Official CX Refurb Thread

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Cheesy Crisps!

Apparently, the stator connector is known to be an issue on these bikes, usually due to corrosion. Rather than clean and reseat the connector, it's pretty common to cut the wires and solder them together.

I hope that A) that's why it looks like this and B) there's enough slack in the wire to fix it properly.

DPOs...gotta love 'em.

Removed and reinstalled the carbs (again...) since I used the wrong o rings on the fuel transfer tube. Fortunately I have a metric o ring kit in my stash and was able to find suitable replacements. BTW, wiping them down with a dab of Dawn on a fingertip makes seating them go smoothly...
 
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As posited on the CX forum, the connector had a major meltdown and the solder splice solution was used. The connector halves were melted together and more than a bit of a PITA to remove which is probably why they were left in place.

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Whoever repaired it did a decent (if clunky) job of splicing the wires so I'll leave it as is for now.
 
jetmechmarty said:
The bigger the blob, the better the job.
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When I was stationed at the MOTU (Mobile Technical Unit) in Charleston, one of my jobs was teaching what we called "Shipboard Soldering". Basically, Soldering 101. As an offshoot of that, I got to go to Miniature and Microminiature Repair School, which was a Nukey Submarine sponsored school so you KNOW it was all about quality and attention to detail.

The Microminiature involved repairing multi-layer circuit boards while working under a stereo microscope. Excavate down to the problem and then rebuild your way out, soldering in runs and epoxy coating each layer. A relatively simple repair could take several days. If there was a bubble in the epoxy, you ground it out and started over.

The theory was having the ability to repair NLA circuit boards or to repair one that was several thousand dollars to replace. Don't know if that held water or not, but it was a fascinating learning experience.
 
jetmechmarty said:
The bigger the blob, the better the job.
Click to expand...

Downeaster said:
When I was stationed at the MOTU (Mobile Technical Unit) in Charleston, one of my jobs was teaching what we called "Shipboard Soldering". Basically, Soldering 101. As an offshoot of that, I got to go to Miniature and Microminiature Repair School, which was a Nukey Submarine sponsored school so you KNOW it was all about quality and attention to detail.

The Microminiature involved repairing multi-layer circuit boards while working under a stereo microscope. Excavate down to the problem and then rebuild your way out, soldering in runs and epoxy coating each layer. A relatively simple repair could take several days. If there was a bubble in the epoxy, you ground it out and started over.

The theory was having the ability to repair NLA circuit boards or to repair one that was several thousand dollars to replace. Don't know if that held water or not, but it was a fascinating learning experience.
Click to expand...
The bigger the blob...
I had some 20Kv transformers in a Liquid (dielectric) cooled amplifier for TR1 radar transmitter. In wiring up those transformers a perfectly spherical blob on the connections prevented an odd shaped corona from developing.

We had some out of production circuit boards that occaisionally took a pretty hard hit during a High voltage power supply failure. In some cases we would excavate the area, add jumper wires component to component, bond them down and conformal coat the whole thing. Crude but effective. Some of that sh!t was flying recconnasaince during the first Gulf War.
 
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Early on in my Navy career, I worked on some 50's crypto gear that used 1st generation circuit boards with discrete components soldered in via leads through eyelets. 40 or 50 individual boards, most of which had 10 or 12 of the mini-vacuum tubes shown above soldered to them.

Many, if not most, of the crypto techs of the time thought the Weller dual-heat gun was the hot ticket (see what I did there?) for soldering, so inevitably a lot of eyelets and leads got cooked right off the boards. Originally, the leads were clipped short, just sticking through the hole/eyelet and soldered in place. By the time I worked on those dinosaurs, probably 25% of the boards had full length tube leads snaking across the back to the nearest remnant of trace. Some even had wire soldered to the tube lead to get to a solderable bit of original trace.

EDIT: It's a sign of something - not sure what - that I remembered the tube number of something I haven't worked on since 1978. The other common tube in those things was a 6088. I wish I had a dollar for every one of those boogers I replaced between graduating from Crypto Repair school in 1970 and getting retrained on another system in 1980!
 
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Oh, and actually on topic (sorry...) I just got done replacing all the o-rings in the plumbing for the radiator. 8 of 'em... Some of them I probably could have re-used, but several were pretty crusty and the one for the thermostat had been pinched so it probably already leaked.

Wire-wheeled the hardware and put a dab of copper never seize on all the threads when re-installing.

Also hooked 12v up to the fan motor and it runs and is essentially quiet. Don't see a way to lube the bearings or I would.

The parts order included an o-ring for the water pump. Looking at it, the carbs would definitely have to come off and I strongly suspect the engine would have to come out to replace it. Not happening until/unless it actually leaks.
 
Drained and refilled the drive hub on the rear wheel, refilled the radiator with 50/50 Prestone, lubed the throttle and clutch cables and started cleaning up the trim bits for the radiator shroud.

The painted steel inner trim is solid but a lot of surface rust. Tried a trick I saw on Brick House Builds using oven cleaner and four-aught steel wool on the steel. Seems to work fairly well, supposed to be the cat's ass for cleaning chrome. I hit it with some phosphoric acid rust converter, I'll repaint it silver metallic when it's done it's magic.

The outer trim is polished and clear-coated aluminum that has seen MUCH better days. Clear coat largely gone, powdery white corrosion on top, bottom and leading edges. Stripped the remnants of the clear coat, did the oven cleaner and 0000 steel wool thing, then buffed it with some extra fine (blue) buffing compound and a rag wheel. LOOOONG way from perfect, but way better than it was. I'll wax it and buff it again before reinstalling.

Installed the new battery and I'm waiting on the back-ordered oil filter. Will pull the clutch cover and buff it up as it has a lot of aluminum corrosion as well.
 
Downeaster said:
Tried a trick I saw on Brick House Builds using oven cleaner and four-aught steel wool on the steel. Seems to work fairly well, supposed to be the cat's ass for cleaning chrome.
Click to expand...

Try plain ol' SOS or Brillo pads. Works just as good.
 
bosco659 said:
Wet or dry?
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Wet. The pads are made from (what feels like) 4-aught steel wool... could be 3-aught but I think it's 4 .
Biodegradable soap... and it's effectively the same brew DE made, 'cept it's pre-made, just take it out of the box.

As far as old rusty chrome, you can't beat 'em.
 
Jim said:
Wet. The pads are made from (what feels like) 4-aught steel wool... could be 3-aught but I think it's 4 .
Biodegradable soap... and it's effectively the same brew DE made, 'cept it's pre-made, just take it out of the box.

As far as old rusty chrome, you can't beat 'em.
Click to expand...
Jim, if the chrome is still in fairly good shape, but only has a bit of surface rust, will these pads damage the “good” chrome finish ie. scratch it?
 
Not noticeably... put it this way, if it was brand new chrome... yeah, you might see some scratching. If chrome is old enough to collect a bit of surface rust, no, you won't notice.

All the old chrome on my SG resto got the SOS treatment. Some chrome bits are new and you can't really tell which is which.
 
Oil filter and cover reinstalled, clutch cover removed for cleaning.

Of course, the clutch cover gasket was the original and disintegrated when I popped the cover off, so that's on order.

Radiator trim cleaned up, rust treated, painted and reinstalled.

Gas tank checked out, cleaned up, some of the grosser crud removed with rubbing compound, waxed and reinstalled.

Vacuum petcock disassembled (remarkably clean, diaphragm intact!) and reinstalled. Pulled a vacuum with a syringe and it opens and closes as it should.

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Any suggestions as to how to remove this sticker from the tank without tearing shit up and ending up with more ugly than I already have? I tried a heat gun, tank got hotter than I was comfortable with without appearing to loosen the adhesive.
 

Just a quick and dirty hand-held phone video. Apologies for the noise, fan running to clear exhaust fumes.

First start after cleaning the carbs, putting all new o rings in the cooling system, and changing the oil and filter. Running with no airbox or filter, carbs just baselined when rebuilt - not jetted or adjusted.

Got the hose for the front brake. Cheap at around $10 and you gets what you pays for but it'll work for now. Need to dick around and bleed the front brake.

After adjusting the idle a tad, it cranks right up and idles reasonably well.
 
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