pup project 1986 honda cb 125 super dream

I have FINALLY painted the engine. (Tef kept sending me back to do bits I missed, like the bottom!)


Gave Tef a little scare, putting my gloves on to use the paint stripper!

But I cant fit it yet, because I have to rebuild a lug on the starter motor, so THAT can be painted and bolted to the engine.



The Clocks however ARE now finished


Repainted case front gets a bead of clear silicone sealant to stick the glass in. Then the Glass gets stuck in it, and weighed down to set.


After curing over-night, the excess silicone was trimmed from the glass.


Then it was turned over and more silicon used to seal it in place from behind.


Originally the case front and dial surround were plastic welded together, sandwiching the glass in between with a rubber seal. This is then sold as a single part. We were going to use the original seal, but this was old hard and perished and could have let water into the case and fog the dail. So we bedded it in silicone instead.

The dials were fitted into the re-painted case back. Tef put a little silicon behind the frames, to help seal them against moisture, and to help stop them shaking apart.


Next the light box was fitted. Tef gave this a little silicone, too, to help stop it rattling inside the case.


The dial surround was then screwed into the case-back. Originally, welded to the case front, this would have held everything together. As we has spit the case front & dial surround to re-seal the galss, we had to use LOTS more silicon, and then some superglue to stick it all back together so it wouldn't fall apart and make sure it was water-proof!

All Done! But I ... err..... broke the tacho cable! So need to get new tacho & speedo cables before fitting them. Meanwhile, BITS being sprayed 'Not quite Black' are coming along, nicely. The footrest brackets are now DONE.... just need to find and finish the footrests before fitting them.


SEE! They're NOT Black!
Other niggly stuff that's been tackled has been the petrol tank and side-panels. Tef has been doing a bit of wizardry with old staka-box plastic and a soldering iron, re-making the lugs to hold on the side panels and tail cowling, but the first thing was to 'panel-beat' the side panels into shape, as they were a bit warped for some reason.


Tef did this with a couple of hammers and an electric blow-lamp! Clever, hugh!


Tef, getting cleverer with the soldering iron and bits of old scrap plastic snapped out of yet another broken stak-a-box!


First he welded two strips together to make a T section


Then added another to make an X section


Then he melted down the edges, using the molten plastic to fill the corners of the X and make the whole section the same width.


THEN he melted down all the 'spare' platic off the end, filling in the corners of the X for about 1/2" to make the 'head' (Phnar-Pnar! You'll see what I mean in a tic! I think its unfortunate that the stak-a-box he nicked the plastic from was red.... just sort of emphasises the phallic similarity!)

About 1" from the end, he melted a notch in the X section, and welded in another strip of plastic, to make the base of the lug where it would push through the rubber..(Oh gawd! The innuendo!)


He did that on all four sides, melting the spare plastic into the section to form a solid base, and then using more plastic melted into the bit above, shaped the 'head' (NOW do you see what I was laughing at!) And welded, using the spare plastic at the bottom to get (Tef's words not mine !) 'good penetration' (sheesh! I feel like I'm writing the captions for a porno mag, not a motorbike restoration! Must be my dirty mind!) {Err. Tef just said, DEFINITELY my dirty mind! LoL}


These are almost ready to be sanded properly, primed and painted.... only thanks to Halfords 2-Can stock holding, we don't have any paint at the moment!

We DO however have bushes for the rear suspension due to arrive from Dave Silver Spares. This means we can rebuild the rear suspension and put the swing arm back on. Annoyingly, these necessary bushes have cost a ridiculous £100, due to the design, and the fact that there are two bushes per pivot, and they cost about £10 EACH! But, this means that the linkages need to be prepped and painted to take them.

And when THAT'S done..... I have no wheels! They have been defying all attempts to take paint..... they are a pain in the arse! I'm thinking about nicking another pair, rather than persevering with these!

Idea was to paint them as they were horrible and scabby and scratched, and painted wheels would be 'different'. But since Tef has pointed out that they will probably take about four or five cans of this bludy hard to get 'not-quite-black'.... I'm wondering if they'll be worth the effort! Tef says he'll have 'one last go' at them, before we decide!

So..... there is progress, but its all that muddling in the middle sort of stuff where there's nothing interesting or important to report, or when it looks like there's anything ACTUALLY coming together.... Hopefully there will be SOON though......

I need this thing to ride to and from college!
OH! And I've got a New Tat!


Its a pair of Indian feathers. But Tef reckons if you turn it upside down, it looks like what I thought his side panel lug was! Must be HIS dirty mind!

YIPPEEE! Looks like PROGRESS!

This morning, the Pup, looked like this:-


NOW! It looks like THIS:-


It has an ENGINE!

Its only 9 bolts... but WHAT a difference it makes to how far it feels we've got!

Anyway, last post, Tef, wouldn't let me put the engine in, even though I had finished painting it, becouse he wanted the starter motor on first, becouse he said it was a right pain to try and fit after the engine was in the frame.

But, there was a chunk of metal missing of one of the bolt holes. I hunted and hunted for it, becouse I was just going to super-glue it back on, and hope for the best, but Tef had other ideas!
I cant be bothered to explain, but since he's written a 'how-to' for the webby about it, I'll just nick what he's written! Here you go!

HOW To: 'Repair Aluminium with 'Loaded' Epoxy

A useful little repair process this one that can be applied in all manner of ways to solve different problems. Basically, this was what we did before they offered proprietary glues and compounds like 'Liquid-Metal', and you can use it pretty much as you would those kind of metal glues. Its tough, sets like metal, & can be filed, drilled or tapped like aluminium. It can withstand heat almost as well as aluminium, and most solvents; even hot oil.

Making the epoxy/aluminium composite yourself, you have a lot more control over the consistency of the mix, making it more versatile still, while using regular 'Araldite', its a LOT cheaper than proprietary equivalents, and saved having hundreds of different tubes of glue, knocking around, leaking, going hard in the tubes, before you use them up!

So, to business! In this example, we used the loaded epoxy repair technique to rebuild a cracked mounting boss on the starter motor for Donna's 'Pup'. How it got broken in the first place is any-ones guess; probably over tightening the mounting bolt, or trying to remove the starter with a lump hammer or something! Doesn't matte, problem is that the boss around the bolt hole has cracked off and we need to build it back up again so that the bolt has something to press against and not bend, only pressing on one side.

Before ^. After V



Before & After pics, so you can see what we are at. Basically, gloop some 'stuff' around the broken chunk of metal, let it set, file and drill to shape!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:- Epoxy Adhesive (Resin + Hardener); Aluminium Filings (To 'load' the epoxy)




First job is to make some fine aluminium filings! The higher the % of filings to glue, the more 'solid' and less plastic the material will be when set. Simple operation, grab a chunk of scrap aluminium, a file, and an old tea-tray, and file away as much metal as you need!




I had conveniently to hand a bit of extruded Ali support rail that had been hacked up off 'the heap' and made my filings from that. Old engine cases, bits of old green-house, pretty much anything you have to hand that would go in the recycling box, can be used. But once you have filed down a volume about equal to the volume you need to build up, you need to gather it up and put it in a suitable receptacle, like an aerosol lit, to mix with the glue.




But first you need to prepare the artefact you are going to 'gloop'. The area that's to be glooped needs to be properly cleaned so that the glue will stick to it. If its not bare metal, it may need wire-brushing or grinding back to get a
good surface to work on, that the glue can 'key' to. Then, you may need to mask around the area to be glooped, first to stop the glue going places you dont want it, but also to contain the glue in the region you want to build up. It will be runny, and it takes a while to cure, and in that time, it can often run, leaving you with little or no material where you want it!




Then you can mix the gloop. As a rough guide, about 50/50 glue to filings. Its often best to put the glue in one tub, then add the filings to suit, rather than the other way around. Mix until you have a thick, even consistency, the resin
and hardener thoroughly mixed, and the filings well wetted in the liquid.

Then using lollipop stick or other suitable application tool, gloop the mix over the area to be built up!




Allow to cure. Instructions for the epoxy should give a rough time for how long this should take, and loading the mix with filings shouldn't REALLY alter that, but its worth giving about 50% extra time to be sure its properly hardened.

After allowing to cure, check you have enough build. Sometimes during cure the gloop flows, or settles, or finds crevices to flow into, leaving your area short of material. No great problem, you can give it a second application if needs be, either before working, or after. In fact, some-times its easier to build up in stages, shaping between each build.




Once you have sufficient build, and the gloop has fully cured, it can be worked with conventional hand tools, to dress off any excess, and shape to your own satisfaction!




NOT the appropriate way to use an electric drill! Photo was 'staged' so you could see the bit coming out the back of the boss where built up! Proper way to do it is on a solid surface with a block of wood beneath! (which was how I actually DID do it, BTW!)




All shaped & ready to go! (Repair can be tidied up / disguised by painting, if needs be or left bare)

That is the principle of the technique, apply it as you wish. Yes, not a LOT different to what you can do with proprietary resins, and they can be more convenient. But this 'old fashioned' way gives you a little more versatility, using more or less aluminium, or depending on the part, iron filings, or perhaps even bronze or copper.

Using the same technique with bronze, its possible to repair or make 'low stress' bushes, for things like gear-lever pivots, or control levers, for example.

I have also used the same technique quite successfully on engine cases, where bosses or lugs have been chipped or broken, also on casings like the clutch or magneto covers, where they have been 'holed' or cracked by a drop. (quite a common one when I was riding comp-trials! If there was a rock, when you fell of, almost certain the oil holding clutch cover would find the sharpest bit of it, when you fell off)

That leads into slightly more involved techniques of resin repair, where phenolic, or GRP resin can be used instead of epoxy, for a more brittle plastic / metal composite, and for areas like casings where a smooth oil-tight finish is wanted, a 'tri-matrix' composite, using fibre-glass tissue to support the loaded resin. Getting REALLY clever with the stuff, its even possible to cast small parts out of the stuff.

Basically, with a little know-how and a feel for the materials, what can be done with resin composites is pretty incredible; might seem a bit botchit & scarper, glooping araldite over stuff, BUT, this is ACTUALLY pretty high tech stuff! Its only a small step from the exotic high-tech composite materials used in aerospace & motor-racing, where epoxy or phenol resin is still the main 'lattice' of the wonder-composites they use, and where 'loading' with powders like aluminium or bronze is quite a common technique for different applications.

But, point is, a bit of glue and a bit of scrap metal, and you CAN salvage complicated and expensive metal castings, and many other things![/quote]
Other than THAT, we have done a round of half the Halfords stores in Leicestershire, clearing them out of Ford Dark Aubergine paint, and now have FOUR CANS! Wh-Hoo!

So we did a 'paint test' to see what undercoat it looked best on. So Tef painted an old Ice-Cream tub lid!




First he gave it a coat of grey primer, then he sprayed over half of that with white primer, then he spraked half of it, cross wise, over both white and grey, with silver, so we would have four 'quarters', of different colour, when we put the 'Not-Quite-Black' over the top.




Yeah. Ok, Tef...... All looks the same to me!

He looked long and hard at it. Tilted it under the window, under the spot-lamp in the kitchen; waved it around in the living room, even went to the bottom of the garden to see what it looked like in day-light........

"Err.... I think we'll put ot over grey-primer, dear" he said.

"Thats what it says on the can, Babe...." I pointed out......

"Ah! Well, yes, it would. But you can see.... well, IF you look REALLY carefully, you get SLIGHTLY more 'sheene' over the silver......" I tilted my head at him...... "But its not really worth it for the cost of the silver paint to get it, for the difference it makes." He offered, in that 'knowingly' tone of voice!

SO! With the engine in the frame, and some paint obtained, and Tef having F-F-F-FINALLY finished plastic welding all the noggins onto my side-panels, its full speed ahead with painting.......




You said PAINTING, Tef!

Why do I need the sand-paper!?!?!?!?!?




Bludy Man!

Sand-Paper. sick of the site of the stuff!

Oh! his comment this afternoon when I showed him my progress on the petrol tank....




"Hmm.... coming along dear...... coming along...... SLOWLY...... but its coming along." He nodded sagely inspecting it closely, and nodding, though I know he thought it looked awful..."Now!" He said, firmly. "You know we had that discussion, where I said 'sand lightly' doesn't mean take it back to bare metal?" I nodded, waiting for the 'hit'..."Well, he said, it's nice to see you took that on board..... but err..... you wont get those pits out of the paint if you dont take ANY paint off around them"

Bludy, bludy bloke! Cant WIN wiv 'im, can I!

I sat on my motorbike today!




Well, it LOOKS more like a motorbike at least, and it makes motorbikie noises.... OK, that was me.... A girl can dream, cant she?!

Anyway, been doing lots of scritty-phiffing-little jobs, so nothing majorly exiting to write home about.




Bushes for the back end arrived on Monday morning. I was so exited I jumped on Tef lying in bed. He thought his luck was in, until he saw the jiffy bag....... He groaned, rolled over and went back to sleep!

So I put the kettle on, & went hunting for the linkage to put them in, but the old bushes were still in it, so I had to make coffee and wake the miserable old git up again!

After about three coffee's he was finally conciouse, and complaining that I was in hyper-drive!

So I sat and waited patiently, while he sat and measured each bush with his digital thingy-mi-bob..... and drew pictures of them.

THEN he had a look at the linkage... "Ah, RIGHT!" He said.... "Well, first of all we need to take th old ones out" I tapped my foot... I KNEW that! I just wanted to start bolting things together! Instead I watched and took pictures while he cut all the old bushes out. This is probably another 'How-To'.....


All the bushes in the linkage, apart from the one for the shock-absorber are a sort of plastic. Tef said that they are a complicated phenolic resin..... because when he cut into them, it smelled like hospitals..






Anyway, the bushes are 'split' and inside the hole there is a ridge in the casting to seperate them, so Tef ground slots through them with the dremmel, in three places.






Then levered out the bits (I know, Tef seems to be doing all the work! But, I am learning!..... Learning that I'm a bit heavy handed and would, as like have cut right through the links!)

The metalastic bush for the shock-absorber, is a single part, and big enough so Tef could cut through that the same way, in three places, but with a hack-saw, undone and threaded through the hole, and put back together.

Once they were all out though, I set about de-rusting them....... AGAIN! and painting them! While looking for all the inserts that go on the pins that go in the middle and bolt them together.... I THINK I have found them all!




But work stopped as I had to go for a Job interview! I dont like interviews, I go all to pieces, but it keeps the job-centre happy, & Tef dragged me there.....

BRILLIANT! Lady was great, she thought I was a 'Gem' and couldn't understand why no-one's given me a job.... well, that was until I started going to pieces! THEN she understood..... but she was really understanding and helpful, and offered me a JOB! Or at least a job trial.... so I went back to the job-centre to tell them..... they said I couldn't take it! I'd be £90 a week worse off! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! They nag & hassle you to find a job, then when you DO.... tell you not to take it!

So back home, more bike bits! I tackled the head-lamp. When I took it apart to clean the chrome rim, the lense fell off! Was only held on with silicone! so I stuck it back together with LOADS more silicon!




I polished the chrome rim first, and gave it a couple of coats of laquer so it stays shiney.




And FINALLY, all the cases for the switches are painted! They have had I dont know how many coats of primer, then 'Not-Quite-Black', then been laquered, THEN had the lettering picked out in day-glo red, THEN given more laquer, then finished off in solvent resist laquer!

Dont LOOK any different to last time I took a photo of them...... but I CAN now start putting the switches back in!

Tapping out all the threaded holes, to make sure they were free of paint or corrosion.
I WAS going to rebuid the Brake Master-Cylinder next, & started by de-masking it & dressing the reservoir face.






But I have lost the plot..... sorry typo, I meant POT.... I put the bits in when I took it apart, and cant find the rubber bit that goes between the reservoir and lid, or the little metal clippy thing that sits in the bottom!

So I went and bolted something to the frame!




Tef figured out a top-mounting for the engine-bars for me, using half of two exhaust clamps. The smallest they had in the shop, though were 35mm, & Tef had measured the down-tube at 31mm. He'd told me to get ones a bit bigger, so we could use some rubber between the clamps and frame, but we thought that might be a bit too much! Tef, as ever though found a way, cutting some plastic from one of his famouse stak-a-boxes, and heating it up with his hot-air-gun & moulding it into the cup of the brackets!
So, I took all the engine bolts out, one by one, and coppa-slipped them, and routed the cable for the starter, and then, after a bit of mucking about, cutting some M8 rod to length, had my shiney bits!

Not bad, hugh? Remember, they were an e-bay bargain, New-Old-Stock for the earlier T-Shock CB125T, so we didn't expect them to bolt straight up to mine, but that bracket looks neat enough.... just hope that they dont stop the exhaust going on now!




Anyway, put the tank & seat on to see how it looked, and I have to say.... its looking a BIT more like a motorbike!

Doin the Brake Master-Cylinder








sanding the paint off the end to have it clean for screwing the lid on








After Painting, the cylinder was 'fettled', all tapped holes re-tapped to ensure that the threads were clean, and the mating surface of the reservoir dressed on fine wetted wet & dry sand-paper to get a good seal. This is good-practice, even if the cylinder has not been painted or coated.



master-cylinder all ready to be put back together




With the cylinder casting fettled, the internal 'gubbins' can be fitted. First thing, is to soak the new seals in a little new brake fluid. DO NOT let them stay in the brake fluid too long, this is JUST to lubricate them, and get a little seal sweller in to soften them. IF they are left to soak in the fluid too-long they will swell too much, and become useless like old seals.

First you need to make sure that the piston seal is facing the right direction on the piston. Refer to the MANUAL or the instructions that come with the over-haul kit to ensure you have it the right way round.... NOT the old seal. It may NOT have been fitted correctly to begin with, and wear and sweller can distort it making it appear contrary to how it should be.

The seal will be tight on the piston shaft, and you'll probably have to manipulate it over or past some steps in the diameter, that can be quite large. THIS is why you soaked the seal, so that it is soft enough and slippery enough to be manipulated into place without tearing or snapping or snagging.

As shown I carefully used an old small screwdriver to lever the seal over steps and into its rebate. CARE must be taken NOT to stab or nick the new seal, do NOT push with the point of a pointy thing or screw-driver!









Once the seal is fitted to the piston, the piston can be fitted into the cylinder, and locked in place with the retaining circlip. As before, it can be helpful to lock the piston down to hold it in place and relieve pressure on the circlip, by pushing it all the way down and using something through the reservoir port to lock it in place, like the back of a drill bit. again, as for removal, circlip pliers or patent pointy-thing, initiative and patience may be used to locate the circlip.

ENSURE that the circlip IS properly seated and will NOT let the piston come out of the cylinder before deeming the job done!
The dust boot can then be fitted over the end of the piston, a little grease can help it seal and deter corrosion. Be careful if using something pointy to seat it in its rebate, not to tar the thin rubber.
The cylinder is now pretty much reconditioned, and all that needs doing is making sure everything else is put back in in place, in this case the clip over the reservoir port, inside the reservoir, the reservoir seal and lid.
Putting the Back Back On

The back end of the bike has been some-what delayed in progressing. a large impediment to this was we discovered it needed RATHER a lot of RATHER expensive new bushes.
We had planned on renewing them all, we just never really realised that they were nearly all 'split' bushes, so there were twice the number anticipated, and that rather than being two or three pounds each, they were damn nearly a tenner!
This made them about as expensive as the rear shock-absorber, which was ordered early on for £80!
Anyway, Tef kept holding off ordering the bushes as we had plenty to get on with before we needed them, but I was anxious to make sure we COULD get them and that we stood a fair chance of being able to get the bike built back up and working, so I ordered them anyway.
They arrived from Dave Silver Spares a few days later, in Jiffy-Bag. I was so exited when they got here that I could go bolt BIG chunks back on the bike, I grabbed the envelope almost before it was through the letter-box and ran upstairs and jumped up and down on the bed!
Tef, was still IN the bed.
There was a moments flash of alarm, as he opened his bleary eyes, then a flash of excitement, but then he saw the envelope, realised his luck wasn't in, rolled over and went back to sleep!




So I put the kettle on, & went hunting for the linkage to put them in, but the old bushes were still in it. So I had to make coffee and wake the miserable old git up again!
After about three coffee's he was finally conscious, and complaining that I was in hyper-drive!

So I sat and waited patiently, while he sat and measured each bush with his digital thingy-mi-bob..... and drew pictures of them.

THEN he had a look at the linkage... "Ah, RIGHT!" He said.... "Well, first of all we need to take the old ones out" I tapped my foot... I KNEW that! I just wanted to start bolting things together! Instead I watched and took pictures while he cut all the old bushes out. This is probably another 'How-To'.....

All the bushes in the linkage, apart from the one for the shock-absorber are a sort of plastic. Tef said that they are a complicated phenolic resin..... because when he cut into them, it smelled like hospitals.

Anyway, the bushes are 'split' and inside the hole there is a ridge in the casting to separate them, so Tef ground slots through them with the dremmel, in three places.






Then levered out the bits (I know, Tef seems to be doing all the work! But, I am learning!..... Learning that I'm a bit heavy handed and would, as like have cut right through the links!)





The metalastic bush for the shock-absorber, is a single part, and big enough so Tef could cut through that the same way, in three places, but with a hack-saw, undone and threaded through the hole, and put back together.
Once they were all out though, I set about de-rusting them....... AGAIN! and painting them! While looking for all the inserts that go on the pins that go in the middle and bolt them together.... I THINK I have found them all!


Some more paint was applied to the suspension links after the old bushes were removed, and before turning my attention to getting Tef to help me fit the new ones. His words, "They're plastic, & we have to PRESS them in, GENTLY..... smack'em with a hammer & they'll shatter like .......Well, my word, GLASS, as I think its more suitable. What HE said wouldn't have shattered

so much as splattered! Pieces of wood on top of the bush and against the swing-arm are essential to spread the force over the bush and avoid chipping or cracking it by applying a bit too much force too suddenly.





After cleaning up the holes for the bushes with a round file, so that they were free of paint, & giving them a light smear with oil, Tef lined the bushes up and pushed them in loosely by hand. They didn't go very far, because they are a very tight fit, but there's a little chamfer on the corner so they sort of wedged in place, & then Tef lined up a G-Clamp and some blocks of wood to press them in gently, adjusting & tweeking to get them stared for me so they went in 'square'.
Left is the outer bush on one side of the swing arm going in, Right is the inner on the same side. Both legs of the swing arm had to be done in the same way.
There were four more bushes in the swing-arm, again two sides per leg for the wish-bone link bushes.





It was pretty much the same thing to fit the other plastic bushes into the other holes in the Suspension Links. The only difference was that some of them fitted into recessed holes, so to get them all the way in, after getting them as far as we could with wood over then end, and having got them in nice and square, I had to just finish them the last few mm with an old socket that could fit inside the recess in the casting.

Lastly we did the 'Metalastic' bush for the Damper bottom mount, on the Wish-Bone link. Metalastic bushes aren't as fragile as the plastic ones used everywhere else. They are metal & rubber, but they are almost as awkward! They are made from two metal tubes. The inner one is set in rubber in the outer-one, and the inner tube is wider than the outer. When you press one in, you HAVE to press ONLY on the outer tube. If you press on the inner tube that's sticking out, the outer-tube will tend to stick in the hole you are trying to push it into, and you'll first bend the rubber between the two, and eventually the rubber will tear, and you'll push the inner tube out the other side.... and it wont work very well! So you have to use some kind of packing, and old sockets work well, to go over the inner tube and give you something to press against the outer tube, and push that all the way in, and it all works a lot better. Only you need 'something' (like a socket again!) both sides so that you don't end up pushing the outer tube all the way into the hole, getting stuck half way when the wider inner gets stuck against whatever you are covering the hole with.






Next, Tef had an 'idea' to keep my lubberly new Shock absorber Unit clean and Muck-Free, when sat under the bike. Idea was to wrap it up in some rubber cut out of an old inner tube! Seemed reasonable. First of all Tef cut a length of inner tube just a bit longer than the shock-unit, then I sprayed the shock with LOTS of chain lube, so that any moisture wouldn't send it rusty




Then I pulled the rubber over the shock-absorber like a condom over..... well, you should know what a condoms supposed to cover! Then we tied the ends of the rubber with cable-ties, like it was a Christmas Cracker. My shock is a non-adjustable unit. Tef said, that adjustable ones have a collar round the bottom you turn to adjust the pre-load on the spring, and if we'd done this on one of them, we'd either have to be careful so that the rubber left the collar exposed so it could be adjusted, or the rubber left un-tied, so it could be lifted to get at the collar. But I don't have that worry.