Honda Days, Autodromo di Vallelunga, 10 maggio 2003. In pista con la vecchia Revere: 12 anni, 116.000 km.

In a cold saturday of february, when the bike was 15 years and 154.000 km old, she didn't start. The spark plugs got wet of gasoline and dirty, I cleaned two of them but it was not sufficient to start the engine again. After some minutes also the battery started going weak. The spark plugs were only 6.000 km old and too much dirty; it was also too much time that the bike did not her 24 km/l any more (just 19). It was evident that some deep maintenace was needed.

Here are some photos of what i found inside the engine. Many carbon deposits on the ceil of the front piston (the rear one was much cleaner): Carbon went wet by the gasoline, detached itself and filled the plug gap, this was the main cause of the engine not starting. Blowing with compressed air into the engine head - after removing both the plugs - may will cleaned the piston a bit, without the need to break the engine apart.

By contrast the wear of the cylinder was very low, after so many kilometers you still see the honing signs!

I took the cylinders to the shop to be bored and honed and I purchased two shining new pistons.

The main problem was removing the flywheel and the clutch. The workshop manual suggests to use the Honda special tools:

• 07733-0020001 Rotor puller (Estrattore rotore)
• 07725-0040000 Flywheel holder (Attrezzo bloccaggio rotore)
• 07923-KE10000 Clutch center holder (Attrezzo bloccaggio mozzo frizione)

I purchased the rotor puller on the web from SG Motorsport (www.inter-bike.co.uk). They answered kindly and quickly to my email, the shipping is a bit pricey but in 5 days I got it. The clutch holder was made with a lathe by a friend of mine. Here they are two photos of the tools:

I ordered all the spare parts from my Honda dealer; I'm still amazed that I can find every part of the bike: pistons, gaskets, bolts, … down to the smallest washer. All of that more that 10 years that my bike is out of production and despite the fact that this model was not so popular in Italy. This is why I will purchase Honda again!

La prima volta ho sostituito i cilindri depressori completi di membrane dopo 12 anni, a 113.000 km. Dopo altri 12 anni, 24 anni in totale e 201.000 km, le membrane erano di nuovo da cambiare:

Purtroppo mamma Honda non produce più il ricambio (codice 16112MN8014) ! Esistono almeno tre tipi di membrane non originali adattabili alla NTV650, ho optato per il modello Librane che si adatta al vecchio pistoncino dopo aver tolto l'anello di plastica superiore, quello nero. La membrana si adatta nell'alloggiamento e va incollata con la colla cianoacrilica fornita a corredo.

Consultate il Catalogo EPC (HONDA Motorcycle Electronic Parts Catalogue).