The Hodaka Club Forum

The mission for the day has been accomplished. I did gather enough pieces up to mock-up the forks with a set of grim Ace 100 forks from the last project. The upper tubes above the seals were solid rust but most of it came off. We'll get cosmetic later. The Ace 100 forks are 5 3/4'' center to center on the fork tubes where the Rat ones are 6 1/2''. Everything is smaller, narrower and lighter. Just what I need for this project. The Cerianis still might be used if they become available.

Maxie

Fun day. A motorcycle friend who now lives in California is staying with us while on business here. We've been wineing and dineing every night and plotting the future of the 2 the Max project each and every day on what to do next. Today we transferred the lower fork bearing race from the old Rat stem to the old Ace 100 forks for the project. All sounds easy. Two people attempting to drive off the Rat race to install on the chosen Ace 100 fork stem, This was serious. Torches, pullers, hammers, drifts and chisels, a worthy opponent. Two man hours with the ultimate challenge. Neither of us are mechanical babes in the woods and will not be defeated. The race did not come off easy or go on the Ace stem easy. Why is this happening? Hmm, a bit of precision measuring with calipers and micrometers reveals that the bearing race is oval rather than round. We're not easily fooled. We finally won with a big laugh and the satisfaction of a job analyzed and done. Again, kinda the Zen experience. This is what motorcycle repair and friends are all about.

Maxie

Love it Maxie. It's totally cool how this project is evolving. The essence of what it is all about. Might be a time to plug Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Great book.

Yeah, I'll bet a lot of planning comes after the wining after dinner.
Old bearing races can always be a problem. The Beemer uses a tapered roller bearing that sneers at the biggest hammer, both in the headstock and on the spindle.

Cycle Works is a company om Kansas that makes specialty tools for.BMW and Isetta. They have a website and may have a tool or idea that will wprl on our Hodies. Another similar shop is Northwoods Airheads. Google them, my Smartphone is really sucky about transferring Web addresses.

OK, more seemingly small details, (actually the fun part of the project). The little Ace 100 forks are shaping up with paint and polish along with safety items. In my early days of racing an Ace 90 the axle pinch bolt backed out releasing the front axle to also back out at the worst possible moment in a fast corner putting me on my face. No serious injuries but lessons learned about pre-flight checks and/or poor maintenance for sure. Hopefully this will never happen again with proper torque and inspections along with safety wiring. It seems I always learned the hard but effective way.

Reporting,

Max

Beware of blast or Prepare for blast is the phrase I'm looking for. Anyway, blast masking done on some sub assemblies and I'll soon have the prototype finish that I like. The cylinder will be black but there's lotsa baked on crud. The blaster is at the local body shop that I use and I'll consult with them on removing dents in the pipe. I've been working on the fragged combustion chamber on the Webco head and I think it's saved. I might give this thing a chance. Onward.

Maxie

hodakamax wrote:OK, more seemingly small details, (actually the fun part of the project). The little Ace 100 forks are shaping up with paint and polish along with safety items. In my early days of racing an Ace 90 the axle pinch bolt backed out releasing the front axle to also back out at the worst possible moment in a fast corner putting me on my face. No serious injuries but lessons learned about pre-flight checks and/or poor maintenance for sure. Hopefully this will never happen again with proper torque and inspections along with safety wiring. It seems I always learned the hard but effective way.

Reporting,

Max

Max, wiring that pinch bolt reminded me of my desert riding days on my '71 Husky. No matter how tight you tightened the rear axle nuts on that bike, they would eventually vibrate loose. Once, after finishing a 100 mile h & h, noticed that both nuts were missing and the chain being the only thing holding the wheel on. Whew!! After that, the nuts were drilled and wired on.
JackM

Hey Jack, good story on moving fasteners. Wire and pre-flight inspection always a good idea!

Some small steps accomplished on the project yesterday, one being the stripping of the tank. I see why they painted the chrome tank as there is a large clunk of Bondo on the left side. I'll also take it to the body shop along with the pipe to see if they can improve the situation. There's no reason to reduce fuel capacity with heavy Bondo. I was trying to figure out how to mount the front of the tank when I noticed the old handlebar clamps on the floor beside the bike. Perfect! The right height and adjustable front to back. A bit heavy for the overall plan but good for now. Aluminum would be better. Hey! it all adds up!

Yet another minor report--

Maxie

Ouch. More dreaded previous owner work. A hand turned bit depth test reveals about 1/2'' Bondo depth. Ugly. Again, this can happen on a $65 motorcycle. Onward still. Remove the filler and pull the dent as best can. Definitely not a candidate for re-chrome. Another challenge to keep the historic tank on it. We'll see.

Max

You might consider getting a paintless dent puller, aka "pops-a-dent" from your local WallyWorld or AutoZone. About $20 and won't last decades, but for our use it's OK.
Google for info.

What do you think, Maxie? That looks like a crease - tough sledding for a dent puller. Maybe a cut it out and blend in a welded patch situation? A surprise at every turn, huh? That makes the resurrection all the sweeter!

Hey guys, thanks for your info and sympathy! The body shop lets me use their blaster so it's the least I can do to to give them some business rounding out the tank. A skim of Bondo will be OK compared to the whole quart! I think we can save it. One more shot to show the fun of restoration!

Maxie

Not as bad as it looked. Does that perchance look reminiscent of your hotshoe?

Well, kinda. Really funny!

Max show us a picture of your hot shoe. ----------Clarence

taber hodaka wrote:Max show us a picture of your hot shoe. ----------Clarence

Hey Clarence. The hot shoe was lost in time. It used to hang in the garage of a house I lost in a bad divorce. All I got was my underwear, no hot shoe.

The shoe was cool though at least between events. Our pipe builder did a custom build to my boot and even puddled a layer of some really hard metal on the bottom. The word Stelite or Stellite comes to mind. Hmm, I wish I still had that. (the shoe not the house) Ah memories!

Maxie

The dent looks like the bike went over & hit the tank on a pipe or someone's frame! Good luck with pulling it Max. I hope it doesn't require drilling to pull! Victor

Nothing like blasting to freshen things up. The mock-up is looking much better. I even blasted my optional 93 Rat head. The pipe is at the body shop to be assessed on how to proceed on dent removal. Most of the dents are in one cone. We might have to build a new cone. We'll see how he does on the pulling. The fork tubes are at my friend's machine shop for truing up. Lots done today or at least moving.

Cooler weather predicted for the next few days and it's time to work on the house repair/painting project. Always something to do, fun or not.

Later,

Max

Man, this project is addictive. I'm trying to be responsible but every time I walk by this thing I'm distracted. I keep trying to sort out useable stuff and end up rebuilding it. The fender is an example. I will need a short fender on the back and rather than throw away stuff, I re-cycle it so to speak. I also rebuilt the compression release and rethreaded the head. I had to plug the hole with something. I'll try to be more responsible tomorrow I always say.

Maxie

On your top pic above with the repurposed fender. The plder BMW "/2" had a hinged section on the rear of the rear fender. Made removal.pf the rear tire easier.
Not suggesting that you need to do this, it just caught my eye.

A minor report about lotsa labor and not much progress. I need to get wheels on this thing to arrive at a seating position which will determine where footpegs and controls should be. I dug out a pair of really grim 17'' Ace 100 wheels which could work possibly at least in the interim to the final product. After a massive cleaning of the rear wheel I got to the point of assembling the rear and had forgotten that the rear axle size is different on the cush hub rat and that I had no small axle and if I did it would be loose in the swing-arm plates. Minor stuff but not paying attention to the plan. All part of the restoration game. I still got a half day entertainment out of the progress. Not much of a report but at least an update. All of this is mixed with my weather related house project and rain is always good for the motorcycle project at least at this point.

Later,

Maxie

Max, when you get around to relacing that wheel, lace it cross 3 instead of cross 2. A lot stronger.

Hydraulic Jack wrote:Max, when you get around to relacing that wheel, lace it cross 3 instead of cross 2. A lot stronger.

Hey Jack. I have to admit as an old motorcyclist, I've never laced a wheel. All Greek to me. We always had a guy in the shop who built pipes and wheels and worked for parts. Something I should try I suppose. Tell us more!

Max

In all my years I've onky laced a couple of wheels. It was fun, and I waa young and foolish. For the most part it's been easier to pay someone with talent to do that job.

You will need a different spoke set with longer spokes. There may not be a set of spokes readily available for the smaller wheel. Nipple angles will be slightly off relaced as a 3 cross pattern, but mine survived the change and is still soundly laced 40 years later. As I recall, I made my own stainless steel spokes way back when. I found spoke blanks that were a bit longer than needed, trimmed them to the length I needed, and threaded the blanks.

If you haven't laced a wheel, changing patterns would be a bit daunting. You could contact Buchanan and ask about having your wheel laced with a different pattern. As far as spoke length, there are calculators online that will give reasonably accurate answers. You need to know hub diameter and width, rim inner diameter, and lacing pattern. The rest is just math.

It would be a project all by itself, but photo documented it could be an educational process for the forum.