White House K10 - a story of regeneration

[Ninemeister_imp]

Once the CB arrived and I'd ridden it home, finally I could allow myself the luxury of working out the plan to regenerate it into the K10 I had imagined just a few weeks before.

Starting point: what do I like, what to fix and what to change?

Likes:
Wyvern Exhaust. What a bonus. Remove, re-polish and fix the leaks around the cylinder head joints.
Excel Wheels. Wire wheels were always a must have, but the gold lightweight Excels with stainless spokes were another massive bonus, especially given that I had been considering the same for another project. The question is how to use the colour to maximum advantage...
K10 tank & side panels. What's not to like?

Fixes:
Dent in fuel tank (arrow 1, photo). No big deal, but would require a re-paint
Chain & sprocket. Better to be safe than sorry, given the mileage, however on inspection the rear alloy sprocket was shot.
km/h Speedo. Dial change or repaint at minimum to mph only or mph/km/h

Changes
K10 Headlight Ears (2)
Paint Headlight Bowl (3)
Chrome Speedo/Tacho covers (4)
Cut off indicator brackets (5)
K10 rear light

Time to place an order with Takashi.

Then there was the colour...

As to your dented tank...
There is a procedure called paint-less dent removal...they will fix your dent without painting...my car had over 170 dents after a heavy hail...they fixed everything without a drop of paint. Condition: no paint cracks

I hear you.

On the other hand, I had already committed to painting the headlight ears and headlight bowl; pearl white is a notoriously difficult colour to match and I had just sold a white Vespa 250 which I had lived with for 8 years because I fancied a change.

All in all, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to go for a unique colour combination to highlight the gold wheels.

 

[peterbaron]

Done!
Pics when finished, SVP

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

Delivered on the Thursday night, regeneration underway by Friday night, fun continued all weekend...

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

With the tank and panels away at my friend Mike's custom paint shop (https://www.rage-designs.co.uk/) I had little choice but to turn my attention to the rest of the bike.

I took off the Wyvern exhaust thinking it just needed a really good clean up, but so glad I did as I found all the exhaust manifold gaskets leaking, needing a new set of gaskets.

I started polishing by hand, but that was hard work on the chrome of the header pipes so resorted to a sewn cotton mop on my little bench grinder. One of the header pipes is lightly dented underneath, so whilst I did think about doing the freezer & water trick to blow out the dent I decided in the end just to polish and refit as it was easily visible.

The silencers are stainless steel, did the same as the header pipes and they look great.

!'m undecided about what to do about the scratched aluminium side protection on the right upper silencer, will probably leave it alone and consider it an old war wound.

The sticker on the right lower muffler was covering up a mark. Sticker and mark have now been removed.

Photos show before & after polish, gaskets and header pipes refitted.

 

[peterbaron]

Good work, report and progress...obviously these two black ex gaskets were leaking.
Thanks for your pics 9m.

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

Cheers PB.

OK, next up: rear shocks.

Doing my research I had come to the conclusion that I would be replacing the stock shocks with a pair of Ohlins, however on closer inspection I could see that the shocks on the CB were not standard. Turns out they are HyperPro shock made especially for Honda Japan.

I contacted HyperPro (Home - Hyperpro) for more information. After sending him the photo of the serial number on the bottom, one of their sales specialists John Troost filled me in with all the technical data and provided set up recommendations. Great customer service, thank you again John.

The shocks are set for average rider and conditions, so that will definitely apply to me (90kg and slow...), so glad to say they are staying on for now until I've had a chance to thoroughly test them out. Best of all, that's saved me £900 for the Ohlins...
Best of all - the gold adjuster at the bottom matches the colour of the wheels!

 

[peterbaron]

I love your reports 9m...hope you don't mind if I present my small modest update

:beerchug:

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

Oh ye of little faith.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Cheers PB.

OK, next up: rear shocks.

Doing my research I had come to the conclusion that I would be replacing the stock shocks with a pair of Ohlins, however on closer inspection I could see that the shocks on the CB were not standard. Turns out they are HyperPro shock made especially for Honda Japan.

I contacted HyperPro (Home - Hyperpro) for more information. After sending him the photo of the serial number on the bottom, one of their sales specialists John Troost filled me in with all the technical data and provided set up recommendations. Great customer service, thank you again John.

The shocks are set for average rider and conditions, so that will definitely apply to me (90kg and slow...), so glad to say they are staying on for now until I've had a chance to thoroughly test them out. Best of all, that's saved me £900 for the Ohlins...
Best of all - the gold adjuster at the bottom matches the colour of the wheels!

That is a very nice bonus indeed. I have never seen rears like that before.

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

Cheers PB.

OK, next up: rear shocks.

Doing my research I had come to the conclusion that I would be replacing the stock shocks with a pair of Ohlins, however on closer inspection I could see that the shocks on the CB were not standard. Turns out they are HyperPro shock made especially for Honda Japan.

I contacted HyperPro (Home - Hyperpro) for more information. After sending him the photo of the serial number on the bottom, one of their sales specialists John Troost filled me in with all the technical data and provided set up recommendations. Great customer service, thank you again John.

The shocks are set for average rider and conditions, so that will definitely apply to me (90kg and slow...), so glad to say they are staying on for now until I've had a chance to thoroughly test them out. Best of all, that's saved me £900 for the Ohlins...
Best of all - the gold adjuster at the bottom matches the colour of the wheels!

That is a very nice bonus indeed. I have never seen rears like that before.

I thought so as well.

According to HyperPro, this is their basic "emulsion" shock which has an adjustment range for the rebound setting of 48 "click" adjustments, the standard setting at 25 from full hard. This is the set up manual:
(https://hyperpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Hyperpro-Shock-manual-v3.1_EN.pdf). Looks like I'm going to have fun later playing with my sag...

 

[peterbaron]

As to the chosen final colour of your K10, white, gold or..?

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

Patience is a virtue PB.

You must know that, I've seen your fitted RLETs.

 

[peterbaron]

P a t i e n c e.. this is how long is my fuse

Here is one of my friend's rejuvenated CB.. to its OEM colour, you may like....

...

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

P a t i e n c e.. this is how long is my fuse

Here is one of my friend's rejuvenated CB.. to its OEM colour, you may like....

...

I L U V that 2019 Honda Africa Twin in the background!



The CB is nice too.

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

P a t i e n c e.. this is how long is my fuse

Here is one of my friend's rejuvenated CB.. to its OEM colour, you may like....

...

I do love the gold, that 750 is gorgeous.

But I'm not painting the K10 gold as I am sure the colour would clash with the gold wheels.

 

[peterbaron]

OK, carry on with your plan

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

Thanks PB, I will.

So, rear shocks sorted, what about the fronts?

It was a 50/50 guess to whether the previous owner changed the fork springs for HyperPro. The only answer was to take them out and have a look and this is what I found.

John (HyperPro) thought that the springs were non-standard and so by inference were likely to be their springs. I had no reason to doubt his suggestion until a week or so later my Honda workshop manual arrived and I rifled through it to check. The photos in that look very similar, stating a minimum length for the stock spring of 328mm, and since mine are just over 330mm I'm now betting they are standard. I would welcome any input here. I did buy some 15 weight fork oil for a refil on the basis they were HyperPro , but now note that the Book states to use 5 weight. Should I compromise at 10 weight?

Of course, with the bike in pieces I've done my research on the forum and am now thinking it would be an opportune time to replace them anyway, so the decision is between the 2017 SDBV forks or the Andreani inserts.. Hmmm...

 

[Ninemeister_imp]

Whilst I busied myself with the mechanicals at home, Mike & Keith at the paint shop had also been working hard on preparing the K10 parts off the bike for paint:

Headlight bowl rubbed down for primer, then primed

Tank dent pulled out, keyed up, filled and primed

Side panels flatted down for primer
Thanks must go to Takashi at Samurider for his superb customer service. The "missing" K10 parts (headlight ears, tail light, chrome speedo covers) were ordered from him on 7th September, were shipped on 15th and arrived with me on 18th. Awesome.

The headlight ears were a work of art, nicely pressed, fully machined tube and super quality brazing along the joint. Was almost a shame to have them painted, but needless to say I ran them round to Mike's so he could carry on with the job and he soon had them etch primed, then primed everything in light grey ready for colour.

 

[peterbaron]

Nic prep job....and seems to be white again....I mean great white

As to your front suspension, wouldn't be less complicated if you went for a completely new set of '17 forks ???

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Nice progress on the parts 9.