted they could be/or get toasted upon riding it more. Is it easier to just replace them entirely? Where should I look for those?

Also, does anyone make a vintage looking white wall tire for these anymore?

[Spokes]

You can get 1-1/2 wide white wall tires for your bike at www.universaltire.com out of Hershey PA. They are 3.25 x 16 Firestones(standard tire is 3.00 x 16) You can get away with .25 larger tire. They run $117.00 ea. You can get the Coker tire as well (I think www.coker.com)

Or if you just want new tires, the best place is good ole' JC Whitney at around $35.00 (ho hum blackwalls)

Your bike with 1-1/2" wide whitewalls would be a drop dead head turner.

The wheel bearings. Look closely at the side of the bearing, you will see a name and a size. Search for that brand name and or the bearing size on-line.

You will most likely find sealed bearings, as I did. I found mine in England, if you have trouble, try Bearings Inc. or a source of Timken brand bearings. If you still have trouble I will go through my papers and find my source.

I installed sealed bearings with absolutly no issue...free of dirt and water, they can last 1000's of miles. But if you want to grease your bearings, just remove the seals and you will have open greasable bearing. Buy the wheel hub seals even though you may have chosen the sealed bearings, just to complete the assembly as designed.

See my thread on removing the bearings from the hub.

Your bearings may be fine if they are absolutly free of rust. If the ball bearings, the outer race, or the inner race has rust, it's time to replace them.

Lesson: The ball bearings and bearing race surfaces have been hardened. If rust has pitted through the hardened surface, the bearing will begin to wear out fast. In my past I have been in the Timken Bearing factory, on the production floor, in Ohio, many times and have witnessed their process.

Rust on or in bearings, roller or ball=bad news

[Griff]

So are these things any good?


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda...Q5fAccessories

Going to do the final assembly in a coupe weeks.

Hey Spokes, I think I bought a CA95 gasket off of you on Ebay a few weeks back (the custom made thick one) it was very nice and fit perfect.

[Spokes]

Yes you did! Thanks!
The gasket set in question is trash. But, that is the set that I bought and now use as a patterns for my rebuilds.

If you buy it. You need to upgrade all of the "o" rings to the Viton material. The ones they supply will fail under heat...I know this for a fact..LOL..sniff.

There is one "o" ring that fits the oil return drain between the cylinder head and the cylinder. The one in this kit will fail, and you will have to tear down the upper half of the cylinder to replace it. - Again get a Viton replacement or buy from Honda direct. You see, Honda suppliers have to build parts to Honda specs, Non Honda suppliers can sell you crap.

The other gasket in the kit you will need to have made is the one that fits between the engine and the stator housing.

So if you want the gasket kit in question, then you will need to do the above.

The head gasket is crap. Try to get one from Honda.

[Griff]

That's what I thought, but I didn't realize some of these parts were also available from Honda still.

Are the O Rings still available from them? If not, do you have the Viton part numbers and source info to buy them from?

Also, does anyone have the part numbers/source for replacement high quality wheel bearings? Might as well upgrade them now, new white walls are coming next week too...

[Spokes]

Ok. Here's your info. I will update my creative parts sourcing thread with the same info.

The "o" ring that fits between the cylinder and the head that seals the oil passage is part# 91301-200-000 it can be found at www.cmsl.com in the Netherlands. They take PayPal. The "o" ring size is: 10 x 1.6 .

The Tappet "o" rings (Viton) I get from Bowling Green Rubber & Gasket. the part# is oring-3.0X30-V70 (a year ago they cost $3.50 ea) Send me a private message, so if you want to order tell them...........sent you. They know me well.

The rear wheel bearings-sealed type, can be found at www.simplybearings.co.uk (England)
Because I purchase more than one set of bearings, and it was two years ago, I can't tell which bearing fit the CA95 so when you pull the bearings, read the side of the outer race. You will have 3 rear bearings, 2 for wheel the hub and 1 for the sprocket hub.

I found this place to be the best for bearings. Read the two front ones as well. These guys will match the seals as well. The seals will have a size and code.