grego@athena.UUCP (Grego Sanguinetti) (05/11/85)
I have had my Interceptor since Feb. '83. It has about 8K miles on it
and has had the following service:
replace handlebars - factory recall
replace clutch cover seals
replace all cam shafts, followers, and oil bolts - defective heat treatment
replace back cylinder head - oil seeping through casting
replace fork seals - spring spacer rusted inside fork depositing oxide in
fork oil and killing the seals (where was Greenpeace?!).
Did somebody say something about quality control? Actually this is the
price you sometimes pay for having the first one in the state. I still
like it alot and it has never left me stranded or failed to start.
The first theee items were under the 12mos. service and were fixed free.
The cams went after the 12mos. but were a known problem and Honda fixed that
free also. The fork problem just happened and has been a headache. I have
a bike repair stand, rollaway, two chests, and many, many tools yet I have
had to purchase a couple of new ones and take apart half the bike. None of
my five pairs of snapring pliers would get into the seal ring so I had to
buy a special long nosed-right angle job. I also am doing a tune up so I
needed an offset 10mm box wrench. I used my regular one before and it waas
a hassle. I already had the dual set of .004 feeler gauges. You have to
adjust both valves at once since they are on the same arm. having a palm
ratchet is a good idea for removing/installing fork caps as it allows you
to compress the spring at the same time. Fortunately I had the palm ratchet
and hundreds of sockets, extentions, universals, offsets, allen sockets and
wrenches, etc... The amount of stuff one needs to remove to tune this monster
is amazing. Some of it is for convenience but most is mandatory. Adjusting
the front valves with the forks/fairing/instruments removed is a blessing!
My old 900SS Desmodromic Ducati was also interesting to tune. The
rear cylinder head had to be removed! Some bikes and cars have inverted
bucket shim valves and require that the cam shafts be removed to replace
the shims. The good part is that this kind of valve gear doesn't need
to be adjusted very often and doesn't have screws to loosen up.
I had to remove the engine from my racing buggy to change spark plugs!
Well got to get back to my motorcycle parts, I wonder if I can remember
how to put this back together? Am i having fun yet? I think there's
something wrong with us!
Grego Sanguinetti
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