This thread is not really a "build thread". I won't be doing much building or modification. I will be bringing a red Hawk back to life. Then selling. Which will allow me to focus on my blue Hawk. Which I predict will be with me a very long time.
It started with buying an 89 Honda Hawk. Red. 21K miles. Two bros full exhaust. UNI pods. Jetted. F2 fuel tank. Corbin seat. Cheap ebay pegs. Pretty much stock other than that. Been sitting a claimed 5 years. The body work was in rough shape. Turn signals were LED and falling off. Stuff was faded badly. Tires were from 2003. Battery long dead. Drove 7 hours to get it. Tennessee. It was a bit rougher than I thought it would be. But it was cheap. So I loaded it up and drove it home. Another 6 hours. What have I got into?
Over the next few days I started looking it over better. Really taking in how much trouble I was in. I started researching it online. Which brought me here. I read a buncha threads. Planned on what I wanted to do. Mostly thought about the amount of work I had to get it where I wanted. A mostly stock bike. A big task. Then I found the classifieds.
A blue 88 was for sale. Within 5 hours of me. Much more than I paid for the other bike. Much better shape too. It was shiny. I was in love. Problem was I spent all I had getting the red bike. I mean an overnight trip to get a motorcycle isnt cheap. Fuel, hotel, food and the cost of the bike added up quick. I was broke. At this point it had only been a week since I bought the red one. Now I wanted to buy another. What's wrong with me? I wished the seller good luck with the sale. I just knew it would sell before I could raise the money. I was sad.
A week later, and a small loan later, I said screw it. I want it. I went to Alabama and bought it. Really nice guy. Took great care of it. So did the owners before him. He barely rode it in his 8 years of ownership. He/they kept everything they took off it. Came with a tote of take offs/extras. Even the instructions to the Factory Pro jetting kit, the member made tip over protectors, factory repair manual, lots of new in bag Honda parts, extra seat, mirrors, and half a gallon of Honda oil.
37K miles. Corbin seat. K&N pods. Factory pro carb kit. LED signals. Muzzy muffler. Tip over thingys. Bar end mirrors. Super clean. Shiny.
I have not done much to the blue bike since bringing it home. I did rob it's battery for the red bike. Took off the bar end mirrors. Put the stock seat on it. I'm waiting on selling the red bike before doing anything to it. I need to focus funds, my attention, and what little shed space I have left on the red bike. The tires are old enough for me to not ride it until they are replaced. It's hard buying a new bike, but not riding it.
Speaking of the red bike. I have done a few things to it since purchase. I gave it a good washing. Ultrasonic bath for the carb bodies. New o rings for drain screws and air cut off valves. Everything else in the carbs was good enough to reuse after a good cleaning. Slow jets were plugged up solid. Worst I have seen. It took a week of soaking in a jar of carb cleaner to start to clean up. I had to get the center hole cleared with a small drill set. I know what you're thinking. Drill? Carb jets? NO! These are tiny. No way as large as the orifice. Used properly you can clean out jets with them. I filled the fuel hoses with 100% Seafoam. To fill the fuel pump with it. To try and loosen up the stale fuel.
I ignored the F2 tank. For now. It was bad. Carbs went back on. New (used) battery. Oil and filter changed. New spark plugs. Replaced the majority of the fuel hoses. Made a temp fuel tank out of a pressure washer soap container. After turning the kill switch on I ran the starter awhile. To fill the carb bowls. Let it sit. Turn it over. Let it sit. Then tried starting with kill switch off. After some grumbles it starts! It lives! Oh no. It leaks fuel from the drain screws. So back off the carbs come. Replace the drain screw o rings. Back on the carbs go. Thankfully this is easy compared to my usual ride. A ST1100. A V4. At this point I'm tired of having to untie the fuel tank form the rafters. So I affix it to a temp wood frame.
I turn my attention to the gas tank. I can not describe how bad this tank it. Or how strong it smells of stale fuel. Really. I have had a few bikes in the past. Most were bought after sitting up. I'm familiar with stale fuel. This tank was on a completely different level. I could smell it in the PO garage. While walking up to it I smelled stale fuel. I put off cleaning it out, because I didn't want to deal with it. I looked into buying a used tank. NO used Hawk tanks. As you know. A few used F2 tanks for sale, but not much better than I have now. So I bought some Evaporust. It did nothing. Even after a few days soak.
I have used citric acid in the past while cleaning up metal parts on Coleman lanterns. My other habit. So I mixed up 5 gals and poured it in. Get 5 gallons of water to an almost boil. Mix in 5 cups of powdered citric acid. Stir well. That seemed to start to break up the hard fuel into chunks. After soaking a few days I rinse well with a hose. Anther soak in citric acid for a few days. Another rinse. Another batch of citric acid. This time I let soak for a week. Rinse with garden hose. At this point I get clear water coming out. Most of the hard cracker like fuel is gone. I see clean grey metal. No rust. No holes. I fill it with water I have on hand. A mix of gas, kerosene, and two stroke fuel. Just to keep the inside from flash rusting. At this point I ma just over doing this. I'm done.
That's where the red bike is currently. I am almost ready to list it for sale. I need to renew the brake fluid, finish the tank, replace the brake pedal, balance the carbs, and put the tank n seat back on. It will be up to the new owner to take it from there.
The blue bike has tires, battery, and a few small things incoming. I want a RAM ball in the steering stem. I have a plan for that. Who knows if It will work out. I have a tankbag set aside for it. A 10 liter waterproof GIVI. The exact bag I have on my main ride. It will have two USB outlets inside. I plan to put the stock mirrors and turn signals back on it. Coolant and brake fluid renew. New spark plugs. Then I get to ride it.
After riding it for awhile I will know better the exact direction I want to take. I will likely take the forks to Traxxion in Atlanta. Combine with a Penske rear shock. Just like how my ST1100 is set up. They did a wonderful job on it. So I see no reason to try anything different.
Sorry to ramble on. Here is a link to the Imgur album. It has detailed shots of how the F2 tank is mounted. https://thacheese.imgur.com/all/#1
Here is the overall album. It contains all the pics. https://thacheese.imgur.com/all/
It started with buying an 89 Honda Hawk. Red. 21K miles. Two bros full exhaust. UNI pods. Jetted. F2 fuel tank. Corbin seat. Cheap ebay pegs. Pretty much stock other than that. Been sitting a claimed 5 years. The body work was in rough shape. Turn signals were LED and falling off. Stuff was faded badly. Tires were from 2003. Battery long dead. Drove 7 hours to get it. Tennessee. It was a bit rougher than I thought it would be. But it was cheap. So I loaded it up and drove it home. Another 6 hours. What have I got into?
Over the next few days I started looking it over better. Really taking in how much trouble I was in. I started researching it online. Which brought me here. I read a buncha threads. Planned on what I wanted to do. Mostly thought about the amount of work I had to get it where I wanted. A mostly stock bike. A big task. Then I found the classifieds.
A blue 88 was for sale. Within 5 hours of me. Much more than I paid for the other bike. Much better shape too. It was shiny. I was in love. Problem was I spent all I had getting the red bike. I mean an overnight trip to get a motorcycle isnt cheap. Fuel, hotel, food and the cost of the bike added up quick. I was broke. At this point it had only been a week since I bought the red one. Now I wanted to buy another. What's wrong with me? I wished the seller good luck with the sale. I just knew it would sell before I could raise the money. I was sad.
A week later, and a small loan later, I said screw it. I want it. I went to Alabama and bought it. Really nice guy. Took great care of it. So did the owners before him. He barely rode it in his 8 years of ownership. He/they kept everything they took off it. Came with a tote of take offs/extras. Even the instructions to the Factory Pro jetting kit, the member made tip over protectors, factory repair manual, lots of new in bag Honda parts, extra seat, mirrors, and half a gallon of Honda oil.
37K miles. Corbin seat. K&N pods. Factory pro carb kit. LED signals. Muzzy muffler. Tip over thingys. Bar end mirrors. Super clean. Shiny.
I have not done much to the blue bike since bringing it home. I did rob it's battery for the red bike. Took off the bar end mirrors. Put the stock seat on it. I'm waiting on selling the red bike before doing anything to it. I need to focus funds, my attention, and what little shed space I have left on the red bike. The tires are old enough for me to not ride it until they are replaced. It's hard buying a new bike, but not riding it.
Speaking of the red bike. I have done a few things to it since purchase. I gave it a good washing. Ultrasonic bath for the carb bodies. New o rings for drain screws and air cut off valves. Everything else in the carbs was good enough to reuse after a good cleaning. Slow jets were plugged up solid. Worst I have seen. It took a week of soaking in a jar of carb cleaner to start to clean up. I had to get the center hole cleared with a small drill set. I know what you're thinking. Drill? Carb jets? NO! These are tiny. No way as large as the orifice. Used properly you can clean out jets with them. I filled the fuel hoses with 100% Seafoam. To fill the fuel pump with it. To try and loosen up the stale fuel.
I ignored the F2 tank. For now. It was bad. Carbs went back on. New (used) battery. Oil and filter changed. New spark plugs. Replaced the majority of the fuel hoses. Made a temp fuel tank out of a pressure washer soap container. After turning the kill switch on I ran the starter awhile. To fill the carb bowls. Let it sit. Turn it over. Let it sit. Then tried starting with kill switch off. After some grumbles it starts! It lives! Oh no. It leaks fuel from the drain screws. So back off the carbs come. Replace the drain screw o rings. Back on the carbs go. Thankfully this is easy compared to my usual ride. A ST1100. A V4. At this point I'm tired of having to untie the fuel tank form the rafters. So I affix it to a temp wood frame.
I turn my attention to the gas tank. I can not describe how bad this tank it. Or how strong it smells of stale fuel. Really. I have had a few bikes in the past. Most were bought after sitting up. I'm familiar with stale fuel. This tank was on a completely different level. I could smell it in the PO garage. While walking up to it I smelled stale fuel. I put off cleaning it out, because I didn't want to deal with it. I looked into buying a used tank. NO used Hawk tanks. As you know. A few used F2 tanks for sale, but not much better than I have now. So I bought some Evaporust. It did nothing. Even after a few days soak.
I have used citric acid in the past while cleaning up metal parts on Coleman lanterns. My other habit. So I mixed up 5 gals and poured it in. Get 5 gallons of water to an almost boil. Mix in 5 cups of powdered citric acid. Stir well. That seemed to start to break up the hard fuel into chunks. After soaking a few days I rinse well with a hose. Anther soak in citric acid for a few days. Another rinse. Another batch of citric acid. This time I let soak for a week. Rinse with garden hose. At this point I get clear water coming out. Most of the hard cracker like fuel is gone. I see clean grey metal. No rust. No holes. I fill it with water I have on hand. A mix of gas, kerosene, and two stroke fuel. Just to keep the inside from flash rusting. At this point I ma just over doing this. I'm done.
That's where the red bike is currently. I am almost ready to list it for sale. I need to renew the brake fluid, finish the tank, replace the brake pedal, balance the carbs, and put the tank n seat back on. It will be up to the new owner to take it from there.
The blue bike has tires, battery, and a few small things incoming. I want a RAM ball in the steering stem. I have a plan for that. Who knows if It will work out. I have a tankbag set aside for it. A 10 liter waterproof GIVI. The exact bag I have on my main ride. It will have two USB outlets inside. I plan to put the stock mirrors and turn signals back on it. Coolant and brake fluid renew. New spark plugs. Then I get to ride it.
After riding it for awhile I will know better the exact direction I want to take. I will likely take the forks to Traxxion in Atlanta. Combine with a Penske rear shock. Just like how my ST1100 is set up. They did a wonderful job on it. So I see no reason to try anything different.
Sorry to ramble on. Here is a link to the Imgur album. It has detailed shots of how the F2 tank is mounted. https://thacheese.imgur.com/all/#1
Here is the overall album. It contains all the pics. https://thacheese.imgur.com/all/
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