When, two days ago, I received a call from the bike shop that my kickstart spring finally arrived, I rushed over to pick it up. Filled with anticipation, I ate dinner quickly that night, and headed down to the garage.
After removing the clutch cover, I took the kickstart assembly apart, cleaned and lubed everything, and started working on putting things back together. The first thing I noticed was that the punch marks on the ratchet and the shaft were not aligned properly, which explains why the kickstart did not engage at times. The second thing I noticed was that the spring, which pushes the ratchet gear in place, was weak. To remedy this, I stretched the spring while it was out. With the gears, spring, and washers in place and properly aligned, I inserted the kickstart assembly in the crankcase and took out my new, still packaged, kickstart spring. However, luck proved to be once again not on my side. As soon as I removed the spring from the bag, I knew it was the wrong spring. While the external markings all bore the right part number, the part itself was completely different.
At that point, I spend three weeks waiting for the new spring, and I was not about to wait any longer. Instead of aiming my frustration at the shop (who ordered the right part), I took my frustration out on the old, broken spring. The part that was broken was the tab that inserts into the shaft itself. The last ¼” or so was snapped off, and the spring would not stay in place. I placed the spring into a vise, and squeezed it, repeatedly, until it changed the angle of the tab. With the spring bent, the shaft insert actually stayed in place even under tension. This was somewhat of a dirty fix, but it worked. With everything in place and tested, I removed the old gaskets with a razorblade, cleaned the contact surfaces with brake parts cleaner, and applied a thin bead of Hondabond. This was followed by a new gasket, then a second bead of Hondabond on top of it, and finally the installation of the new clutch cover I purchased on Ebay.
This cover came off a 2005 model, but, except a few minor changes, was identical to my old 1989 cover. The old cover had been welded and re-welded, and I wanted to make sure that I won’t have any leaks, and, more important, that the case cover is dimensionally correct. It fit perfectly.
I took pictures of the entire process, along with detailed pictures of the differences in the two cases. Unfortunately, my computer refuses to recognize the pictures and does not allow me to download them.
Well, with the case cover in place, it was time to install the water pump propeller. Since the new cover has an almost-new looking mechanical seal in place, I did not bother changing the seal. However, I did apply some black Permatex sealer on the shim, and along the new gasket. Otherwise, installation was pretty straightforward.
Then it was time to insert engine into the frame. Being a 250cc, this was easily done solo. The only time I struggled was inserting the rear engine bolt, which also attaches the swingarm to frame. Essentially, one long bolt goes through swingarm, frame, and engine block at the same time. It was tricky, because I already had the rear shock in place, and the shock’s spring kept forcing the holes out of alignment. A few whacks with a rubber mallet and several curses later, it gave up and let me insert the bolt.
All threads were treated with blue Loctite, and all bolts tightened.
Next up: Installing everything else, filling engine with oil, filling cooling system, and fixing wiring harness.
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