Fat Tony157's Sears Roper (Vintage Class)

Fat Tony157

Fat Tony157

Active Member
#1
#1
I had so much fun last year, I just had to do it again! This is what I believe to be my 1971 Sears roper mini bike. (Please correct me if I am wrong.)

I actually picked it up last night for the sole reason of restoring it for this years build-off. It appears to be mostly complete, but man is it crusty. Not a single component moves. The steering, wheels, engine, and drive system are completely locked up. The engine does not look original and appears to be an H30 from a go kart. I'm also missing the sissy bar, brake light, and the giant clutch cover. Other than that, it seems to be all there. If anyone has any parts, please let me know!

I have my work cut out for me this year for sure. I'm debating slapping on the late model HS50 in the picture. It really depends on how bad the H30 insides look once I tear it down.

 
Davis

Davis

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Sweet bike just give it the pb blaster treatment a few days it’ll break loose. Sure is nice to see the vintage coming outta the shadows of the site.
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#12
#12
chipper said:
IMO the HS50 would be the way to go !
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I'd probably do the same :thumbsup: If you want to keep the old style bolt on recoil just swap out the shrouds, that one on the H30 is for external coil so its a direct fit/swap (if its truly from a kart it will have the right throttle control as well so you can swap out the backing plate too). to give it an even more Year appropriate look you can make an HS50 tag that they used 1972 into 1974, just stamp your numbers in. Sears didn't use the HS50 on those bikes butut the H50 was in use on them, with the big square shroud the late model small frames have it at least has that "look" the medium frame H engines had......but 10 lbs lighter and you can actually get your right foot on the peg :laugh:

For an example, this is a 1994 H35 I had built and sold, I retrofitted a late 80's shroud/recoil, filled the numbers in that were on it as it was from an HS40 and then stamped the H35 numbers onto the early HS50 style tag I had made. The bonus was the first digit in the original H35 serial was a 4 so at first glance you got the 1974 impression from it :thumbsup:

 
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Fat Tony157

Fat Tony157

Active Member
#13
#13
markus said:
I'd probably do the same :thumbsup: If you want to keep the old style bolt on recoil just swap out the shrouds, that one on the H30 is for external coil so its a direct fit/swap (if its truly from a kart it will have the right throttle control as well so you can swap out the backing plate too). to give it an even more Year appropriate look you can make an HS50 tag that they used 1972 into 1974, just stamp your numbers in. Sears didn't use the HS50 on those bikes butut the H50 was in use on them, with the big square shroud the late model small frames have it at least has that "look" the medium frame H engines had......but 10 lbs lighter and you can actually get your right foot on the peg :laugh:

For an example, this is a 1994 H35 I had built and sold, I retrofitted a late 80's shroud/recoil, filled the numbers in that were on it as it was from an HS40 and then stamped the H35 numbers onto the early HS50 style tag I had made. The bonus was the first digit in the original H35 serial was a 4 so at first glance you got the 1974 impression from it :thumbsup:
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I really like that idea! I think that is the route I will go for sure. I was really worried about how crusty this H30 is, and I figured it would be a complete dog even if it ran properly. The HS50 I have came off of a snowblower, so it has the big ugly dipstick, but I should be able to turn a block off for that relatively easily. It's actually a really low hour engine. The guy I got it from from had bought it brand new for his snowblower, then the frame rotted out from under it the following season. He gave me all the receipts for it.
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#14
#14
Fat Tony157 said:
I really like that idea! I think that is the route I will go for sure. I was really worried about how crusty this H30 is, and I figured it would be a complete dog even if it ran properly. The HS50 I have came off of a snowblower, so it has the big ugly dipstick, but I should be able to turn a block off for that relatively easily. It's actually a really low hour engine. The guy I got it from from had bought it brand new for his snowblower, then the frame rotted out from under it the following season. He gave me all the receipts for it.
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Its possible, depending on the bottom end setup, that you could swap the side case covers as well in order to loose the big dipstick. It really depends on the journal size. In the later years they started to up size the smaller engines bottom ends to the same size as the HS40's and 50's. The journal size will be just about 1" in order for them to cross.
 
Fat Tony157

Fat Tony157

Active Member
#15
#15
markus said:
Its possible, depending on the bottom end setup, that you could swap the side case covers as well in order to loose the big dipstick. It really depends on the journal size. In the later years they started to up size the smaller engines bottom ends to the same size as the HS40's and 50's. The journal size will be just about 1" in order for them to cross.
Click to expand...
I will have to look into that. I may just find a shroud on ebay and try to keep the H30 together for now. Maybe save it for another, smaller project down the road.


Time for my first update. I spent a couple hours tonight starting the tear down. For how rusty it was, it came apart relatively easily. The only major issues I ran into is the gas tank studs all broke off on me, and the fork bolt is seized in the neck. I'll have to spend some time another night to get that apart.













 
Fat Tony157

Fat Tony157

Active Member
#16
#16
Just a small update today. After taking a close look at all of the chrome pieces, I decided that they are just way too far gone to be able to bring back any shine to them. I tried a few test spots and there is basically no plating left. Rechroming is way out of my budget, so I'll likely end up painting all of the chrome parts. I really don't want to do that but I don't have much of a choice at this point.

Some more bad news, I really had planned on refurbishing the original clutch components but they are even worse than the chrome parts. The drive clutch had about 2lbs of rust fall out when I opened it up and every moving part is locked up solid. I couldn't get it to come off the output shaft even with soaking it in pb and lots of heat. The driven clutch is also really rough. Looks like I am going to have to just order a torque converter kit, as well as a new jackshaft.


Last night, I was able to finally get the fork assembly removed from the frame, and the front suspension separated. This is the first minibike I have worked on that has sealed bearings in the neck. Should make for a pretty nice ride once I get that all rebuilt. The front suspension was locked up solid, I had to use my hydraulic ram to separate them. Lots of work left.







 
dragracertpp

dragracertpp

#17
#17
You don't need to rechrome, I'm sure what ever paint scheme you will do it will still look great [emoji106] love dealing with all that old rust though, really makes it fun [emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using OldMiniBikes
 
S

Sark

Member
#20
#20
Cool bike, like the big wheels and i always think the gas tanks are iconic! - really wish I could find one up here in Washington! Excited tonsee what you Come up with.
 
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