I recommend that after you do the corrosive rust removal and metal prep scours that you take it into a dark room with a flashing light and shine it in the tank and look for pin holes and address those. Masking tape works if they are small and you do it before the liner. I had a dog of a time learning this in hindsight! Still, it is all done! I sped up drying with a blower on low, so I could body work the outside (light sand) to ready for another coat of primer. After 96 hours I will do a fluid leak check.
At any rate, it is looking pretty good and I can always buy a different one later.
Next I finished cleaning the engine and other aluminum exterior parts. I used the corrosive fluid from the gas tank treatment for the small parts which turned the aluminum a dark grey and a brass brush cleaned it right up. A lot easier that just using the aluminum wheel cleaner. And oh by the way, avoid the paste kind. It creates a real mess and a ride in the dishwasher, as some suggest, is just more work. I'd do the whole thing in that corrosive treatment, whatever it is. I cleaned all corrosion and oil in a hurry, and polished up pretty good, pretty quick with a brass brush.
One thing I worked on cleaning was the fuel petcock. One of my passages was completely clogged and the main one was partially.
I tried using a pick to clean it out, but only helped out the main path. I then got a drill bit just smaller than the size of the holes and carefully drilled into the holes, looking in the opposite side for sign the drill bit was there. This worked marvelously. My clogged line was clogged about an inch in the side direction and 1/2 inch in the other. I could tell when I was to the end of the clog and was at metal. Go slow!!!
I did all other directions I could and got the main one blowing through freely!
Today I also worked on this jigsaw puzzle my son left me in buckets of parts of completely stripped down engine stuff. He took pictures but has not been able to get them to me due to phone issues, but with the manual, picks of others online (Gords Garage in particular http://gordsgarage.wordpress.com/tag/engine-rebuild/), and my sense of how things work, I have it pretty much figured out.
Unfortunately I broke a ring rearranging them like the machine shop told me (square one top, number up. silver one that has the edges rounded a tad in the middle and then I had the oil ring in the right place as there is no other way to do it). So, $50 and a week later, I will be able to continue. :(
I will post pics of the assembly process with any observations as I go. I am still going to do the lower end and tranny and anything else I can as I wait. I have it dry assembled now and will finalize gasket prep and get going tomorrow night or this weekend sometime.
I have another list of parts to buy in addition to the rings - new foot peg rubber, and replacement tank emblem (one was off a different Honda bike - an S90), a new gas cap and a petcock rebuild kit. I also need spark plugs and wires, but I am not ready to figure that out yet. I am trusting all the electronics will work, so we will see where I am at with that when it is back together and go to start it!! Points look okay as does wiring, so it should run, but may need to be kick started.
Anyway, that is enough for tonight.
Dan
