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.
45 years after it left the showroom, a 1965 Honda CT200 just might ride again.
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restore
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.
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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!
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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.
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.
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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...
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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.
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Front end is disassembled
Tonight I hit an interesting milestone: the front end of the bike is completely disassembled. I removed it from the frame last week and tonight I got the wheel and tire removed from the front axle, front shocks pulled from the forks, and the brake housings torn down. I should have pressure washed the bike before I started this, but I was worried about damaging it more. So the progress has been filthy.
I think I can save the wheel hubs; they're actually in pretty good shape. I have had no luck finding any replacement wheels, but a these ones are definitely shot. I was really hoping to avoid lacing my own wheels for a few reasons: First, I've never done it before and wheels are a critical component on any vehicle. Second, the outfit that sells the kits is a Taiwanese operation that ships rim and spoke kits as "AWESOME! EXCELLENT!" I just don't know if I want anyone riding around on wheels assembled from those kids. We'll see.
With tonight's progress, I have two more body parts ready to go out for sandblasting, powder-coating, and paint: the front forks and the fender (once I buy a replacement fender, since this one is beyond repair):
Another new part arrived in the mail today: a set of ignition points to replace the rusted-out points in the bike:
Here are tonight's documentation shots:
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Removing the in and the out
Tonight's goal was to get the air filter housing completely removed from the frame, and the exhaust pipe pulled in preparation for removing the engine. These constitute where the engine pulls in and blasts out air. The air filter housing was easy work: just a single bolt into the frame onto which mount a gasket, filter housing, filter itself, and a cover plate. I thought I'd be going to bed early.
The exhaust wasn't quite as simple. In order to get access to the nuts that hold the exhaust pipe onto the cylinder head (this engine is too simple to require a manifold), I had to pull the skid plate. Most of the bolts that hold the skid plate are missing. The bots that remain are on the underside of the motor, so I spent the remainder of the evening slithering around on my filthy garage floor while the dog stood over me, literally drooling on me. I really need a motorcycle lift in the garage, but that'd cost more than I hope to spend on the entire project.
With the skid plate removed, the exhaust pipe came off easily. It's a total loss, with rust completely through the metal. If you look at the last photo in this set, you can see the powdered exhaust pipe that was filling the interior now spilled onto the garage floor. Hopefully I can find a good condition replacement as a complete unit.
Remember, these photos aren't meant to be beautiful. They're a historical document so that I can put the bike back together once parts have been refinished or replaced.
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Taillight assembly disassembled and removed
The taillight and license plate assembly came off tonight after a few days away. The amount of biomass on and in this motorcycle is pretty incredible. I'm displacing a lot of spiders.
All of the back-end lighting comes into one bracket which holds the brake light and license plate. I took it apart piece by piece and then removed the underlying bracket. I reassembled everything for safe-keeping, and will replace components as needed. This also marked the first solder that I had to break, which I was futilely hoping to avoid. So a soldering gun will be a birthday or Christmas present this year, hopefully. Tomorrow I hope to get to the exhaust removal for some really visible disassembly progress. Slow going (mostly after the kids are asleep), but fun.
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Left handlebar disassembly
The handlebars are next up for removal. This involves the electrical system a bit earlier than I had hoped, but it's pretty straightforward since it only involves disconnecting stuff. I did the left side yesterday, which controls the headlight/high-beam and horn, plus a brake cable.
It looks like the brake lever and housing can probably be cleaned up and re-used. The handlebar itself is deeply pitted with rust. I found a NOS handlebar online for $44, which will be cheaper (by far) than trying to re-chrome the rusted handlebar. Grips should be easy to find. The mirror is gone but I've already found a replacement.
Tonight I'll try to do the right side of the bar, which includes the front brake and twist throttle.
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