Never ending Ace trials project

[mac]

Thanks Roger.

Well,as Matt stated,it can be pretty risky to start an engine of unknown history. I would say that I got real lucky not to have done more damage.

[viclioce]

Mac. I checked with my friend who has the forks. He says $30 plus shipping costs. Do you want them? I can give you his name & phone number & you can call him and close the sale. Let me know. If you want, you can PM me & I’ll give you his info in a reply to the PM or email me through the forum!

He is just clearing out all his stuff. He will not have these much longer. He’s 76 years old and has gotten rid of most of what he had. So let me know ASAP. And do you know they are Model 94 forks. Too bad he didn’t have any Model 03 forks!!!

Oh and include your full name in the email or PM. I want to be able to tell him your name! Victor

[mac]

PM sent. Thanks !

[viclioce]

I see that your kick shaft bearing retainer broke! I’m guessing it was an OEM retainer & not the later, heavy duty one? It doesn’t look as thick as the HD. Victor

[dirty_rat]

Another thing with the later forks (the ones that had removable damper rods - had the allen bolt in the bottom of the forks). One of the updates Hodaka put out in the Resonator was to rework the damper holes in the fork tubes and take the re-bound spring off the damper rods. This would make the forks approx. 1" longer than stock (this might be why you have two different length forks, one might b done and the other is still stock.)

[JayLael]

Hey, I like your bike. The exhaust is really neat! I have an Ace 90 trials bike that is pretty similar. They run damn good with that Ace 90 pipe on there.
You can fit a modern trials tire such as the Dunlop D803, if you jack the tire over to the right with the spokes. I do it on the bike, so you can watch it doesn't run the tire into the swingarm on the right. It will just barely work with no chain guard.
Lengthening the swingarm helps tremendously also. Back in the 1970s, my uncle used to cut the engine mounts and set the engine over to the left about 10 mm, and reweld them. This is usually more helpful on the earlier bikes such as Ace 100 etc. The Wombats have just a little bit more room, but not much. If you set the engine over to the left, you won't notice any handling issues, but you will need to add a spacer behind the rear sprocket, which can be made from an old worn out or unwanted sprocket, and some longer bolts.
These two mods combined will get good tire clearance for the chain. If you ride in clay mud conditions you should run a chain guard, to keep the mud from being conveyed into the engine case area.
The mainshaft nut was likely overtightened with an impact, previously.
For use on wombat trials specials, consider the hybrid crankshaft, invented by Hodaka Ron Liddle. It uses the small stub Ace 90/Ace 100 rh crank half, combined with the larger stub Wombat lh crank half, in order to use the really low geared primaries, typical of the Ace 90. The smaller pinion gear requires the smaller bushing, washer, and clutch hub, but it works amazingly well. We had great results with a one inch thick flywheel weight, machined to fit onto the existing points flywheel. You can have too much flywheel weight, if you get carried away with that.
Good luck with the project. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

[mac]

Jay,
Thanks you for the tips/help. I really like the idea of pulling the wheel over with the spokes.I have a wombat project for another day so maybe I could also add the offset engine in that build. At the rate I,ve been going on the Ace the wombat is about 5 years off lol.
I,m a big fan of all your trials bike builds which are always very nice looking and tidy bikes! I really appreciate your advice.

[JayLael]

Thank you for the nice compliment. They have been a labor of love.

[mac]

Just though this might be of interest. Took apart the forks that came on my wombat that are different lengths just too see what the heck is going on.
I was hoping that the longer one had been modded as dirty-rat had suggested,but this is not the case. Everything internally is the same as far as I can tell,but one inner fork tube is longer by an inch. Any ideas what model would have a longer tube ? Also,do these look like the correct springs ?

[JayLael]

The one inch longer tubes are model 97 and 98. You have two different model fork tubes.

[mac]

Ah hah,I thought that might be the case but was curious what model the longer one belonged to. Thank you.

[mac]

Okay,still trying to figure out the fork differences. Hodaka parts list new tubes that will work from the 92B+ 93,94,95 etc. all the way to the super combat. So they must be the same length as my longer one,but it says in order to use them with the 92B+,94,95 the lower white plastic spacer must be removed.
In the parts schematics it shows the spacer on all of them,but the super has a different part number for the lower fork legs. I,m guessing that is the difference that is the reason the lower spacer must be removed when using the longer tube in the older legs ? Is there a way to tell a super combat lower fork leg from a 94 or 92B+ leg. Just trying to figure this all out and see how much of a mix match of parts I have.
Thanks as always.

[mac]

Went back out to take apart what I think are,maybe,92B forks and this is what I found. Three different lengths and one without the lower spacer. The two with the spacers were the ones on the wombat.

[mac]

Okay, I maybe need to do more investigative figuring before I post stuff. From what I can tell the tube on the right with no white spacer is from a first year 93,which would probably explain why it,s bent.