MrHonda dodges a scammer…

What started out with an SD Reader ad for my former Pink Panther CB77 Honda (now restored to Silver and Scarlet Red) culminated in an attempt to scam me out of at least $980. The SD Reader ad had my phone number, so when I got a text message from someone wanting to buy the bike, I was not too concerned. In fact, I texted him a photo of the “Hot Rod CB77” bike that is also for sale and he said he would buy it for $300 less than my asking price. It appeared that I was going to cash in on a double sale and put some cash in the bank, but in the end, it was just a scam.

Initially, the man messaged me that his “PA” had made a mistake and added an additional $1500 to the amount, which was supposed to go to the shipper. He asked me to give those funds to the shipper when they arrived to pick up the bike. I agreed, as long as funds were secured in the bank.

A couple of days later, a check arrived with the name of a construction company. To that point, this man had never introduced himself, so I had to ask his name. Finally, I did a search on the business name on the envelope and found just one name in Virginia where the envelope was sent from. The man said he was working in Georgia, which is why his phone number had an Atlanta area code.

I took the business check to the bank and asked if they could verify the funds. Apparently that is not easily done, so I was told that if it was deposited into the system, there would be some indicators as to whether the check would go through or not. The check was deposited and initially there was just a couple hundred dollar release from the $11,800 business check I received.

I became suspicious looking at the check, which had a different business name from a corporation in NY. The bank it was drawn on was in Illinois. So, I was looking at a guy who was currently in GA, but living in VA, with a bank account in IL and a master account in NY. It didn’t really sit right with me, but I was willing to let it play out until the check cleared.

After 2 days, there was a partial release of $5k. I asked the bank if this was a good sign or not, but was advised to let the check go all the way through to verify the funds.

The next day, I started getting text messages asking if I had various ways of transferring funds, like Venmo or PayPal. I only use PayPal but the current balance was zero. Then, he said that he had promised his shipping partner friend a $980 amount for some kind of services and could I send that “right away.” This was beginning to sound like a classic Nigerian 419 scam. Finally, I was asked if I could send a postal money order to his friend that day. I was on the road to my chiropractor appointment which is an 80-mile round trip. I turned off my phone and went to my appointment and headed back home again.

When I turned the phone back on, there was another message asking if I was going to make this payment to his friend. He had never offered the name of his friend or how to contact him with funds, but I sensed that the game was up after that message. I told him that I was waiting for the check to clear completely and then the messages went quiet.

The next morning, I was greeted by multiple messages from my bank saying that I was overdrawn in my account with a negative $2k balance. The “item had been returned” so the $11,800 amount was not valid, plus the hold on my account was reversing my balance from plus $4k to a minus $2k. I was advised to “fix the problem” ASAP or an overdraft charge of $36 was to be charged and it would certainly affect my credit score.

That morning, my friend Bill had driven down from Orange County to help me finish putting his SL100 project back together. I figured that I had plenty of time to finish the bike and then get to the bank to sort things out. Well, of course, the bike took 7 hours (including lunch) and the time was getting short to get to the bank.

In the interim I received another flurry of emails from the bank, stating that the overdraft charge was reversed and my account was back to $4k again. I don’t know if this was an automatic system re-balancing or if someone got directly involved at my branch. Anyway, everything was restored and no further action was required.

When I texted back to the man, telling him that it was a scam, as I was beginning to suspect, he denied it and said I was lying. I copied the bank statement section of my account and texted the line that said “$11.800 item returned.” Then I told him that I was filing a scam report to the BBB, which I did and sent him a copy from the BBB system recognizing the report. Then, I blocked his phone number.

I’m sharing this with you all, as there is a proliferation of scam attempts in the Facebook forums and with increasing spam messages to my email addresses. Do NOT send funds or accept fake checks, no matter how good they look unless they clear the bank completely. Do NOT advance any of your funds to the buyer before the check clears.

The internet is turning into a Wild West show where anything goes now, in the name of financial gain at the expense of the unsuspecting public. With huge data breaches revealing email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers and social security numbers, everyone needs to be on high alert for those people who want to make a buck or a thousand at your expense.

I am musing whether to add this man’s name to the story at the moment. If you want to know who it is, contact me directly.

Be careful out there, folks….

BTW: the bikes are still for sale...

Bill Silver

aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com

All coiled up, but unable to strike…

With the decreasing availability of OEM Honda (and other makes/models) ignition coils, the only alternative appears to be the Chinese-made copies of single—and dual-output ignition coils that flood the eBay market listings.

I recently had an exchange with one eBay seller about this listing:

High Voltage 12V Ignition Coil For Honda CS90 CL125S CL100S S90 SL90 XL100

I pointed out that none of these models use a 12v coil, but the replies were vague and unhelpful.

This listing: 

6 Volt 1 Ohm Ignition Coil Dual Spark Plug Output for Honda And Others 24-72454 shows the application chart including CB92, CA95, CA160, and CM400T! I doubt that it will last more than a few minutes, as a 1-ohm coil is designed for electronic ignitions.

Case in point:

Recently, my friend Steve P. was finishing up his wonderful restoration of a 1961 Honda CB92 and Hs purchased an aftermarket coil from an eBay seller. After re-checking the cam timing, ignition timing, carburetor jets and metering circuits, he was unable to get the bike to fire up at all. I made the usual suggestions about the basics, which he checked out thoroughly, but still no joy when he hit the starter button, even with some starter fluid sprayed into the intake.

I agreed to come by his place and check his work and the bike over, looking for any concrete reasons why his restored engine and bike were stubbornly inert. The compression tested out to about 100 psi, equally on both sides. We verified that the cam timing and valve lash settings were all correct. The point gap was .014” and they were opening at the F mark.

With the spark plugs still out after the compression test, we grounded the plugs for a spark check. Initially, there seemed to be a strong spark, but in repeated cranking the spark became erratic and finally pretty much quit altogether. One thing that can upset spark creation is a failed or disconnected condense. But when it has a problem, the points will arc heavily during cranking or engine operation attempts. This was not occurring in this instance.

Having checked and eliminated the main possible culprits and noting the diminishing spark output, I pulled the coil primary leads off for an ohms test. The ohms test for the supposed 6v dual-output coil read out at 4.5 ohms. That is a reading expected of most vintage Honda coils that are of the 12v variety, but not for 6v types. When we checked his removed OEM coil, it tested out at about 1.5-1.8 ohms, which is what you would expect from a 6v ignition coil.

                                                        A genuine CB92 ignition coil. 

So, what was happening is that the 12v coil, being fed a diminishing 6-volt supply, was dropping lower with each electric starter test cycle until the voltage dropped below the cut-off limit. The higher resistance of the aftermarket coil curtailed the spark output on a steady decline until it ceased.

It’s easy to see an initial spark at the spark plug on a quick check and assume that it should be enough to run the engine. In observing the decline in spark activity through prolonged engine cranking, you get a truer picture of what is happening. This is a vital clue to troubleshooting an ignition system issue.

In an earlier blog story, back a few years, I wrote about buying a CR93 street bike tribute bike, based on a CB160 chassis with a 5-speed CL175 engine installed. Ironically, I had owned the bike and sold it at a swap meet event in N. Cal. The tank and seat were actual CR93 components fitted to the CB160 chassis. I could see that a great deal of detail work and restoration work had been done to the bike, during its surprise, last minute entry at the Las Vegas Auction. I felt compelled to buy it back and did actually win the auction in the end. https://www.mrhonda.guru/2017/03/the-beast-within-beauty-cr93-replica.html for the story.

The bike had not run recently, so I went through a basic check to see how the basics were doing before trying to start it up. The carbs were cleaned and one float was found to be sinking. Once the carburetion was dialed-in and ignition timing checked, the bike fired up quickly on a fresh battery, but it wouldn’t run more than a few blocks before it began to misfire and finally quit altogether. Backtracking over my previous work and rechecking all the obvious causes, I finally realized that the spark to the plugs was becoming erratic, after just a few minutes of operation.

The CB160/175 series of bikes are all equipped with 12v charging and ignition systems. Finally, I noted that the ignition coil was an aftermarket copy and checked the primary resistance. It was about 1.8 ohms, which is something that you would see for a 6v ignition system or in some cases bikes equipped with electronic ignition systems. Most full electronic ignition systems use coils in the .3 to 1.5 ohm range. When these coils are substituted on a 12v system using points and condenser, the high current draw will burn out the primary coil windings pretty quickly.

Sure enough, when I replaced the coil with one of the 4 ohms range, the bike started immediately and continued to run for an extended period of time without any mis-firings or performance issues. Recently, a customer bike came in with perfomance problems and on a single-cylinder vintage Honda machine and when the coil was checked, it too, had a 4-ohm coil instead of something in that 1.5-1.8 ohm range.

In looking at some of the various eBay listings for aftermarket coils, few, if any, have ohm specifications listed. Because motorcycle coils come in just a few sizes and mounting dimensions, it seems that the sellers are pushing out products that are inappropriate for the desired applications. Typically, you will see the same photos of the same coils listed by various named eBay vendors who are either all working together or all getting the same products from a few manufacturers in China.

Asking questions about the specifications is often a fruitless endeavor, as they are not tech-savvy vendors. They seem to take your questions and then refer to the suppliers in China. I imagine that there are translation difficulities all around, which make finding out the details of a component difficult or impossible.

So, all I can say is BEWARE of aftermarket products, especially in the category of ignition coils. DO NOT buy from one who is unable to supply the correct ohms specifications for their products. Their cheap pricing is enticing, however you may well find yourself scratching your head for hours wondering why the bike won’t run even though you have changed the whole ignition system.

This one small detail makes all the difference in success or frustration when trouble-shooting the cause of engine performance failures. Once Steve replaces his coil with one of the correct primary winding impedance (or puts the original one back in place), the bike should fire up properly and he’ll be a happy man. I feel that this is an important issue that needs to be remembered in times of frustration and confusion after a bike build or repair.

Bill Silver

aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com