Fixxer-upper:1984 Honda Nighthawk CB650SC

Rossco

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
963
Location
Massachusetts
Car(s)
05 Saab 9-5, '99 Yamaha XVS650A, '07 Suzuki DL650
Well, after reading the threads of Blaro, Spectre, and Crazyjeeper, I've been inspired to buy an old Honda to fix-up. I found an add for an 84 Honda Nighthawk for $100, on a local bike forum and pulled the trigger.
Now for those of you that aren't familiar with the Nighthawk 650, heres what it's supposed to look like:

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This is what mine looks like:
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And the proof that I own it.
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I'll get some more pics later. But for now, here's a checklist of what it needs.
-New battery cable
-Tune-up
-Carb rebuild
-Rebuild brake master cylinder
-Obtain/rebuild clutch master cylinder
-rebuild/replace clutch slave
-new back brakes
-new tires
-change fork oil (maybe seals <_<)
-obtain sidecovers
-repair/relplace tailsection
-replace turn signals (LEDs?)
-repaint "tins"
and some other odds and ends

However, I did put a charger on it the day I got it home, just for the hell of it, and after a few cranks, and fired up, but could barely hold an idle. But hey, at least it runs! :D
 
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So, someone else who is going to have his vintage Honda finished before BlaRo's. :D :evil: :mrgreen:
 
So, someone else who is going to have his vintage Honda finished before BlaRo's. :D :evil: :mrgreen:

:lmao::lmao:

Speaking of which, while I am still waiting for parts to come in I have made a little bit of progress on the bike.

Out with the old, crusty, and frayed battery cable.
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And in with the new, homemade battery cable.
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I know, it's not much, but it's a start!:)
 
If your homemade job doesn't hold up, I've got a spare cable I accidentally ordered that should fit, if you need it.
 
If your homemade job doesn't hold up, I've got a spare cable I accidentally ordered that should fit, if you need it.

Thanks BlaRo, but I think my homemade one will hold up just fine. But I have been doing some work on the bike.

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I even got the carbs off, and am now in the process of cleaning/rebuilding

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The clutch master, and brake master kits are also in (Still waiting for the new sight glasses).
 
Well, I've got a few things done with this. The carbs are all put back together. I've started on the bodywork and should have that done in about a week. I was also able to get in touch with someone who sold vintage Honda parts out of his garage, and obtain a few odds and ends.

I also went ahead and replaced the back brakes. I figured that since the front master cylinder is off of the bike, waiting to be overhauled, that I should at least have some brakes on the damn thing.

When I bought the bike last September, the previous owner told me that the back brakes were so shot, that they were seized in place.

He wasn't bullshitting.

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Yes, that's right, a piece of the brake shoe had actually broken off.

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Well, I got some new ones on now and they're good as new. I 'll have pics of the bodywork up soon in a few days.
 
Well, there's the answer to "What will it take to make the glue with which most brake shoes are assembled fail?"

Looking good, post more pics. :D
 
Layin down some color.....

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Should be looking more presentable by the end of the weekend.
 

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All set and ready for clear....

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Gonna be sending the brake and clutch master over to my buddy to get the cover screws out. Since, he's the master of extracting stuck bolts and I already snapped a flushed screw head on my brake master cylinder. :wall:

The carbs should go on shortly as well. A problem I ran into was getting an clearance for an allen key to get the flanges off. So I bought an extra allen key and cut the end of it down to access the bolts. Unfortunately My dad lost this tool whilst working on one of his many Saabs. So I gotta get a replacement.
 
Honda didn't use Allen bolts to bolt the flanges on.

Also, did you get the New River Cycle Salvage sight glass kits? They come with new stainless fasteners for the clutch and brake masters.
 
Honda didn't use Allen bolts to bolt the flanges on.

Also, did you get the New River Cycle Salvage sight glass kits? They come with new stainless fasteners for the clutch and brake masters.

Sorry, I dunno if "flanges" was the right word to use or not. But it was those rubber pieces that go between the carbs and the engine. A more appropriate tem I guess would have been whatchamacallits or thingy's :lol:

And yes I got the kits. really nice fasteners. I just gotta get the old ones out. The clutch cover screws look to be in better shape that the brake ones, but I'm just gona let a friend of mine have at'em.

I've seen someone selling brand new aftermarket brake master cylinders on ebay that are said to work on CB650sc's
. I'm thinking about buying one to put on the bike whilst I rebuild the stock one.

I'm also weighing my options for new brake and clutch lines. I like the SS lines, but I don't like the price of them, but they're still an option. I'm trying to see how much it will cost to have a set of standard brake lines made for it vs the cost of S lines from HEL.
 
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After a lil' bit of wet sanding and rubbing compound....

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Oh Hai!

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Not bad.

I've seen those master cylinders as well. They're made by one of the outfits that bought a factory kit from Honda (yes, Honda will sell you a complete turnkey motorcycle factory if you show up with enough money) and licensed production of some of their bikes. I've heard, though, that they're smaller diameter than some Honda full-size bike master cylinders as they were supposedly intended for things like CG125s. Haven't seen any of them dissected yet, though, so whether that's true or not I don't know.
 
BUMP!


When this bike came from the factory, it had alot of polished aluminum/alloy parts on it. Unfortunately, after nearly 30 years, they lost most of their luster.

So I found a cheap Buffing wheel from Harbor freight, brought it home, and got to work.

Here's the passenger grab handle.

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Alot of the engine side-covers were polished. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, someone molested the engine with a can of flat black. So I've been stripping it back and returning it back to it's original shine.

Here's the stator cover after a bit of Tripoli polish.

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As you can tell, I still have some work to do on this piece, but it's getting there.....
 
When I got this bike, the brake master cylinder was in tough shape. As they are with most 70's and 80's Japanese bikes, aside from the usual need for a rebuild kit, they usually have at least one of these problems.

1. These flush cover screws that rust out and strip as if they're made of butter. Making servicing a PITA

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2. The polycarbonate sightglass. that has become yellowed, cracked, opaque, or in my case, blown out completely.

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Luckily there is an aftermarket supplier that has one kit to solve both these woes. For about $15, I got a new sightglass, made of watch crystal, so it won't yellow and crack. Not to mention 2 stainless steel cover screws!

So after installing this, along with a rebuild kit, my master cylinder was good as new!

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Another thing, I found some sidecovers, with the mounting tabs still intact! They'll get painted the same cherry red as the rest of the tins come springtime.

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And I also scored some hard-to-find engine case guards!

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Sorry for the lousy photos. I don't have access to a decent camera at the moment, so I'm trying the best to work with what I got!
 
Looks like the New River Cycle kit CJ and I used on our bikes that you've installed on that master - right?

Also, what's with the big pile of car tires?
 
Looks like the New River Cycle kit CJ and I used on our bikes that you've installed on that master - right?

Also, what's with the big pile of car tires?

Yep, New River Cycle! Kits were worth every penny!

As for the tires, my dad owns around 6 or 7 cars. Some of them are wearing their snow shoes on them, so we keep the "summer" tires in storage.

How long has D.B. Cooper been in your garage? :p

:lol: good eye! That's a mannequin that my dad made out of Paper mache a few years ago. It used to look real lifelike, but the face crumpled off, so we put a Bill Clinton mask on it. We put it out on Halloween and other special events. Yeah...
 
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