I've got two of those things; a 77 and a 78. They've been sitting up since last summer. Last weekend I charged both batteries, put some gas in them and the 77 started on the first kick; the 78 required six kicks. I had to adjust the points on them and they were good to go. Now I just need to find someone who wants them more than I do. I just don't have the time or inclination to keep them up. They really are tough bikes.
The scoot restoration has been on the back burner for a while, long enough that it is starting to get covered by other stuff, but a new motivation is forming - The wife, who is the amazon of her family at just over 5 feet tall, has started making noises about wanting to learn to ride. I even caught her looking at my latest issue of Motorcyclest the other day. Perhaps an excuse to dip into the house account for motorcycle parts...
That's gonna be a sweet ride.Are you keeping everything as close to original as far as suspension and color?I see you are consider 12v update.Do it.You'll never look back.Also,isn't there an upgrade for the ignition that eliminates the points and condenser.
Yep, want to keep it mostly original. I haven't been able to find anything to eliminate the points, but I do have a bad XR500 motor with the ignition parts that I have been eyeing... And yes, I know a Lifan motor would do all that but sometimes it's all about the messing with stuff to see if you can make it work.
Been too long since I've had a chance to work on this... Did some kitchen work, then ripped out carpet and put down new floors and then the oven blew up. :dog Did manage to get the swing arm off. So far I'm not finding anything worse than surface rust, I was starting to worry about holes when I saw the caked on mud of youth. Minor surprise - I didn't know this bike did not have swing arm berrings, it has rubber bushings a-la moden car A-arm. Good ol' Honda, way ahead of the times! 2 tars an' a swingarm! Started soaking some of the more stubborn screws. That mud is about 20 years old and almost half an inch think in some places.
Lifan makes decent motors, but my understanding is that you have to modify the frame to make them fit. Then you would not only no longer have the original vintage frame, but could never go back to the original engine. Even if I were going to ride it rather than make a showpiece out of it, leaving it original would be important to me. There is something special about an original vehicle that old, that has not been modified. It just seems wrong to put a Chinese motor in a 1966 Honda.
It would be easy to go back to the original engine after the Lifan. There is very minimal modification to the frame (especially on the CT200) which would be almost undetectable. With a modern Lifan engine the bike becomes much more reliable and much more useful to most people because of the added power.
There's a mount kit for the lifian into the CT bikes.Ask on the Clone group. http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/honda_clone/conversations/topics
I bought this 1966 S90 to restore a few years back. I had to sell it when we moved to a smaller place. I was able to get a bonded title for it but completed little else before selling.
It would be cool if you could save the original paint. A good cleaning and some wax does wonders and saves the patina that took years to get. IMO
Good news - finally got some time to work on this again. Bad news - said time is due to getting laid off yesterday. Oh well, hated that damn job anyway. Got the chrome around the rear shock mounts off and took apart the front suspension. I think I've seen bigger shocks on some of the RC cars at the local hobby shop! crusty old wires will most likely get replaced Should clean up very small shocks! Almost bare frame. Just have to get the front end off. My next nemesis I'm not planning on saving the paint, I'd like to make it look as new as possible with unseen mods to make it more daily rideable. That's always been the plan.
Sweet! I just bought a 1965 ct200 Saturday, and I'm planning the same thing. I grew up on a 1969 ct90, but this 65 was too sweet to pass up. I'll be following your progress! Thanks in advance.
Some steel wool and elbow grease and voila! Shiny chrome. IMG_9333 by Renaissance Redneck Media, on Flickr
I'm enjoying seeing what you've done so are. Can't wait to see the finished product. I'm planning on starting on my newly acquired ct200/ct90 next month. The CT90 is in pretty bad shape so I'll probably do the same thing you're doing with a near total tear-down.
My first bike was a 1966 Trail 90, a CT200 with the add on rear sprocket and extra length of chain like yours. I think you have a CT200. Your engine looks like the later overhead cam version but I am not sure.
I'll have to figure out how to upload photos in greater resolution, but I have a CT200 with the larger sprocket/added chain as well as a CT90. The CT200 has the pushrod style engine, while the CT90 has the overhead cam seen on most of the CTs 69 and later (I think). As soon as all the damn snow melts I'm going to dive into this project.
First, thanks for all the kind words of encouragement! Mine is a 90. The mongo rear sprocket went away in later years when they put on the dual range. I also wanted to apologize for the delay. Every now and then entropy rears its ugly head in the shop and I have to stop everything and clean and re-organize so I can get to all my projects and that happened a few days ago. I'm about half way through the shop (it's amazing how long it can take to organize a few hundred square feet) and should be back on track soon. That is if the Honda Trials 125 doesn't distract me first...
More cleaning! Handlebars post cleaning 50 plus years worth of dead bug parts shook out of the bars along with the wiring. Dried up 50+ year old grease. Mmmmmmm, the smell of Japan. In case you were wondering how the throttle worked inside the bar. Cool little gadget, this part slides in and out inside the bar itself worked by a spiral groove on the inside of the throttle grip. Broader view of the whole works