The Tear Down

My introduction to motorcycle ownership started with the complete rebuilding of a dead motorcycle. The Honda CL450 had been “more than” just “around the block” so to speak. It was a very well cared for source of enjoyment for my good friend and coworker, Steven Pundock. Since we have already discussed the importance of which state you hail from in the Military, Steven was from Cape May, New Jersey, thank you Billy for that information. He used the bike daily as transportation to get to and from our shop on the flight line where we worked on F4D model fighter aircraft.

Steven sold the Honda 450 twin when he upgraded to what was the world’s fastest motorcycle, at least in his eyes it was. I am referring to the Kawasaki triple he bought, it was a 750 cc two-stroke monster referred to as a Mach IV. The Honda was sold to a mutual friend who used the motorcycle to commute on and off base to a nearby home [If you were there you may remember the situation, if not just leave a comment and your email and I will elaborate further because there is another story that goes with the fellow but this is not the correct venue for such stories]. That is he used it to commute off base until he blew it up.

The bike was parked across the street from our barracks with all the other motorcycles for enlisted men. I was propositioned to buy the bike and fix it up. All three of them, Calvin, Steven and the unspeakable owner of the blown motorcycle were urging me to buy it and fix it up. Calvin said he would help me with the mechanical parts and since he was from California and he was a motorcycle mechanic I went ahead and bought the bike to fix it up.

I was scared though. They had removed one of the spark plugs and you could look right down into the cylinder and if the light was just right you could see a part of the piston with the rings. I was still learning to be a mechanic but I knew that you should not be able to see the rings or the grooves in the piston for the rings. That meant there was severe damage to the motor.

I don’t recall how but I obtained a manual on the bike from somewhere, probably it came with the bike, most of us bought the manual when we bought anything mechanical back then. So there I was during my time off, wrenches and screwdrivers in hand and I was removing the motor from my new bike.

New? NOT!

So I hauled the motor up the stairs to my barracks room and I started tearing it down. I was excited because I was getting started into new territory. Let me take this moment to mention that I had always considered myself as a mechanic and I have enjoyed tinkering with cars and anything mechanical but this was my first complete rebuild. It definitely was not the slant six I rebuilt in high school auto shop. The book came in handy with things like how to separate the chain links and remove the timing chain, on this model it ran between the two cylinders and from the crankshaft to the cylinder head and over two cams past several idlers and it had a friction tensioner.


This was more than just a motor rebuild because the transmission came apart with the engine, something I didn’t have to do in auto shop. Now I had to keep tract of things like multi-disc oil-bath clutch plates, transmission gears and shifter shaft, and little brackets and fittings for the control cables.

With help I had it torn down and all the parts in boxes and bags, labeled and cataloged. Calvin helped me with the inspection of all the parts and ordering from the bone yard in California. The rebuild kit came from a mail order supply house. But I knew that when everything came in the mail I would be riding my own motorcycle.

I hope I don’t kill myself; my mother would never let me live it down.