’65 Honda Trail 90 Rebuild

45 years after it left the showroom, a 1965 Honda CT200 just might ride again. 
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January 18, 2010

Metal parts are out for surfacing, head and cylinder come off

A few pieces of good progress to report today: First, the frame, front forks, and other metal body parts are now offsite at a powdercoating facility getting sandblasted and then resurfaced. They should return shiny and like-new in a few weeks.

While the carburetor parts soaked today, I ran up to my Dad's metal fabrication and machining shop to work with him and a buddy on a plan for the wheels and main engine components. After really examining the wheel rims, we decided that there was enough rust that the process of stripping them would render them structurally unstable. Since i want this bike to be rideable after this project, I bit the bullet and decided to toss both the original and second set of eBay wheels and buy a new set. They rim and spoke sets come out of Thailand, and I'll order them shortly.

Since the cylinder head needs to be stripped, we went ahead and pulled the whole thing off. I brought the motor's lower unit and valve stems home. The lower is in great shape and doesn't need a complete tear-down, so I'll just store it until the head is resurfaced and then do an exterior cleaning after I put the head back on. This will keep foreign stuff out of the lower unit. We got some photos of the broken down motor, including the teeny tiny little piston.

(download)

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Filed under  //   cylinder   head   Honda   Honda90   piston   valves  

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January 17, 2010

Finishing up the carburetor rebuild with help from the Netherlands

I have one of the two on-hand carburetors completely stripped down. The gasoline that sat in it for so long had turned to thick varnish, clogging nearly every part. I have cleaned as much of that out as is possible by hand, and to attack the rest of it I'm soaking the internal pieces in a nasty solvent called Clean-R-Carb. We'll see what a good overnight bath in this stuff will do. Tomorrow I'll scrub them down with a wire brush and reassemble it.

I'm also using great website from a company called "Consolidated Motor Spares" over in the Netherlands. They help people find parts for old or obscure bikes. They have original microfiches for component systems on old bikes, like the '65 Honda 90's carburetor. These are really helpful in the re-assembly process and of course for ordering replacement parts.

         
Click here to download:
Finishing_up_the_carburetor_re.zip (1708 KB)

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January 17, 2010

The 90 in 83: better days

Mom found an old photo of the Honda 90 back in 1983. That's my dad and
brother when Scott was about 11. They're at an apple orchard in
Wenatchee, WA. It was already a little beat up by then.

Though day-job work has kept me away from must restoration lately, I'm
going to try and get the carbs worked on today.

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Filed under  //   1983   photo  

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October 9, 2009

Ongoing carburetor cleaning

I don't think there is any way to make this process go faster. I've got pretty potent solvents, but chemical deposits from 40 years of old gas just take elbow grease to strip away. There is progress, though.

         
Click here to download:
Ongoing_carburetor_cleaning_ta.zip (1770 KB)

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Filed under  //   1965   bike   carburetor   Honda 90   rebuild   restore   vintage  

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September 19, 2009

Twin carbs, both need work to yield one good one.

While body pieces are out for refinishing, I wanted to get started on the carburetor rebuild. I bought a second complete use one online in case I need any parts, which I certainly will. Unfortunately, both have similar problems. I disassembled the original carb and found exactly what I expected: a lot of gummy gunk in the float bowl. The good news is that the floats are intact and fill valve appear to work. The bad news is that the throttle insert is stuck tight -and I mean TIGHT- in both units.
 
I had hoped for this to be a one-day project, but it'll take several at my pace. First I've got to strip all of the gunk out of the float bowl and jet insert. I've got some great chemicals that are helping with that. In fact they're soaking over night. Once I get them stripped and can see what I'm dealing with, I'll attach the problem of the stuck jets. None of the industrial lubricants have worked thus far, so the next step is some brute force. I have to be careful not to break the housing, but then again I've got a spare if I need it!
 
In the photos, the top one is the one I bought online, the bottom is from the bike itself. The purchased one has a rusted source value so I will wind up rebuilding the original rather than the new one. Though the original is dirtier, it's actually in better mechanical shape.

       
Click here to download:
Twin_carbs_both_need_work_to_y.zip (1575 KB)

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Filed under  //   carb   carburetor   fuel   gas   Honda   Honda90   rebuilt   restore   throttle  

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September 2, 2009

New (old) exhaust and rear shocks

There is a steady stream of vintage parts arriving on our front doorstep. The FedEx truck is a regular sight at our house. Most of these are used parts that I've bought online at eBay or special-interest websites. The challenge is finding the nicest-condition parts and getting them for a decent price. There is very little new stock for 1965 bikes outside of maintenance items (gaskets, piston rings, and filters).

The two latest deliveries were for a complete exhaust system and a set of rear shock absorbers. When I took the exhaust off back in June, it had rusted through in many spots. I found a much nicer exhaust system that includes both the exhaust pipe itself plus the chrome heat shield that protects the riders' legs. The heat shields are in great shape. The pipe has some surface rust but should clean up by hand without too much trouble. Here are the old and new side-by-side:

The rear shocks were an even better find. The rust on the original shocks is quite deep and they may have been a total loss, though the plastic covers are in great shape. I found a pair of replacements that look darned close to new! I'll clean up the orange plastic covers from the old shocks and put them on the newer ones.

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Filed under  //   eBay   exhaust   honda90   parts   rear   rebuild   shocks   vintage  

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August 26, 2009

New (old) wheels and carb

The modern marvels of Ebay and FedEx brought a new set of used wheels to the garage today. While they have light surface rust, they are in significantly better shape than the original wheels. The front wheel in the lower right of the first picture is in extremely good condition.

 A complete carburetor was also part of the same purchase. It appears mostly functional, with the notable exception of a rusted-open primary fuel flow valve which can be replaced with the working one from the old carb. I'll order a new float and jet kit in a couple of weeks, which can be found as NOS, or "New Old Stock," which are vintage parts that have been manufactured new by aftermarket companies) online.

 Tonight I pulled a few external pieces off of the motor, including the kickstarter. Yes, this bike has no electric starter; you have to jump on a pedal to start it up. It was broken off at the top of the shaft anyway and has to be replaced.

 Next week, the painted body pieces, these wheels, and the motor will get sandblasted to strip the surface coatings (paint or rust!) away before they are recoated. I'm hoping to visit the shop and get some footage of that process. A good family friend is helping identify shops and get the work done on the cheap... thanks, Leon!

           
Click here to download:
New_old_wheels_and_carb_tags_H.zip (11451 KB)

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Filed under  //   Honda90   motorcycle   rebuilt   restore   tires   vintage   wheels  

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August 10, 2009

Rear shocks, swingarm, and wiring harness removed. The frame is bare!

The disassembly of the motorcycle is complete, and the frame is bare.
Tonight I removed the rear shock absorbers, the swingarm, and the
wiring harness. Aside from the engine, there aren't major constituent
pieces to disassemble and rebuild (except to clean them). While I
still don't spend nearly as much time as I'd like to on this project,
it's neat to have reached this milestone because it means the nature
of the work changes dramatically.

The first big change is that it's time to get the primary metal body
pieces refinished. Surprisingly, there are only 5: the frame, gas
tank, front forks, rear swingarm, and front fender (not pictured):

For this refinishing, I have to rely on the expertise of friends and
family for referrals to metal shops. This also means that my answer
of, "It doesn't cost anything to disassemble an old motorcycle," that
I have been using with my wife will no longer work. While those parts
are out getting refinished, I'll begin rebuilding the engine itself:

The last time I rebuilt an engine from the piston rings up was in the
8th grade. I have no ideal how long this will take me, but I have
fresh rings, gaskets, points, and seals. I'm just missing some of the
major parts for the carburetor which I hope to find online.

After all of this work, I've managed to take something that at least
looked like a motorcycle and turn it into this wheelbarrow full of old
parts and a few new items recently delivered to the house:

Here's the last set of disassembly documentation photos to assist in
the eventual reassembly.

                                     
Click here to download:
Rear_shocks_swingarm_and_wirin.zip (3692 KB)

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Filed under  //   frame   harness   Honda90   rear   rebuild   restore   shocks   suspension   swingarm   vintage   wiring  

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July 25, 2009

Centerstand, rear brake linkage, and rear tire removed

With the engine removed, the bike's frame is now inverted as if the motorcycle were on its back, wheels in the air. Today I took off the center-stand, decoupled the rear brake linkage, and removed the rear wheel with all of the sprockets and axle spacers. It's getting down to the bare bones.

One more session in the garage should allow me to remove the rear shocks (which are already half-done because they connected just above the rear axle), the swing-arm, and pull the wiring harness. Once that is done, the bike is officially disassembled and it'll be time to start the engine rebuild after a through cleanup of all the parts. Even now, there really isn't much motorcycle there...
                                 
Click here to download:
Centerstand_rear_brake_linkage.zip (5886 KB)

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Filed under  //   brake   centerstand   Honda 90   rear   rebuild   restore   tire  

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July 12, 2009

Bodywork is starting, and the engine is pulled!

Work - the kind that happens at an office on weekdays - and the big 4th of July weekend have gotten in the way of progress on the Honda 90 project lately. This weekend brought a rainy Sunday and a few hours in the garage to get caught up. Plus, an important part arrived in the mail last week: a replacement front fender. These have been hard to find in decent condition, and the one that came off the bike was pretty torn up. I picked one up online that has only a couple of crinkles in it. Dad volunteered to straighten those out, so I dropped the fenders off with him this afternoon. With that, bodywork on this project has officially begun:


I also hit a big milestone in getting the engine completely removed from the bike! It was messy work:


Now that the engine is out, the fun can really begin. I'm going to spend the next couple of nights getting the back end torn down. Once that is done, I will collect all of the coated body parts (frame, forks, front fender, rear swingarm) and get them out for "paint, powdercoat, and chrome." That's what they say on American Chopper, and I've always wanted an excuse to say that. I can't wait. Once the metalwork is moving forward, I'll tear the engine down. I already found and ordered a complete gasket set, so the carb in the only remaining challenge to deal with.

                               
Click here to download:
Bodywork_is_starting_and_the_e.zip (6175 KB)

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Filed under  //   bike   Honda90   motorcycle   rebuild   restoration   restore   trail   vintage  

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