It's not a big motorcycle, just a groovy little motorbike...
It's no secret around here that I have a thing for pit bikes. One night last week, I spotted an ad on Craigslist for a 1981 Honda C70 Passport. It had just been posted about half an hour earlier. The ad stated that it wasn't running, but it appeared to be in really good condition. It was only a couple of miles from my house and the next morning, I was loading it into my truck and bringing it home.
The Passport was one of the many variations of the Honda Super Cub, which according to Wikipedia, is the most produced motor vehicle in history, at more than 60 million sold. It's the bike from the famous You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda ad.
That would be me.
Given its overall condition and low mileage, the fact that it wasn't running didn't concern me in the least. These engines are just slightly more complicated than a hammer.
The seller mentioned that he'd had the carb rebuilt, cleaned out the fuel tank and fuel filter but still couldn't get it started. He also mentioned that the electric starter wasn't working anymore and that he'd had a problem with headlight bulbs burning out. In most cases, when an air cooled Honda single stops running, it's a electrical problem. And most electrical problems are actually mechanical problems. I suspected that it was a bad ground or poor connection somewhere.
I removed the plug and found that I wasn't getting any spark. But when I removed the points cover, I could see that I had spark there as the points opened and closed. I swapped in a new plug but that didn't do the trick. The plug wire is permanently connected to the coil. I removed the assembly, cleaned the contacts, checked for continuity and measured the resistance. Once it was cleaned up, all was good.
The battery wasn't very old, but it was completely dead. My smart-charger will only work on a twelve volt battery, so I dug out my old stupid-charger and crammed the battery full of six brand new volts. Then I set about disconnecting every electrical connection and ground (there aren't that many), and cleaned everything up with wire brushes and emery cloth.
This thing only has one fuse, but it was supposed to be a 10 amp and I found a 15 in there. Also, it originally had a 15w/15w headlight, but the bulb in there was a 25w/25w. I swapped in proper replacements.
In the course of cleaning connectors and changing the headlight bulb, I found a wire that had separated from it's connector. It turns out that this goes to the kill switch.
With clean connections, the battery charged and some fresh fuel, it started on the second easy kick and purred like a kitten. I turned it off and tried the electric starter, which worked perfectly.
I still had a few details to take care of though. I don't think that the bike had ever been dumped, but it clearly had fallen over at some point. I suspect that the guy that I bought it from had been sitting on it with the kickstand down. It wasn't very steady and the stance was bugging me.
Here's the problem:
With half a bottle of Mapp Gas and a bigass wrench, I was able to bring it back to where it was supposed to be.
I cleaned it up, primed it and hit it with some semi-gloss black paint.
I also needed to address this little bit of redneck engineering:
The original part was NLA from Honda, so I ordered what I thought would be the correct piece from eBay. Unfortunately, it was a little loose and narrow. I had a small aluminum piece that I had turned down for another project and I was able to turn it into a sufficient replacement.
The seat tilts forward to access the fuel tank, but it was missing one of it's rubber bushings.
I found a pair of replacements on eBay for a few dollars.
The shift lever had gotten bent when the bike fell over, so I clamped it into the vice and introduced it to the Big Pipe of Persuasion.
So, in less than a week, it's running, registered and looking good. I change the oil (600cc) with some fresh Honda 10W-40 four stroke motorcycle oil to keep the piston and clutch happy. It has brand new Michelins on it, courtesy of the previous owner, so it's ready to ride.
