Removing the choke valve nuts

[Roadcat]

I'm busy taking my carbs out of my RD03 to lend to Holla so he can check if his constant misfiring problem is carb related. I've managed to remove all connecting tubes, cables and rubber bits except for the choke valve nut.

The problem is that the nut in question seems to be made of plastic and some fine person in the past has rounded it off nicely so that a spanner just slips round. There appears to be a small plastic piece located right up against the carb, which may be knurled and might turn (although it's too tight for me to turn with my fingers) or it might just be a seal, I'm not sure which.

So the options are try to turn the knurled bit with a pair of pliers or try to turn the nut bit with a vice-grip. Either way I'm going to end up trashing this silly bit of plastic. Anybody have any clever suggestions for this before I do the deed?

[1gear1brake]

Ouch, it sounds bad I'm afraid. Try your absolute best to get the nut out without trashing it as they cost about £45 (each) to replace. It may be a bit easier to get at if you can remove the carbs before trying to remove the plastic nut. It's definitely a weak point on the @ especially as it suffers from a recurring sticky choke and needs regular inspection and maintenance. If some engineer out there could produce a metal replacement, I am sure every @ owner in the world would buy a couple.

Best of luck
Dylan

[BobA]

He's right!

Those plastic knurled fasteners have a habit of becoming brittle with heat and age.

Whatever you do, don't break them, because they cannot be obtained on their own. You will have to buy a complete choke kit if you snap one.


Bob

[BIGROG]

Hi roadcat.

If it's got to come out, just do it, I have a S/H one you can borrow till one comes along if it breaks OK?


Rog

[BIGROG]

Ouch, it sounds bad I'm afraid. Try your absolute best to get the nut out without trashing it as they cost about £45 (each) to replace. It may be a bit easier to get at if you can remove the carbs before trying to remove the plastic nut. It's definitely a weak point on the @ especially as it suffers from a recurring sticky choke and needs regular inspection and maintenance. If some engineer out there could produce a metal replacement, I am sure every @ owner in the world would buy a couple.

Best of luck
Dylan

HHHHMMMMMM!!!!, now thats an idea, brass would be best I think.

Time to fire up the lathe Batman

Rog.

[quaycrest]

Hi Roadcat,

I found the plastic choke retainers were easier to remove using an open ended ring spanner. The open side of the ring allows you to get the choke cable through it but still affords the most purchase on the majority of the flats on the retainer.

http://www.toolbank.com/p/C10324/STW249X11

I cant recall what spanner size I used but maybe someone else will be able to advise.

Hope this all makes sense if not PM me and I will elaborate.

Ian.

[BIGROG]

Hi Roadcat,

I found the plastic choke retainers were easier to remove using an open ended ring spanner. The open side of the ring allows you to get the choke cable through it but still affords the most purchase on the majority of the flats on the retainer.

http://www.toolbank.com/p/C10324/STW249X11

I cant recall what spanner size I used but maybe someone else will be able to advise.

Hope this all makes sense if not PM me and I will elaborate.

Ian.

It's a 10mm guys, I used a mini rightangle spanner.

Rog

[kennymact]

Once it,s off you can always file some straight edges back on .....

[icenian]

Another option is to cut the choke cable. Then you can get a socket over the end, and it's really easy to get it out undamaged.

This sounds drastic, but it costs £40 if you break the nut, and the cable is as big a problem as the choke plungers themselves, so it's never really worth putting a used cable back on. Just buy a new £10 pattern cable every time from someone like http://patternparts.net/

Of course you still have to get the b*****r back in somehow with the cable in place.

I'm tempted to get a cheap 10mm socket and ask a mate to grind out a slot, so it's a bit like those open ring spanners. Then it should be possible to get it onto the nut with the cable in place. It doesn't need to be tight, it should screw in just using fingers on the socket?

For the time being I'm just living without a choke!

[Roadcat]

Well thanks for all the help guys. Finally got it off this morning after the nut itself was rounded to a near perfect circle. I managed to knock it round on the knurled part using a hammer and punch, once it turned slightly I was able to turn it with a vice grip. It's certainly not one of Honda's better bits of design. I've had a careful look at it and it appears as if you could take the of the choke plunger off and then slide the nut off. I'm tempted to try and then to take it round to a local engineering shop and see how much they'd charge me to turn a bunch of them up. Would anybody be interested in buying one if I do?

One last thing, I've been looking at the microfiches and they all seem to show 2 of these chokes, one per carb. My bike only has one on the left-hand side. The other one has been blanked off (thank god there was only 1 - I had difficulty enough with it). Is this usual on an RD03?