Project XL185/CG250 swap

[Moto1204]

Exhaust valve does look ok, yoy maybe correct on the intake side. I know in some old Honda service manuals you could measure the wear ring on the valve and see if it was either too large or small.

I’m right at about sea level with a full exhaust. Stock Honda 125 header to a modified Kawasaki Z125 mid pipe and two brother silencer. I also run a PZ30 carb with a pod filter. I can dig up my carb jetting specs if you’d like. Maybe a good starting point when you go back together. Best of luck!

[XLsior]

The intake valve itself is worn down to the bleeding edge...
The seats look ok, not worth a new head thankfully.

The carb tuning was not working on either PZ30 or PE28 due to the dicky intake valve throwing on overrich condition.

New valves and a lapping should correct any low compression/timing issues.

This should address the hard starting issues too.

And might have explained my 4* timing key assumption which now looks to be incorrect. So might try installing it again after a few miles/KM under my belt in due course.

[XLsior]

Got the Ebay rotary tool with with the extension cable.

So attempting at head porting valve seat side.

(Discalamer: This is my first time doing this)

Taped off the surface and added a decent amount over the valve seats as a protection layer against slips and chatter. also twisted some paper towel and plugged the valve stem holes.

When purchasing the carbide tips for rotary tools I recommend using for this sort of work get the multi fluted type shown on the left of my palm. The type on the right (best avoided) will chatter and jump and not do a very clean job at all.

I have intentionally left the bite marks on the intake side as turbulence. I am not prepared to dimple.

I used some sanding rolls on the exhaust side to help with flow...but i expect it to carbon up pretty quick regardless.

I won't say its a professional result, but it is better than before.

A decent amount of material was removed.

Got the new valves waiting for the lapping kit.

[XLsior]

Got the valve lap kit.

A life time supply.

The suction caps can be a bit hit or miss but if you spin and lift and return rather than try to start a fire back and forth it works better I found.

Few passes on both coarse and fine compound. keeping the stems clean and oiled.

easier to apply the paste with a finger tip while the valve is held in suction, a little dab will do ya.

Happy with the result. Can't be worse than before.

New valve stem seals and then managed to get the retainers back in.

Now to put it all back together again....

[XLsior]

So that completes a port and valve lap job.

[Bruces]

Looks great ! .Now ,finish that bike will you !

[XLsior]

Originally Posted by Bruces

Looks great ! .Now ,finish that bike will you !

'whip cracks'

[XLsior]

So put it all back together. Torqued and valve lashed.

had to kick it a few times to lick off on refueling.

Adjusted the A/F screw and idle. Definitely less popping but not entirely absent.

Got it ticking over nicely.

replaced seat.

1st gear, clutch out barely any throttle and off it went...

Had to relearn how to ride again...no muscle memory, stiff shoulders and death grip for the first 10 min.

hit a greasy patch and found the limit to the dunlop 605s...or probably just lack of riding skill.

My back yard is fine for 1st gear not enough to stretch out but I did try 2nd for testing purposes.

can confirm the digi dash speedometer xl185 adapter seems to be working as intended.

Any way after about 20min was getting more relaxed and the smile kicked in...gave it the beans a few times. can't complain about the power delivery from my novice point of view.

Almost there...The big hurdle has been jumped...Final stretch to the finish line now.

It will all come down to roadworthy inspection and the license plate.

[XLsior]

So after my test ride yesterday I rolled the bike out the garage and noticed 1 of the front engine mount bolts had vanished.

I am fairly certain I nipped up all the nuts n bolts.

But it appears the engine vibration might be to much for 30 year old wire wheeled Japanese Honda hardware.

thankfully Honda in their infinite wisdom used standard M8 threads so I had some stainless nylock nuts that replaced the old nuts.

However I now had the hope that the bolt had dropped down and not pinged off into the bushes...

I walked many laps of the yard and thankfully found the missing bolt on bare ground...washer and nut have gone to a better place...

Well it was a shake down test ride and lost the bolt in the backyard...not 20mins down the road.

Anyway the bolt is back.

[XLsior]

Bought a 31.8mm bicycle seat clamp.

With a bit persuasion it fit over the exhaust pipe slip coupling.

It doesn't really clamp/squeeze the pipe down right now..maybe with a few heat soaks.

Also I thought I needed to dremel down the inside lip...but in retrospect I think it would have worked better with the lip able to clamp on the inside smaller pipe...

But it looks legit which might address and road worthy inspection concerns.

Think it was about $3aud shipped.

[Bruces]

Looks like you have done a great job on the bike .Get off your ass ,and get it on the road .Pretty sure it’s a “thing “ to ride year round at the bottom of the world ,so when things are “hectic” ,you can steal some time and go for a spin to get a break .
Once again ,the bike looks great .

[XLsior]

Originally Posted by Bruces

Looks like you have done a great job on the bike .Get off your ass ,and get it on the road .Pretty sure it’s a “thing “ to ride year round at the bottom of the world ,so when things are “hectic” ,you can steal some time and go for a spin to get a break .
Once again ,the bike looks great .

Time is not necessarily the issue I have to manage.

[XLsior]

Even though i have E'start with the CG engine.

The Xl185 was originally kick start.

So not having it as part of the bikes DNA made it feel incomplete...
Call it maintaining integrity while adding weight but also adding more fail safe reliability.

The original kick lever did fit to the CG250 spline shaft just fine but needed some welding to take out some slop at the base and also up top to clear the heat shield...which it was fouling on.

So made a cut and opened the gap enough for clearance and zapped it together again...

cleaned the welds, wire wheeled and sprayed it with the same paint the bash plate and brake pedal were coated in...

[XLsior]

front wheel cable retainer bracket installed..

waiting for the loom tape to wrap the brake and speed/odometer sender cable.

but it works as intended and looks cleaner.

[XLsior]

Can anyone chime in regarding weather the wiring loom typically routes low around the head stock into the back of a lamp bucket...or

the loom rides higher on the frame around the headstock..

or the loom enters the lamp bucket lower...

I am having issues when turning full lock to lock where the loom slack rides up and around the head stem keylock protrusion on full left lock (gets hung up)...which takes out the slack when turning full right putting strain on the connections .

There is obviously some slack to allow for turns...but im just wondering if i have the routing set suboptimally.