Thank God For Drills, Punches and Home Made Bushing Removers

First the drill: I had to drill out both sides of the main stud holding the frame to the timing chain cover. I used penetrating liquid, a torch and a punch....this thing wouldn't move one bit. So that's why I ended up drilling the head and the threads just deep enough to remove the frame. Turns out I think the bolt might have been glued in, due to someone being to cheap to buy a nut for the other end. Seeing how all the other frame bolts came out with ease, that would be my conclusion.
I will be picking up a used timing chain cover some time soon, so no need to fix this one.



This picture is my home made bushing/bearing remover. I had to remove the bushings that attach to the bottom of the rear shocks out of the swing arm to get it ready for painting.
How it works: The large socket has a bigger inner diameter than the bushing itself, the smaller socket is as close to the outer ring of the bearing/bushing. Use a threaded shaft/bolt with a diameter as close to the inner diameter of the bushing/bearing. Then just tighten the end where the big socket is and it starts to pull the bushing out. I have both bushing already out of the swing arm in the picture.



This picture is the swing arm and the hammer and punch I used to get the bushings out. The metal inserts in the zip lock bag are the main pivoting bearings. These have a hole in them that allow grease from the main shaft lubricating system to enter. The four plastic rings are basically just spacers that center the metal bushing and the main shaft. These probably help in lubricating and help the swing arm move freely. I won't be needing them for the rebuild cause I will probably upgrade to brass ones.



A little cleaning goes a long way! This will probably be the most time consuming part of this whole rebuild. I know these foot peg holders have been cut but I just wanted to see how well the would clean up with a little bit of effort. Every bolt will hopefully be replaced or re-plated and every engine/metal part will be media blasted.

Bag It and Tag It

Here are a few shots of the tear down process....
Rule Number 1: Always take a lot of pictures when removing parts.
Rule Number 2: Always, always label everything you remove.
Rule Number 3: Get as many manuals as you can! These things weren't designed by just throwing stuff together and seeing what fits.
This should save you some problems during the rebuild.

My trip to Avoca with Eric

To Be Or Not To Be

Wednesday, March 25th

I talked to Johnny Lightning through out the day and everything was going well until he started claiming that a lot of people were calling him about this bike....Oh boy! Here we go with this shit. Is Johnny Lightning trying to flake out on me?

Well the answer was yes and no....I really had to get in there and explain that a deal is a deal and eventually we worked out a new deal but man I was sweating bullets for a minute there. So the deal had been re-worked so I was now back on track...I thought anyways.

Initially I planned on driving there with my boy Eric and he would ride the motorcycle back. Being that it's a mid 60's bike and just in case something were to happen...we would be screwed. So I took a shot at walking over to my ex boss's house who happens to live directly across the street from and who I also hadn't spoken to in close 9 months but that in it's self is another crazy story.

To my surprise Ryan and Matt were home. After some long over due catching up with them I explained that I came over to see them but also to borrow their F-150. As usual, they didn't give a shit and even gave me $10 for gas!?

Now it's on! I call up Eric and tell him about the truck and ask if he can swing by my dad's to pick up some straps to hold the bike down. About an hour later he shows up and we head for Avoca.

Finally!! We get there and start finalizing the deal. Johnny Lightning insisted that Eric ride the bike but repeatedly told him..."Don't wreck this bike, fucker" Even after Eric took off on the bike Johnny Lightning kept asking me if I was sure Eric knew how to ride it!

He is Big and his name is Dave...
Johnny Lightning had to call his friend Big Dave to bring over his ramps so we could load the bike into the back over the truck. Shortly after his arrival the Superhawk was ready to go back to Omaha.

After some brain storming with Eric on the drive back, we came up with a good solution for getting bike out of the truck. We had 4 people when loading and you could consider it 5 if you consider the fact that Big Dave was 2 of me. Anyways, now is was just left up to me and Eric to unload it. Using the plywood that I use as I work table and the slight raised lip of my drive way. We were able to back the bike off of the truck without the plywood ramp moving.

Luck or Fate

Tuesday, March 24th

I returned to school from my spring break week and I am now sitting in class avoiding my work for the day. Really I am just bored out of my mind. I randomly decide to get on craigslist and look at what motorcycles have been posted under every damn city in the Nebraska section. Shortly before 2pm I am in the Omaha/Council Bluffs section and see listing for 1965 CB77 305 Superhawk for $900 in Avoca, Iowa. At this point I am no longer bored...consider my mind blown. The fact that I stumbled upon this fairly rare bike is leaving me questioning its authenticity and condition.

Shortly after viewing that listing I called the listed number about it. A very strange, interesting guy named Johnny Lightning answered the phone. We began talking about the usual, what's the condition, history, problems with the motorcycle...all in all I was left a bit confused but even more interested in seeing this thing in person.

As soon as I got out of class, I drove to Avoca. Which is only about an hour away from Omaha...but I had no idea that I would be returning there on Wednesday and Thursday. I finally arrive and walk down gravel alley that lead to muddy driveway and ended at a very messy, cluttered garage. That's when I met the man, the myth and have course the Avoca legend...Mr. Johnny Lightning!

Now I am able to finally lay eyes on this motorcycle...to my surprise it's an actual Superhawk! The only reason I say that is because there are so many confusing frame and engine models that can get mixed up and a number of 60's Honda's tanks and parts can look similar to one another.

Johnny Lightning really wants to make this deal happen right now. The only problem is I didn't have any money, because I couldn't get to the bank, because I didn't expect to find a fucking Superhawk on craigslist today! I explain to him I will buy this thing tomorrow and just need to figure out how to get the damn thing back to Omaha on the cheap.