THE HONDA AX-1
TOTAL REBUILD PAGE
Last edit 27 Oct09
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Mirror sites dhost.info/ax1/ Germany EU
By Kiriakos Triantafyllou Greece 2007- 2009
ax1rebuild.net23.net/ U.S.A
JUNE 07
The solution about the damaged balls came easily , as I found an SKF ball bearing (made in Italy) , that the balls of it, was the perfect match for the AX-1 , and also , the ball bearing had one easy way to extract the balls from it .
So the exchange of balls become an easy task .
From 1 Nov 08 this site runs on New server 1.5GB free space and more.
1000 Thanks to my new Free host .000webhost.com
Next step was to clean the carburetor and all the aluminum parts .
The carburetor , had be cleaned as far I remember three times in the past twelve years , by professionals ... any way when I opened it my self , I found parts of it, never be opened , with dirt and rust . I did ,a very good cleaning of it , but with out special carburetor spray .
Next step was to wash and clean all the aluminum parts , my purpose was to do a primary cleaning , removing oil – grease – dirt .
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Page started 21/10/2007
Next move was to clear the frame , removing all the old paint , the plan was to remove the paint , and after the frame will go for repairs .
From the years there was some points, that they needed repairs , a blacksmith is the next station .
I took a special chemical , called as “paint remover” ( Nitro Mors ) by Henkel hellas .
The chemical was very expensive , 8€ per 500 grams of material .
With the use of a brash , I applied the material , and in five minutes time, the paint was starting to fluff out.
With the use of a high pressure washer , I was removing , even hard to fluff out paint. The all task took a lot time , I was reapplying paint remover , and bombing the frame with high pressure water .
Even that way , I managed to get out only 60% of the paint , the other 40% , came out with the use of paint remover , and pilling the paint with a metal sponge , for dish washing .
The task is done , but I found later , that my paint remover was soft and slow , that¢s why it took me so long to finish this task , but its was not my fault , I got the most powerful one, in the Greek market .
The frame was just the beginning , the fork boots , and the speedometer mechanism was cleaned from paint too .
My plan was to make my AX-1 to look alike , with the last AX-1 model of 1995 .
NEXT MOVE
Next step was to wash and re lubricate the swing arm bearings .
All this years , never had be opened or serviced ..... the good part was, that Honda has install on the bearings one special grease , very sticky , like honey , any way , all the parts got a good overnight bath ,in a special liquid , called as white spirit , but its not alcohol ... its a chemical that does not evaporate , its not flammable , and its for industrial use , you can filter it , and use it again as degreasing agent , it does not cause harm at plastic and rubber parts .
After 10 Hours !!
The Engine, followed the cleaning root too , both side covers removed , and everything got washed and inspected .
The engine side covers , in all NX – AX , they get damaged by the shoes of the driver , so repainting was necessary .
Lots of waterproof sandpaper and water , and soft moves , in order to remove the old paint , but not completely !!
We need some of the old paint as base for the new color .
Tip .. all sanding become under water.... a large plastic washbowl, filled with water at the hide of the metal parts inside .
Repainting was easy , with special spray paint from MOTIP (NL) 600C grade , dark anthraces .
The results are fantastic .... ( even now that I use the motorcycle , the color is amazing good , its very hard and robust, its does not get damaged , good as metal )
At this image you can see my first paint test , I painted the engine oil filter cover , and the parts around it, are just for comparison .
First side cover .. DONE !!
Next target my disk brake plates, they need to be cleaned too , there was a sort of corrosion only at the surface of them .
I tried manually sanding them, but the metal was very hard , so I end up buying one ... Third sheet orbital sander . With this baby the miracle become in zero time , my back plate was in good condition , the front needs to be replaced .
New Problems and solutions
Rims have be send for service , they had small problems that caused air pressure loss , the person who did the job is a specialist repairing aluminum parts .
The cost of the repair was 60€ , but the rims came back straitened and in perfect condition .
The next problem that I have to deal with, are the silent blocks ( as we call them in Greece) .... Honda description are "cush-drive grommets" at the back wheel .
Those parts are not distributed by Honda for the AX-1 , so I had to find alternative options , the first alternative was to buy them from Greece , made by a Greek company , but from the opinions that I got , their quality was very poor , and they not last long .
The next solution was to fabricate, my own version of them .
I followed the hard way , but lets see first some pictures of the problem .
- Sprocket pins destroyed
- The broken "cush-drive grommets"
- Extraction of "cush-drive grommets"
The solution .
This rubber parts are made in Germany , very high quality products .
To complete their transformation in to "cush-drive grommets" , I had to ask for help in three places , that they do metal constructions .
The first one did the drilling of the rubber parts , and fabricate for me the prototype , at the second place , we did the inner metal rings , and at the third place, the rim passed from a CNC machine, that did a small correction in the hole diameter in the nests of the "cush-drive grommets", and then they fabricate the external metal rings of the "cush-drive grommets", high quality steel was the material that I had select for this job , and the last step was to implant the steel rings in to the aluminum nests , all jobs done by machines .. no hammer work , everything done with ultra high accuracy .
Every step of the job , become under my directions , and this mission had a happy end , it took me three weeks to find the right materials and the right people , but , at the end , I made it , and that¢s what counts the most .
June has passed away , and the summer gets warmer and warmer , I am very tired from all the washing – sanding – painting , but now there is no turning back , only move ahead .
