cleanup project: Italjet M5B

markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
Picked up this bike somewhat locally for a really good price. Was figuring on using it for parts for the MM5b Bambino I'm also building. But it turns out this bike is pretty clean so I'm in the process of taking it apart/cleaning/fixing etc..

Nothing major, just a solid cleanup really. It is missing the fenders which on this model are plastic, still keeping an eye out for a set and of course the throttle assy is not correct. But other than that its pretty original.

as found condition:




How it should look and general information:



This bike does not share the same frame with the mini mini's It is very similar to the MT5A though which was a mini trails bike that Italjet made and Indian also re-badged as their own here in the states (How I wish I would not have sold my Project one last year as I would have used this bike for parts for it:doah:)



So far I did a partial dissasembly, detailed the motor and scrubbed on the wheels. The wheels came out pretty impressive with the exception of one bad area on the rear wheel. As far as display goes though, I can cheat and and face that buggered area at the top and it will never be seen:thumbsup:.
They still need polished up and a little more cleaning on the hubs, the tires have no dryrot, and have excellent tread with very minamal wear, and are correct.



box O parts off it:


Nice OG paint tank :thumbsup:


motor came out nice, the magneto assy was loose inside when I got the bike. when I cleaned the motor up I fixed the problem. I did get it to sputter on the bench so hopefully I got it fixed. I do have a spare motor but I have to share that with my MM5B.

Motor off this bike is center, parts motor far right, left is the earlier model off my MM5B which is kind of an oddball as its forward kick but uses the metal mag cover:







I have a little freetime this weekend, I'm gonna try and stay focused and get working on it some more. Its in my way so I'd like to get it back together so I can give myself some more room:doah:
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Wow, I actually got some stuff done this afternoon!

A little scrubbing and digging out the dirt/oil mixture that heavily coated the bike along with a good waxing it shined up pretty nice! there is plenty of nicks in the paint but it looks better than I thought it would



Tank looks pretty sweet too!

 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#4
#4
Little closer, I actually had to stop working on it as I was fighting with a throttle assy I had to customize and my attempts to save a buggerd cable failed, twice. So tools were getting thrown and things were being yelled. Figured I better pack it in as the bike is light and easily throw-able :doah:

some stuff I got done:

Before the weather went south this afternoon I was able to sandblast and repaint the exhaust, I polished the collar/nut as well. I buffed out the plastic side panels and got most of the bike put back together:



I also decided to go with a footpeg assy I had off an italjet that was of the same vintage as this one that I parted out last year. I sandblasted, painted and detailed it this morning as well. Couple of reasons I decided to use it was, I was missing one rubber footpeg on the original, and they cost around 25 buck I believe. I am trying to spend as little money on this as possible. I also want to maybe use the rubber peg set on my mini mini (after all I did buy this bike with intentions of it being a parts bike:wink:). the MX style is just a hair wider, the plus to that is its got a little more meat to grab If I try to ride this thing, the other pegs are tiny.




Heres where things went downhill. One problem with these and mini mini's are the throttle assy's I believe were only used for these bikes. There aren't any left, I have seen one used one come up for sale in 2 years. It sold for alot of money. I have one for the mini mini, Last few bikes I bought they were replaced with another throttle assy. well they end up looking huge on these bikes. I dug out a standard NOS waffle grip throttle grip set that found at a swapmeet for $1. I cut the grips down about an inch as well as the throttle twist. It fits the bars alot better.



that all went smoothly, things went bad with the cable as stated above, you can see in that pic I have an NOS cable threaded through already and just need to complete sizing and hooking it all up to the throttle. This of course does not make me happy because the cable is another $20 I did not want to spend on it and it taps into my parts for the other bike.

So overall its coming along pretty good, I may have to replace the fuel inlet on the carb, the one on the bike when I bought it was cracked, I am going to try a spare loose one I have but its pretty dry and I think its going to seep. I have a spare carb of newer vintage that I may have to rob the part off of.




comparison in size to a Hardtail Z50:


So thats about it for now, got the chain to finish cleaning and then oil/install, mount the chainguard, and then give it a shakedown!

Current cost is:
$75 for the bike
$3.50 repro decal
$4 high temp paint
$1.50 screws for the sidepanels
$1.00 throttle assy/grips
$20 throttle cable (dammit!)
$5.00 shop supplies
_____________
$110 If I need a piston I'm looking at least another $50 and maybe $30 in various tidbits. Still gives me some wiggle room to purchase fenders if I ever actually come across a set.
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
Got it running! It runs decent, It will idle all day long, little boggy in the takeoff and a touch weak from a startup, but I'm also 225lbs and 6'1" so I'm a little big for this bike too:doah: The kick return spring was stretched, I had an NOS one stashed so I installed it, and took the opportunity to polish up the kick start while it was off, looks good:thumbsup: Hit the oil fill bolt too while I was at it-gives it a little bling:




Of course got the chain installed and the chainguard, with the weight of me stressing the rear shocks the chainguard rub's a little (now I know why the edges were beat up on the chainguard). although the number plate blocks it its kinda cool cause it still has the info decal and a service center decal from NY that I'm guessing probably sold the bike originally:



Its top speed is faster than I expected, in fact I came REAL close to a disastrous wipeout on my test run, little thing scared me enough to putter it home and park it right away for the day. Still think a new piston would do wonders for the low end, and it really needs a set of fresh points as they are flat out wore out.

Most likely will try sellling this one, I tried to put a craigslist add up for a local sale for christmas but I somehow managed to screw up the add and its not showing up:doah: Maybe thats a sign for me to hang onto it for a little while, maybe santa will bring me some fenders!!!!!
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#10
#10
jpr95 said:
:drool::censure::freakout:

Markus, you wanna ship? I want this!!!!!

JJ
Click to expand...
Yea, I'd ship it to you. Heres a link to my craigs add for it that I finally got posted: Italjet M5B 50cc minibike clean and rare!

PM me if you interested, I would say it would be pushing about 85lbs when packed and possibly a pretty large box since I would only want to ship this very well protected due to its original condition. Oh yea, I found an NOS kickstart rubber yesterday in my parts stash so I installed that last night:thumbsup:
 
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