The Hodaka Club Forum

Victor, surely you'll restore a bit of strategically placed turquoise to the exhaust system to assure optimum performance!

I use the Duplicolor Enamel Ceramic High Heat engine paint for motors. Same as I use on my exhaust. I wouldn’t use regular paint for the cases. Victor

MTRat. I’m passing on the Turquoise Tuner Paint! I couldn’t find that turquoise high heat paint anywhere, and, it scares me to death (that anyone believes it makes a difference!). Just going to try and bring her back to life as a February 1973 Combat Wombat! Victor

This evening I put the rear shocks back on. Also put the steering head on with the correct number of bearings top & bottom. I also put the forks back on, but mainly so I could loosen the upper caps on the forks.

I have the new fork seals, but I forgot the O ring seals, which have been ordered & should ship tomorrow. I’ll be able to start the fork rebuild, but won’t be able to complete them until the O ring seals arrive, most likely Wednesday or Thursday.

The wheel bearings look to be in good shape, so I’m just going to clean, re-grease & reinstall them.

She’s coming! Pretty soon it will be split the cases time! Turns out the motor wasn’t seized, as the P.O. thought it was. It was just the shifter wasn’t engaging the countershaft tip, and the P. O. Didn’t know how to reset the shifter. But the piston moves up & down with no binding.

Here’s hoping that it has little enough hours on it that I don’t have to do more than clean the piston & rings and gauge the piston, rings & rod for wear. Fingers crossed. But if not, then off to Hodaka Dave she goes.

Also, upon removal, I discovered the handlebars had some mild bending on them. Do folks straighten handlebars, or just go straight to new bars? I would like to have the originals, but I don’t know if I have what I need to straighten these bars. You can see the bends below.

More to come! Victor

This afternoon I cleaned and shined the shocks with 0000 steel wool! I think they look great again! Victor

Remember my talking about cleaning stainless steel fenders with Bar Keepers Friend? This is my rear fender. Victor

BTW, I remounted that rear fender onto the frame. Now must clean the front fender & remount.

Now I need to clean the work bench so I have room to open, drain, disassemble & rebuild the fork tubes. Parts were mailed, just awaiting arrival! Victor

OK. Before & After on the front fender, again with Barkeeper’s Friend! Victor

Fender mounted, fork tubes removed for rebuilding, after loosening cap nuts.

Spray painted (after severe cleaning) the foot pegs & mount bar as well as the brake pedal assembly.

Oh & I bought new handlebars at DennisKirk.com for $29.90 shipping included. The old bars just wouldn’t budge & I didn’t want to heat them. So the are hanging on the wall as an offering to the gods of motorcycles! Victor

Victor,that Barkeepers friend did an amazing job. I,m definitely going to try it on mine.

Lookin' good Victor!

Mac. I’ve used Barkeepers for years on stubborn stains on pots & pans. I figured it’s designed to clean stainless steel sinks & counters without scratching so I tried it on my Ace fenders and it worked very well. So I figured it would be OK on the CW fenders as well! Hope it works as well for you too! Victor

Attempting to pull fork seals today. Damn seals feel like they melted into place! Coming out in small pieces! Seal puller is just about useless at this point. Getting more out with a pair of curved needle nose pliers & scraping the top. And this is just the first fork leg! Victor

Wow! What a job!!!

I got the old seal out in very small pieces. And I had to use my Dremel to clean the spaces where the seal sits because so much of the seal was stuck to the fork nut.

This fork nut has a different configuration than I am used to seeing in Hodaka 30mm forks. There’s an upper lip inside the nut, so you can’t just press the seal down into the fork nut! There is about a 3/8” space between the upper and lower retainer ring(?). Does anyone else have something like this to deal with for seal installation???

The O ring seal went right in where it goes, but it seems the seals listed on the parts fiche are not the seals for this fork nut! Pics attached. Victor

So it turns out these were the original fork seals with metal outer cases! WTF?!?!

I couldn’t find my propane torch so I went to buy another (that way my old one will show up!)

I seem to be finding the “best worst problems,” according to Terry! Just my luck I guess!?!?! Victor

Sprayed with WD-40. Heated seal cover with torch. Tapped all the way around with a punch and rubber mallet. Ahhh, NOPE!!!

Plan 2. Take seal nut off of extra forks I had. Pushed seal out with a slightly smaller socket, with an extension in it, and a rubber mallet. BINGO!!!

Right fork is now loaded with new seal & O ring & the right fork is back on the trees! Left fork came apart with much fewer issues. Seal drove right out with a few whacks! About to put new seals in the left fork nut now!

Also, Kelly never shows you how he got the fork nut with the new seal in it back on the fork tube. After trying to coerce it for 15-20 minutes, I took the same extra fork tube apart, put the seal on it, upside down, and lined it up with the correct tube. That & a little grease smear & it went right on! Prolly do the same thing with the left seal! Victor

Oh yeah. Here’s a photo of my seal press! LOL!!! Victor

Forks DONE! Yeay!!!Just need to put fork oil in tomorrow!

If that right seal had come out as easy as the left, I would have been done hours ago. But, at least they are done!

If I clean the wheels & Mount the tires (which I haven’t bought yet) I’d have a complete roller! Victor

Vic-

I like the way you pay it forward. I would like to vapor blast your Combat engine. I am still learning to use my blast cabinet. I'm not a professional.

Mail the parts you want blasted. They don't have to be clean. I will clean them. Remove the bearings, bushings and seals. If you want the shifter case blasted you need to remove all the internals.

It's going to coast you shipping. If you're interested, email me
[email protected].

Larry S

Larry! Thank you for your magnanimous offer. I emailed you so you can send me your mailing address! Victor

Wondering about this. In all I’ve read here everyone says 6 ounces or 591 ml of oil in the 30mm fork tubes. Yet when I look at my Hodaka 125 manual it says 148cc or 5 ounces of oil. So which one is correct? 5 ounces or 6 ounces? I notice my Road Toad specs say 6 ounces. Victor

One ounce = ~30cc so the 148cc (5 oz.) would be the correct conversion and volume. 148cc is the correct fork volume for the M95 forks as confirmed by the data in the official Wombat Workshop Manual. The 591 cc, on the other hand, is the proper transmission/gear case oil volume.

OK, Matt! Thanks! My Road Toad owners manual say 6 Oz. So are the Toad forks longer & therefore need an ounce more??? Just curious. But 5 oz. is what I put in each! Victor

I'm not sure about that Victor. The M93 was produced in 73 so the Toad forks have a couple years of R&D on the CW forks.

Even though it’s Mother's Day, I fulfilled my obligations to Mom, Wife & 2 Daughters and got home to have enough time to clean the front wheel!

I removed the bearing covers and packed the bearings with more grease, & then put the covers back on & mounted the front wheel!

Had to buy new bolts to bolt on the fender bracket. But the front end has fork oil, brakes cleaned & lightly sanded, rim, hub & spokes cleaned. Just need to put on the front brake perch/handle so I can mount the brake cable!

And the wheels still have their Takasago stickers on them! The wheel will have to come off once more for the tire change out. But these old Nitos are still holding air, though cracked a bit. Victor