restoration honda – Lefthandedlayup

S90 Update 10 – Carb, Headlight & Piston

I managed to find a new piston from a tricycle driver in Tarlac I found on FB:

S90 Update 9 – The Seat

Ok so the seat I bought last July turned out to be pretty bad. Some people say I could still use it possibly by painting over it with clear or something but I don’t want to. It’s a goner afaic. And so I went ahead and looked for a pre used Honda metal TMX seat. Believe it or not despite the TMX being incredibly popular it’s still very hard to find a metal one as most seats now are plastic. I chose metal so I can bore and weld it. I managed to find one after weeks of searching for P500 from a cafe racer modder on facebook who had it lying around his garage.

Here they are:

S90 Update 8 – Transmission Issues

So, I’m screwed. Here’s a pic of the 2nd gear of the original engine:

and here’s a pic of the 2nd gear of the donor engine:

S90 Update 7 – Magneto Repair

I am fascinated with the magneto, and how it allows for a self contained engine that produces electricity to power the spark plugs which then powers the magneto and back again. No matter how much tech I learn I still find that idea absolutely amazing.

As you would imagine mine being 50 years old was worn out either by wear and tear or the elements so I had to get it fixed.

S90 Update 6 – Wheels and Tires

The bike came with 1.4′ rims (I think), and 2.50-18, 2.75-18 tires front and rear. They’re toast.

If a rim is that bad the tires can’t be any good either. They’re the ‘Sony’ local brand you can find only at Caloocan and in the provinces I think, preferred by tricycles for their super low price but relative ok durability for hauling stuff around.

S90 Update 5 – Bought parts, Received Blasted & Painted Parts

Ok where do I start.

I now have the frame, fenders, swingarm etc. back. I had to return the fenders though because the ‘aluminum’ color I chose turned out to be too white. I replaced it with ‘secret silver’ which should be the ‘silvery grey stock metal’ color I am going for.

S90 Update 5 – More Prepping

Yesterday I separated the shiny bits from the donor gas tank. It’s in great shape.

S90 Update 4 – Prepping for Sandblast

Lots of things have happened since my last post ten days ago. Five days ago I picked up the seat and brought it to a upholster who removed the foam and showed me this.

Clearly it’s a mess. I’ve decided I need to compare it to a TMX seat and see if I can use that instead. I just need that hook thing at the top and those two bolts to the rear that connects to the frame.

S90 Update 3 – Paint and Style Options

Since the last update I’ve sold the Black EX3 to Doc Erwin for 26k + an old S90 engine he bought recently. There’s a lot of feels about my selling that bike but I won’t get into that now, I might write about that when he picks it up this week. I picked up the donor engine and brought it my mechanic Feds. A few days ago he opened up the engine and sent me pics and here they are.

Notice the welding done where the bearing is supposed to be.

The welding part apparently came off but he said that the welding is at a spot where it’s supposed to keep the main bearing in place. So if you put a bearing there it will just fall off since nothing will stop it. This is bad but he’s not yet sure it might be able to get fixed.

Now here are the pics of the donor engine.

The Halted S90 Project And A Realignment Of My Restoration Policies

So here’s the latest on the S90. I have decided to shelve it after it has been confirmed that the parts I bought were mostly wrong or not any good – particularly the frame and tank. Otherwise everything else is usable.

But here’s the thing – even before I confirmed this I was already wavering on my continuing the project for two reasons. After my experiences with Leslie I had started to learn a lot more about what I like about restoring things in the first place, and it turns out that a.) I like the actual restoration process, including sourcing parts, studying service manuals, talking to like minded people and such and b.) I like to ride. I like riding per se, I like to take it places and I love the feeling of the open road – a constant phrase you will hear amongst many motorcycle owners.

On the other hand, I DO NOT WANT A GARAGE QUEEN. I do not want a machine that after I restore will just sit in my garage while I use something else most of the time. It seems a terrific waste to have something I worked on so hard to just sit idly and that’s exactly what’s going to happen if I continued the project.

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