IT RUNS!

After I got the tank, forks and exhaust back on the bike, I really didn't have an excuse not to start it up. The day of reckoning had come.

First I drained out the old oil and re-filled the crankcase with 10w40 Valvoline motorcycle oil. This would flush out the remaining ATF that I filled the cylinders with, and remove any contaminants that had managed to find their way into the crankcase over the years.

Next I filled my gas can with a couple of gallons of 91 octane CA gas and threw a bit into the tank. I didn't want the tank to be too heavy if I had to remove it later. I turned the petcock to "prime" and let some fuel trickle into the float bowls, then turned it to "RES".

The battery was one that originally came in my CB450, so it's a little undersized but works pretty well. I had it on a charger while I was working on the bike over the last couple of months, so it was ready to go.

At first the bike simply did not want to start. Repeated cranking didn't do anything, probably because of the stuck rings and low compression. I sprayed some carb cleaner into the intake and was rewarded with some pops and clouds of blue smoke.

After a few minutes of this, the bike started up; snarling and grumbling, but running. I let it warm up, and restarted it a couple of times when it stalled.

With a bit of adjustment on the idle knob, it settled into a high, though unsteady idle. I couldn't resist taking it for a ride like this, and before I knew what was happening I jumped on the seat, dropped it into first and headed around the block.

It ran pretty good, though with some stumbling that I attributed to the carbs not being synced or tuned for the bike. I gladly parked it back in the garage and attended to the final details. It still needs a tuneup, valve and carb adjustment, and I need to check the compression again to see if it's improved, but at least it runs!