Wow, that is looking showroom new! I can't wait for your riding evaluation, and I'm a bit bummed this thread is coming to it's conclusion.
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New to me - ‘95 Honda Shadow VLX600
- Thread starter bosco659
- Start date
Looks great, nice work @bosco659
Look great can’t wait to see it
Hopefully I’ll still own it in June. lol.
It was a foggy, above zero day, so I went out to the garage and pulled the front wheel to balance the new tire. It took 3/4 oz (the rear took 1 oz). The wheel is back on.
Well I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I wanted to install a cap on the charge cord for my battery tender and in the process noticed the left side cover wasn’t latching properly. Nobody would have known but it bothered me.
I found one of the pockets that holds the cover in place had broken. I was fortunate to find the busted pieces. I thought this would be a good candidate for my body panel adhesive repair. Off with the fender. This will take several days because the material takes 24 hours to cure and it will need to be done in several stages.
This also gave me an opportunity to clean up the old girl a bit more.
I found one of the pockets that holds the cover in place had broken. I was fortunate to find the busted pieces. I thought this would be a good candidate for my body panel adhesive repair. Off with the fender. This will take several days because the material takes 24 hours to cure and it will need to be done in several stages.
This also gave me an opportunity to clean up the old girl a bit more.
But I will know it was done...
Reinforcement. Not pretty but should be stronger than OEM.
With our balmy weather I decided to take the Honda out for its maiden ride around the block (no plates, no insurance). It was a bugger to start but got it going but this bike really doesn’t like accepting any throttle until warmed up. Once warm, it ran pretty well, but I ran out of street and courage pretty quickly.
First impressions: tall first gear; good torque; brakes are adequate to good; I might like the cruiser riding position; didn’t get it into 4th but I understand 3rd to 4th is a tall change; anticipate I will miss 5th gear.
The reason it’s a hard start is I usually run the carbs dry every time I shut it down for a period of time. When I go to start it, the fuel pump needs to pump fuel about 12” upstream and up hill to the carbs and fill the bowls before it will fire. The pump only runs when you crank the engine or the engine is running. If this becomes an annoyance, maybe I should install a prime switch to pre charge the carbs?
Overall happy with the short ride. Oh, the plastic repair worked out well.
First impressions: tall first gear; good torque; brakes are adequate to good; I might like the cruiser riding position; didn’t get it into 4th but I understand 3rd to 4th is a tall change; anticipate I will miss 5th gear.
The reason it’s a hard start is I usually run the carbs dry every time I shut it down for a period of time. When I go to start it, the fuel pump needs to pump fuel about 12” upstream and up hill to the carbs and fill the bowls before it will fire. The pump only runs when you crank the engine or the engine is running. If this becomes an annoyance, maybe I should install a prime switch to pre charge the carbs?
Overall happy with the short ride. Oh, the plastic repair worked out well.
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Do you think you might change jetting or just wait for warmer weather?
My 82 XJ650 I just recently got road worth is the same way and am contemplating bumping up the pilot jet. Get out of the neighborhood or let idle / warm up longer and its fine. However, my 83 XJ650 with stock jetting is not that way. It takes less time to warm up under same conditions
Don't recall if it was in this thread or not but do you have to have it inspected or do you have a Vintage/Historic provision up there?
Just got back from Gubment building and had my 82 XJ650 tagged Historic which means no inspection needed.
My 82 XJ650 I just recently got road worth is the same way and am contemplating bumping up the pilot jet. Get out of the neighborhood or let idle / warm up longer and its fine. However, my 83 XJ650 with stock jetting is not that way. It takes less time to warm up under same conditions
Don't recall if it was in this thread or not but do you have to have it inspected or do you have a Vintage/Historic provision up there?
Just got back from Gubment building and had my 82 XJ650 tagged Historic which means no inspection needed.
Awesome you gott'r out. It's a Honda they're cold blooded, LOL
Doubt I'll change your mind...... But stop doing the dry the carbs thing. I don't do that even for winter lay-up. Canadian air may be different.
I had a lot of Shadow 1100's and only bought 97 and above for the 5 speed tranny.
Norton's a 4 speed and after decades of 5 speeds I miss that 5th.
Doubt I'll change your mind...... But stop doing the dry the carbs thing. I don't do that even for winter lay-up. Canadian air may be different.
I had a lot of Shadow 1100's and only bought 97 and above for the 5 speed tranny.
Norton's a 4 speed and after decades of 5 speeds I miss that 5th.
Please tell what adhesive is good.
I have used 2 component epoxy .But this can be an alternative.
I was thinking in the direction of the adhesive and also use fiberglass strips which I have some at home
Feel free tell if it is a bad idea
I have used 2 component epoxy .But this can be an alternative.
I was thinking in the direction of the adhesive and also use fiberglass strips which I have some at home
Feel free tell if it is a bad idea
Yes, I can probably leave the carbs full, after all riding season shouldn’t be too far off. For long term winter storage, I have always run carbs dry do that will be a hard to break habit. If I fall in love with this style of bike and decide to upgrade, I’ll keep the year / 5 speed in mind.
The stock pilot jet is a 38 and when I rebuilt the carbs, a 40 went in. I’ll wait to run the bike in warmer weather before re-jetting again. It seemed to run well once warmed up. I could also adjust the mixture screw a bit to richen the low speed circuit but the buggers at Honda made the right carb mixture screw inaccessible, with the air cleaner assembly intact. Iirc, the tank has to come off to remove the air box
.In fairness to the bike I think it was only 5C when I went for a spin so that’s pretty cool for the old girl. A good, hard ride in warm weather is what’s needed.
In Ontario, a safety inspection is only required when ownership is transferred and the vehicle is plated. After that there aren’t any annual inspections. You can get historic vehicle plates for the bike but it restricts use. With those plates you are limited to travelling to / from shows and aren’t supposed to use it for pleasure riding. These restrictions are linked to special insurance too.
I might look into a historic plate for my bike. Just looked and that'll make it exempt from inspections.
In addition to driving to and from shows and for maintenance, Missouri also allows 1,000 miles a year for personal use.
In addition to driving to and from shows and for maintenance, Missouri also allows 1,000 miles a year for personal use.
The material I use is generically called a body panel adhesive. It’s used to “glue” body panels to structural members, for example a car door skin to a door frame. It’s essentially an epoxy resin, but what I like about it is it sticks really well to many types of plastics too. Two challenges I found with it are - expensive and theoretically, it’s applied with a special “caulking gun”.
I was fortunate to have purchased half a dozen tubes of the material a few years ago for $6 / tube. At the time my research showed those tubes were selling at retail for over $125. That got me over the first hurdle of cost. The material is normally squeezed out through a sacrificial mixing nozzle. I dont use a mixing tube. I squeeze out on component at a time using a conventional caulking gun. The mix rate is 2:1, resin to hardener. Sometimes I eyeball it but other times I’ll squeeze it out and measure the volumes in a stainless steel measuring spoon. It’s actually fairly forgiving and if off a bit on the ratio, it still seem to cure ok. With the stuff I use, full cure is supposed to be in 8 hours but I leave it 24. Once cured it can be sanded, filed, drilled etc.
Where I’m looking for strength, I’ll imbed some metal into the resin and it makes a really tough repair. I’ll post some pics later.
