MOT delight; pride comes before a fall

[steadythebuffs]

the old girl sailed through this morning, with no official advisories either. The chap was quietly impressed with my humous-top rev counter cover.
To celebrate I took some pics, which I'll post in the gallery, and decided to finally have a look for the source of the oil leak, get under the air filter housing, and change the air filter.
One of the air filter screws was a bit stubborn, and to cut a long story short I mullahed it. Back to the MOT place in the car to drop it off for them to drill out.
doh

[McF]

Well done Buff's bike. Mine passed with honours recently too, drawing complimentary remarks from the tester, two other passers by and the guy who arrived early from his test on a 2000 V Plate GSXR with less than 4,000 genuine miles. It looked like it had just left the show room. "Never been out in the wet" he proudly announced. "Hardly been out in the dry" was my reply. His mileage since last MOT? 63.

Anyway - Air Filter Screws. I had problems with several of mine. Buy a Dremel next time and cut a slot to suit the biggest single blade screwdriver you have got. I think I even ended up with my impact driver on one of them. They are M5 shouldered bolts and a Honda part (90141-KT8-000) and likely to cost you circa £3 each!!!
You might get away with a simple bolt and washer for one.
I'm paranoid about any bolt I remove these days; they all get a dose of Coppaslip before reassembly.

Why they did not design an Air Filter Housing with spring clips is beyond me. I've had the air filter off many times in recent months (trying to sort my coolant problems) and replacement means splitting the box to get the inlet rubbers back into the box.
While I'm ranting, VW have done the same with the Polo. We bought our son a 2000 1.4 recently and I've serviced it for him. To replace the air filters, I had to remove an enormous plastic engine cover and then remove 9 screws to split the air filter housing from it. My own car is a Passat and they figured out how to use 4 spring clips on there. My 1987 Boxer even has spring clips. Grrrr!!!

[buzzin]

Bikes need MOT too?
heh....seems it does have some small advantages of living here
The minister of transport tried to imply the MOT should cover bikes here too....after a short but succesfull uprise they desided agains it....so no MOT was ever introduced for motorbikes.
But then again, Dutchies are not quite as prone to tinker with bikes....or cars for that matter.
And only about 1% of all accidents with motorcycles is from faulty maintainance....it would be more effective to put an MOT on the car-drivers' eyes

[steadythebuffs]

you've got to love the Dutch!
I've actually got a dremel - why it didn't occer to me I'll never know. The bike shop ripped out the offending bolt, knackering the plastic, so I'm operating on one bolt less (the rest copperslipped, and done up sympathetically). Still looks a good seal all round, though I'll probably gasket-goo round the offending area before the monsoon season starts
The pattern air filter was a rather poor fit, but with a bit of jiggling, and doing the bolts up in the right order it went on - and what a transformation! lovely idle, much quieter.
Not surprising as the old filter was rotten with oil and filth.

quick tip if you're removing your air box for any reason: I found it impossible to get the various under-box tubes etc to go on, until I twigged that taking the top half off the box off, and the filter was the way forward. still tricky, but do-able, even with low blood sugar (the root of my knackerd bolt problem, I know realise...)

[McF]

Unlike the Swiss!
My friend (I only have the one!!) lives in Zurich. He's a brit but lived and worked over there for many years (very handy for my annual ski holiday).
He's about to take a year sabbatical and wants to travel Europe in his Range Rover, but take his BMW K1200R. We have designed a trailer to suit 2 bikes and the rest of his gear. He is going to have it built, but then it requires testing, licensing (with it's own number plate) and the Motorway vignette so beloved of anyone who has ever driven into Switzerland. It will require an MOT every year.

There is an Air Filter Box on eBay for £10 buy it now plus £7.50 P&P item number 150166604035 or this link direct to it
cgi.ebay.co.uk/honda-ntv-revere-air-filter-box_W0QQitemZ150166604035QQihZ005QQcategoryZ10460QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[derbyshirebill]

I sympathise Buffs. I've not had the problem with the air filter screws myself (although they came undone reluctantly the first time I undid them) but it does get to me that manufacturers will still use Philips (Phillips?) screws just to save a few pennies.

[dpmiller]

Nowt wrong with Phillips as long as you use the correct driver.

[ntvnick]

I disagree, Phillips screws are OK until corrosion sets in, then they are bad news. I too have a large tub of copperslip and every bolt that gets taken off gets dipped in before it is refitted.

Mine is off for the MOT on Monday morning.

[McF]

I'm switching to stainless Allen Bolts/Screws where I can and using plenty of Coppaslip.

Good luck NTVNick with the MOT on Monday

[steadythebuffs]

I pondered the stupidity of the phillips head. I can never work out which size of bit to use - that's not something you get with a normal screw, where it's obvious.
had no idea phillips were cost-cutting - surely clips would be the cheapest option, and just use four. Or cable ties, and pass the cost on to the user.
good luck with the MOT Nick - though if mine can pass....

BTW I've had some success in the past by making it clear that I am potless, and will be doing any work myself, or scrapping the thing. You'd be surprised what a kindly MOT chap will tell you to 'keep an eye on'.
It's not 100 per cent, mind. I once failed an MOT re-test after making a silencer for some open pipes out of a bean can and a jubilee clip. He really wanted to let it go though, you could tell.

[ntvnick]

Quick check of the bike before the MOT - one of the brake light bulbs had blown. Replaced that and off we go. On arriving at MOT station found that their tester had phoned in sick **&^%$£!

Better luck next time

[Jake]

You should register your bike in Holland, Nick…. ;D

Had similar probs., with the air filter screws but bought some slot-headed replacements in B&Q together with washers can’t (remember the size now) and copaslip. Also found pattern air-filter just slightly too big, but it screwed into place OK.

My bike was fitted with a K&N air filter when I first bought it and I noticed on one of the Hawk web pages that some Bros/Hawk riders don’t fit the air filter housing cover… they just fit the air filter and then hold it in place with some kind of ‘sleeve arrangement’ or a big R clip… Apparently this helps improve performance/combustion. But when I phoned up one of the mechanics at Wemoto, he didn’t seem impressed with this idea….

www.hawkgt.com/kb/article.aspx?id=10019


Jake.

[steadythebuffs]

I had K&N style cones on a GS550 engine years back (shoe-horned into a GSX400 frame for reasons that escape me now), and the two outside ones were a bit shy of the rain - guess that's the main problem with leaving the top of the filter housing off too, Jake (not such a worry for a dry-miler in California...)
And of course you get all the air you need plus a load you can't use - with all the extra grime it brings.

Free-flowing filters are always a modification for performance-minded tinkerers, and I never really got it - if there wasn't a down side (engine wear??), surely Mr Honda, Mr BMW etc would use them as standard, but no they always go for an enclosed box and a scoop.

[ntvnick]

Well that's it for another year, the delightful weather (cats and dogs in London) kept the wait to zero, even no cars in the line and the bike sailed through the MOT. Next job is to change the speedo over

[steadythebuffs]

nice one Nick.
I saw an interesting speedo in a classic car mag recently - a post-it note next to the rev counter, with the various approximate speeds for certain revs. A fallback position for your speedo swap, though you'd want to use indelible ink.