Project CB250RS Restoration/Rebuild

Can’t Sleep, Fixing Bikes!

So on Wednesday night I went a little overboard with swapping bits & pieces around between Bruiser, Eric & Scarlet.

I started with the tank mount – of the three bikes, only Bruiser had one.
I looked at Scarlet and decided it should be fitted on her tank.



Removed the mounting bolt and rubber from Bruiser easily enough.



Fitting it on Scarlet was straightforward enough..



Next I compared the instrument clusters

Here’s the one Scarlet came with. It says Honda on the back but it’s not from the right model.



Bruiser’s was in the best condition overall,



And here’s the one I bought for Eric originally. I liked the fact that some of the writing was still visible on this one.



So naturally I decided to take everything apart and see what could be swapped around. As I’d hoped, the covers for the lights were removable and could be swapped.



Since I’d already removed the ignition switches, the switch with matching locks from Bruiser went into back into the instrument cluster to be mounted on Scarlet.

Next I removed the headlight housing from Scarlet, so I could get to the headlight mounting bracket.



There were some extra holes drilled in the mounting bracket for the instrument cluster, so I decided to swap it with Eric’s.



This meant removing the handlebars.



Eric’s mounting bracket was in much better shape, so off it came!



I compared all four handlebar mounting brackets and all eight mounting screws, then selected the best ones to put back on Scarlet.



While looking at the wiring for the headlights and instrument cluster on Scarlet, I found an adaptor cable that looked a bit odd.



After removing it, I realised that it was from the odd instrument cluster



It went with the collection of parts from that cluster. On further inspection, I found that the back of this instrument cluster was marked “Honda CB400T”.



I’d already removed Bruiser’s headlight to remove his instrument cluster, so I decided to remove the headlight cover and compare with the one on the spare headlight and the one from Scarlet.



I noticed the one from Scarlet looked a bit odd compared with the other ones. A close look at the back told me exactly why – it was from a Suzuki!



The better of the two Honda ones was put aside to mount on Scarlet.



As I’d half-dismantled the headlights by this point, I checked the chrome outer rings on them.



For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to completely dismantle the headlights and swap the chrome outer rings over instead of just using the better headlight.



I did end up with one headlight that was significantly less rusty than the other, so I guess it was worth it!



I mounted the rebuilt instrument cluster on Scarlet and swapped the tank strap over to match the ignition switch.



My phone battery was too flat to keep taking photos by this point.

I ended up installing Scarlet’s front indicators and headlight, swapping the left switch/clutch lever assembly with Bruiser’s as it was the only one that had the correct wiring for the headlight, finding it was missing the clutch switch, breaking another clutch switch trying to remove it from the original switch assembly, dismantling the bottom half of the broken switch assembly and rebuilding it into the third one and finding that Scarlet’s wiring loom seems to be missing at least one bullet connector so the lights still don’t work.

Scarlet’s almost a complete bike now though, more on that tomorrow!

(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

Scarlet Gets All Fired Up

Over the last few days, I’ve made a lot of progress on Scarlet by swapping a few parts out from Bruiser and Eric.

First I tried the red side panels on her.




I took the fuel hose off Bruiser and fitted it on Scarlet, as hers was too short to connect properly from the fuel tank.



I noticed that fuel was dripping onto the engine, then had a look at the bottom of the carburetor and noticed something was missing!



After checking on Bruiser, I removed the overflow hose from his carburetor.

With the assistance of some freshly-boiled water, I managed to get it fitted easily enough.

I noticed that the Neutral Light kept turning off and realised the front brake lever was sitting loosely, which was causing the brake light to come on and draining power that should have gone to the ignition system.

On further inspection, I noticed there was no brake fluid in the reservoir and the button behind it that pushes brake fluid down the line was stuck. I topped up the brake fluid, then bled the front brake until it came out blue instead of yellow. That reminds me – I need to bleed Eric’s front brake line too as I never got around to doing it after filling his master cylinder!

After resolving the brake light issue, I pulled out the spark plug and had a look at it. It wasn’t too bad but was wet with fuel, so I checked the plugs from Bruiser and Eric. Bruiser’s was in the best condition, so I put it in Scarlet.

I realised that maybe the lack of a complete exhaust would affect performance if I got Scarlet started, so I took the complete mufflers off Bruiser and put them on Scarlet.



I noticed that Scarlet didn’t have any pillion pegs – these are part of the standard mounts for the mufflers and I’m aiming for a faithful restoration, so on they went!





The front exhaust pipes Scarlet had might work well on Eric when I concentrate on getting him done up as a cafe racer!



After a couple more attempts, Scarlet kicked over, spluttered and died.
She started again after that quite easily, then refused to do it when I started recording video!

Eventually she started cooperating – here’s the result:


Now I just need to get all her lights working and figure out why she’s stalling without the choke!

(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

Thanks Murdo, I'll check that out.

Replaced the fuel hose for starters, it seems to have helped a little.

 

Wheels, Sprockets And A Chain (Plus Some Electrics)
(Part 1 of 2)

On Sunday afternoon I decided it was time to try a replacing the fuel hose and spark plug in Scarlet, put a chain on her and attempt fixing the lights.

First up, I put some chain lube on Bruiser’s chain and set about locating the master link. There turned out to be several of them!



I found a section that had two master links in a row, prised the clip off one and removed the chain.



Ae I will be re-using Bruiser’s chain, then plan was to remove the rear wheels and just swap the front and rear sprockets over until I get around to replacing them altogether, as it’s generally recommended to replace the sprockets with the chain.

Removing the rear wheel from Bruiser was easy enough, I just needed to remember to disconnect the rear brake and brake tension bar from the right side of the wheel.



It was then time to remove Scarlet’s rear wheel. The first thing I discovered was that the mufflers I’d just put on needed to be removed again to get the wheel off.



That done, I set about removing the wheel. THis turned out to far more difficult than Bruiser’s had been. One reason for this was probably that the axle had been put in backwards, as some of you may have noticed from the photos above.



The small sledgehammer came in quite handy for pushing the axle through the wheel hub with another axle.

I compared Scarlet’s wheel with Bruiser’s and noticed a major difference in the style of sprocket and the mounts for it – I suspect Scarlet’s rear wheel was replaced with a similar one at some stage!



I noticed the damage to the hub on Bruiser’s wheel and decided to pull Eric’ rear wheel off and compare it – if it was the same as Bruiser’s I’d just stick the sprocket on it.



I had a go at removing the sprocket, then realised that it was on too tightly for me to remove without damaging the hex drive bolts and or standard nuts on the rear. I also noticed that the tyre was quite worn and the brake drum had no brake pads at all, so I decided I’d cut my losses and just fit Bruiser’s wheel to Scarlet.

During the re-fitting, I discovered something that would have made life a lot easier while taking the wheels off. There are little metal plates that fit into a gap in the swingarm that is covered by the chain tensioners. Removing these meant that I could assemble the entire axle and simply slot it into place!



After that, the plates slip into the gaps and hold the axle in.



The wheel slides back down.



The chain tensionsers flip back up and hold the plates in place when tightened. Very clever design!



Next up, I removed the front sprockets from Bruiser and Scarlet



Bruiser’s sprocket is on the left, Scarlet’s is on the right.



Even though Scarlet’s original front sprocket is in better condition, I’m re-using an old chain so I’m keeping the sprockets with it. I’ll keep the other one as a spare for now.

With the sprockets fitted it was time to fit the chain and a new split pin to keep the axle nut in the right place.



With the chain done, I moved on to the fuel hose.



At the top is the old fuel hose, which was a bit shorter than it should have been.



The old hose is on the left, the new one on the right. A tighter fit should prevent fuel leaks at the tap and air leaks at the carburetor!

(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

Wheels, Sprockets And A Chain (Plus Some Electrics)
(Part 2 of 2)

Next up, I moved on to the spark plug. The old spark plug versus the new one



The new plug and fuel hose in place.



I decided to check Scarlet’s air filter and found it in a sorry state – the foam filter element was missing completely!



I checked Bruiser’s air box and found the filter there was complete and even nicely oiled!



I transferred the filter to Scarlet, then set about swapping the throttle and right combination switch with the one from Eric, as the knob was missing from the light switch and it had the original handgrip.





I had to take the tank off to disconnect the throttle cables and my new fuel hose just popped straight off, so I cut a slightly longer piece and made sure the circlips were properly fitted this time!



As I had noticed a missing connector for the front wiring assembly that I can’t easily replace with the same connector, , I decided to make my own magical mystery cable to do the same job.



By this point I thought I had everything connected, so I fired Scarlet up to test the lights. Scarlet now starts on the second or third kick most times with the new spark plug, so it was definitely worth fitting!

Strangely, none of the lights were working apart from the brake for some reason.After having another look at the cabling on Bruiser and Eric, I realised I had missed the connector for the left switch assembly. It turned out to be still behind the headlight case, so I pulled it through and connected it.



After a quick test, I found that high beam wasn’t working. Checking the bulb showed it had a blown high beam element, so I swapped the headlights over and retested – Bingo!

For some reason the indicators still don’t work properly – that’s a task for later in the week, along with fitting the brand new battery, idle adjustments and/or carburetor servicing.

(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

Yeah already tried WD40. Will try again with decent hex drivers another day.

 

Repairing Fairings And A Battery For Scarlet

As I had bought a new battery for Eric when I only had the one CB250RS, I figured it was time to prepare it for charging so I can fit it to Scarlet and her current battery can go in Eric.



Being a pre-charged dry battery, this meant filling it with acid and putting it on to charge for at least 2-5 hours. Battery acid is corrosive, as the picture on the box the bottle of acid came in so helpfully reminded me. This of course meant donning old clothes that are pre-ventilated with acid holes thanks to recklessness last time I filled a battery plus an extra pair of pants underneath for good measure. This time I also wore rubber gloves, as I prefer the skin on my hands to retain most of its external layers!



On removing the bottle of acid from its sealed plastic bag and taking off the childproof lid, I found the expected foil safety seal. For some reason they really don’t want this stuff leaking out of its container in transit - I can’t imagine why!



After carefully pouring the acid into the battery yet still managing to spill acid everywhere, mopping up said acid with paper towels before removing my rubber gloves to operate my phone camera, I put the battery on to charge. It appears that my charger is not in fact faulty, as the lights indicated that it was charging the battery.



After a few minutes, I realised that leaving the battery on the floor in front of the gate was not the brightest of ideas, so I cleared space on the shelf for it and put the charger on the shelf above.



I took a break for dinner, got the spare fairings for Nix out of the shed and found my brand new tubes of J-B Weld.

After some work on Nix' fairings, I found the mounting post for the left mid-panel from Scarlet that I’d snapped some time ago by taking it off Eric too roughly.



This stuff is pretty awesome.

(copied with minor edits from part of a recent blog post of mine)

 

Securing and Sprucing Up Scarlet

On Sunday between removing Nix’ right mid-fairing and waiting for the J-B Weld to set on the original, I worked on Scarlet.

First I fitted her new battery and swapped the right side of the toolbox with the one I bought for Eric, as this one has a lid.



While it’s authentic for Scarlet’s year of manufacture I’ll probably replace it with Bruiser’s eventually, as that one can be latched and opened with a motorcycle key or screwdriver.



Despite the mounting bolts being round and devoid of screwdriver slots, I managed to remove the broken helmet holder lock from Scarlet and replace it with the one from Bruiser. This meant that both of the locks fitted to her now unlock with the same key I use for her ignition switch.

.

I had been bothered by the amount of rust on her handlebars for a while, as well as the mismatched handgrips after replacing the throttle assembly.



I swapped them with Eric’s but forgot to get a photo during daylight, so took one tonight instead.



Since all three of the locks fitted on Scarlet now matched, I decided to try my luck with fitting Bruiser’s steering lock, as Scarlet didn’t have one at all when I got her. After quite a bit of WD40 and cleaning out of the lock mechanism with fine wire, I discovered that Bruiser’s steering lock didn’t have a broken piece of key in it after all, just a lot of dirt and grit. I managed to clean the mechanism up enough so that it worked with after applying a little “elbow grease” to the key.



Since this will be the final lock unless I replace the seat cowl, I tested it after fitting.
Left is locked, right is unlocked again.



Not a bad weekend’s work - Scarlet now only has one major and one minor issue - her right front indicator still doesn’t work (relatively minor) and she’s still running too rich to idle without stalling (fairly major).

I went to ALDI in the evening and found a special on Brasso and Silvo, so I grabbed a bottle of each. Once I get the problems above sorted, I'll get onto de-rusting and polishing any bare metal or chrome I can find!

(copied with minor edits from part of a recent blog post of mine)

 

Eric Ekes Closer To Completion

Saturday being a lovely sunny winter day in Canberra, I decided it was time to make a bit of room around Eric and look at what parts I could fit to him.
There’s still a fair bit to go compared to Scarlet!



First up, I needed to connect the throttle cables, so off with his seat and tank!



Cables threaded through.



Hooked up at the top;



At the bottom;



Both connected!



Moving to the cylinder head, there’s definitely something missing here…



One new spark plug…



A spark plug spanner, a few turns and the plug cap has something to connect to!



I moved on to the mufflers next – the cylinder head needed a bit of a clean.



A bit of work with a toothbrush and there are a few less cobwebs in there!



I started with the left muffler, as this one was at least complete.



Moving on the the front half of the right muffler.



At least there’s something other than a big hole there now!



The right pillion peg should be bolted onto the rear of the muffler, so I’ve made sure it’s nice and tight so as not to wobble around.



Moving on to the back of the bike, there is an extra-long mudguard that is weighing the chopped frame down more than it should be.



Off with the tail light and number plate holder.



The old one and a spare standard one I had.



Pop the tail light back on and reconnect the wiring…



And there we go!



While we’re looking at lights, let’s have a look at that fuse box…



Not looking great – how about the spares?



Maybe not. I checked the ones on Bruiser.



Jackpot! How about those spares?



Quick swap into Eric’s fuse box and the cover goes on top.



The old one went onto Bruiser (poor fella, he’s getting all the worst bits!)



Next up, we have the chopped-up and sagging rear frame.



Maybe I can hold it in place by tightening everything else?



Seems to have done the job.



What else is missing?



A fuel line might help here!



A mudguard on the front…



Swap over the kick start lever…



Looking a bit more like it…



Ahh, the indicator relay is missing! Grab the spare from Bruiser once again…



And finally the speedo cable.



There’s still a fair bit to go on Eric but not much left before he should be ready to try starting. If he idles well, I’ll swap the carburetor with Scarlet’s until the carburetor kits I’ve ordered arrive.

No final picture as I had to pack up and head out – I’ll make sure I get one next time!

(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

Scarlet Gets An Authentic Toolkit

The Honda on-board toolkit I ordered arrived!



As it’s a replacement toolkit for the late ’70s/early ’80s CB750 series bikes, it had a couple of extra tools and one spanner missing. This was easily rectified to make a more authentic collection of onboard tools by the removal of the 24mm ring spanner and 0.7mm spark plug gap tool, followed by the addition of some of the vintage tools I already had for Eric.



Sealed up in their bag and ready to put in Scarlet’s tool box before long trips once it’s more secure.



(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

CB250RS Updates

Since I hadn’t posted anything about “the triplets” (Bruiser, Eric, & Scarlet) lately, I figured it was it was time for an update.

I’ve been gradually moving the parts in the best condition across to Scarlet while I wait for the carburetor overhaul kits to arrive.

First up, I swapped the side-stand from Bruiser to Scarlet, as Scarlet’s seemed to be bent.

Scarlet is on the left, Bruiser is on the right.



Scarlet’s original side stand is on the left, Bruiser’s original one on the right.


After the swap – Scarlet on the left again, Bruiser is on the right. I’m not entirely convinced that it wasn’t better the way they were originally!



I’ve been concentrating on trying get Eric to start, as I wanted to see if his carburetor was any better than Scarlet’s. I swapped the aftermarket ignition switch with the one that was originally on Scarlet, as the aftermarket one has the wrong connector.



The original switch doesn’t sit in quite the right place on the wrong instrument cluster.



At least it can be connected to all the relevant cables though…



The neutral light still hadn’t come on with the ignition turned on despite the transmission definitely being in neutral, and there didn’t seem to be any spark when trying to kick-start, so I charged the battery four a couple of days, then put it back in.



Still no neutral light.



Off comes the instrument cluster



I figured I should check the bulbs, even though they had worked when the instrument cluster was on Scarlet.



Cover off, and the bulbs seemed OK.



I put the cluster back together and moved on, as this seemed to be a wiring fault and beyond my ability to troubleshoot at the time, as I was quite tired that evening.

I noticed the rear brake lever on Scarlet was looking a bit bent out of shape and wasn’t as shiny as the others.



Bruiser’s looked a bit rusty but certainly a good deal less bent.



After removal, Bruiser’s brake pedal looked a lot better than Scarlet’s, although for some reason I don’t seem to have taken a comparison picture.



Scarlet after the swap.



Bruiser after the swap.





As it was getting late, I left it there for the night.

I’ll do the same tonight despite having more updates, as I’m falling asleep and have work in the morning!

(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

I Know There’s A Carburetor In Here Somewhere – Scarlet Gets Ready To Ride!

So with Scarlet not running well enough to idle last time we saw her, I figured I’d see what sort of condition Bruiser’s carb was in while I waited for the carb kits to arrive.

Obviously, the seat and tank had to come off.



A bit of WD40 to clean things up a bit and get the throttle cables out…



Looks a bit rusty…



A fair bit of grease on top of the choke assembly too…



The air filter needed to come out to remove the airbox.

The battery box is bolted to the airbox, so out comes the battery too!



More WD40 and elbow grease required here…



Now that those are out of the way, I can get to the carburetor. That’s gotta be it under all that grease and grime, right?



It looks carburetor-shaped …



After a bit of a cleanup with WD40…





The same process was repeated on Scarlet.





Once the battery box was out, I decided to attach the “lockable” tool compartment from bruiser’s battery box to give Scarlet a little more style…



The choke cable wasn’t held on very securely on Scarlet. This bolt should have been a screw about half the length.



Scarlet’s carb looked better on the outside, however…





Bruiser’s carb was put to soak in degreaser.



I was working on Rosie’s carb at the same time. It was much cleaner to start with!



I had a look at the choke cables, as I’d had to remove the choke mounting bracket on Scarlet’s old carb.



After being left to soak overnight, the replacement carb was turned up the other way and soaked again.



After a thorough scrubbing outside with a toothbrush there was indeed a carburetor under there.

While the inside of the carb was unaffected, I won’t be using this type of degreaser on old alloy again in a hurry, as it seems to have stripped the outer coating along with the grease!





The throttle seemed to be sticking a bit, so I put some rubber grease inside the throttle assembly at the handlebar end.



Here’s a video of Scarlet idling after the carb replacement:



Full view of Scarlet from her good side.



Shortly after taking the previous photo, one of the mirrors came off, so they’ve been replaced with the ones originally from Jack.



I finally managed to get the right indicators working by swapping the front one with the spare front one I had from Bruiser, so she’s ready for a rego inspection now!

Since Scarlet is working and Rosie is still playing up. Scarlet’s key gets the Harley Quinn keyring for now.





I’ll see if I can squeeze in a rego inspection tomorrow before heading off to Melbourne for the weekend – wish me luck!

(copied from my blog post of the same name)

 

Thanks @Murdo. Organising the UVP now.