For some reason I thought the clocks needed checking, it was good to check stuff and clean but we had a major disaster - the sun dried NEEDLE broke into a zillion parts, made and glued a new one in place. Honda in their great wisdom did a whole lot of circuitry so that we could have a SPEED light, if you go fast enough you get a red light ( I took the bulb out, it's kind of distracting really)

Then I finally realised after cleaning so many wires and connectors that something just was not right. The stator charge circuit, WHITE, YELLOW, PINK has a fault on the white circuit (grounded) so out came the stator, what a pity as the rest of the circuits are good. Very easy to access, I wonder what the shelf life of these usually is. This bike says 27000kms so I guess it could be time. Now im wondering if the double regulator rectifier setup is also at fault or just the stator white circuit. Time will tell.
Finally put 4 'o' rings in the his and her carb gas link pipes and bike starts and runs at idle pretty good now, not perfect but good enough for trail riding.

Removing the malfunctioning stator from the patient

Wow, these drawings would make fabulous T shirt designs!

Well, the madness of vintage motorcycle electrics. 10 seconds before I removed the stator the neutral light works. After replacing stator NO neutral light. The bulb had decided to 'blow' whilst I was replacing the stator. Trying to throw me off track.

Fortunately the ancient Anglo Saxons have a remedy for this. 'The cuppa', English Breakfast Tea, you can consume this potion at 11.00am, 14h00, 17h00 or even 23h00 and it is still called breakfast tea. You go into your kitchen, look your wife in the eye and say 'I think I'm making progress'. Then you drink this potion and many muddles in the mind become clear and problems are solved.

I now have a slow steady idle, but still need to sort
- rear left indicator does not want to cooperate (and it isnt even straight)
- the charging system does not appear to be giving the full 14-15 v at rpm so I'm suspecting regulator rectifier troubles
- misfire, seems to be coming from the coil which appears to get hot and go bananas

still I got to the petrol station and back and got some pretty good looks from the petrol attendant, hahaha

and do I HATE that Honda clock cluster with those short wires and rubber bulb holders - YES it's very annoying!!!!!!
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Folks, thank goodness for spring and lovely warm weather. Not that I am making the most of it yet. I now need to do a good oil change, still rolling the old oil and filter and will be on the lookout for a new battery further down the line.

I believe I have found 2 of the major culprits. I redid, checked, cleaned and tested all the ground points, removed all oxidation and grime and paint.

then the real meanie I'm pretty sure now was the red wire coming out of the regulator / rectifier was heavily corroded at the crimp inside the plastic connector plug and was just hanging on so I think with the vibrations it was connecting / disconnecting. Not sure if I'm 100% now, but I don't want to ride again until I change the oil, the old oil is so thin and dark it creeps me out! Will keep you posted. (love the way it lifts in first, it's too easy!) And just loving having a neutral light, yay for simple pleasures

Well folks, put two new connectors on the battery cables, the single vibrates and the old one snapped clean off!

i.imgur.com/XLNT6iY.mp4

Does the crankcase double as a coffee maker?    

sounds good, are you going to do a helmet cam ride?

 

Coffee maker! Wish it did. I sold my action cam a while back, if my butt heals up I may try doing some of that kind of thing again, we'll see. I really like the Honda engineering on this, well most of it, some things are a bit loopy. I love the seat, I think this bike just fits me. The old battery went from 7v to 8.95v so looks like it's taking a charge. There still seems to be some rust dust in the tank and it gets in the carbs and the carbs pick up this heavy varnish, may have to try a tank additive or an inline filter. Sometimes the filters cause as many problems as they solve.