Bonanza MX: phase one

T-Town Mini

T-Town Mini

Well-Known Member
#22
#22
owend said:
Looks better with the help of some elbow grease!
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It had 4 elbows worth dumped on it. Me and my son worked it over good. Thanks.

Those tubes were all done by hand sanding...stripping it down to metal then, sanding again after primer and, again with finer grit between coats and, again to make it ready for some color.
 
T-Town Mini

T-Town Mini

Well-Known Member
#25
#25


When my son was away with his mom I tested the color selection out on the swingarm just to see how it would look.

The original color scheme was a silver frame with an orange tank & fenders. The one fender (steel) we had was in orange so I picked that as the color to test on the bike.
 
S

Stevie-Ray

New Member
#28
#28
T-Town Mini said:
The H50 used a #35 chain & a 60 tooth rear sprocket and the Hodaka used a #41 chain with a 40 tooth sprocket on the rear. I believe that's the way to tell them apart. (please correct me if I got that wrong)

Our MX has the #41 sprockets so that tells me it was originally a Hodaka engine Bonanza 1510. Of course, I could be wrong...but, that's my best guess.
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My brother's MX was a Hodaka and had a 35 tooth sprocket. His was only the second one in Michigan.
 
T-Town Mini

T-Town Mini

Well-Known Member
#29
#29
Stevie-Ray said:
My brother's MX was a Hodaka and had a 35 tooth sprocket. His was only the second one in Michigan.
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If that's the case then there may not be any sure fire way of telling what they were originally equipped with.

Unless someone has some knowledge from the manufacture they could share. I don't remember seeing any serial number stampings on the frame.:shrug:
 
David wulf

David wulf

#31
#31
Stevie-Ray said:
My brother's MX was a Hodaka and had a 35 tooth sprocket. His was only the second one in Michigan.
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I think to have a 35 tooth sprocket then the brake size would have been smaller , maybe down to four inch or less . We just got the 40 tooth from OldMiniBikes and its almost on the drum . Of all hodaka powered bikes i have seen 40 seems to be the smallest .
 
T-Town Mini

T-Town Mini

Well-Known Member
#32
#32
David wulf said:
I think to have a 35 tooth sprocket then the brake size would have been smaller , maybe down to four inch or less . We just got the 40 tooth from OldMiniBikes and its almost on the drum . Of all hodaka powered bikes i have seen 40 seems to be the smallest .
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I'm not sure but I believe he meant to say that it was a #35 chain and sprocket setup used on a Hodaka engine Bonanza MX not a "35 tooth" rear sprocket.
 
T-Town Mini

T-Town Mini

Well-Known Member
#33
#33


The carb used on the Tecumseh was just a bit dirty. I took it apart and cleaned it up as best I could. After much research I got the correct part numbers and went to a local shop for a rebuild kit.

The guys as A-Bell were really interested in the project and were quite helpful discussing the carb rebuild.
 
T-Town Mini

T-Town Mini

Well-Known Member
#34
#34




I went through with the rebuild myself and then, when my son came for another visit...I had him disassemble it and reassemble it all over again. I tried to teach him how it worked by describing the function of a venture, etc. and I even went into the Bernoulli principle. I hope he absorbed some of what I said.

I think if a person knows how to adjust & rebuild a carburetor he can fix just about every problem a small engine will likely ever have with it.
 
Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#36
#36
Wow, that is a crappy intake for performance....

I always try to show the son-in-law this stuff, but he is more interested in video games...
 
T-Town Mini

T-Town Mini

Well-Known Member
#38
#38


The wheels took many, many hours of sanding by hand and using a dremel tool over the course of a few weeks time. The insides are still ruff as you can see. Both tubes would still hold air so no need to take the wheels apart. The tires are original too. I just treated them with some tire dressing and they cleaned up ok.

I would rather get new wheels and tires but that'll be in another phase of this MX's life.
 
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