Motorcycle Cylinder boring , Honda CB175

[@douglasmeeker360]

A friend of mine had the CB160, the predecessor to the CB175. It looked like a tank compared to the "new" styling of the CB175. Funny story, his dad decided to give it a go, and when he let out the clutch, he went right into a wood fence. Slow speed so no harm done. Those +/-400 videos sure contain a wealth of information. You're a great instructor and run a tight ship! It's nice to be able to see where the small parts are located and what order they're in from the videos, something that is harder to see from a manual. I appreciate what you're doing on here.

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thank you, Doug, that's a great story, and all too common I think, the outcome is not always as good though. Thanks for sharing. Thank you for the kind words my friend, I to have wrestled with those all too vague manuals, if I know, I much prefer to show it this way so others will not have the trouble I have had.

[@grahamsampson769]

You're the right man for the job. Impressive attention to detail Dale.

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thank you, Graham, hope all is well with you and family in a distant land.

[@geraldsgarage4100]

Just found your channel, very detailed, learning so much new stuff, love the old bikes and your shop is too cool!

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thanks Gerald, and welcome to the channel, I do a lot of stuff here as long as it has to do with old Japanese motorcycles. Hope to see you here often.

[@petermckee1061]

What a beautiful result. I was mortified when I saw what you had to work with. Well done!! Cheers, Peter.

[@montana2strokeracer]

Peter, I thought it would at first, then as I got into it, I no longer thought so. In the end.....I was happy!

[@peteetwell826]

Another great save on that cylinder job! It is fantastic the amount of concern you have for your clients! Thank you for all that you do. Also, congratulations on your 400th video! I know how much time and effort is required to record and edit these installments. Kudos to you!

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thank you, Pete, it's just good to spread some respect and joy around these days, with the world being such a nasty place. Thanks again, but I think I still have a couple to go to reach the 400 milestone.

[@gigicocreates]

Another one brought back to life! Good work Dale!

[@montana2strokeracer]

I hope so Gigi, it's made its way back to its home. He said he will send a video when its running.

[@jamesws3]

A Honda? Wonders never cease!! Nice job Dale!!!

[@montana2strokeracer]

Ah man you know.

[@wayneknodel3347]

Really nice job , Dale! There's something about seeing a freshly rebored cylinder and new piston, it's like springtime in the engine! And great to see these older machines being brought back to life by their owners! I didn't realize you've made so many videos, what a great accomplishment! I'll check them out!

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thanks for the kind words, Wayne, I totally agree, all that new shiny metal makes me smile. I know I was taken back on the number of videos also. My wife was looking at the channel the other night and said, "do you know you have almost 400 videos out there?" I had to get up from watching my favorite KZbin channel and look for myself. Beware Wayne......some of the earlier videos were pretty bad. LOL

[@scotte3698]

Great job Sir, amazing machinery you have. Thank you for making these videos.

[@montana2strokeracer]

You are welcome, and thanks for stopping by.

[@retromechanicalengineer]

Great job Dale, it cleaned up beautifully. Just as well, I hear that the owner is a real tough customer! 😂 Best wishes, Dean.

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thanks, buddy, I am more than happy with the outcome. Yep, that Georgia Cain is on tough guy, was sweating this one. Sure, glad he likes old bikes like me.

[@levitated-pit]

CB175 was my first bike. i was doing my mechanic apprenticeship and it got stripped down every month for minor things, it was the quietest engine (mechanically) ive ever owned

[@montana2strokeracer]

Those Hondas are smooth and quiet, no doubt about it.

[@davidleland8729]

Nice work as always there Dale! Really enjoy watching you do your thing!

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thanks, buddy, just enjoying retirement my friend, shiny metal makes me smile!

[@josephsawicki9335]

Love your show you are the MAN! Thank God there is a person still alive that can restore the classics to near factory or better, are new liners possible to be had or maybe weld and rebore? I'm just curious I have worked with liquid nitrogen years ago it really can shrink the parts down for easy fitting but anyway thank you for the wonderful videos

[@montana2strokeracer]

Hi Joseph and thanks for the kind words, I am not sure about the availability of sleeves for this machine, but I did ask the owner if he had investigated it. We decided to just press on with this bore as planned. These sleeves are not at all hard to get out, you can pretty much knock them out with a 2 x 4 and a hammer. I would use a press though. With the wide flange at the top the sleeve, the head holds the sleeve in. I would say that the interference fit is less than .001. Yes, it is amazing what heat and cold can do to help in assembling parts. I use it for many interference fitting parts, i.e. bearings and such. I'm not too technical about it either, just throwing the bearings in the snowbank and the cases in the oven at 250 degrees for an hour or so usually does the trick.

[@donbridgewater2988]

Hey Dale, just now able to check in. I have been doing side work...LOL

[@montana2strokeracer]

Believe men Don, I have been doing a lot of that work myself.

[@cainbeeping8480]

Awesome job brother thank you so much.

[@montana2strokeracer]

You're welcome, you're going to be happy with how it turned out.

[@bigmurr725]

Thanks Dale , Great work . A lawn Boy huh ? Maybe you can make a lawn boy short tracker , Just goofing around .

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thanks Murray, yeah, I know but it's a two stroke, that makes it ok.

[@steveh7823]

I enjoy your vids, thanks. Some ideas about content; How about some Euro 2-strokes like Bultaco, DKW, Jawa etc? maybe there aren't any in your neck of the woods, but their engine layouts are very different from Japanese bikes.

[@montana2strokeracer]

Hey thanks Steve, yeah haven't had too much luck finding the European bikes. I do have a 75 Bultaco 350 Alpina that just hasn't been ridden in a while, sure it will need some work to get it going again. Will probably bring in in some time for a will it run. I am always looking for bikes, but I have to be careful with my money. So a lot of them are just out of the question.

[@steveh7823]

@@montana2strokeracer I'll bet that Bultaco could still be a wild ride, I hope we'll see it one day.

[@TimHarman-tl4eu]

Always love your solving problems with simplicity. Love to connect about a Kawasaki H1 that needs the cylinders bored. let me know the best way to connect. Blessings

[@montana2strokeracer]

Hi Tim, send me an email at [e-mail]

[@markaddy53]

great job as always dale cleaned up nice i see a twin cylinder crank on the bench are u going to rebuild it hope so next video please

[@montana2strokeracer]

Hey Mark thanks, yes you probably already have seen what we are doing with the twin crank by now, keen eye my friend.

[@customgaragemoto7590]

Merci 👌👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@montana2strokeracer]

You are welcome my friend!

[@thecontinuingadventureso-qs5zm]

Hi Dale. I am learning engineering pretty much from scratch, so You'll have to excuse Me if I get things wrong. But am I correct in thinking that an alternative fix would be to turn up another cylinder and press it in? Also the Honda CB175 was My first real bike so a lot of firsts for Me. I managed to burn a hole through one piston, so for the first time I stripped the top end down and fitted another piston. They were all the same size and had been made for at least 10 years before I had one when I became 17 in 1977. I really enjoyed doing the mechanics, so I took the valves out and cleaned them, then polished them to a mirror finish along with the pistons, inlet and exhaust manifolds, and just about as much of the internals of My engine I could find. And when I rebuilt it and gave it a ride it worked better and faster first time, and I was well pleased when She out gunned My friends CB200. And that's the story of how i started modding engines. Best Wishes Jahmahrah

[@montana2strokeracer]

Hey Jahmahrah, no I would not turn a new sleeve, rather I would buy one from a place like LA Sleeve and install it. They are not hard to push in, very easy probable .001 inches interference fit. I really don't have much experience with the CB175, I was just boring it for a buddy. He says they really run well. I'm sure he will let me know.

[@markgaitan5107]

I am here too.

[@LynnKorte-ve4qf]

Dale the left will horn out great as there's just a stain on the liner

[@montana2strokeracer]

Yes Lynn, it honed out very nice, better than expected.

[@davidnelson6893]

Yes those CB Honda 175 are hard to find Peace out

[@buildurtruckurway9118]

Ive been watching alot of your videos so i subbed today. Should have sooner. This year im trying to get into small engine work and im really wanting to do my own machine work. What would you recommend getting first, a decent lathe or a mill? My budget is very limited so its older equipment im looking at. I was thinking a decent lathe and a diy honing cabinet would be a good start but i can really see where a mill would be a good start aswell. When i worked at a machine shop we had a van Norman 777 on a tably and another Chinese boring bar for really small cylinders. But that's out of the question based on prices in my area. Thanks if you do read my comment.

[@montana2strokeracer]

Hey, thanks a lot, sure I read every comment, some may not get answered but I read them all. Thats great that you want to get into doing your own machine work. I will tell you that good used equipment is hard to find in decent shape. I bought a very used Bridgeport, and it works ok unless you are doing precise stuff. It is just too worn out to hold a good tolerance and was very hard to get dialed in for boring, once you got all the axis locked up it worked ok. I finally bought a new Jet milling machine it has made life much easier. But these days the Bridgeport is basically a very heavy drill press, and I leave my vise set up on it. I much like you were looking into a dedicated boring machine, but that is a big expense for a one trick pony. I almost bought a new one because the price was only a couple thousand more than a used one. But settled on buying a new Bridgeport clone by Jet. Much more versatile and does so much more. If I had to tell you what I use the most it would be the lathe, I am always turning some little thing or polishing something. It is the most used. I bought it new about 25 years ago, it is a 1340 Jet, sold by many companies like MSC, Grizzly, and Enco. But if you are boring cylinders, it is much simpler to do on the milling machine unless its smaller than 2 inches. Those I bore on the lathe, but you must first make a JIG to mount the cylinder to. Much more time consuming. The old Sunnen honing machine I use is very simple and works great, mine is a 1966 model, these used to be in every filling station in this country. There are a lot of them out there at a pretty good price, picked mine up from used equipment dealer with most of the mandrels that I use. I sure would like a stand-alone boring bar, but used prices are in the 5000.00 range, and you have to be careful to get all the tooling or it is just a 5000.00 paper weight. The new one I looked at was a Van Norman Winona at about 7500.00. The lathe first then the milling machine in my opinion. But you really need them both for what I am doing. Hope this is helpful, and I am running right over to your channel to subscribe, I sure appreciate your sub, and if I can be any more help don't hesitate to email me. [e-mail] Thanks for hanging out in the shop with me.

[@waltcrawford6153]

You said that 2” is about the limit you can bore, is this because of the diameter of your boring head or because of a limitation of your mill? Have you considered using a torque plate when boring a cylinder, they are supposed to give a more accurate bore?

[@montana2strokeracer]

Hey Walt thanks for watching. My boring head is a shade under 2 inches, with the ridged boring bar I use the head needs to go into the cylinder, so you are limited to the size of the boring head. That being said you could use a 1/2-inch boring bar that is the length required to get thru the cylinder (4-5 inches) this way the boring head remains outside the cylinder, but the problem is the flex that you get from that much stick out. I don't bore that way because of the chatter and the taper that will be introduced into the work. As far as using a torque plate goes...in a perfect world that would be certainly better, and I actually use them as part of a holding fixture when I bore small cylinders on the lathe (but I have to charge more to make that fixture or to modify it) here is the problem, I would have to make a torque plate for each cylinder that comes in to the shop, this would add over 100.00 plus materials, to each bore job. I realize after a while you could recoup that cost using them over and over, but I don't do that many boring jobs to ever recoup that expense. The way I compensate for not using a torque plate is by taking smaller cuts, and more passes to maintain the accuracy. While this takes longer, I can be doing something else while the pass is being completed. Thanks for the question and for hanging out in the shop with me.

[@donbridgewater2988]

Dale, I know we had talked about this before, what size is your shop again?

[@montana2strokeracer]

24 x 40

[@retromechanicalengineer]

Here!

[@davidleland8729]

This may sound like a really dumb question, shouldn't both cylinders be bored to the same size or doesn't it make any difference?

[@montana2strokeracer]

Yes, by all means, both of these were bored to 1mm over, however one piston was about .0006 larger, so I elected to bore the corroded hole a little bigger to get as much corrosion out as possible and then fitted the larger piston to that hole. Just like with car pistons you measure each one and fit them accordingly.

[@davidleland8729]

@@montana2strokeracer Thank you for clarifying that for me. I guess I missed that when my better half interrupted me watching the video. I seem to be getting forgetful I guess.

[@frankdillon6127]

frank here!

[@cainbeeping8480]

Here

[@cainbeeping8480]

You know that is 1600 on this one

[@montana2strokeracer]

Folks are liking the Honda stuff.

[@eriklund784]

Most videos like this are super boring....... :|~

[@montana2strokeracer]

Ha, ha, ha! Thanks buddy

[@eriklund784]

@@montana2strokeracer Wow, It is terrific watching a professional do his thing. All of my years doing bodywork and painting I've felt as though I'd worked hard to be proficient and detail oriented but this is just amazing to me! So glad you share this!

[@montana2strokeracer]

Thanks Erik, I do some painting on my channel, please don't be too ruff on me. Not a pro!