ballvo's '72 H2 restoration
Mar 22, 2017 22:30:33 GMT -5
triplepoweredgpz and trevors78kh400 like this
Post by ballvo on Mar 22, 2017 22:30:33 GMT -5
Hi All,
Since it was declared "The Year of the Triple" I thought 'What better time to restore my first year H2?' My thinking was that since I've already got a couple of custom triples why not have a go at a full restoration. The specials seem like works that never end and I figured a resto should be pretty straightforward - disassemble, clean, freshen up where needed and put everything back where it came from. How hard could it be?
Some may recall that I picked up a mostly complete H2 a while back (May 2014). Got if from an older member of the CVMG section I belong to. He was beginning to thin his herd of mostly two-strokes. Here's the bike, still in his garage:
And all the goodies I got with it:
That extra blue tank is also for a '72 and was covered with PlastiDip or something. There were a few spots where the stuff had peeled off and I could see a bit of gold paint underneath. I thought there might be an original gold paint job hidden underneath so I started scraping away at it and the rubbery coating pretty much just peeled away. It felt like a bad acid flashback when I finally got the paint exposed:
The inside is pretty rough so I left it like this - thinking of that Batman villain, Two-Face:
First thing I did to get underway was build a hillbilly work stand:
I'd been slowly plucking bits and pieces off the bike but it wasn't until January that I kicked into high gear - hoping to have it finished for Paris 2017. Took a bunch of reference photos that happen to show how tired and neglected it really was:
Stuck with the plan and just kept removing parts:
Before stripping the motor I drained what little tranny oil was in it. A bit of H2O present so wasn't sure what I'd find inside or :
Only the center cylinder came off willingly. Not really unexpected when I saw how much corrosion was on the cylinder bolts on the two outside barrels:
The right cylinder, after much soaking with assorted rust-breakers and with a healthy dose of whacking and prying, eventually decided to let loose:
I noticed the same strange wear marks on the plate near the end of the shift drum that I'd seen on my H1A. These are spaced at 60 degrees from one another, around the end of the plate and the six locations progress from no mark through to the relatively deep gouges you can see here, each getting progressively deeper:
What I find odd is that everyone claimed to have never seen these and I've found them on both triple motors I've opened recently. There is absolutely no sign of any metal part that comes in contact with this plate.
Someone has been into this motor before me it seems. There were wear marks on several of the philips screws in behind the clutch housing and the one on the spring retainer was torqued in so tight it stripped right away. I had to dremel a slot into the head to remove it:
Eventually got the engine onto the bench (with L. cyl. still firmly stuck in place):
Finally down to the frame, with everything except the big bits in the two yellow-lidded totes:
I'll finish this first installment with a reflection on triples (after a bit of clean up):
Let the restoration begin....
Stay tuned.
Since it was declared "The Year of the Triple" I thought 'What better time to restore my first year H2?' My thinking was that since I've already got a couple of custom triples why not have a go at a full restoration. The specials seem like works that never end and I figured a resto should be pretty straightforward - disassemble, clean, freshen up where needed and put everything back where it came from. How hard could it be?
Some may recall that I picked up a mostly complete H2 a while back (May 2014). Got if from an older member of the CVMG section I belong to. He was beginning to thin his herd of mostly two-strokes. Here's the bike, still in his garage:
And all the goodies I got with it:
That extra blue tank is also for a '72 and was covered with PlastiDip or something. There were a few spots where the stuff had peeled off and I could see a bit of gold paint underneath. I thought there might be an original gold paint job hidden underneath so I started scraping away at it and the rubbery coating pretty much just peeled away. It felt like a bad acid flashback when I finally got the paint exposed:
The inside is pretty rough so I left it like this - thinking of that Batman villain, Two-Face:
First thing I did to get underway was build a hillbilly work stand:
I'd been slowly plucking bits and pieces off the bike but it wasn't until January that I kicked into high gear - hoping to have it finished for Paris 2017. Took a bunch of reference photos that happen to show how tired and neglected it really was:
Stuck with the plan and just kept removing parts:
Before stripping the motor I drained what little tranny oil was in it. A bit of H2O present so wasn't sure what I'd find inside or :
Only the center cylinder came off willingly. Not really unexpected when I saw how much corrosion was on the cylinder bolts on the two outside barrels:
The right cylinder, after much soaking with assorted rust-breakers and with a healthy dose of whacking and prying, eventually decided to let loose:
I noticed the same strange wear marks on the plate near the end of the shift drum that I'd seen on my H1A. These are spaced at 60 degrees from one another, around the end of the plate and the six locations progress from no mark through to the relatively deep gouges you can see here, each getting progressively deeper:
What I find odd is that everyone claimed to have never seen these and I've found them on both triple motors I've opened recently. There is absolutely no sign of any metal part that comes in contact with this plate.
Someone has been into this motor before me it seems. There were wear marks on several of the philips screws in behind the clutch housing and the one on the spring retainer was torqued in so tight it stripped right away. I had to dremel a slot into the head to remove it:
Eventually got the engine onto the bench (with L. cyl. still firmly stuck in place):
Finally down to the frame, with everything except the big bits in the two yellow-lidded totes:
I'll finish this first installment with a reflection on triples (after a bit of clean up):
Let the restoration begin....
Stay tuned.