Compression??

Fuel, spark, and compression that's all that makes the bikes go. I have carb parts and coil parts on order from dratv.com so I'll get to checking the compression. Here's my harbor freight special.



The littlest adaptor is the one you need.


Several kicks, but no compression to be found. I have been a bit concerned about the intake valve give the way the tape on the intake seems go out at one point in the kick through.



So I check the gage on the running bike and it seems to be better. I figured out it's easier to check the gauge function with a rubber tipped blow gun. The gauge should match the regulator setting. duh.



So I figure I will get the left cover off to find TDC and adjust the valves to see if that's where the leak is. Remember that stripped screw head? Well I read that one of these was great for working on these little Honda's with seized bolts and soft phillips heads.


This my new favorite tool. It got the stripped head screw out no problem.

Here's what's under the left cover. The magneto, alternator, final drive type stuff.

Find TDC.

Intake valve tappet is way tight when it should wingle.

The square is the tappet adjuster and the hex is the locknut.

Adjust to 0.002 inch clearance on the valve.

Same song, different verse, a little bit louder, a little bit worse. Full teardown to follow.

Boys and their toys

I have be wanting a new old honda for my boy(s) and me for while now. The old mini-bikes are cooler than new stuff and can be titled and street-legal. I would really love to find to good mini-trail 50, but they are rare and a nice one is too valueable to let a kid tear up, I mean enjoy.

This is what I got. Proof-postive that a good photographer can make anything look great.


The boys approve, but there's a lot of little things it needs to be a runner.

A coat hanger is holding the front fender and horn on. Really are bolts that hard to find?

Yep, fork stop is broken from lots of crashing. I'll have a friend weld up a new heavier tab on the neck.

Dump the fender for now.


This is how you take apart a seized up quick release handlebar bolt; twist with a channel lock until it breaks. I should have held off on this one, but I was trying to figure out the throttle cable stuff. I'll be drilling out the left overs later.

This seat pan is too far gone to save. Bummer.

Mismatched hardware on the busted headlight bucket.

Get this out of the way, too.

The tank is in here somewhere and coil should be under that.

Two bolts and rubber grommet hold the cover on.

The tank.

Wow! Easily the most phallic motorcycle part I have ever seen.

This was under the tank inside the body. I don't think it came from the Honda factory.

This is a problem, too. I think it's just the shocks and not the mounts hopefully. I'm hoping to find shorter ones anyway.

Dump this nasty chain, it's only in the way.

This cover is cracked, but that shouldn't matter. That stripped screw head is a problem though. It has to come out to put the new sprocket on and/or replace the cover. This has EZ out and/or helicoil written all over it.

Ugly, but shouldn't affect anything right off.

Parts from the tear down.

Uglier than when I started, but you have to break a few eggs to make breakfast.

Knuckle Kicker

This cool knuckle kick pedal came with my shovelhead. I generally don't play up to the hard ass biker image, but this pedal is cool and came with my parts. It was attached to a offset stroker kick arm that always seemed be in the way. The end of the axle was pretty much worn out when I got it and it gave out and wouldn't hold anymore.

See the metal that was pushed off the end. I hammered it over to get a few more kicks, but it was done.

The bolt broke off in the stroker arm when I went to take it apart to fix it. Houston Chadd sent me this pedal and arm and I have been running it for almost a year. The shorter arm and has worked great and stayed out of the way, but I really want to get the knuckle pedal back on, and keep the smaller arm.


The rubber on the pedal was looking rough and ...

Mike Kennedy gave me this new pedal, so I figured I could use it while I got the axle from Chadd's pedal reworked to take the knuckle pedal.

Cut the rubber off the old pedal, it was bad already, right?

This is what's under the rubber.

It could work with some help.


Cut off the rest.

This is where things got wierd. The new pedal wouldn't fit the short arm, but the worn out axle from the knuckle pedal would. Go figure.

I sanded off the metal lip.

Like a glove...

Back in business. I tested it and everything works. I thought a kick pedal was kick pedal and everything would interchange, but obviously not. It was the long way around to an easy fix, but it worked out.