Took the 450 for a spin!! After 14yrs.!!!

[Snorebaby]

Put the seat and gas tank on her today....she rides good! I didn't realize how much I missed it!! Put 3.2miles on her (kinda chilly ride). Went around the 'hood a few times. Definately have to do some tune-up work. The valves clearances need to be checked, then the carbs need to be synced, then the idle speed needs to be set, and the chain needs lubed and tightened. Other than cleaning, new T/S and maybe new tires, she's ready to rumble. I like the footpeg mod that I done. Really helps the ride for me.

It was good to be back in the saddle again!! Now for warmer weather!!!

[Edit]
Can't believe the deal I got today on an '86 CMX450 Factory Service Manual. I got it for $8.25 (shipping included) on ebay. And I got outbid on one this past Saturday on ebay that went for $25.50 (Shipping included). All this in one day!!!

[cTc]

just like a tank, you cant kill'em.

You are in good shape to be full force riding by spring.

[GearJammer]

Absolutely agree...

A little fine tuning & you're there, Brother!

Also an EXCELLENT score on the OEM Service Manual! Your kharma must be good right now, either that or I sent a tad too much magic dust your way, but go with it, LMAO!

[GearJammer]

Yo, Snorey...Any up-dates ? Have you gotten that sled back on the road & having too much fun to post or what ? :wink:

[Snorebaby]

Hey GJ!! No good updates yet....had some miserable weather lately and I have been working when it was nice :( . Have not been able to get a tach to set the carbs and idle speed and the carb synch will have to wait for a couple of more weeks (had to pay the deposit on my daughter's school for next year). I have a friend who is good friends with a motorcycle mechanic. He is going to talk to him and find out if he would either have something for me to do it with (or suggest a product) or do it for me at a reduced rate. I prefer to do it myself but if it is cheaper for him to do it than it would be for me to buy the tach and synch right now I will do that and buy the equipment later.

Been cranking and cleaning it. Almost cosmetically ready for the road. Gotta order the new lights even though I will probably run the old ones for now until I get the new ones in. I also have to re-register it and get a new tag. I gotta feeling it is gonna be a little expensive since I haven't registered it since 1991. At work we are getting ready to start up again so I will be able to get some OT to help with the expenses. The new T/S will cost me around $115.00 for all four. The ones I want are the round T/S that replace the 1988-1997 Shadow's. About $28-$30 apiece with shipping. K&S lights 25-1061, 25-1062, 25-1063, 25-1064. Going Friday to see if the Honda shop is cheaper. I've seen them there and I think they were $21.95 each. Can't remember.

So money has been tight and the weather has not really cooperated with me. Hell, I haven't even played golf since the beginning of Jan. I am a member and it is free when I walk. And the course is only 3 miles from the house!! :cry:

[GearJammer]

Bummer. The weather has been pretty knarly here, too. Friggin' COLD & often windy, but some days we just bundle up & go for it! :wink:

That's very cool that your friend has someone who might be able to dial in those carbs for ya! It can be a PITA, but a piece of cake for a wrench who does it all the time. Just for reference sake, before I tore down the duals on the OL's CL175, the indie shop wrench told me that if they did it, it would cost $50 per hr. & probably take them 3 hrs. for $150 total....I decided to do it myself, LMAO! BUT, if this guy gives you a decent price break, it might be well worth it this one time.

The lights are something you can do on a more leisurely basis, yes ? Up-grade when you have the extra cash, etc. ? I hear ya about the back-fees on registration. The OL let her VW lapse for several years & nearly had a fit when they told her about back-fees! LMAO! (Actually, it wasn't ridiculously bad :wink: )

Try to keep your spirits up. Spring is on it's way! Winter can't hang around for very much longer.....it's against the law! LOL!

[Snorebaby]

Well things are looking up again!!! 8) Had some stock to sell and will get the check next week. So that means the upgrades and necessities are on track again. First thing is to check on the reg. fees! :cry: I am keeping my fingers crossed and with some magic dust hopefully it won't cost me too much. I was registered in one county originally and now I will be registering in another. Maybe I can convnce them that it was, say, :wink: a blown motor that I had to repair and couldn't ride it and had to unregister it because I took the insurance off it and it took this long to repair ? :wink: If anyone can help me with some suggestions LMAO!!!!

Hopefully by the end of March it will be totally road worthy.
CTC, I may be up sooner than I planned for the LED's :lol:

[cTc]

Ahh you play the stock game too? Cool, I have a few dollars tied up there, I actually made a fair amount the first week of the year, so I took a little off the top and have hoped things would stay on the same level, but this week has been bad for my stocks, they look like they are trying to bottom out :lol:

Looks like you'll be on the road soon.

Refresh my memory on the rebel decals when you get a chance, I want to make sure I have the right sizes, I'll be cutting a whole roll of silver over the next 3 days.

Give me a few days heads up on the LED's so I can make sure I have the color you want. Got 8 sets on wednsday, have sold 5 and put 3 since then.

[Snorebaby]

Don't really play the game....it is company stock that they have given us over the years. I don't know enough or have enough money to buy and sell and feel comfortable about it. :shock:

Here are the specs for the lettering:

The font for the front is bold Georgia and 1.5" high and single spaced R E B E L

The sides font is bold Cleopatra (or similar) 450 (no spacing) and .5" high.

The examples are in :arrow: Cool Mods :arrow: Rebel 450 Light Bar :arrow: page 2

I need (2) 450's and (1) REBEL
(I always wanted a reason to use those arrow's LMAO!!)

I have also made another one that is a little lighter (still stainless, just thinner material). I made this one where the lights are in the middle and there is no room for the 450 decals on the side. Not sure if I am gonna chrome it or polish it yet. Been debating on it.

The LED's will be a little while longer...probably when the weather warms up a bit. I am debating on the purple and ocean green. I will let ya know.

Thanks again for the lettering!!

[GearJammer]

*scooter tramp casually passing by, tossing handfulls of magic dust, a little here, a little there, a little more over here*........ :lol:

[Snorebaby]

Just an update.

Been doing a little cleaning and probably gonna take it to the wrench to have it tuned....my friend said the wrench would do it for $40-$50. :)

Gonna be busy this weekend and gotta work OT Monday and Tuesday so that don't leave much time. Also I got my lights I wanted on Ebay. Brand new round T/S for $46 total. They gotta come from Hong Kong :shock: so it will be a couple of weeks before I get them. But I saved at least $40. Boy, that magic dust really helps!! As soon as my stock check comes in I am gonna order my windshield and some mirrors. They are coming from JC Whitney.

Also gonna order some tires. Looking at a couple of different ones. Think I am gonna order the Dunlop D404's. Front and Rear so I will have a matching set. A nephew is in the wholesale car tire business and he knows someone local who sells M/C tires wholesale. Gonna call him this week to get his name and number and see what kinda tires they have and deal they can give me. Maybe some more magic dust?! (I think I may be getting addicted to that stuff :lol: )

[GearJammer]

hehehe......"WARNING: Overuse of magic dust can be habit-forming, but if you're also addicted to riding, all side effects can be safely ignored"

Snorey, that price of $40-$50 for a tune-up is a smokin' deal! Go for it, Brother! Just having those carbs dialed in would be worth it & allow you the piece of mind for a good many miles! :wink:

Great news about the lights, windshield & tires. At least those items can be done at your leisure...between healthy doses of saddle-time.

[Snorebaby]

"WARNING: Overuse of magic dust can be habit-forming, but if you're also addicted to riding, all side effects can be safely ignored" ROTFLMAO!!!

That's right --- I am addicted to both and I ain't gonna go to rehab!! :shock:

Rode her today around the 'hood to warm her up and changed the oil. Then rode her some more around the 'hood. (I can't get on the main road as she is not registered, the tires are ORIGINAL and I have no helmet that will fit :roll: .) She was shifting better and I could actually get her in neutral without any problems. Sure is amazing what new clean oil will do!!! Put about 5 miles on her. Many trips around the block LOL!! It felt so good!!! I told the wife that the more I rode her the better it felt!! :wink: Just can't wait to get the new tires on and the carbs done!!

[GearJammer]

Snorey wrote: "That's right --- I am addicted to both and I ain't gonna go to rehab!!"...ROTFLMAO!!!! That's the spirit! We gots our priorities!

Nothing wrong with around the block for the time being & I'm sure I'd do the same under the same circumstances. Good news is that she's running & rideable & sounds like you'll be improving that situation even more in the near future.

Hey! You can find Neutral ? I'm jealous! LMAO! Most times, I have to turn the bike off & THEN ease her into Neutral. Whatever works! :wink:

[Snorebaby]

Another Update:

I checked the valves. Only the left side exhaust valve was out of tolerance. It was pretty easy to fix. Getting the cover off was another story!! I never really got it off, just moved it out of my way to check the valves. The only thing I could think of to get the cover off was to drop the engine a little and I didn't do it as I didn't need to to do the job because I could get to the only one that was needing adustment.

Tightened the chain. That was easy also.

While I had the tank off, I put worm drive hose clamps on the fuel filter. I only had wire twisted on it. Now I can change the filter without taking the tank off. I definetly will have to do that after a couple more tanks of gas as there is sediment from the tank starting to settle in the filter. Guess I didn't clean it as good as I thought I did. Good thing I put a filter on the fuel line. :wink:

I had bought some shock bolts on ebay a little while back. They were in better shape than mine. Mine had rust on them. These cleaned up pretty good and decided to use them. I think I am gonna sand blast my old ones and have them re-chromed.

When I get my T/S's in I will take a pic and post it. They should be here in a couple of weeks--they are coming from Hong Kong. :shock:

I have spots on my seat and can't seem to get rid of them. I have used Simple Green and a scrubber pad and that don't seem to work. Haven't tried leather/vinyl cleaner yet. Will do that later this week. They are not noticable when the seat is wet :? Guess it could be mildew from it sitting so long even though it was in a garage.

[GearJammer]

You've been keeping productively busy, Snorey...way to go! :wink:

Haven't removed the valve cover on mine yet, but will have to see if there's a way to remove it when finally getting to it. But you got the valves adjusted & that's the important thing.

Those in-line fuel filters are worth their weight in gold, no doubt about it! :D

Depending on the amount & depth of rust, sometimes good ol' Brillo Pads will clean items off pretty well. I dip the parts in hot, soapy water, scrub with Brillo Pads, then rinse in clean water. If that doesn't do it, sandblasting/rechroming could work, altho' new bolts might be cheaper than rechroming ? I dunno...

Both leather & vinyl are porous & can absorb matter we don't want on the surface & as you noted, mildew can also form. Please be careful with Simple Green, that stuff is potent. Also avoid any petroleum-based cleansers as they can remove the top surface of the leather/vinyl.

You might try moisterizing soap (like Dove) & water, using a soft bristle brush to aid in scrubbing. If that does the trick, then once dry, you can apply the leather/vinyl protectant of your choice. I like Armorall, but you probably know the score about a fresh coat of Armorall & unsuspecting passengers while the bike is moving at speed, LMAO!

[Snorebaby]

Thanks GJ!

I hope it is easier for you to remove the cover than it was for me. Clymers said to remove the bolts and roll the cover forward and pull it out either side. Yeah Right!! :P

The bolts are a lost cause in cleaning. The used bolts that I put in look pretty good (ALOT better than mine) and I can send mine to the chromer with a friends shipment to him, so the cost is minimal. They are $33 each (+ shipping) at www.crochrocket.com

The chain guard on the other hand is something to try to save. It mostly looks good but has some stubborn rust/dirt on it that I am going to try to remove. A new one is about $90 :( I can get some powerful stuff at work called CIP100. Full strength it will burn your skin and remove hair off your arms :shock: (Trust me LOL!!).

I don't know what CIP100 will do to the seat. Not sure I am going to try it on that. Will see if I can find some good leather/vinyl cleaner to use on it. May have them recovered if I can't clean them. Really would like to get them clean, physically they are in great shape with no tears or cuts.

Yeah, I know what Armorall will do to a passenger LOL!! I had a truck with a vinyl bench seat and used it on that one time. My wife would sit next to me and I took a corner rather sharp and she ended up next to the passenger door ROTFLMAO!!!! When we got back to the house, she made me clean the seat with alcohol to remove the Armorall!!

[GearJammer]

Oh yes, the manuals oftentimes make it sound like a piece of cake to do whatever, but it could be that some of the info in manuals was written by someone who doesn't wrench on a bike or even ride, hehehe (teasing, but I've seen those "just do it this way" advice in manuals & thought the same as you, "Yeah, right!" LOL!

Good deal on the chroming as long as you've got an "in" for the lesser expense. The chainguard might be another good candidate for a trip to the rechromer's, eh ? My choice usually boils down to have it rechromed, run it as is or black it out with rattle-can. "When in doubt, black it out" :wink: but can respect that that may not be an option as you seem to be keeping her pretty much on the stock side, which is obviously cool.

Just another option for consideration: Take the shock mounting bolts to a good hardware store & try to match 'em with new stainless ones, probably $1 & change per bolt ? "


Snorey wrote: "Yeah, I know what Armorall will do to a passenger LOL!! I had a truck with a vinyl bench seat and used it on that one time. My wife would sit next to me and I took a corner rather sharp and she ended up next to the passenger door ROTFLMAO!!!! When we got back to the house, she made me clean the seat with alcohol to remove the Armorall!!"....ROTFLMAO! This cracked me up! :lol: :lol: :lol: Kind of like a "Slip 'N Slide" on wheels! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

[Snorebaby]

GJ, the bolts are the ones that the upper shock tower slides over that is connected to the rear fender rail.

I am gonna replace the rusted bolts with Stainless Allen Head Cap bolts as I go along. They are "free", courtesy of the company I work for LOL!!

I am gonna try to clean my chain gaurd and if not able to do it, I will probably have it rechromed. It has a hard rubber piece riveted to the top inside of the gaurd, to protect it from the chain, that will have to be removed and re-riveted after chroming.

I am gonna have to order my tires. So I am gonna wait to do the carbs and have the tires put on at the same time. Right now I have to trailer it to the shop 'cuz it ain't registered yet and I don't trust the tires that are on it to get me there. They are only good enough to take me around the 'hood LOL!! Gonna check this week and see what the charge is to re-register it. Will have to have insurance on it first. That will only be about $100 yr. so that is not a problem. Just hope they don't cut me a new one to register it. I figure by the end of March or mid April it should be on the road and I will be accumulating saddle time. :D

[GearJammer]

"I am gonna replace the rusted bolts with Stainless Allen Head Cap bolts as I go along. They are "free", courtesy of the company I work for LOL!!"......hehehe....the ol' company perks, eh ? ROTFLMAO!!!! Stainless Allen Heads will definitely rock! Have checked out several new H-D 883's (other rider's bikes, not in the showroom, LOL!) & was impressed to see all of the allen head hardware on 'em. Really sweetens up the look & are totally practical/functional.

Man, with the new T/S's, new rubber, up-grading the hardware, rechroming, etc. you're really sprucing her up! Far out! Owner involvement, that's where it's at, Brother.

Yep, insurance is reasonable on these older Rebels & that's a definite plus. Paying just under $10 per month here.

When I'd first acquired the 250cc Rebel, the front tire had sidewall cracks, but the tread surface was still good, so I continued to run 'em for awhile without much worry. But once the sidewall cracks started to introduce themselves to one another, I figured it was time to stop tempting fate & put a new tire on, LMAO!

Snorey wrote: "I figure by the end of March or mid April it should be on the road and I will be accumulating saddle time".....YES! You're getting closer all the time & the weather should be ideal by then. Right on!

[Snorebaby]

Another Update:

Well the ball is rolling. I called the DMV to find out how much my registration will cost. It is not bad at $62.87 to do it today and then in May I will have to pay $31.85 (my normal time to pay my vehicles taxes). All I need is proof of insurance. It is only $87.00/yr thru Progressive. Ordered my tires for $116.70 (that includes shipping). Ordered my windshield and mirrors (and a couple of Do-Wraps for the ol' noggin') from JCW for $142.95. Tires and windshield should be here the end of next week and then I will have to have the carbs adjusted and tires put on. Figure that should run me 'tween $100-$150.

The only other things to have done is the custom paint and the sissybar. Also gonna get a tank bib and some LED's for it later. I have the graphics for the paint and a old friend of the wifes is gonna do it for me. He does it for a living and said he would cut me a good deal. I haven't gotten with him yet on the details and showed him the graphics. Will do that in a couple of weeks. I would love to find an original Honda sissybar for it. The T/S's I ordered should be here the end of next week also.

So it won't be long till I'm on the road. Gonna be a little more money than originally expected :( . But I am still within budget :).

[GearJammer]

Hey, you're cookin' with gas now, LMAO! Excellent prices on everything you've listed here.

You're really doing this one up right, Brother & you'll be very happy with the results of your labor. Keep going for it as the timing sure seems about right. Spring is just around the corner! :wink:

[Snorebaby]

Again -- Another Update!!

As I am writing this I am waiting on FedEx to deliver my windshield and mirrors. Depending on what time it gets here, I will either put the WS on today or tomorrow. Wanna take my time and do it right.

Just payed for my insurance coverage and will go today to get my tag and register it!!

Called about my tires and they should be delivered on the 21st. Once I get them I will take it to the shop to have the carbs done and tires put on.

I expect the T/S's sometime this week also.

Now I need to go to the Honda shop and try on some helmets to see what I like that fits. Gonna get a half helmet right now (any brand suggestions?). Will buy a full face later.

I am so excited, like a kid at christmas time!!!! Can't wait to be able to take her for a long ride!!

I have been thinking about saddle bags. Anyone have suggestions for the 450 that they like/dislike and any brackets that need to be installed? I am gonna start a new topic on the Saddle Bags here in the Honda Rebel Room.

[Snorebaby]

Another Update---

Well I got my tires in last night and called the indie shop (Adrenaline Cycles in Aiken, S.C.) about doing the carbs and mounting the tires. They will do it for about $100. They are busy this coming week so I am gonna take it to them Friday the 24th and they will have it the following week ( I am working days that week and won't be able to pick it up 'til April 1st).

Then I will be hell on wheels!!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!! I'll definately be keeping the road hot!!!

[GearJammer]

Far out, Snorey! That price is ridiculously GOOD! We got quoted $300 for cleaning/rebuilding & syncing dual carbs on a CL175 (the OL's) That was for carbs alone, no tire changing, so you're in REAL good shape there! :wink:

You're no doubt psyched out for having her on the road again & racking up some enjoyable miles, as it should be. Good luck & please keep us posted! :wink:

[Snorebaby]

Thanks GJ!!

I will be doing many miles soon!!

A little side note -- The wife and I were talking the day I registered it and this statement came out of her mouth (and I quote):

"I don't mind you fixing the bike ( :shock: )and you riding all day with Allen, Larry, Stevie, etc. But, (I knew there was a catch :wink: ) you WILL be sleeping with me at night in OUR bed!"

So the overnight trips are out, but that is OK with me -- I really wasn't planning on doing any of those. Day trips are all I was going to do anyway! But at the time I would have never guessed she would make that statement with all the grief she has given me when I started this project LOL!!

[GearJammer]

hehehe......women vs. motorcycles, the old green-eyed monster makes itself known now & then. My OL swears that the chopped Trumpet "is a 'bee-otch' & has it in for her", ROTFLMAO!

By the way, if it's any consolation, the OL just walked in & read your post & said to me "Hmmmm...smart wife!" ROTFLMAO!!!!!

Edit: Speaking of which, I'm getting booted off the computer as we speak....hehehe.....check with ya later! :wink: