Re-Covering Sylvie’s Seat Again, With Limited Success

This week, I decided to re-cover Sylvie’s seat yet again, as the cheap non-slip matting had worn out quicker than expected from the grippy section of my motorcycle pants.

I took the seat off in order to remove the previous layer of covering.

I decided to try a different type of PVC rubber non-slip matting this time.

I removed the previous cover and checked the extent of the wear.

The previous layer below was still in good shape, apart from the small patches of duct tape and the impression from the layer above.

I ued the previous cover layer as a template and cut a piece to size.

I set to work with the staple gun and  soon discovered that this type of matting was less stretchy than expected, so I was not entirely happy with the result.

I finished it off with black duct tape until I have time to cut another piece

I popped the seat back on Sylvie, as I need to ride her this week and don’t have a spare seat.

While I’m not entirely happy with the result I like the finish on this material, so I will use the remainder of the roll to make another cover. I may even get adventurous enough to cut several pieces and sew them together…

That’s all for now. I’ll see what I can come up with for next week’s update!

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How Not To Remove A Flywheel

Just a quick update this week, as I had other things to fix unrelated to my hobbies.

This week, I decided to try my luck with the flywheel puller and removing the flywheel from Rosie.

I started by making sure the thread on the puller was well greased.

Unfortunately it didn’t help, as the puller just wouldn’t thread properly in the stripped thread.

I did succeed in stripping the thread on the puller, however.

Next week, I’ll be working on Sylvie and maybe Erica or Scarlet, time permitting.

Scarlet Starting Video Still Processing

Short and sweet update this week, as although I did manage to get video of Scarlet starting again, I didn’t allow enough time for editing and uploading!

Instead, here’s a pic of Scarlet:

I also ordered some parts a replacement fuel tap and a replacement main jet for the one I took form the spare carb. I’m still waiting on the fuel tap.

The replacement main jet arrived though. It looks pretty much the same as this one, only shiner. I’ll get some pictures of the new one when I have other new parts to show off!

I’ll post another update when the video is edited and uploaded if it’s ready before next week’s regular update!

I Lost A Jet, So My Daughter Can’t Rebuild Scarlet’s Carburetor Yet!

Tonight, I asked my daughter to help me rebuild Scarlet’s carburetor, as her mum needed a much-deserved break. My daughter didn’t seem very impressed by the idea.

I thought maybe it would be a good time to compare the original parts with those in the Keyster XL250 carb kit I bought, to show how different they are.

 

Here’s the kit contents in a bit more detail.

Here’s the needle jet that was in Scarlet’s carburetor, gradually rotated to show the text stamped on it. If you can’t quite see the numbers, it says 77A.

Here’s the needle in the kit – it says D272. It’s also brass and a lot shorter!

The other jets weren’t much better, but at least I can probably use the float valve.

I was about to take a comparative photo of the main jet with the two replacements in the kit until I realised I was missing the original main jet!

My daughter and I had a look near the shed door and on the floor of the shed and found a lot of other parts for the carburetor, but not the missing jet. I put the other parts in a ziplock bag for safekeeping.

“Silly daddy, you can’t expect me to rebuild a carburetor with the wrong main jet!”

So this week was a fail, as is the carburetor until I either find the missing main jet or find time to check if the spare old carb has a main jet I can use.

Maybe I’ll manage to do that in time for next week’s post!

 

A Stand For Sylvie With A Very Strong Spring

The springs for Sylvie’s centrestand arrived this week, so with all the pieces together I decided to try fitting the stand.

 

The stand itself needed a little assembly.

  

The rubber stopper was the first part I fitted.

 

Next I located the mounting point under the frame.

 

The mounting pin was the next part unpacked.

 

I greased the pin before pushing it through. It needed a little encouragement from my trusty rubber mallet.

  

Next I prepared the springs for mounting. The smaller spring goes inside the main spring.

  

Despite my best efforts,I couldn’t get the main spring to stretch enough to finish mounting the stand.

 

Rather than giving up completely, I decided to simply mount only the smaller spring and leave the stand in place for now. I packed everything else into a box until a friend is able to come over and help me mount the main spring later this week.

 

Hopefully I’ll have a longer update for you next week!

Sylvie Is Seriously Flooded!

I took Sylvie for her first ride after replacing the missing breather hose joint. It was supposed to just be a quick trip to the nearest shopping centre but I’d had some issues with loss of power and stalling on the way there. I returned to find a steadily growing puddle of fuel under the bike!

   

Closer inspection revealed that the airbox and air filter were completely full of fuel.

  

The starter motor  was also not turning over and all the lights were also going out when I tried to start the bike. I stopped taking photos and went into damage control mode at this point. I firstly let my partner know I would be a bit later home than expected, then messaged a good friend and fellow rider, who came by with a spare battery from a different model bike, jumper leads and some fuel.

After disconnecting the recently reattached carb breather hose and cranking the starter a few times with full throttle, I was able to limp the bike back home.

While I haven’t had time to look at it since, I will be stripping and rebuilding the carburetor and running the parts through the ultrasonic cleaner at the earliest opportunity!

In other news, the missing springs from the centrestand should be arriving this week, so I’ll hopefully have a longer post (or possibly posts) over the course of the next week!

Sylvie Has A Screw Loose And Her Predecessors Confound Me

This week, I noticed that one of the screws holding on Sylvie’s chain guard on had disappeared.

After lifting it up, I realised it was only being held on by the front bolt!

  

Fortunately, I found a temporary replacement.

Ready to ride again!

Getting back to the CB250RS’s, I was still trying to figure out what’s going on with Scarlet’s electrical system. I started by having a look at the wiring inside Eric’s headlight.

While enough seems to be connected  to start the bike and get a neutral light, not much else was working last time I ran him.

I checked my slightly modified wiring on Scarlet…

 

I noticed a blue wire that didn’t seem to be plugged in, but it was only one headlight connection that may have come loose when I removed the headlight from the housing.

I plugged it in anyway.

 

There was a black connector with two sockets that didn’t seem to have anything connected to it., so I had another look at Eric’s wiring. The same connector had nothing plugged in either!

I decided it was time to consult the wiring diagram in the Haynes manual.

This proved surprisingly unhelpful, so I checked my PDF copy of the Honda workshop manual as I remembered seeing a picture of the cable routing in there.

Unfortunately, this just shows the main connection blocks and is in black and white.

As the weather was rather hot, I gave up for the day.

Checking the Honda manual again, I found several wiring diagrams. After consulting the list of Honda Motorcycle Area Codes at cmsnl.com, I found the correct one for the Australian version.

This tells me two things:

1. I need a physical copy of the official Honda shop manual!
2. I’ll have to spend more time working this one out –  I suspect maybe the fairly amateur wiring changes I made so long ago to get Scarlet working may have failed.

Maybe it’s time to swap Eric’s motor over to Bruiser and swap the wiring loom over to Scarlet…