[ajordan]

I know i've got an unfinished early production 450 K0 project log around here somewhere though another 450 K0 has my attention for the time being.

I recently picked up this 450 K0 police bike here is Southern California. This is my first police bike, I'm no expert though supposedly 25 450 K0 police bikes were produced for the US market. There are still a few floating around, HT forum member RayfromtheUK has a few. I'm looking forward to receiving Rays input, he will need to be my guiding light on this one.

Its a little rough around the edges, though really its not too bad. Thankfully, I've seen and dealt with worse. It will require a complete restoration and a complete rebuild on the currently seized engine. I'm in need of and searching for police specific parts such as lights, sirens, ticket box, control switch blocks, cables, front crash bars etc. these parts are generally removed when the bikes leaves service.

Now for some photos, more to come as I get further into the project.

 

[76TWIN]

I am officially jealous.

 

[ancientdad]

I am officially jealous.

And so am I... having worked on Tampa's Police bikes for 12 years, I always wanted to buy one of the Harley FLHs they took out of service but they always went higher than I could afford at auction. Congrats - very cool!

 

[Lost_Cause]

I can't WAIT to see what you do with this thing! I've veen watching several police bike parts on ebay. very steep.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Rayfromtheuk]

I may have more than one of these Andrew but I am still officially jealous.

Great find. Stay with it.

 

[ajordan]

Getting into the business end of things very early on here. The engine is seized so I figured I would get started there before anywhere else. Overall, the condition of the engine seems to be pretty original without receiving too much attention from previous owners, bolts and screws all look to be in good condition, the top end looks better then other 450's I've had first hand experience with. The odometer reads 3,815 miles, I'm not sure if its correct or not, though given the overall condition it looks to be pretty low wear on the engine for the most part.


Now, for the real issue, the seizure.. I think it may be due to the Fred Flintstone era granite pistons as shown below...

 

[ancientdad]

It almost physically hurts to see an engine so badly rusted inside... removing the cylinders will be a challenge

 

[ajordan]

It almost physically hurts to see an engine so badly rusted inside... removing the cylinders will be a challenge

Yes, I suspect it will be a challenge to get the pistons and cylinders separated. I will start with some PB Blaster, blocks of wood and a hammer to see if there is any movement.
I've been fortunate enough to not have to deal with this in the past so it will be a new experience for me.

 

[HondaPete89]

What a find!

 

[ajordan]

I let it sit for an couple of hours with Wd40 in the cylinders as I didn't have any PB Blaster. Three taps with a block of wood and a hammer the the right side piston started to move. The right side is now free with minimal effort. I couldn't get the left free so easily and split my block of wood so I will let it sit and have a think on how I will get that side moving.

 

[80cb400t]

I did this in all the wrong ways over the winter on a pretty similar seizure just on a smaller engine. If penetrating oil isn't doing anything (ie. if it's just sitting there on top of the piston) look up the steering wheel puller method on this site and see if it'll work for you (you can probably get one cheap in the clearance section of automotive tool stores).

Here's an example thread: http://www.hondatwins.net/forums/55...tor-sat-outside-over-30-years.html#post271149
Here's what can go wrong: http://www.hondatwins.net/forums/1-project-logs/78217-getting-old-1974-cb450-up-running-3.html

I'd just put decent pressure on it with the puller and leave it like that for a while with the penetrating oil in it, check for changes.

If you've got a heat gun/torch you could also try heating to attempt to break the rust through expansion and contration

More drastic methods include:
- lighting a small amount of gas + oil on fire in the cylinder repeatedly to get it expanding/contracting
- hole saw to drill out your rings (major con: metal shavings everywhere and your piston could still be seized below the rings)

 

[ancientdad]

I let it sit for an couple of hours with Wd40 in the cylinders as I didn't have any PB Blaster. Three taps with a block of wood and a hammer the the right side piston started to move. The right side is now free with minimal effort. I couldn't get the left free so easily and split my block of wood so I will let it sit and have a think on how I will get that side moving.

While I realize that the pressure of the explosions inside an internal combustion engine are probably greater than hitting the piston with a hammer and block of wood, I'm still always concerned with the potential negative impact on the big end rod bearings. crankshafts for 5 speeds are more available than one likely is for a 4 speed, hate to see something bad happen to it (especially if that low mileage figure is accurate)

 

[Rayfromtheuk]

The low mileage is likely to be accurate.
They were given to various police forces to evaluate and quickly it was realised they did not match up to the beloved
Harleys of the day and were soon discarded with little use.

The police parts were taken off. Some just left to rot and others used as parade bikes. Some did hit the road as white bombers.

One of mine had less than 2000 miles on a genuine k0 speedo and another less than 3000 miles. The other had a later
5 gear speedo.

Your speedo has been replaced with the later 5 speed.

Fortunatly all my engines have been in really good condition with little work needed and one was running sweetly
when I got it.

 

[ajordan]

Engine update:
The right side piston was not seized, given it only took a couple of taps to see movement and when that happened, it was the cylinders rising up as the right side piston dropped and the left side came up.


I ended up leaving the left side to soak for a longer period of time, applied some heat and had it free in no time. I think I got off lightly with freeing this engine up. It really gave me very little trouble, didn't take up too much time or energy at all. It was not what I was expecting.

Some pictures...



Right Side


Left Side (Seized Side)

 

[ancientdad]

Massive rust rings in the left cylinder, amazing that it came apart as easily as it did based on how horrible it looked in pictures. Big hurdle crossed there