3rd Letter from Dave

The CBX story part 2

Because I did not have a history of the CBX my first job was to get the bike as near as possible to running condition. I fitted a drive chain so I could ride the bike for a short distance to check the clutch and gear box, these where ok.

As I said before the engine sounded ok and was not burning any oil, but there was a small oil leak at the cylinder head joint.
I then checked the charging system, to my disappointment the battery was not being charged. During this testing a small amount of petrol was leaking from the back of the tank ( a common fault I'm told ).
Both front and back brakes worked and there was no brake fluid leaks. The back suspension worked ok as did the front, but the front forks were slightly pitted, but they still held air pressure.
I now had a good idea of the main faults to look at as the bike was stripped.

The Honda stripped down easily, and I took a few photograph while I was doing this in case I had problems when I was putting the bike together, especially the wiring, a few photographs are a great help when you have forgot which way the wires run around the frame. Quite soon I was left with just a frame with an engine in it, the way I take out engines is as follows, lay some old clothing down on the ground and then lay the bike on it's right hand side on top of clothing then take out all the engine bolts and lift the frame off the engine!

I started on the wheels first, I'd heard bad things about CBX brakes, but provided you accept it not going to be a quick job and give yourself plenty of time the brakes are no problem. The brake pads were quite worn so these had to be changed, luckily while I was at a classic bike show I found a company in Scotland that sell a complete set of EBC brake pads for less than 320 pounds. The brake parts were then cleaned and painted ready for assembly.

To be continued .................................

Yasu, how do you find my English, let me know if you have any problems and I'll correct it.
Sayonara

Dave

[ Next letter ]

Dave Head
headd@agrevo.com