And so it begins... Had an FL250 I restored, but can't take the mid-trail heart attack/spine compression anymore with no rear suspension. Time to go faster!

First day I got it.

I'm going back through this post and fixing all the pictures..

That thing looks clean as is. Can't wait to see how the rest of the restoration goes.

i agree. Looks better than anything i have started with! good luck.

it looks really good from the outside, but once I got closer in, a lot of things need fixing. the front tube near the steering is smashed in, paint is rusted through near mounting points, rear u-joints are rusted up and snap rings have become one with them. I just feel better taking it all down and putting it together myself. Who knows whats happened over the past 25 years of abuse. It was ridden mostly in sand too at Glamis, CA. I hate sand personally, but I'm sure I'll get it out there once or twice. California weather has been, for the most part, pretty good to this machine.

On the first picture where the lights are on the roof, they may have put them up there for night riding in the sand dunes. The higher your lights, the sooner you can see if your about to drive off a cliff, or a nice little sand hill

HAh! I'm sure they did! I picked this up in Temecula, CA and they only were riding it in Glamis, CA at the dunes. Poor Oddy, I despise sand. Fun for us but straight abuse to the machine.

Ok finally welded up the front bar near the steering that was smashed. Replaced it with some 1/4 inch steel. Ya that's never gonna bend again. Also had to reweld the rear right fender bolt. The bolt sheered off when I took it off and destroyed all the threads trying to get it out. Anyways, dropped it off yesterday at Applied powdercoating which is only 10 miles away thankfully. 52 parts going in for gloss black and the frame Gloss Red. Doing away with all the gold, anything gold is now going to be black.

Got the parts back from Powdercoating, I was worried the red wasn't going to turn out right but it did! The brand was Cardinal and the color was RD02 Dark Red with a 90% Gloss. Now just waiting to pick up my gloss black suspension components and misc. parts.

Looking good, gone through the Engine yet?

I see scuffing on that piston its what left the scuff marks on the cylinder wall (red arrows) if I was a betting man I would bet they never drilled the lube/cooling holes for the exhaust bridge in the piston (yellow arrows) the exhaust port is in a need of decarbonizing (blue arrows) the build up in the constant head of the exhaust and flame can cause preignition problems, it blocks flow reduces power wears on the piston skirt, at the very bottom you can see where the piston has been smoothing it off let it run long enough it will look like a extension of the cylinder wall.

The carbon thing is all part of that 30 hr inspection the Honda manual talks about.

Looks great - can't wait to see the finished product. Now don't scuff it up putting the pieces back together.

looking real good, frame turned out great

Now there is a guy that loves his floor... jack stand floor protectors...
New product needs bibs for stands
Looks great. I want that garage!

almost looks like you were putting the harley symbol in the middle of you garage

Yes Harley symbol in the garage. More like Hardley Workingson. It's a great bike but the Hondas are my fave.

Hey Hoser,

Haven't finished the Engine just yet. Still waiting for my cylinder to come back with the new sleeve pressed in. I did get my crank rod installed! Pro-X crank rod worked out nicely. Couldn't have done it without your guys' input!

I was told to drill 2 holes in my piston where the exhaust bridge meets it. Some other guy says to put 2 dimples into it. However, my crank rod installer told me to drill 2 holes completely through the skirt, otherwise it won't work correctly. Any input on this?

Also, where's a forum post about fixing the starter/counter balancer issue where oil fills the starter? I saw Odyssey Salvage had a way to do it and I've seen other ways where people had what looked like plungers/siphons attached to the case.

Started some more work on the Oddy last night. Seems to be tough to move my front arms up and down. Packed it full of grease too. Wondering if I just need to ride it to free them up more. Also seems like I have a gap between the front bumper and the tri bolt plate that goes to the arms. Trying to figure that out.

It was really easy to take it apart, harder to remember which order to put it back! haha

I was told to drill 2 holes in my piston where the exhaust bridge meets it. Some other guy says to put 2 dimples into it. However, my crank rod installer told me to drill 2 holes completely through the skirt, otherwise it won't work correctly. Any input on this?

Also, where's a forum post about fixing the starter/counter balancer issue where oil fills the starter? I saw Odyssey Salvage had a way to do it and I've seen other ways where people had what looked like plungers/siphons attached to the case.


Drill the holes through the skirt of the piston and make sure you de-burr the holes you drill. Dimples in the piston won't do much if anything! If you have the instructions for the wiseco piston you purchased, it will tell you haw far apart to drill the holes. If you need more instruction just ask!

As far as the vent goes you will need to plug the vent hole that leads into the stator cavity. The hole is in the center case half at about the 2 o'clock position close to the edge of the stator itself. See picture below.

After you have plugged the vent hole, there are a couple of ways you can create a balancer vent.

1.) You can drill and tap the side case and install a 90 degree fitting. The drawback to doing this is that you have to remove the clutch and side case to do it and you also have to relieve the belt guard in the area where the fitting is located. The case in this area is thin so be careful and don't drill the hole too large or tap the threads for the fitting too deep.

2.) The second way you can create a balancer vent is to use the existing balancer oil fill plug hole. The only draw back to this is you have to remove the vent system to check the oil level.

The following thread is the first version of the no case modification vent system I designed.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6309&hilit=ven"

This thread is the revision 1 or my second version of the same type of vent system. I like it better than the first because you can take the hose of by just using your fingers.......no tools required!

Rand
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8323&hilit=vent"

Drill the holes in the piston for sure also make sure the bridge has been relieved viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5407

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5025&view=next

Definitely going to drill the holes! Gave the boring guy the specs on the clearance and relieving of the exhaust bridge. Thank you guys for that!

Randman, where did you get that water cooled head!! Is that a hillside honda one?

Also, should I run a water cooled head? Planning on running race gas, 110 octane, mild porting, boyesen carbon reeds, mikuni 38mm flat slide carb, still have stock exhaust tho. grrr. and waiting on comet to make the clutches. was told may 12 some should be coming in stock!!

I've heard they run hot but not really wanting to spend $600 or so to get a head, radiatior, hoses, etc.

Yes it's the new billet Hillside Honda head serial number 1. The price for these I believe is around $375 to $395 plus shipping. It's a nice head with an interchangeable burn chamber. I have had a few issues but mine after all it was the first and it was the prototype. Jim327 also has one and his is anodized red and looks way too bitchin! LOL He has a post for the build of his Ody with lots of pictures.

All Odys run hot. If you are going to push it at all I highly suggest a water cooled head. By the description of you're modifications, you aren't going to be driving like a little old lady! Water cool that bad boy because if you're going to ride it like you stole it, you will get it hot and wear it out prematurely.

There are other options to lessen the bite for the cost of a water cooled head that won't cost you 600 bucks. Rand's manufacturing (no affiliation to me) in Bakersfiled Ca has heads on ebay for $299 plus shipping. I would suggest one of these heads and then purchase a used Yamaha Banshee radiator. You won't get a break on the head but you should be able to get a nice used radiator for cheap. Jim327 and myself used Yamaha YFZ 450 radiators and a Mercedes Benz water pump. If you use the banshee radiator you can use the thermosyphon method and you will not need the water pump. To do the thermosiphon system you will need a radiator the has vertical fins in it like the banshee radiator. You should be able to get away with a water cooled head and radiator setup for around 350 bucks!

Here is a link to the Rand's water cooled head.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-OD ... ccessories

Rand

I bought a 70's goldwing radiator for $17 including shipping. And nuke em traded a liquid cooled head for me getting him a transmission. I got lucky

Looks good man. Im also here in socal about 60 miles south of you. Where do you ride?

Where I'm at I go to Pismo Beach, CA for the sand/dunes. But the majority of the riding is at Gorman/Hungrey Valley State OHV Park, Rowher Flats, California City, Jawbone and Dove Springs. Pismo is 2.5 hours away and Gorman is 1 hour away. All depends on what kinda terrain I want to ride. I've seen FL350's and FL400's at Cal City all the time, Pismo and Rowher Flats. You should've seen the hill climbs these FL350's were going up, it was crazy.

I used to live in Bakersfield and I know all of the places you ride pretty well except for Rower Flats. Have you ever been to Ballinger Canyon?

Rand

Lost 2 pages on this thread, here's where the machine is at now.

Got the Engine back together with Wiseco 80mm piston, Pro-X crank rod, LA sleeve, port and polish.

Used an Athena Complete gasket kit to put it together. Installed the Comet 94c Clutch.

Dropped the Engine into the Oddy and got the rear Works G-Series shocks dialed in.

Put on the Douglas red labels with GBC X-Rex tires 22x11x10 on the rear.

Polished up a used DG Xtreme pipe I had picked up. Cleaned up the Keihin 39mm carb and Vforce3 reeds.

Now just need to get the last parts on and get it running.

Also going to buy one of these Ballistic batteries to take 6-7 pounds off the rear.