The Hodaka Club Forum

Hey Albert. The head will work. Clarence and I are just giving you a bad time as I do him and he does me. We are rarely serious and are trying to make you feel guilty, lol. It's way too cold in the Hodaka Shed to search for parts (-2), but when it warms up I'll see what I have in the way of a replacement head should you need one. The project looks fun. Keep after it and continue to keep us posted!

Maxie

-2 i can only dream of such nice temps, takes a lot make me feel guilty thanks for trying

Albert what part of Minnesota are you from?? I get back there now and then. You getting your grandson involved, perks us all up! Victor did rebuilding with grandsons also and that was really great. Let us know what you need. -------Clarence

central Minnesota, about 2 hours north of Minneapolis. as far as the grandson ,i was reading the book the greatest generation by tom brokoff and he was talking to a lady whos husband died in ww2 and her greatist regret was that her husband never got to meet his grand children, well that hit me hard so since then ive tried to find stuff him and i can do together last winter we striped down a go cart he learned a lot. first time he wrenched did well for almost 8 years old so this hodaka project seems like a natural progression hes a little overwhelmed but i try and keep him in the loop. being able to pick your brains and reading this forum has helped a lot.. albert

feels like a big step today got some paint on .grandson cant come over for a week or so as his mom has the flue and my wife is getting chem treatments that has turned her in to a germaphobic witch i can understand so im saving the headlight bucket and brackets for him to paint. and i will trow this out. at one time i was going to buy a exclesior henderson the ones made in 2000 in minnesota. in my research i found they had a road crew that people could signup for so if some one was out and about and broke down they could find help from fellow owners, so if anybody here is coming through central minnesota and needs a hand let me know i will see what i can do. coffees on doors open

Heck yes!!! In a quest for a snappier throttle response on my Super Rat, my brother shaved down my flywheel just a little too much. Actually, his shop teacher did. He put it together without me seeing that it was shaved down to the magnets and guess what happened ? The shifter cover was off and the chain too so it wouldn`t jump into gear and take off and Ting ,Smack, Bang ! It exploded and took out 2 fins on the cylinder, chipped the head and almost went through the gas tank. My brother Carl was on the throttle side of the bike revving it up, so he didn`t get hurt. My dad was mad because one of the magnets took a chunk of concrete out of the patio slab and another one went through the roof! We never did find the rest of the flywheel and no Planes went down so I wasn`t too concerned.That was in 1976 and I ran that cylinder until I Replaced it in 2014. Joe Ormonde.

hey Joe.. best answer yet, they probable dont make shop teachers like that anymore, and how did we survive our youth.

I know ! It`s better to replace the head, but the other guys in this site won`t post the lame things they did.Why not? It could save someones life. The only reason I didn`t replace that cylinder was because it broke the fins by the carb where it runs the coolest. One of my riding buddies Bill Davis checked his chain tension on his Yamaha 250 MX with the engine running and 2 of his fingers got cut off! It jumped into gear and before he could pull his hand out, the rear sprocket caught his fingers cutting them off. Yamaha didn`t have that problem but his sure did. Joe Ormonde.

Here's one for the numbskull file. I broke my right wrist in the last snowmobile race of 1971. Spring came and I wanted to ride my Super Rat but I still had the cast on. Yup. Moved the throttle assembly to the left side and went riding. You have no idea how difficult it is to roll the throttle forward, while hanging on for dear life to keep from going over backwards. I remember it being a jerky ride, but worth every memory.

Kinda like using vice grips on a broken throttle cable ! Pull and go ! Joe Ormonde.

You can use it as is. I would look for someone who can TIG weld aluminum if you want to reattach it. But the tough part is making good contact between the broken fin and the next one, getting successful penetration on the side facing the unbroken fin, and not filling the space with aluminum tig waste. I’d ask around and see who gets recommended most often. Then I would ask the welder himself if he can guarantee that he will get penetration on both sides of the fun going back on to the head. Victor

My submission. Hare scrambles 1978. Trusty Super Rat. Throttle cable broke off at the twist grip 10 minutes into the second moto. Tied the cable into a loop over my arm and by holding the grip, accelerated by lifting my forearm with a shoulder shrugging type maneuver. Tried to make a pass on the single track and hooked the cable on the guy I was passing's bar. We both took a VERY hard right turn into oblivion. Bent the jet needle and spring retainer and probably came close to blowing the engine since the was slide was stuck wide open and it took forever to get untangled enough to button the motor. DNF. Wish I had that bike back. I'd hang it in my house like Maxie's flat tracker. Not as a beautiful custom race bike, but as the slaughtered, welded to death pile of wreckage held together with duct tape and bailing wire it was.

Excellent !

Hey Albert, I did find a stock Ace 100 head if you need one. PM me for details. My contribution to your project!

Max

well good saturday here the flue ran its course so we [grandson] and i got a few things done today, frame back on the stand, swing arm on,foot pegs and we put together a mickey mouse wheel tuner as i took the spokes off to clean the rim and hub, not very high tech but as a learning tool it got the point across i will true up a little better tomorrow. i took max up on the ace 100 head so the broken fin is ,in a round about way fixed. thanks again max....by the way my helper realy likes the adjustable foot pegs thinks thats a great idea..... albert

ok putting top end back together and broke off a cylinder stud bolt. is that common? didnt look or feel like it should of broke. did not have it to tight just got started, torque wrench was just beyond 20lbs not even up to 40lbs just went. broke on top threads near the bottom of threads ive broke bolts before and this just broke real easy kinda weird. might be loose nut on torque wrench handle.....albert

So, if I pick the middle of the force range you mentioned and settle on 30lbs, and if I go further and guess that the torque wrench is graduated in ft-lbs - you would have been applying 30 ft-lbs of torque. And that equals 390 in-lbs . . . but head nut torque specification for the Ace era 100cc engines is 105 in-lbs. So, IF (repeat IF) my assumptions were correct, you were nearing four times the torque which should have been applied.

If, however, your torque wrench is indeed calibrated in in-lbs . . . then someone before you must have damaged the stud significantly. The DPO syndrome. (DPO=Dreaded Previous Owner)
Ed

DOH. Sorry for the typo . . . 360 in-lbs (not 390)
Ed

well im glad i looked before i started my rant. you are right i assumed i knew what i was doing and jumped right in with out doing my home work as i said loose nut on the handle . craftsman torque wrench, nothing wrong with it did what i told it to do . one cylinder bolt broke and ego damaged glad thats all thanks for setting me straight .... albert

Uh-oh. Recovery may not be super simple. It is possible that the over-torque may have "lifted" a portion of the cylinder base surface of the case. You prolly ought to check the base gasket surface of the cases for flatness after that major "pull" on one of the studs.
Ed

yea that would be about right.i will have a look and post it up. be a day or so till i can get to it. thanks for the heads up. as i say it would be easyer if i knew what i was doing ha ...albert

Max beat me to the punch last time. Do you have a manual? If not I will send you one and it will cost less than Maxes. -----------Clarence

yes i have a manual. max did good i still have both arms and legs. and i was just being a good son following tradition ,if it dosent work the first time get a bigger hammer, it works sometimes .....albert

looks like all's good. straight edge all around , flat, threads on studs look good. heck of a lesson to learn.... albert

Do you need a spare stud? I have some. Victor