Ordered NOS boots and o-rings from gearhead.... It's the only site that appears to have the part. I hope they really do have it and aren't just listing a discontinued part as being available....... $61.44.... D:= Edit: Gearhead ended up not having the parts.
This project is on hiatus until Saturday the 17th (or maybe the 16th if I am lucky), as I have another work trip that will keep me gone all week. D:= I /could/ probably fit the bike and the hack into the company van, but I expect that the hotel management would frown upon me cutting, grinding, welding, and painting out in their parking lot in the evenings (assuming I could even get electricity out there). >_> The 18" front rim for the tug is waiting for me to pick it up. Shipping on the intake boots was 6-8 days, so I expect that they won't ship until Monday and won't be here by the weekend, and I'll be working on refurbishing the hack instead. I am starting to worry that a Shinko 244 4.00-18 DS tire won't fit between the front forks, as that model of tire is very wide for their size, but I guess I won't know until I get some. I'm stopping at New River Cycle Salvage on Tuesday during my trip, to look for useful bits. I'll be needing a brake pedal and cable for the sidecar in particular. I want to rig up separate pedals for the rear and hack, right next to each other, so that I can steer it offroad with the brakes like a tractor, or mash them both at once. Possibly with a flipper to lock them together for driving on the pavement. I also want to find some fork boots, and could use a new left-side airbox boot too. The one I've got is duct-taped, but that stuff doesn't hold up well in the wet. It would be morally bankrupt of me to try to sell those awful aftermarket intake boots on ebay, so I guess I will just have to eat the cost.... Or maybe I can fabricate a plate to bolt down on top of them to make them seal properly, if gearhead doesn't really have the parts. I am slightly irked about it. I should have immediately returned them when I saw the poor manufacturing quality, but that was months ago.... Any advice or pictures from y'all who have mounted separate brake pedals?
The 18" front rim arrived just in time for me to leave. So I haven't messed with it yet. The UPS guy leaned it up against the garage door, and I ran up onto it while pulling out. -_-' But it seems fine other than a scratch from the concrete on the outside of the lip where it doesn't matter. It was well packed in many layers of cardboard.
I'm no expert by any means but am a "budget driven" sidecar guy too. Mufflers: Keep your eyes peeled for some "garage sale" Harley sportster mufflers. The "Harley guys" always remove the nice little Harley mufflers and replace them with "Screem'in Beagle Kevorkian blah, blah, blah" mufflers. I found a nice pair for $20.00 .... I gave them to another inmate for a Honda 400 project. They bolt right on as the diameter was right. I see them all the time on Craigs list real cheap. Sidecar: $1000.00 isn't out of line ...in my opinion.... Frame tabs: Be careful welding tabs to the frame. Welds flex and break, especially "farmer welds", like yours and mine..... "Clamping / bolting" is a safer option. Steering stabilizing: You'll likely want a hydraulic steering damper to eliminate steering wobble. VW cylinders are cheap and with a little creativity you can fab up some mounts.
Thanks for the advice! I stopped at the salvage place today. Picked up a used CM400T intake boot that is still pliable. It's a little bit hard, but far far better than others I've seen. There was only one, though. Hopefully I can get away with only replacing the worst one. >_> Hopefully it's not too big. Even if it is 2mm too big (the CM had a 34mm carb instead of 32mm), I bet I can still get it to seal on the carb. I'm going to try to figure out how to restore some pliability to the one ok-ish intake boot I already had. Maybe a heat gun, or a good long soak in wd-40 or old motor oil... Iunno... Any suggestions? Also picked up a luggage rack from a Trail 90. I had a '68 Trail 90 as my first bike, and I have always missed that awesome luggage rack.... A little grinding, welding, and POR-15ing should have it hooked up to the Hawk quite nicely. I was hoping to grab a brake pedal and some associated hardware for the hack brake, but the only one he had was crazy rusty. I guess I'll source that stuff off fleabay when the time comes. Also was hoping to find a solo seat, but the only one I found (off a Magna, I think) was in really bad shape. I'll make my own seat, I guess, or just ride it without one until I run across something that'll work. Thought about grabbing some fork boots, but they were all on bikes and I didn't feel like tearing down a frontend. >_> They're cheap on fleabay anyway.
Seems that all hack riders have different opinions on sidecar brakes...some love'em....some hate'em...some are indifferent. I have one for my old Jupiter hack but never got around to mounting it. I decided that my effort was better spent else where on the project and just never have got around to figuring out how to install it. Mine has a cable actuated brake...some guys rig up a seperate pedal...some attach it to the bikes brake pedal. I've found that the brake really isn't necessary on my set up. I have dual front discs and rear drum. Maybe if I mounted it, I would like it.(?) I've only ridden a couple other friends hacks over the years so my experience on different rigs / set-ups is minimal. But I've racked up at least 20,000 touring miles on my rig over the past 5 years....I know the tire supply guys love me. I should have stock in MC tires as I've used up a load of them...
A pair of 40x2.4 o-rings for the old intake boots are on the way, along with a quart of wintergreen oil to soften the old boots. If the wintergreen doesn't work, I'll make some metal plates the same shape as the flanges, with a hole for the boot to stick out of, to bolt down on top of the craptastic aftermarket boots to get them to seal up against the head. I'm pretty scared of those aftermarket boots, though. The "o-rings" on them are tiny thin things that appear to be glued on, and they have no metal in the flange, nor molded into the throat like the OEM ones. Ebay for the lose. I might add that I specifically asked the seller if the boots had metal flanges and throats like the OE ones, and he said they did. I should have opened them up and inspected them immediately upon receipt instead of letting them sit on the bench for 6 months. ;_; Should have the bike home tomorrow evening (it's in the basement at work at the moment), which should speed things up on the tug front considerably. It was nice to have it in the heat over winter, but by the time work is over I am always anxious to get the heck out of there, and end up never working on it, which is why it's been in pieces for the past 6 months. :3 Hope to get around to stripping down the hack and refurbishing it a little this weekend. Will post some pictures of that... I can't decide if I want to paint the whole tub with bedliner, or just the inside... I do know that I eventually want to put a crash bar/bumper and maybe a skid plate under the tub, and maybe mount a tractor floodlight (if I can find one laying around that isn't too far gone). But for the moment I think I should probably just paint the frame, see about fixing the wiring, and maybe sew up the tear in the seat. I don't mind some rust, but I don't want it to rust to pieces. Not counting the cost of the wintergreen oil, 'cos I can keep it and use it to renew rubber parts on other old bikes. 40x2.4 o-rings (x2): $12.50 Good condition used CM400T intake boot + rusty Trail 90 luggage rack from the breaker: $25 18x2.15 comstar front rim from a CM400A on ebay (probably paid too much, but there's no 19" Shinko 244 wide enough to fit on the rim that's currently on it): $58.09. Total spent on tug so far: $631.59 Total spent on hack so far: $1000 The goal has been to keep the tug under $700 (not counting consumables like chain, tires, filters, etc). I'm not sure if that will happen or not...
Finally found time to haul the bike and the rest of the materials home. Still waiting on the o-rings and wintergreen oil (and a set of fork seals for my elderly 500). Forgot the camera at work, so no pictures yet.... In an interesting turn of events, I ran across a picture on a blog that looked exactly like this tug, right down to the scuffed paint on the tank and the interesting muffler welding. I messaged the guy (in Missouri, I think) that runs the blog, and we compared VINs. It seems that I have his old bike! Who'da thunk it. The bike's name is Adama. I think he shall keep his moniker. It pleases me that the bike was loved well enough to be named, and that I am keeping it on the road and away from the breakers.
It was a hoot to get the blog post from you asking if you now own my CB400T. Here's the first post about Adama, which talks a little bit about why I bought him, and how he got his name: http://journal.drfaulken.com/1980_honda_cb400t/ I'll be watching this thread, you've already taken the bike way farther than I was able to Good luck!!!!!
Itty bitty bit of progress today.... Two whole parts painted! Procedure: 1. Hit rust spots with WD-40. 2. Hit rust spots with wire brush. 3. Wipe down whole part with WD-40. 4. Clean part with degreaser. 5. Dry part. 6. Shoot part with $3 rattlecan primer. 7. Wait. 8. Shoot part with $3 rattlecan flat black enamel. I'm having a devil of a time breaking the nuts loose on the curved piece, even after multiple soaks with PB Blaster. I'm going to take it down to the shop this weekend and see if an impact wrench will take them off. Parts parts everywhere! I made the mistake of taking my extension cord to work. One of the bosses "appropriated" it without asking over Christmas for the holiday dreckerations, and I never saw it again. So I bought a better one with the company card and took it home. >_> The frame was full of oil. Good idea, that. But it all poured out when I pulled the lower front mount off... Oops. That mount was hard to get out of there. Much PB Blaster, rubber mallet, and prybar work. That's the original 22 year old Slovenian tire, I think. I expect I'll need to replace it. <_< Adama still sleeps, awaiting his intake boots. The airbox boots have some tears where they mount to the airbox, and they are misshapen. I can't decide if I want to try to patch them with rubber cement, or if I want to try to make my own airbox out of... something. One thing that I do know for sure is that I don't want to put pod filters on it. I guess the best thing to do is try to patch the OEM airbox boots... Maybe a short soak in the wintergreen oil will return them to the proper shape. Bought a little under $50 of various paint and truck bedliner (for under the fenders and inside the tub), 50' #12 electrical wire, heat-shrink tubing, inline fuel filter. Splitting it evenly between the bike and hack, since I'll be splitting that stuff between both... Total spent on tug so far: $656.59 Total spent on hack so far: $1025
The ugly: This one here is the worst of the lot: And hard as a rock. See me squeezing the bjesus out of it? Yea, yea, I know I have pianist fingers. 'Cos... I'm a pianist. >_> Le'sigh.... What will we do? :< Oh wait, what is in this box that I found in my mailbox? Minty fresh! And very sticky. Don't lick your fingers after getting this stuff on them. It buuuuurnssss! D:= Let's cook up an intake boot stew! 1 gallon of water, and a pretty good splash of the wintergreen oil. As you can see, it is not miscible with water. My crockpot didn't get hot enough to make the water roll and keep it mixed decently, so I had to give it a hefty stir every so often. "Nuuuuuuu, I do not want to go in the cookpot! D:=" said the intake boot. I left it in for 20 or 30 minutes, while working on the sidecar frame. Had to stir briskly fairly often to keep the oil mixed up. If I had to do it over again, I think I'd do it on the stove in a pot. Beware though, while this stuff doesn't exactly stink, per se, the odor is fairly overpowering. After 20-30 minutes soaking, cooling to room temperature again, and degreased good to get all the sticky funk off: Much better! Also, very clean. I taped it up and sprayed the exposed metal areas where the rubber had flaked off with several layers of high temperature engine paint. Also, new o-ring. It mounted up to the engine right nice. Also found a nice headlight guard in the junk pile. It's off of an old electric space heater from the 1950s. I've got the carbs back on, the airbox boots patched up, and the airbox reinstalled. It started raining before I could go get some gas and try to fire it up, though, so I covered it back up and am waiting impatiently. :3
It's aaaaaalllllliiiivvveeeee! (kinda) Video #1 Video #2 Good lord, I just rewatched that first video and it sounds like I was on meth or something. Excuse: I'd just drank a 12oz red-bull and the neighbors were out and I didn't want them to hear me "talking to myself". >_>
I can't tell if anyone is interested in this thread. Should I continue? Or am I making a fool of myself posting about things nobody cares about? >_> Anyway, I figured out why my carbs were overflowing, despite the float height being correct. The overflow tubes are missing in both bowls!!! Grumble. I temporarily plugged the drains to "fix" it. I ordered two replacement bowls on fleabay for $38. X_x It appears that the overflow tubes are supposed to be built into the bowls and cannot be bought separately. In the meantime, I'll continue to refurbish the tug and hack. But it started raining again and I didn't get much done today... Tug total: 694.59 Hack total: $1025 I'm about to exceed my < $700 goal for the tug. C'est la vie. Cheap bikes are seldom as cheap as they appear...... There's a running '84 Shadow 700 on craigslist for $1000..... But I want a standard for the tug, not a cruiser...
I am enjoying this as much as the bigger budget outfits so keep at it. The satisfaction will be just as good for you and for us all. Cheers Bruce.
You know I'm onboard!!,You have been following my " Low Budget Build ".Us Low Budgeteers have to stick together or we will get over run by the Mega $$$ GS guys !!.
Phew! Good. Although looking back at those pictures, I think I should have bought paint for the porch instead of paint for the rig. >_> But... My shack is my castle! :3 And hoooo boy the rent is cheap. Anyway! It's supposed to rain again tomorrow, but I am going to cart some junk down to the farm and do some cutting and welding (we have an enclosed shop there). And try to get the rest of the seized bolts and nuts off the hack frame. X_x I squeezed in a little more work before dark, and tore down the back end of the bike, removed the airbox (jeez it's hard to get that thing out of there; the rear wheel and shocks have to all come off), and removed the wiring harness. With all that stuff out of the way, I can rust-treat the frame and track down my electrical problems. I've discovered some cracked insulation and smashed wires already, before even pulling the tape off the harness. Thank goodness for centerstands. Whomever decided to quit putting them on newer bikes was smoking crack. I'll probably relocate the battery to the hack (possibly using a deep-cycle marine battery so that I can throw it on a charger when parked and then drain it running a heated suit in the winter; assuming the Hawk's anemic charging system won't be damaged trying to charge a battery that big). I'll also be relocating the right-hand signal lights to the hack. So, while I have the wiring harness off, I shall rebuild it to make these things less roundabout.
Keep it up dude....you're my kind of guy. Low budget hacks are cool! I built mine out of a pile of old derelict bikes I found on the cheap. Sold off excess parts to partially finance the thing. I did a 1st. class (lol) "rattle can" paint job on mine (except the fuel tank) The reward was well worth the effort! The "deep pocket folks" who order sidecars built by the "experts" will never have the intimate connection to their rigs that us hands on scroungers do ! Fun doesn't have to break the bank....although I promise you'll go over budget, it will be worth it when you're cruising down the street on your hack.
Keep it coming as home builds help us all learn. Even those with bigger budgets when building their own have to face decisions on what to use and how it might be used different than the manufacturer planned.
