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Bomber Fastener Woes

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AshimotoK0:
My 1967 CB450K0 Black Bomber is the ultimate jigsaw puzzle in that it came basically in a load of storage boxes left in a Crawley back garden for God knows how long and everything was totally stripped down, including the engine.

The main post is about fasteners so skip the following waffle if you like, about the project in general.  :-[

I have gathered parts over the past 7 years for this bike,  like NOS period DID rims, NOS Genuine Honda silencers, NOS seat, front guard etc. etc. so it will be a lovely example if I ever get it finished. I painted it myself last year and it came out pretty good  and I had all of the chrome done a couple of years back and the speedo/tacho rebuilt by Peter Horton on here. I did have a NOS speedo but sold it to fund the rest of the project.

Fast forward to this week and I am now putting the engine together. I had about 4 cranks for this bike (very unique crank with 'plummer'  type block main bearings .. totally different to the later 5-speed... more like a Honda race crank. I gave these to my mate Graham Curtis and he totally restored one and I gave him the remains. I was lucky in that I found newly rebored cylinder barrels and NOS pistons that had been matched to the rebore in a lock-up that the Crawley guy had rented  (he was in his 80's and passed away and his son from London was selling the stuff off). Cams and followers are always mega hard to find for these and the exhaust cam always seems to pickup on one cam lobe. I found a a lovely inlet cam and a set of four really nice rockets/followers in all of the parts but all of the exhaust cams had a least one pit. During lock-down I sold some race type valves for a CB350K to Cappellini , who do parts for 1960's Hondas in Italy and he gave me decent money for them. I started a dialogue with him and gave him a Bomber rear brake pedal.... To my amazement, totally out of the blue, he posted me a pristine exhaust cam and some of his camchain tensioner sprocket repair kits and a magnetic sump plug that they sell . What a kind gesture !

Anyway, I am all set to finally put the engine together but I have discovered that the the nuts for the crank main bearing studs are not listed in any parts book and neither are the nuts for the crankcase halves retaining studs. I have researched this and found that the nuts are not standard ISO M6 and M8 nuts. The washers are not listed either but I am being told that the crank studs didn't have washers and the M6 crankcase ones are thinner than normal Honda ones (possibly Form 'C' is a match). From what I can glean the M6 nuts are standard 10mm A/F but are deeper than 'standard' ones . .i.e. just under 6mm rather than around 5mm as pictured below. I reckon the crank retainer nuts are probably deep M8's with 14mm A/F hex. I have found that deep M6 nuts and deep M8 nuts are used on classic Lambretta scooters .. so I am investigating as a possible source. I have also seen Honda nuts from the 1960's (fasteners not people  ;D) having one side bevelled and the opposite side almost flat

Anyone on here restored a Bomber engine and have any recollection of this please?

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Laverda Dave:
Great story Ash. Got to admire your dedication to the cause and spending so long finding parts worldwide that are so rare.
How do you find the leads to these bikes and us this the same guy who had the CB250 (was it a G5?) that you found in a shed a couple of years ago?
I wish I could help you with the fasteners you are looking for but the only advice I could offer (and you have probably explored this anyway) but DSS has a Bomber in his museum, would this be able to offer some details or is his Bomber a later one?
Looking forward though to seeing some photos of this build, it's going to be a good thread 👍

AshimotoK0:

--- Quote from: Laverda Dave on July 12, 2024, 10:03:45 PM ---Great story Ash. Got to admire your dedication to the cause and spending so long finding parts worldwide that are so rare.
How do you find the leads to these bikes and us this the same guy who had the CB250 (was it a G5?) that you found in a shed a couple of years ago?
I wish I could help you with the fasteners you are looking for but the only advice I could offer (and you have probably explored this anyway) but DSS has a Bomber in his museum, would this be able to offer some details or is his Bomber a later one?
Looking forward though to seeing some photos of this build, it's going to be a good thread 👍

--- End quote ---

Yes Dave... as well as the Bomber in bits,  I got my '64 CB72 also in bits, '69 G reg CB250K0 and another H reg in bits, a complete Bomber (I sold to Roy on here), 305 mile only CX500 and a 2k mile CB250G5 all in a delipidated shed, with it's roof caved in.. It was mid winter and the council were moving in to clear the property the next day and sadly I had to leave behind another Bomber, CB77, CB250T, 250 G5 plus CJ engines, forks, frames etc .. all in bad condition but broke my heart to leave them, Crawley is a long way from East Yorks and I felt another trip might have finished me and the van off.   The guy (a passed away Chinese engineer in his 80's)  also had a house full of model planes, dozens and dozens of VHS/Betamax recorders, Hi-fi,  etc etc. God knows what was in the locked main bedroom and loft.  I did OK out of it so no complaints at all really.

Look at these 400 carbs I got from there ... they were from a 600 mile only write off .. you could say badly stored !

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mo goldie:
Hi Ash

Well that's great you got all the bikes and bits out ha.......... I look forward to all your build...... Funny enough I was out Dave silvers on saturday we went out me on My 67` bomber and my two mates one on a CB77 and his dad On a CL305.

I have still got to take some pictures of the Bomber Ash as I did say I would show you some when I finished it...... still got a few running probs but other than that she is Great and I love riding it.

Johnny4428:
Great back story and pics Ash! Holy, those carbs, what a shame when they had hardly done anything.

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