The Hodaka Club Forum

$hit, crap and other expletives!!!

I was all finished with the bottom end assembly, I thought!

Then I just happened to notice the idle gear collar inside the template!!!! Arrrrgh!!!!! Now I have to pull things apart again! Can I put this on just by removing the primary & kick gears? Or do I have to split the cases again?!?! ; / Victor

OK! Yes! Removed clutch & gears and slid it right in! Whew!!! ; D Victor

This is the second motor case. Remember the busted bearing boss on the left side? I got a local welder to repair it! What do you think? The seal will still go in and all the bead is below the level of the back of the stator plate! ; D Victor.

Just be sure the welding did not close up the oil hole to the bearing. Looks like it will work.

I specified that to him. The hole is completely open. And the break was so clean only one piece had to be aluma welded back into place! ; D Victor

Does anyone have an intake snorkle that can spare? ; D Victor

I completed the bridge reduction and chamfered all the horizontal surfaces. I had one bottom end gasket, but it was so old it cracked & broke up just trying to slide it over the bolts. New ones are on their way, but it's just another small setback. ; D Victor

Hi Victor,

I'm from Cedar Falls, Iowa. I would love to line up a good trail ride with you. What part of Colorado are you from? My Mom grew up in one of these mobile lumber mill towns called McFee, CO but ultimately moved to Durango in her early teens. I spent every summer of my life around Durango during my youth. I'm planning a trip to Colorado next summer and would love to get together for a bit of trail blitzing!

Best,

Matt

...oops...Santa Fe. That's New Mexico. Same neck of the woods. I'd love to get together for some trail bombing!!

Yeah, Santa Fe New Mexico! There's a great article on the last page of New Mexico Magazine entitled "One Of Our Fifty Is Missing!" It's all about how so many people for get NM is a State and so very many think it's out of the Country!

I live in the northern half of the state. Mountains around me rise as high as 13,000 feet in elevation! Lots of both mountain & desert canyon riding in the immediate area!

You're welcome any time! I have a spare bedroom & bath upstairs do you won't even need to get a motel. If the wife wants to come, I'm sure she & Lydia can spend time downtown shopping, seeing museums and feasting on Northern NM cuisine! Just give me a holler and we will set it up! Email me at [email protected] or call me at 505-913-0558!

And you're no too far away. Google Maps says Cedar Falls is 1078 miles from Santa Fe! ; D Victor

That sounds wonderful, Victor. I'm making some changes in my work situation here and anticipate freeing up a lot more time to do what I really enjoy - namely mercilessly thrashing my dirt bikes. Thank you!! I will likely take you up on this gracious invite!
Best,

Matt

Well you are welcome any time! Good luck on the work changes! I've been retired from NM State Gov't for over 12 years now. I retired from my civilian job at NM St. Police. I still tell people it was nice to get paroled!

Retirement, to me, was all about getting my life back completely! I can do what I want, when I want and with or without whom I want! ; D Victor

Amen Brother!!! That is exactly my aim as well. Some jobs take all you can give and if you give it your all...poof! Its all gone.

Best,

Matt

OK, question. I have 2 Road Toad shifter assembles with the spacer broken out at the upper rear where the bolt runs through it. The chain, I'm guessing, breaks this loose at some point, but it stays on the bolt.

Is this something that people bother with fixing? Do you use something like JB Weld if you do, or do you just have it aluma welded?

I'm preparing all the cases & covers for the second motor and trying to decide if it's worth the expense of welding or if I should just go the JB Weld route? Opinions? Possibilities? ; D Victor

Vic,
No JB Weld...not strong enough for this application. Looks like a clean break? Weld it.

Danny Cooke

Does anyone else use the same, fancy ring depressors as I do??? ; D Victor

OK! The first Road Toad motor is finished!!!

I had to pull the clutch off again, because I forgot to put the needle bearings on the kick
pinion gear, but they are on there now. Good thing I looked at the manual/parts list and saw them!

Used my custom ring depressor, and, found all the missing gaskets I couldn't find but ordered again!

Just need to put oil in her and grease pack the shifter casing! I'll put the motor in the frame first and then add oil & grease.

One other question. Is the kick start lever mounted correctly? It looks odd to me, but I never saw it mounted. I know it's the correct one as I checked the parts list both in my book & on line. But it sure looks like it is positioned back too far.

I figure by the end of the week, if I can get the tires on, I should have her rolling down the road!
; D Victor

viclioce wrote:Does anyone else use the same, fancy ring depressors as I do??? ; D Victor

No.
I have used a piece of PVC pipe though.
I must admit to never having built a 2 smoke engine in my life Can't wait to have a go.

I came up with the clamp idea when my dad gave me a '63 Corvair. He said if I fixed it I could have it.

It had a blown head gasket & had blown a groove the size of a wooden pencil through the right head & a chunk about a 1/2" X 1" was gone out of the cylinder where it mated to the head.

We bought a scrapped motor at a junk yard and I had a replacement head & jugs! I tore the right side of motor on the car apart.

When I was ready to put the jugs on the right side, everyone told me I had to disconnect the piston rods from the crank & use a ring depressor to put the Pistons inside the jugs & then mount the jugs & bolt the rods back onto the crank.

I said "No thanks I'll figure out another way!" I had to use bigger clamps for those Pistons but it worked like a charm. The clamps compressed the rings & I could tap the jugs on and the jugs would slowly slide the clamps down until they fell off around the rods. Then I opened the clamps & went on to the next jug!

It's a little more difficult with the single cylinder because you have to position the clamps just right so you can loosen the screws without the cylinder bolts being in the way, but it works just fine! ; D Victor

If you have (or make) a piston support tool as shown in the photo, then no ring compressor is needed. The support tool keeps the piston from moving up and down and also keeps it from flopping about the wrist pin. So you can use one hand to compress ring(s) and one hand to slide the cylinder on. Slam dunk.

Cleaned up the fly wheel. It was as rusted as this spare one. It's amazing what a brass wire brush on a drill will do! : D Victor

Ed. You can make one & send it to me? LOL! I only have one piston to go for now! Would have been handy 3 Pistons ago! : D Victor

WOW Ed, that's one of the cleanest engines I have seen in a while.

Yeah, I've got a back corner of the bench for "round-to-it" projects . . . and things in that corner just sparkle!
Ed

Come to think of it, that looks like the Mohave Edition Hodaka! I remember that color scheme!!! You've got a beauty there Ed! ; D Victor