Next up? Back to the adjustment and hopefully afterwards a gearbox that shifts through all the gears.
Regarding the control shaft clip; as someone noted in a previous discussion on this topic, its the same as the starter drive on some machines including Polaris snowmobiles for which the shop I work at is a dealer. These things spit them out often enough that I am quite familiar with them. Of course the Hodaka shifter is much smaller and has the added feature of the spring tension to work against. The starter drive also has a spring but its much lighter and being larger in all respects is easier to deal with.
I laid the Hodaka engine on the left side with a piece of wood under the control shaft. This pushed the shaft to the right and kept it there.
I found an old tool kit open end wrench (thin) which was the perfect size to push against the clip collar. I bent the wrench and drilled a hole to allow a six mil bolt to retain the wrench in one of the side cover threaded holes. As I tightened the bolt, this pushed the wrench down and the bent end in turn pushed the collar down and held it. From there it was a fiddly but simple task to fit the clip on the end of the shaft. With both hands free to play with the clip.
I also thought some tape over the holes was a good idea.
I appreciate everyone's advice and help.
Ken
ps- I wouldn't hesitate to buy the proper tool if I found I had to do this job again. There is no substitute for having the right tool for the job. The advantage I have is working with a couple of other mechanics in a shop that sells several different brands of motorcycles, atv's, outboards, snowmobiles etc and we work on competitive products as well. So we are used to improvising and finding ways to get the job done.
