I found on Craigslist,a March 1970 Honda Trail CT70. I bought it for 40 bucks thinking that if it won't run,I'll part it out and at least get some money for another project.
Here it is. Dirty and sun burnt. The engine is encrusted with 45 years worth of NM dust and old oil. The engine guard is bent.The shocks are worn out. The left cover for the alternator is smashed and missing,seat shot,handle bars bent and re welded,all wiring is dry rot as are the tires. A real fixer-upper.
The good news is that is not a spot of rust on it anywhere,good old New Mexico weather.
The bike is Ruby Red,or was at one time.
And it turns out to be an early bike,March 1970
The bike really does not have a lot of miles on it for a 45 year old bike. The spedo cable is broken,but I think it was from being pushed around more than driven. ill explain later.
I started this project with power-washing the bike. 45 years of crud was blasted off. No rust was found.
The wiring is bad,dry rot and jury-rigged by "experts"
There are parts I need to ID like this lever with a notch evolved with the rear brake foot lever.
The battery box has only a small amount of corrosion. A hidden problem will show itself soon.
I found the tank to be very clean. The air filter has turned to mush. The carb was full of foam. I cleaned out the cab and put in fresh gas. I cleaned the spark plug and found the high voltage cable was broken. I repaired it and tested for a spark. There is one.
The engine runs very well,though the carb needs to be rebuilt. No oil is burned.
The engine started up after about 30 seconds of cranking and ran very well. No smoke and after it warmed up,it idled very well. Revving the engine was fast and typical Honda. The little 70 cc engine ran perfectly.
I drained the thinner oil I used to clean out the crank case and gear box. I added a thicker oil and let the engine run for 30 minutes.
I did some checks of the electrical system and found why the bike has sat for 35 years. The Selenium Rectifier was bad and was dumping 20 volts AC into the battery and brake lights,spedo.
At idle I'm getting almost 4 volts
At high RPM I'm getting up to 20 VAC at the battery.
Because of this failure of the rectifier,the ignition switch servers no real purpose. There is a broken off key in it anyway. It has been turned by a screw driver.
I plan on upgrading to 12 volts anyway,so the harness will be trashed as well as the bad rectifier.
This will be an interesting rebuild/restore.
Here it is. Dirty and sun burnt. The engine is encrusted with 45 years worth of NM dust and old oil. The engine guard is bent.The shocks are worn out. The left cover for the alternator is smashed and missing,seat shot,handle bars bent and re welded,all wiring is dry rot as are the tires. A real fixer-upper.
The good news is that is not a spot of rust on it anywhere,good old New Mexico weather.
The bike is Ruby Red,or was at one time.
And it turns out to be an early bike,March 1970
The bike really does not have a lot of miles on it for a 45 year old bike. The spedo cable is broken,but I think it was from being pushed around more than driven. ill explain later.
I started this project with power-washing the bike. 45 years of crud was blasted off. No rust was found.
The wiring is bad,dry rot and jury-rigged by "experts"
There are parts I need to ID like this lever with a notch evolved with the rear brake foot lever.
The battery box has only a small amount of corrosion. A hidden problem will show itself soon.
I found the tank to be very clean. The air filter has turned to mush. The carb was full of foam. I cleaned out the cab and put in fresh gas. I cleaned the spark plug and found the high voltage cable was broken. I repaired it and tested for a spark. There is one.
The engine runs very well,though the carb needs to be rebuilt. No oil is burned.
The engine started up after about 30 seconds of cranking and ran very well. No smoke and after it warmed up,it idled very well. Revving the engine was fast and typical Honda. The little 70 cc engine ran perfectly.
I drained the thinner oil I used to clean out the crank case and gear box. I added a thicker oil and let the engine run for 30 minutes.
I did some checks of the electrical system and found why the bike has sat for 35 years. The Selenium Rectifier was bad and was dumping 20 volts AC into the battery and brake lights,spedo.
At idle I'm getting almost 4 volts
At high RPM I'm getting up to 20 VAC at the battery.
Because of this failure of the rectifier,the ignition switch servers no real purpose. There is a broken off key in it anyway. It has been turned by a screw driver.
I plan on upgrading to 12 volts anyway,so the harness will be trashed as well as the bad rectifier.
This will be an interesting rebuild/restore.