Almost done back here. I used a custom made ride height adjuster just because I had
one. I had to destroy a 1-1/16" open end wrench to be able to adjust it
on the bike though. My Dad would turn over in his grave if he saw what I
did to his wrench. Sorry, I will make it up to you some day. The
exhaust wrap is horrible stuff to work with. Makes me itchy just looking
at it. The two rear pipes are really close together and the exhaust
wrap touches between them but it is not a functional problem. For you
guys putting those Ladybird systems on your bikes consider wrapping the
pipes instead of putting those hokey heat shields on. You get the added
benefit of reduced under-seat heat and your shock absorber, thigh,
genitals etc do not bake as quickly.
The chain is a new Honda one that came from a new bike in 1988 that went
racing with 520 kit parts. The sprockets came from the same bike so I
got to use one of the original small sprockets with the floating o-ring
things on it.
A word of advice. Put the chain on the sprocket BEFORE you put the
engine in the frame. If you try to do it after you have to remove the
sprocket cover, shifter cover and water pump or break the chain and
install a link. I ended up doing it the difficult way. I did not want a
rivet link in my original Honda chain.
Note the ugly Mig weld on the cross tube ahead of the damper where it
meets the frame casting. Honda used two different weld processes when
welding the frames up. Honda used Mig (aka GMAW) welding on the inside
where you cannot normally see it and Tig (aka Heliarc or GTAW) welding
wherever a bystander would see it with the bike assembled. Mig welding
is much faster than Tig and anyone can do it, but Tig produces a higher
quality weld with no spatter and a smaller heat affected zone. You can
see and feel Mig weld spatter on the inside of RC30 frame rails. Honda
also Tig welded the seat subframes together so they look very nice.
The guy at 1:46 in
this Honda video is Tig welding on the outside of the frame (and a fuel tank).