My young (12 yrs) friend Caleb came over this morning. Our goal was to reassemble the 1965 Honda C110 (50cc) engine. It had been previously disassembled, diagnosed, and new parts ordered. What we had to do was go through the boxes, find what we needed, and install them in the proper order.
The good news is that I knew the engine inside out. The not so good news is that I never had kids and so am a bit lost when it comes to dealing with them. The really good news is that Caleb is smart and eager to learn. The not so really good news is that a 12 year old has virtually no patience. As every good mechanic knows, patience is the most important tool in their toolbox.
Trying to keep it light I explained the difference between a mechanic and a parts replacer in 25 words or less. The difference being that a mechanic knows why they are replacing the part.
I asked him how a 4-stroke engine worked. His reply was that the gas came in and was squished when the piston came up. Then Kablooey the gas exploded and smashed the piston down. Not quite the way I would have put it but from the perspective of kid that had watched Transformers on television I figured this was going to be close enough.
The clutch hub was a bit off center so we had to jury rig a way to re-center it. Working together we got it right. However, when we tried to attach it to the crankshaft we found that the special nut that held held it all together was the wrong size. Welcome to the wonderful world of vintage motorcycles. No problem we'll switch to putting the piston and valves together while we wait for the correct nut to be ordered.
Of course that brought a new set of problems. The cylinder has to be honed and the valves have to be lapped. No lapping compound was on hand so we jumped into the truck to go get some. First we stopped at the Honda dealer just to check out the new models and chat with the parts guy. No valve lapping compound there.
On to O'Reilly's but no luck there either. Fortunately Mickey D's had Eggs McMuffins at the drive-thru so we went to the NAPA store restored and refreshed. At NAPA we found what we needed and headed home.
We adopted a plan where I would explain what we were going to do and why we were doing it. Then I would show him how by doing about half the work. After that it was his turn with a little guidance. We honed the cylinder, lapped the valves, and installed the valve springs in this manner. I tried to give him as much hands-on experience as possible. It's the only way I know of to actually learn and retain anything.
Little by little it came together until we ran out of time. Caleb was expected home for lunch and I had errands to run. However, we made a lot of progress. Caleb learned about engines and mechanics, and I learned about young boys.
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