1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

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Mr_Crow
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1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:39 am

Hey guys!

Just picked up my first bike this last week, has just over 20k miles and had 1 owner. The problem is that he hurt his back two years ago and its been sitting ever since. it started up just fine being completely cold and made a 20 min drive to its new home just fine!

It has a new battery and I already replaced any gas that was left in there along with an oil change, and I have sparkplugs lined up to replace this weekend. Already have some sea foam in the tank as well. And I cleaned and lubed the chain. Tires look solid as well.

I have zero motorcycle mechanic experience (and very little car experience as well). So I have a few questions on where to go from here to get her back into good running shape!

1) There are no active oil or gas leaks that I can tell but every time I run it I can smell burning oil and gas. There is no smoke coming from the exhaust. I am thinking some seals or gaskets may need replaced, am I correct? Is this a job a noob can tackle?

2) The right cover is missing 2 out of the 3 pegs to hold it in place. I saw on here someone glued on some 3d printed parts. Is there any other tricks to get this to stay in place?

3) I haven't had much luck finding a pdf manual for this bike yet. Does anyone here have one to share?

4) Is it easy to tune the carbs? From what I can tell they sound a little off after watching some videos.

5) What other steps should I take before taking her on the road?

Thanks! Ill upload a proper pic or two in a bit.

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GeorgeSweety
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Location: UK.

Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby GeorgeSweety » Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:50 pm

Hello Mr_Crow and welcome. Buy some decent tools would be my first suggestion to someone starting out with motorcycle maintenance.
1, These are old motorcycles, they do stink of oil and gas, the bike has been laid up for two years so when the engine gets hot it will "burn off" any oil or gas that was on the outside of the engine or exhaust.
2, I have seen side panels held on with cables ties through a small hole drilled through the panel, ok if you're not bothered about cosmetics.
3, I haven't got a PDF manual myself, I have an original Honda workshop manual and the Haynes.
4, You can bench sync the carbs fairly easily but to do it properly you will need either vacuum gauges or a Morgan Carbtune (my favourite).
5, I personally would just ride it, stay within pushing distance from home for a while to get used to riding it, don't go crazy with the throttle, take it easy and stay safe.

Mr_Crow
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Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Thu Jun 13, 2019 2:12 pm

GeorgeSweety wrote:Hello Mr_Crow and welcome. Buy some decent tools would be my first suggestion to someone starting out with motorcycle maintenance.
1, These are old motorcycles, they do stink of oil and gas, the bike has been laid up for two years so when the engine gets hot it will "burn off" any oil or gas that was on the outside of the engine or exhaust.
2, I have seen side panels held on with cables ties through a small hole drilled through the panel, ok if you're not bothered about cosmetics.
3, I haven't got a PDF manual myself, I have an original Honda workshop manual and the Haynes.
4, You can bench sync the carbs fairly easily but to do it properly you will need either vacuum gauges or a Morgan Carbtune (my favourite).
5, I personally would just ride it, stay within pushing distance from home for a while to get used to riding it, don't go crazy with the throttle, take it easy and stay safe.


Thanks pal!

Cosmetics isn't the biggest deal but man my OCD would be killer having cable ties on one side of the bike lol.

This helps. Going to do some research on vaccum gauges and morgan carbtune, seems like a good next step while waiting to get into the safety class.

bendiesel3
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Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby bendiesel3 » Thu Jun 13, 2019 6:23 pm

Do you have any pics of the bike? I’d love to see it. Also take some up close pics of the side cover that can help to see if someone has a good answer for it.


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Mr_Crow
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Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:18 am

received_577632629307638.jpeg
received_577632629307638.jpeg (379.13 KiB) Viewed 12979 times


This was already on my phone, and the seat wasn't attached fully at this point. Ill make sure to take more tonight!

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GeorgeSweety
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Location: UK.

Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby GeorgeSweety » Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:36 am

That is in very nice original condition Mr_Crow, I certainly wouldn't be drilling any holes in the side covers, I'd be getting my hands on some (any) side covers with the same type of lugs and sawing them off and gluing them on with some kind of epoxy resin. Well that's my plan when I get around to fixing up my UK Nighthawk, my US import Nighthawk only has one lug missing on each panel so they stay on fine.

Mr_Crow
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Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Mon Jun 17, 2019 6:43 am

Here is the side panel. Really wondering if I could glue on a few pawns from a spare chess set and see if its close to the correct size.

I have an issue, the fuel switch is seized with no luck from pb blaster. How hard is this part to replace?

IMG_20190614_160643.jpg
IMG_20190614_160643.jpg (4.01 MiB) Viewed 12922 times

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GeorgeSweety
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Location: UK.

Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby GeorgeSweety » Mon Jun 17, 2019 5:40 pm

In the UK it is just about impossible to find SOHC 650 Nighthawk parts as the bikes never sold here in great numbers. I first saw a Nighthawk in 1982 and I didn't see another until 2017 when I bought mine which was imported from America. Since then I have acquired a poor condition UK market Nighthawk that I am struggling to find parts for, I see plenty for sale in the US on ebay but the postage costs from the US to the UK are usually four to five times the cost of the part.

Mr_Crow
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Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Tue Jun 18, 2019 7:16 am

That sounds like a pain. Apparently they are common in my area, after I bought this off of Facebook I saw 2 more 82's listed that next week. Worse physical condition and more expensive for both, so I apparently found a good deal.

I was finally able to get the fuel switch working! spent some good time working with it yesterday. Need to find a way to get the rust off of the kickstand and center stand next. My chess set is regulation size, so the pawns are too big. Thinking a cheap set from the dollar store would be more the size I need to "fix" the side panel.

Question: is there an easy way to update the lights to be brighter? Haven't cracked open the cases to see what kind of bulbs they use, I know the headlight pushes a ton of heat when on however lol.

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GeorgeSweety
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Location: UK.

Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby GeorgeSweety » Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:48 pm

Mr_Crow, I know that there are LED replacement bulbs for a lot of bikes but I don't know if they are available for a 650 Honda, I do know that LED's don't generate heat so are cool to the touch, you may find better answers than I can give in this thread, http://hondacb650.com/viewtopic.php?t=3649 .
I have got a small sand blasting cabinet in my shed and that shifted the rust from my stands but I really need a bigger air compressor, a drill and a wire brush wheel should remove most of the rust if you can't get it blasted.
I'm gonna have to drill the rivets out of my fuel tap and make a new gasket from an old inner tube to cure my dripping tap, I've got some small nuts & bolts to replace the rivets afterwards.

Mr_Crow
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Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Wed Jun 19, 2019 7:21 am

Now that the fuel switch is working, I forgot to turn it on on my last trip... freaked myself out thinking something was seriously wrong.

I have dimming on the lights when starting the bike, is that a sign the battery is low?

I am going to check out these lights, this solution would be ideal! There is an awesome biker lady at autozone in the town I just moved into that hopefully should be able to help find specific lights I need.

now I just need some free time to do some more work on the bike lol.

I adjusted the handlebars, it felt like I was riding a wheelbarrow before, now they are much straighter than before!

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GeorgeSweety
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Location: UK.

Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby GeorgeSweety » Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:19 am

All of the bikes I own the lights dim when cranking the motor, it is perfectly normal. UK bikes aren't required to have lights on all of the time, only in the dark, so I change the right side switch gear on US import bikes for one from a UK bike as we have a separate ON/OFF switch for the lights over here. Its less of a drain on the battery if the lights are switched off while starting the bike and the UK switch gear just plugs straight in with no modifications.

Mr_Crow
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Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:27 am

The bottom side plate nobble is still on the bike! looks like its good condition as well. Wondering what kind of tricks I can use to re attach the nob so it will hold...

checked out the air filter and it looked like it was in good condition, but there was a good chunk of leaves inside the filter.

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GeorgeSweety
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Location: UK.

Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby GeorgeSweety » Thu Jun 20, 2019 12:12 pm

Mr_Crow wrote:The bottom side plate nobble is still on the bike! looks like its good condition as well. Wondering what kind of tricks I can use to re attach the nob so it will hold...

checked out the air filter and it looked like it was in good condition, but there was a good chunk of leaves inside the filter.


I watched a Youtube vid of a guy using a soldering iron to weld a side panel lug back on. He used bits of old plastic from a broken side panel as his "welding rod" and melted paper clips into the plastic as reinforcements. I'll see if I can find it.
Here ya go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7GRNvPSf7k

Mr_Crow
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:16 am

Re: 1982 650 Nighthawk beginning maintenance

Postby Mr_Crow » Thu Jun 20, 2019 12:27 pm

I watched a Youtube vid of a guy using a soldering iron to weld a side panel lug back on. He used bits of old plastic from a broken side panel as his "welding rod" and melted paper clips into the plastic as reinforcements. I'll see if I can find it.
Here ya go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7GRNvPSf7k[/quote]

This is fantastic, thanks!


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