I got 'new' toys

[Dave]

congrats heather! Arent old hondas great?

[Scot]

Awesome. With me, firing up an old bike that has been sitting for a long time is almost spiritual. I start thinking about what was going on the last time it cycled air through it's carbs. Several years ago my father in law and I acquired a Matchless G80. 53ish i think. The last time that thing was on the road was when the Beetles were in full swing.

[HurricaneHeather]

Originally Posted by Dave

congrats heather! Arent old hondas great?

Thanks! Yeah, this thing has had some serious jimmy rig things done to it that we keep finding. Considering my father in law was the last one to have it running and he was 22 when he parked it, it's simply miraculous that this thing wasn't toast.

[Tmall]

Misleading thread title..

[HurricaneHeather]

Originally Posted by Scot

Awesome. With me, firing up an old bike that has been sitting for a long time is almost spiritual. I start thinking about what was going on the last time it cycled air through it's carbs. Several years ago my father in law and I acquired a Matchless G80. 53ish i think. The last time that thing was on the road was when the Beetles were in full swing.

Absolutely. This one was parked when my husband was born in 1982. I was thinking about how different my in-laws lives were at 21 and 22 than mine and my husband's at that age. They were having a baby, just got married and parked a 5 year old bike and never thought about it again until that babies wife asked for it 27 years later.

[Adeptus_Minor]

Originally Posted by Tmall

Misleading thread title..

Heather's stock toys are quite sufficient.


Nice to see the old guy firing, Heather.
I can't wait to see it back in riding form.

[Cutty72]

I should work on dad's old Kawi when I get home
a '79 90cc 2 stroke. Dad said it would do 55 on the flat if you gave it enough time!

[HurricaneHeather]

Originally Posted by Cutty72

I should work on dad's old Kawi when I get home
a '79 90cc 2 stroke. Dad said it would do 55 on the flat if you gave it enough time!

If you don't have a deadline, or really have to have it, it can be fun and frustrating.

[racedoll]

Great job Heather. I can't wait to see more pictures of it.

[HurricaneHeather]

Here's what we've done so far:

-Rebuilt the carbs
-Replaced the spark plugs(not the coils, they were fine)
-Changed the oil and filter
-Replaced the old air box with 4 pod filters
-New battery
-Replaced the ignition since we never found the key for the old one
-Rewired the starter switch
-Cleaned the points. They looked great
-Repacked the bearings on the rear wheel, drum and shoes looked okay
-Replaced the bent center stand
-We've shot black satin Rustoleum on the replacement center stand, kick stand and battery box. We are still working on scrubbing the swing arm off so we can paint it and we plan to rattle can the back of the frame just because.
-We bought a new tank because ours had a squishy spot on it. We'll need to acid wash it or something and repaint it.
-Sawed off the bolt on the clamp deal that was holding the muffler in place(the one pictured in my avatar) because it was rounded off. Will need to replace the muffler, the headers were fine.
-We are trying to clean out the master cylinder because there was gel like crap in there. I call it master cylinder vomit because that's what it looked like. It's taking a lot of soaking.
-Reorganized the wires up front behind the headlight because someone had gotten them all goofy and twisted.
-A lot of straightening things out since it was obviously dropped. My husband does all of this because it's very precise, time-consuming work and my dad and I just don't have the patience.


Still left to do:

-Drill out and replace the bleeder screw on the front brake and possibly rebuild the caliber piston
-Finish cleaning out the master cylinder
-New Chain
-New tires
-polish the chrome on the wheels and fenders
-paint the frame
-paint the swingarm
-acid wash(or something) the tank and repaint

The few not sures:

-Kickstarter
-Transmission as a whole
-Electrics
-Clutch...we haven't done anything with it except shoot some WD-40 down the cable the get it moving again. Whether it works, we have no clue.
-The throttle return spring sticks a little...doesn't go all the way back without coaxing. Not sure how to correct that.

I'm sure there are more in each category, but this is all I can think of right now.