The rebuild for me was the fun part.  In fact it was so fun that I took the time to do it twice.  More on that later but suffice it to say that when you begin your rebuild you need to really follow the service manual even when it seems something is so simple and obvious.  I'll try to point out a few things that you need to watch out for so they don't sneak up and bite you later. 

Some people use baggies with labels, some use huge paper cups.  I chose these styrofoam bowls.  I used a marker and wrote on the inside bottom of the bowl the nomenclature of the part and bolts.   Believe me after a few days of the engine being apart.. all the bolts you take out and put back in all start to look a bit alike.  Notice on the left picture above the white paper with all the bolts lined up...That is the case bolts.  They are different sizes so I layed them in order top to bottom on the case so they would be easier to reinstall in the right locations.  The bottom line here is organization.  Try to keep everything organized and clean. 

Its time to talk about tools.  There are a few tools you will need that probably aren't in your garage tool box.   In the picture on the left its already removed but the left arrow is pointing to the transmission mainshaft.  The clutch basket resides right there and it requires a 46 mm 12 point deep socket to remove the nut.   I shopped all over town and on the internet and couldn't turn one up .  I finally bought one from a Honda shop.  Your local Honda dealer probably has one in their service department and I know of one guy that put his engine in the back of his truck and took it to the shop and had them bust it loose for him.   The same picture, right arrow points to the output shaft.  Again you can't see it here because when I took this shot I hadn't pulled that little cover yet but under that cover you will discover that you need a 36 mm 12 point deep socket.  You can get by with a 12 point box end wrench but a socket would be ideal since there is a specified torque on that nut when you go back on.  If you can't get your hands on a 36 mm socket or box end wrench I happen to know that a 1 7/16 12 point box end wrench will do the job.      

The picture on the right shows the transmission mainshaft just how it will look when you separate the case halves.  Its kind of ironic that you do so much work to get to that point then suddenly there is the shaft - and how do you get it out of the case to work on it?   You just grab it and take it out of its cutout.  The arrow in that picture is pointing to the nut on the end of the mainshaft that you will need to remove to take the gears and shift collar off.  Note:  That nut is a left hand thread. 

When you are ready to go back together with it watch out for this.  The Honda service manual tells you to line up the lubrication holes in the shaft with the shifter.  I don't know for sure but I am pretty sure that is a misprint because there are no holes in the shifter but there are holes in the collar below the shifter (see picture) and a hole in the shaft.  Oil flows down the inside of that mainshaft and comes up through a little port in the splines of the shaft and through that hole in the shift collar and lubes the inside of the bearing surface of 5th gear.   Remember when I said I got to build my engine up twice?   Just make sure that you have those little holes lined up before you put your gears all back on. 

This picture is for reference only.  See the case surface around the edges...  It takes quite a bit of tedious time but you will need to scrape all that old gasket off of this surface and about 4 other case parts that you remove.  Its a painstaking job but you need to do a good job because... Its a Honda.  No leaks, right?  Also be very careful as those edges on the case are sharp as knives.  Ask me how I know.  (and know and know)

Rejoining the case halves:  Honda uses some very specialized tools to reunite the case halves but after talking to another 1500 owner / mechanic that did this same job, I used his idea and just used some hose clamps.  The pistons are if I remember 2.8 inches across. I had a clamp on each set of rings and a helper holding the case and lowering it on each piston one at a time while I lined up the pistons from below and the hose clamp would slide down as the piston slipped up in the bore.  At that point I would just loosen the clamp all the way and take it off.  The pistons seemed to want to slip up in the bores pretty easy.  I oiled up the pistons and the cylinder walls but it really didn't take much tension at all on the clamps to hold the rings compressed. The clamps slid down fairly easy. You kind of have to practice a couple times to learn some techniques like where you want the clamp screws and such. Also don't put any sealant on the case till you get the pistons all back in the cylinders. Before you even start this whole job make sure to take the time to clean the case mating surfaces of old sealant. Once the pistons were all happy back in their cylinders I used a small wooden block to keep the case halves apart while I wiped down the surfaces with lacquer thinner and applied the Hondabond 4 sealant.  There are a couple hard to reach places but I used little acid brushes and was able to get in there pretty easy.  Then pull the blocks, apply sealant to the remaining area and slam it home. Have all your case half bolts ready to go in right then and torque them appropriately using the crisscross pattern.

When putting the lower front case back on, the one with the oil filter and water pump, one would think that you just put it in place and put the bolts in and tighten it down.  Not so fast...  Read your manual.  It will tell you to make sure that you have the transmission in neutral and then line the little shift indicator pin on the front cover (not shown) up to slip in the little notch on the front of the engine where I placed an arrow.  That is where the neurtral light gets its position and more importantly the engine control unit gets its information to adjust the timing for different gears and speeds.     

Clutch:  The following applies if you did not take your clutch plates all apart but instead just took the clutch out as one assembly.   The clutch can be pretty fussy about going back on.  All the splines have to be in the exact right location.  So go ahead and slip your clutch basket on the splines but don't install that big 46mm nut just yet.  Try and put your clutch assembly on.  You may have to rotate the clutch assembly a few splines here and there till it lines all up and goes on.  If you cant get it to go all the way back in, slide your clutch assembly back off and pull your clutch basket off again and rotate it a spline or two and slide it back on then try putting your clutch on again.  Do this till your clutch slips all the way on.  At that point take a sharpie and mark a couple dots on your clutch assembly to clutch basket outer edge and then make another mark for your clutch basket to the mainshaft splines.  Then slide your clutch assembly off and install your washer and 46mm nut for the clutch basket and torque it to specs and bend your safety tabs in.  Now your clutch assembly should slide right back on using your alignment marks.   Sorry no pics. 

Starter installation:  After your engine is installed and you are involved in the hook up and you are getting anxious to hear that puppy run again, take your time and use the book.   When you go to install the starter it will slip about half way in and start binding.  Now its so close that one would think you could put a couple bolts in it and tighten them down and draw the starter in place but DON'T!  I didn't know that and I probably would have done that very thing except I saw on the message board that a couple guys had done that and broke their reverse gear.  You know what that means... engine back out.  What the manual says to do and what I did and it worked really well is to put the starter in as far as it will go.  Then with the transmission in neutral put the bike in reverse.  Then slowly work your back tire a little spinning it just a bit back and forth while pushing in on the starter and it will all of a sudden just slip right in.

This is a very labor intensive job and takes lots of time and patience and mechanical experience and this article was written with the intent of providing some insight to what the job entail's and hopefully avoid costly problems.  I would be happy to try and answer questions for you about this job via email if you like.  I hope you realize that I cannot be responsible for any problems malfunctions or damage that may occur to you or your equipment just because you read this article.  I offer this only as friendly advice.  Good luck.