Nigh-Thawk Day 15

Well I've been enjoying my bike on the road a little too much. Its been a few days since I've posted. I know, I've neglected my duties to all of my many, many followers (currently 0). So, Sunday was the big shop ride. A ride that everyone that works at the shop and a few customers ride together. It usually ends up happening in the Fall because we're too damn busy WORKING during the nicer seasons.
Sunday morning my girl and I woke up, suited up, and hopped on the Nigh-thawk for her first real ride. We headed up towards the shop, bundled up pretty damn good because it was quite brisk out. We go to the shop a little early so we hit 7-11 for some coffee. My girl made me proud by carrying them both back to the shop and not falling off even once! On our previous short jaunts out together I've taken notice to a good bit of rubbing of the rear tire (no my girlfriend isn't fat). Apparently with the new shocks in back it just isn't quite enough and there was a bolt sticking out under the fender. So, when we did get back to the shop I got rid of the bolt sticking out and it made it rub a lot less.
The sun was out and it started to warm up as everyone pulled into the shop's parking lot. We all said our hellos and the bosses started discussing where we were headed. When that was decided we all fired up our bikes and those of us with ladies in tow had them mount up the rears. Mine of course was the quietest seeing how just about everyone else had a Harley. We rolled out of the parking lot two by two. About 8 of us all together.
We all followed one of our customers through Bucks County and through some great twisty roads. The scenery was great, lots of green but the leaves were definitely changing. Our first decent sized town was New Hope, a bustling yuppy shopping town with lots of people out walking. From there we crossed the bridge from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and followed the Delaware river North. A car started to hop out in front where my boss was riding and he locked up his new front PM caliper (not quite used to there stopping power yet) and very nearly went down. He recovered nicely with a bit of pain in his foot and a bit less rubber on his front tire. The road was wide and straight and we got to open up the throttles a bit. It was still a bit chilly and I could feel my girl rub her face in the hood of my sweatshirt every once in a while. The next town was very similar to New Hope, but I had never been there. We pulled are bikes into a spot down a side street. We talked it out and one of my co-workers suggested a place she knew a little ways away with some good riding to get there and we were back off to the races with a new leader.
This particular co worker has more miles under her belt then anyone I know (I think) and she can ride like hell. We went through all kinds of twists and turns and she made them look effortless. I was personally struggling through most of them and trying to catch up after everyone. We'll blame that on my center stand cutting my lean angle down and having a passenger, but I won't even pretend to be able to hold my own following her. It was a great ride ending up at a Stewart's Rootbeer  hot dog joint.
The ride back was rather uneventful except I did get to see what the old Nigh-Thawk is made of. We hit a stretch of highway and got on them a good bit. my speedo read 90 but its off and my boss said it was only 70. I think it was 80 though.
Well thanks for reading. If you got this far I am impressed. Don't forget to leave me some comments and click on these wonderful Google ads. LATERRRRR

Nigh-Thawk Day 14.5

I did finally end up getting out of work a little early. 4:30 instead of 6. The sun was gone, blocked by overcast. It wasn't about to stop me any though. I rode straight home to grab some warmer clothes and called my dad to see if he wanted to go for a ride. He wanted to wait for rush hour to be over so I headed out solo.
I had no direction, just kind of went however I wanted to go. I ended up on a highway type road and wanted to see what I could get out of the old girl. I know my speedometer isn't accurate but it was reading 80 mph when I let off and she had room to go. Not bad for an old 450 that just got life breathed back into it. I only went up a few exits, not wanting to push it too much my first time out. I decided it was time to get lost. I just turned to the most unfamiliar direction and went. I was out in a fairly rural area, lots of browning fields and colorful trees. The more I got lost the twistier the roads got. Since no one else was around I started testing the limits of my bike. Leaning more and more and powering through. I started working my way full circle because it was getting close to the time I had to meet my dad. Not really knowing how to get back, just feeling how to get back.
The traffic by my dad's house was still horrendous and I got there a little after our agreed upon time. This was the first he saw of the Nigh-Thawk since he helped me pick it up when I bought it. We went over some of the details and decided to head out. We stayed in pretty urban areas and went through some nice roads, but it was getting colder and my wrist was hurting from my clutch being so stiff. We were out for an hour or two and got some dinner. Nice little ride. Its always fun to ride with Pop. I headed home and parked her up. Its a whole new day tomorrow and I can't wait....

Nigh-Thawk Day 14

Today my bike became 100% legal. I trimmed back the steering stops today because I had a very bad turning radius, painted the headlight mount that I made a few weeks ago and never really painted and put on a new chain. With all that done my boss was willing to inspect it. After I got it badged up it was looking like a slow day so my boss said I could leave early.
As I was cleaning up (in one hell of a hurry) a customer came in for an oil change and my boss asked me to do it. No problem. One little oil change? Naturally it was the hardest oil change ever and the exhaust had to be removed.
Just as I finished the oil change I heard the woman from the storefront say someone called about a 5,000 mile service and my hopes of getting out while it was still sunny were squashed. Before the customer showed up I took my lunch and I nice casual ride.
I rolled out of the shop and through the small town. I never really spent much time there seeing how I live about a half hour from the shop. I cruised through some back streets crossing over the main drag that I had actually seen plenty of times before. I found a nice wide road and decided that would be mine. It had a few small curves in the beginning but ended up being fairly straight, which I enjoyed because I wasn't really used to the bike just yet and a cruise was all I needed to clear my head.
The road had lots of ups and downs and was covered by tree branches for a good bit of it. It was a very cool day, but the sun was out. I gave it a good 10 miles or so and turned around in a convenience store. On the way back I stopped in a small deli that looked closed except for the cars in the lot. I knew it had to be good and it was. I grabbed a sandwich and headed back to the shop.

Nigh-Thawk Day 13

So this past Wednesday I finally got my paper work in order and got my insurance and tags!!! Wednesday night I finally got to pull her out into the street. I had to go to the tag place after work so I left my bike outside of the shop and got a ride back up when I got my tags. It was already dark out when my girl and I got up there and it was the first time I really got to see it in the real darkness. She wasn't running very strong, but I got her home. My girl promptly hopped on the back and we did a little riding around town. It cut out on us at one point and we pulled off to the side. The right carb was pouring gas. I assumed the float had stuck and a good punch the the side freed it up and stopped the leaking. I decided it would need another looking over so I took it home and back to work the next day. It turned out that one of the jets had actually fallen out. I replaced that and my boss suggested we raise the needles. After slapping them back in I suited up and took it for another spin. It was night and day! She was running really strong then! It rained for the rest of the day so I parked her.

Nigh-Thawk Day 12

I painted a few rust spots on the tank today and bead blasted the heat shields from the exhaust and hit them with a little High Heat Ceramic black paint. I also took it for a little spin in the shop's parking lot. I'm getting really excited to get it on the road before the Pennsylvania Fall season turns bitter on me. My co workers have a ride planned for this Sunday. I'm hoping I can get everything legal by then. Just waiting on the money.

Nigh-Thawk Day 11

So, most of my blogs up until about the 8th day were posted as catch ups. I was several weeks into my project when I decided to start the blog. There were just a few things that I managed to leave out in my haste to post and that I just forgot to write. I've been working on this bike between jobs at work and after work. Anytime I can find I utilize. I actually went through two different Honda Interceptor front ends. The first I tried and used for a while to move the bike around. One or both of the forks was bent. One of the gas tank bolt holes was stripped and needed to be re tapped. I removed the Honda emblems from the tank.

Nigh-Thawk Day 10

So, all I really did today was rebuild the carburetors. The last time I had them apart I forgot to put a rubber stopper into one of them. It was only running on one cylinder half of the time. I pulled the spark plugs and bead blasted them. I upped the jets because day one my bosses drilled out my baffles and they needed a little jump. From what my boss says they run lean anyway. Main jets 115 to 128 and mid-range likewise.
    I started this blog several weeks after the actual project and have been trying to catch up. some thing have happened and may have been left out.I will repost about that later

Nigh-Thawk Day 9

So, not much done today. I got set up with some nice low profile black mirrors from a customer and I painted the front fender black with a spray bomb. I made up a license plate bracket and added a license plate light. It is actually ready for the road now. I just have to work out some money for title, tags registration and tax. I got the insurance all set up today too. As long as all goes well I will be taking her out for some casual around town riding by next Thursday. Then, her first real ride with the folks at my shop the following Sunday. I'm getting excited.

Nigh-Thawk Day 8

All of the wiring for the front end was originally done in the headlight. With the new Harley headlight I had to find a new place for my wiring harness. I cut a few tie wraps down the spine and (with a few alterations to the length of some wires) pulled the harness back and tucked most of it under the left side cover. Most of my connectors for the front end were now under the front of the frame's spine in front of the cylinders. I removed the old rusted battery box and electrical panel from either side of the bike for a good bead blasting and nice coat of flat black paint. In my spare time between my ACTUAL job I managed to polish the visible parts of the heads and the tops of the carburetors. Got to love a little shine in your life.

Nigh-Thawk Day 7

So, because my Nighthawk didn't come with a key and the gas tank has a locking lid, I had to get the tank re keyed. Upon opening it (not surprisingly) the tank was pretty rusted inside. I filled the tank with Muriatic Acid and let it dissolve the rust. After draining the acid and a good deal of rust I finished cleaning it with Methyl Ethyl Keytone. I lined the tank with Kreem tank liner.

Nigh-Thawk Day 6

I wanted the rear to be lower and was weighing my options. My first thought was to hard tail it with solid struts but my boss thought that ridablility would suffer. He found me some shorter shocks. Going from about 13 inches stock to 11 1/2. It really closed the gap a good deal and made it much easier for me to sit with my feet flat (I'm only 5'7). The new shocks were a lot cleaner with less rust too so it worked on several levels. The lower bolts were much smaller on the new shocks so I had to drill and re tap them for the original bolts to fit and fill the gap.

Nigh-Thawk Day 5

With the headlight removed the front turn signals went too, seeing how they were one assembly. My boss set me up with a nice set of Kurayaken Silver Bullets and naturally I had to change out the stock rears with the same. To clean up the tail section I removed the large boxey tail light and installed a Badlands Run, Brake, Turn Module to have my turn signals act as running and brake lights along with there original purpose. My boss has been pretty excited about this project and went ahead and made a nice fender eliminator to clean up the area. A little bit of black paint and it really sets up a nice custom look for the rear.

Nigh-Thawk Day 4

The original headlight and turn signal set up was rusted and the wiring was corroded. I cut the whole assembly off and mounted an old Harley headlight I had laying around the shop. I had to make a custom mount that I attached to the two bolts from the brake line connector that connects the new dual front calipers. The hand control buttons and switches were a bit corroded and just needed a good cleaning and di-electric greasing.

Nigh-Thawk Day 3

I was unable to find a front caliper since this bike is so rare. My boss at the shop had an interesting idea to put an old 1985 Interceptor VF500 front end on. It has dual disc front brakes and we just so happened to have a few laying around the shop from another project bike. I had to rebuild one of the forks and get new bearings and seats from All Balls Racing to make the steering head fit. This little change dropped the front a few inches giving it a nice low look. I also swiped an ignition switch and key off of the same Interceptor, since mine was missing.

Nigh-Thawk Day 2

So, after getting the Nighthawk to my shop I checked for spark (good) and compression (good) and  I started right into the carbs. No wonder the bike wouldn't run. The jets were completely clogged. I cleaned both carbs and hooked it up to a temporary fuel tank. A little jump on the solenoid and she turned right over!  With the bike running I got a chance to check the charging system, which is a common problem on these old Hondas. Luckily for me it was a solid 12.7v with the bike off and 13.8 running! Nice! I have high hopes now.

Nigh-Thawk Day 1

I came across a 1982 CB 450sc Nighthawk for $50. It isn't in very good condition.The bike doesn't have a battery and won't run on a jump box. I'm assuming the carbs are clogged. There is a lot of rust and the headlight doesn't work. The hand control buttons don't work, except for the turn signal switch. Only the rear turn signals work. It is also completely missing the front brake caliper. Let's see what we can do with it!