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Black Friday - a red 1965 CB160

I just gave the first fork a wipe down, placed it in the plastic tube then filled the tube with Evaporust, it was really odd seeing it clean from the jug as badly as I'd dirtied it last time. The seals look shiny, young and still leak free. I took low resolution pics so they'd upload easily, I hope they're clear enough. I'll check back in a day or two at most & put the other in to soak.

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The seals you see there are actually the dust shields, the real seals are about halfway down inside the chrome seal housings which must be unscrewed from the lower legs to access them or to remove the long fork tubes. You can nudge those dust seals out with a tiny screwdriver in the holes around the tops of the chrome seal housings so you can look down inside at the seals. Also will allow the evaporust to work on the threads from that end.
 
I just gave the first fork a wipe down, placed it in the plastic tube then filled the tube with Evaporust, it was really odd seeing it clean from the jug as badly as I'd dirtied it last time. The seals look shiny, young and still leak free. I took low resolution pics so they'd upload easily, I hope they're clear enough. I'll check back in a day or two at most & put the other in to soak.

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Very innovative.
I like that last pic Alan;that light rust will all be removed.
 
Just spotted this NOS steel fork lower from Japan on Ebay, the other side is here too for a lower price if anyone needs them, I grabbed this photo so everyone who's never had one of these apart can see the threads as they looked when new, zooming in I count 14 threads.

CB160 fork threads - NOS ebay.jpg
 
Just spotted this NOS steel fork lower from Japan on Ebay, the other side is here too for a lower price if anyone needs them, I grabbed this photo so everyone who's never had one of these apart can see the threads as they looked when new, zooming in I count 14 threads.

They are pretty fine threads. I figured mine were stuck good and any pin type tool would either shear the pins or tear up the chrome seal housings, so I made the wood blocks. Glad I did. After you are done with the evaporust process, you'll need several soaks with PBblaster for sure.
 
They are pretty fine threads. I figured mine were stuck good and any pin type tool would either shear the pins or tear up the chrome seal housings, so I made the wood blocks. Glad I did. After you are done with the evaporust process, you'll need several soaks with PBblaster for sure.

On the Black Bomber in my garage I soaked those threads with penetrating oil every day for about a week, then secured the lower part of the shock in a vise, heated up the chrome cover with a heat gun on high, put on some rubber faced work gloves, grabbed on to the chrome cover and just about blew out an artery or two turning it. It worked. The gloves melted a little from the heat but I spent at least 10 minutes congratulating myself.
 
Very cool, I might try that.

It's been a busy week and I guess this fork has been soaking for 5 days now. I first noticed a bit of liquid had leaked from the 1mm vent hole on the bottom cap. The white silicone I'd sealed it with was leaking and there was a puddle under the pan beneath it.

I took out the first fork, drained the liquid from the tube & removed a little crap from the bottom. Then swapped the leaky end cap with the better one, placed the tube back in the pan like before, inserted the other fork and refilled with the same liquid, and topped it off a little from the jug.
I'll check it often for worry of all the liquid draining out.

I dried off the de-rusted fork and popped out the dust seal just as Ballbearian said, if both dust seals are this nice I'll reuse them.

I cleaned out the chrome tube with a paper towel then leaned the de-rusted fork next to the soak-tube & poured a little Evaporust in there, hopefully it'll do some good work in there, I'll top it off if any evaporates away.

A few crappy pics:

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Very cool, I might try that.

It's been a busy week and I guess this fork has been soaking for 5 days now. I first noticed a bit of liquid had leaked from the 1mm vent hole on the bottom cap. The white silicone I'd sealed it with was leaking and there was a puddle under the pan beneath it.

I took out the first fork, drained the liquid from the tube & removed a little crap from the bottom. Then swapped the leaky end cap with the better one, placed the tube back in the pan like before, inserted the other fork and refilled with the same liquid, and topped it off a little from the jug.
I'll check it often for worry of all the liquid draining out.

I dried off the de-rusted fork and popped out the dust seal just as Ballbearian said, if both dust seals are this nice I'll reuse them.

I cleaned out the chrome tube with a paper towel then leaned the de-rusted fork next to the soak-tube & poured a little Evaporust in there, hopefully it'll do some good work in there, I'll top it off if any evaporates away.

A few crappy pics:

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How has the Evaporust doing with the rust removal from what you see Alan ?
 
It's doing fine here too, I precleaned all of the parts before soaking them, I think that might give an advantage.
 
I took a look this morning, the soak tube is still holding without leaks. On the fork I'd soaked previously then removed the dust seal I topped off the chrome seal retainer tube with Evapo..... as it had leaked down 1/2", I don't think it's evaporating since there was a tiny bit in the pan under this fork.

Not sure if I'll get back to this today or not.
 
Today I took the 2nd of the two assembled forks out of its Evaporust soak, gave it a good soap & water rinse & dried it. Took a few photos and popped the dust seal out, stood both forks back up & filled the chrome seal tubes with fresh Evaporust again, I'll let that stuff do it's job for a while. I still think the seals are in good shape and I'm not gonna fight to get these forks apart. I'll just drain & fill with kerosene for a while, then drain & fill with fork oil and call them done. At that point I'll give them a coat of CorrosionX. There are some obvious spots where the original paint has flaked off, I'm tempted to repaint but if I paint one thing I'll have to paint everything, so no. I'll have to find a new clamp bolt and new drain bolts with crush washers.

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It may all work out just fine, even if it takes a few fill and drain cycles (with pumping in between). I get your paint/repaint considerations. I had similar rust and flaking issues but decided to paint the entire lowers and the middle shrouds too because I wanted to not have more than a few scratches or bare metal areas. I won't be bound by any rules of correctness but wanted it to look good to me as a machine that has been cared for but still preserves what original finish can be appreciated. For one, I painted the lower shrouds blue, as the bike was originally all white but had been two-toned with blue somewhere in it's past. I just took that a bit further and I like it. Still need to finish the front fender in blue but considering a white stripe(s).

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Alan, I haven’t caught up with this thread for quite awhile and very interesting process and system for the cleaning of the forks. They seem a totally different design than the 1968 CL175 sloper I restored a few years back. I don’t recall any threaded internal tubes, so just the old slide hammer trick for them to get apart.

I look forward to the finished bike and seeing it back on the road, as this really has been a labour of love.
 
Thank you. It'll sure be nice when I can settle into a shop again. Trying to accomplish things in a section of attic, back of my work van, crowded storage unit and the parking area behind my apartment is really helping me to set some priorities.

I'm planning a good coat or 2 of CorrosionX on these forks just like all of the other parts, they advertise 3 years of protection for exposed metal out in the elements. I think it'll be ok, ugly maybe but it'll be ok. I found a good deal on eBay for 6mm copper crush washers and bought them out. I figure if I'm not sticker-shocked it's a good deal, the days of 50 cent nuts and bolts are gone so 85 cents for a crush washer that fits every fork drain bolt on every Honda so equipped? I bought ten of them, I hope I'll be able to find them next time I need them.
 
Some free time today to make a little progress, I tapped 1/4-28 threads into both ends of the swingarm pivot (I'd previously drilled them out to 7/32") cleaned out the chips with brake cleaner then verified clean with cotton swabs before adding grease zerks with blue loctite.
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Thank's Man! It feels good to accomplish something that I've kinda been dreading...

Speaking of which, my next stop will be steering bearings, it's overkill but it's getting tapered rollers anyway.
 
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Nope, it's not any closer to be honest. Too many other priorities have been stealing my time since about last May. I'll update soon.
 
I'm rooting for you Alan. You'll have a roller pretty soon with all you've done. I should get my spare motor with the 2nd over pistons done in case you need it. :) You promised me ride, remember?

That reminds me, we both got winter trampoline seat rehupolstry projects to do.
 
Alan, good to hear as we almost sent out the "outhouse patrol" Just in case you had fallen in. ;)
 
I'm upgrading one of my storage units from a 10x10 to a 10x15, maybe I'll have some room to work on stuff?
 
I'm upgrading one of my storage units from a 10x10 to a 10x15, maybe I'll have some room to work on stuff?

It's tough regardless, when we moved to our current place almost 7 years ago the 26x36 detached garage looked cavernous... not so much now. Imagine if I'd kept the garage-find Harley, that thing took up 2 vintage bikes' space.
 
Side cars always seemed cool but for that reason, no way. I had an unused amazon gift card so I got one of those 8x8 tent garages to put over my tiny leveled garden plot so I could have more wiggle room when doing projects in the main garage. Some assembly required :eek:.

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You could put one bike in it or maybe two small bikes, but it would only be secure if it was on your own property. I was fortunate to get the detached garage but also two storage sheds behind it as well so all my lawn equipment isn't clogging up my garage space.
 
I finished moving from the 10x10 unit into the 10x15 for about $50 more/month. Now I've gotta find some plastic tubs or cardboard boxes to start sorting parts from one bike from parts for another. I've got a 73 CB750, 78 CB750, three 250 Nighthawks, and the CB160 that I'll need to get out of the attic before I begin reassembly.

I've also got some Royal Enfield stuff to keep track of that I'll be bringing to storage.
 
Sounds like you have your work cut out for you, but once you're done things will be a lot better of course. I just don't have the motivation to go to those lengths anymore, but fortunately most of my bikes are in one piece
 
That's a good point AD, I'm hoping to find out which bikes I'd like to keep long term and which I'll turn into spare cash.

There's a guy on Craigslist up here with a 2nd owner 77 CB750K, carbs are off, 45,000 miles and it hasn't run in decades. He's asking $4700 for it. I think I'll do ok for running bikes if I sell any.

Unfortunately that attic is cold, it stays above freezing, but its cold.
 
That's a good pinot AD, I'm hoping to find out which bikes I'd like to keep long term and which I'll turn into spare cash.

There's a guy on Craigslist up here with a 2nd owner 77 CB750K, carbs are off, 45,000 miles and it hasn't run in decades. He's asking $4700 for it. I think I'll do ok for running bikes if I sell any.

Unfortunately that attic is cold, it stays above freezing, but its cold.

Oh well, but probably a good sign for keeping the house warm efficiently.

Culling the herd is not something I've yet to master. Sounds like you have some motivation there.
 
Much to my amazement my Girlfriend just asked me to complete my CB750K8 so I can take her out riding 2-up this year.

First I'll need to complete 2 50cc scooters and the CB160, so watch this space!
 
Much to my amazement my Girlfriend just asked me to complete my CB750K8 so I can take her out riding 2-up this year.

First I'll need to complete 2 50cc scooters and the CB160, so watch this space!

Sounds like you have to ramp up the production line! :)
 
Yup time to get off the couch and accomplish things. One scooter is just a tune up, drive belt & tires, then I'll register it give it to my daughter. The other will need the same but may need some wiring & ignition switch tinkering. So far I'm $1200 into the pair having already bought parts for the 1st one.

The 160 at this point needs the forks flushed with kerosene, I'll replace seals only if necessary, then I'll go through carbs & clean out the tank, clean up the engine's exterior and check it over, get it assembled, running and titled. Thankfully I bought all of the parts I could need before this current bout of inflation hit, maybe I'll turn a profit? I also already bought most of the K8 parts, so there might not be lag time waiting on parts...
 
Glad to hear it and a new goal for motivation.

My original seals and dust seals haven't leaked at all and the 10wt. fork oil gives a good feel on the forks, now that I've ridden it for 190 miles.

Hope you get to ride it a bunch because it's a really fun bike, so light and maneuverable, pretty quick up to 70mph.
 
Thanks, I'm planning ATF in mine. I took a look while in a grocery store this afternoon, almost $7/qt for Citgo branded ATF?

Off to the dollar store I go.... they even have small bottles of DOT4 with date codes.
 
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