The Tomahto!

[cheesy]

I will measure in the morning.

[cheesy]

Well, good news/bad news on the sealed beam. Good news, I found it and it's the right size. GE 4020 6v MC bulb. Bad news, I should have tossed it when I pulled it from Aermacchi headlight. It's no bueno.

That said, Steiner tractor lists a 4020 sealed beam for about $18.

[TominMO]

Thanks queso-y.

[TominMO]

Today I did the brakes. Needed the front, but rear was good, so just cleaned inside there a little and deglazed the shoes with sandpaper. Didn't get to the throttle cable. I think it's just the wheel bearing grease I put inside the twistgrip; too thick. With no grease it snapped back freely. Might go greaseless or try white lithium.

Spent a lot of time futzing around, looking at stuff and making small repairs/adjustments, lubing fasteners etc. Decided it needs a complete teardown after all, but for now I'm just gonna get it rideable. Discovered it has no sidestand, for some reason. Taken off but never reinstalled. Tried to get the one from The Carrot on there, but the mount point for the spring on The Tomahto's footpeg bracket is bent back so you can't get a spring in there. I'll put The Carrot's footpeg bracket on there with the sidestand, which came off there anyway. Since I'll probably go with a Chinese motor for The Carrot, I will also get the footpeg bracket/sidestand that bolts directly to the Chinese motor. The Carrot's Honda motor will be one I tear into just for the experience, and as a spare.

[TominMO]

Just did some more little stuff today. Painted footpeg mounts and all stands with Rust Reformer. Reinstalled rear wheel and cleaned it up. Noticed the chain is shot and needs replaced. Both sprockets still good though.

Gonna be cool for a couple of days, so I'll probably not do much/anything to the bike until Friday, when it gets back up to 48.

[Sport Rider]

I'm not seeing many pics on this thread for entertainment purposes!

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by TominMO

Painted footpeg mounts and all stands with Rust Reformer.

Just got some of this. Looking forward to seeing how it works. Anything that turns surface rust into a paintable surface has to be FM.

[TominMO]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Just got some of this. Looking forward to seeing how it works. Anything that turns surface rust into a paintable surface has to be FM.

Yes it is.

[TominMO]

Originally Posted by Sport Rider

I'm not seeing many pics on this thread for entertainment purposes!

OK fine. I hope you're satisfied. I put on my snow shoes, trudged out to the garage in four feet of snow, fired a couple of warning shots to scare away the two wolves and the chupacabra, checked for ninjas again (didn't see any naturally--them Japs are tricky little fellers)*, and shot a couple of photos. Not really much to see actually, so I didn't consider my work so far to be picture-worthy.

* The preceding description may contain some slight inaccuracies.

The chupacabra is a master of disguises. Here he made it into pic 1.

[TominMO]

Just bought 14 items off Amazon for the two CTs.
Got a rear sprocket for The Carrot, and a carb spacer and gasket
Got a few needed tools:
-- JIS screwdrivers to get the case screws out easier
-- a clutch removal tool
-- a cable luber

Parts for The Tomahto:
6V bulbs, angled pod air filter, fork boots, ignition switch, SS allen bolts for the cases, fuel line + clamps, a set of chassis springs, a drive chain, and a pair of rubber footpeg covers

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by TominMO

Just bought 14 items off Amazon for the two CTs.
Got a rear sprocket for The Carrot, and a carb spacer and gasket
Got a few needed tools:
-- JIS screwdrivers to get the case screws out easier
-- a clutch removal tool
-- a cable luber

Parts for The Tomahto:
6V bulbs, angled pod air filter, fork boots, ignition switch, SS allen bolts for the cases, fuel line + clamps, a set of chassis springs, a drive chain, and a pair of rubber footpeg covers

I'm glad to see you making headway! I have one JIS. So far it's worked. With the BSA, Mrs. 2LZ gave me the basic sets of Whitworth wrenches and sockets for Christmas. Never thought I'd need more "basic wrenches and sockets". Sheesh....

[TominMO]

I spent about two-fitty yesterday on all that stuff, and fitty alone was for the three JIS screwdrivers.

I think I will partially drop the motor Friday--i.e. pull the top mount bolt and rotate the motor downwards a little. I want to reroute the wiring that comes out of the front of the frame, as currently it is crammed up against the carb. 1968 and 1969 were oddball years for the CT90. Honda was thrashing around trying to figure out how to do stuff. By 1970 they had a good handle on what the design should be. My frames are different. Centerstands are different. There were three different designs for CT90 airboxes in three years! Early CT90s had no transfer case, just two rear sprockets, and you needed to add or remove a short length of chain to change between them. Three different carb designs IIRC.

Even the shifter changed. ON FB there is some discussion of the best angle to put the heel/toe shifter, and the consensus is toe slightly down, heel up. But you can't do that with the 1969 shifter, you can only mount it flat because the rear half does not clear the high/low transfer case. On the 1972 one, the angle of the heel section is changed so that it will clear the case. So since I will be sticking a Chinese motor in The Carrot, I grabbed its shifter for The Tomahto.

Later on I will take a pic of both shifters, so you can see the difference.

As far as the Whitworth tools go, you should also find that on some sizes you can substitute a metric or SAE tool. Kinda like 3/8" is effectively 10mm, 3/4" is 19mm. Might be worth making up a comparison chart.

Like this one:

[TominMO]

Shifter comparison.

The 1972 is on the right, heel section at the bottom.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by TominMO

Shifter comparison.

The 1972 is on the right, heel section at the bottom.

Interesting to see the subtle changes over time, as the bike slowly evolved. I guess the dual-range bump would certainly would have created them an issue.

[TominMO]

Of the 14 items I ordered from Amazon yesterday, three arrived today. Here is the pod filter ($9). Not a giant fan of any of the various filter setups on the CT90. I have no plans to ford streams with either bike, and they would be used in fair weather only. Even so, there are various ways to make these filters rainproof or rain resistant.

I got one with a 45 degree angle in the rubber part, for mounting versatility. Wanted to make sure there was no interference with the frame.

The transfer case looks like it will clean up nicely, and I will rob the stator cover from The Carrot. Towards the end of the month I will buy the ultrasonic cleaner to play with.