http://ramen4life.blogspot.com

http://ramen4life.blogspot.com

Taking a brake from the dream

. Plans to rebuild this winter....but until then please check out the new blog....

New fun

兄弟が一台増えた。。

The dream has one more sibling to play with

You will not regret clicking on this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrLvYrKYVD8

Thanks to 4Q and John

All systems go!

Insurance...check

Plates.........check

My 750 is going to get jealous.......

Insurance

I am working on insurance for my bike. Since it is a classic and will only be ridden short distances I am getting antique insurance through Hagerty in Michigan. It is cheaper than regular insurance and if someone decides to pickup my baby and walk off with it (easily done....the bike is sooo little..) I can get more than the 500 dollars a regular insurance company would give me. My current insurance company recommended them and they are easy to work with online. http://www.hagerty.com

Today I might polish the chrome on the windshield that originally came with the bike. I may even get a new one. We shall see.....

Vintage bike show thingy....

Determined but scared. I am glad I rode it. Thanks to Hutch and Tim for riding flank and Hutch for the action pix..... The furthest I have ridden the bike...about 20 miles.

Pix w/ solo seat

I took these today after I finished up some chrome cleaning. Not bad....

Already took the solo seat off. Doesn't fit quite right....

Tonight! Chrome!

There is a vintage motorcycle show. I want to ride my dream but it is not legal and I have not been farther than a mile from my house..... I will probably do it. Not sure yet.

She has been running really good lately. I keep the battery on a quick disconnect trickle charger when I don't ride it. I don't think it is getting recharged when I ride. That or something is draining it while it is sitting. Either way the trickle charger solves the problem for now. The electric start works after I clean it, which I have to kind of often..... and by some act of the motorcycle gods, my kick start has worked great for about a week......

Last night after riding her around a bit I decided to try to clean the chrome. I have never attempted this (I just like to get these old things running, I don't really care to make them shiny...) Anyway, I took some steal wool to the rims. I could not believe that well they cleaned up! They actually shine! I will try to get some pictures up today. I also rigged a solo seat on her but after riding for a little bit decided that is needs more adjustment than I want to worry about right now. I am putting the stock seat back on for now. Yeah!

Vroom! Vroom?

I got my new battery and cable set. I don't think I am going to mess with the cables just yet. I did prep the battery put it in. I realized that the battery does have enough juice....the old one and the new one. The starter is just really really dirty. I guess I just need to clean it out really well.. Add that to my list. The kick start also miraculously worked every kick today.......oh boy. I am going to take it apart this winter when I paint everything and go through the engine really good and replace seals and gaskets and buff it all up. I have been thinking of a paint scheme for the body, forks, bars, etc. I might get a lot of it powder coated if I can get it done cheap.

The main thing I am worrying about right now is what to do about insurance, etc. I want to ride it in July and August and tear it down later but paying all that money (around 200 total) for a few joy rides a week is not in my budget right now. Do you think a cop would believe me if I told him it was only 50cc? ....probably not.....uh.....I promise to get more pictures up!

Today and Tomorrow

Since the electric start works now, I decided to put off trying to fix the kick start. I had to adjust the carb a few times to get keep it from overflowing gas out the float but it was worth it. I was able to ride out tonight (forgot to take the 1983 plate off of it).

Now that it is running, the real fun begins. At first I thought I wanted to restore this bike back to its original glory but I think before I do that, I will have some fun with her. I am going to get new cables and a solo seat. Knobby tires? Cafe racer bars? New color scheme? I will try not to get carried away.

Japan+Dreams

  So I am a Japanese teacher here in Indianapolis and I just got back from Japan ( I took 10 of my kids).  I have never really noticed Honda dreams before (I have been there about 20 times) but on this trip I realized that they are everywhere!  I didn't take my camera with me because the kids did......what a mistake!  I saw everything from show room quality dreams to one that was still in regular use as a delivery bike for a noodle shop! (it was a 305)  I saw a lot of different things in all these and am thinking about running a solo seat and putting some lower profile bars on my dream after I get it running better.

  This week and next I will be trying to fix the kick starter ( I got the gaskets last week) and I am gong to try and loob up the solenoid so I can run this thing a little bit.  A big thanks to everyone who has helped me to this point.  Hopefully I can get a good picture or two up in the next few days also.

The kit

Arrived yesterday and was installed.  Fuel no longer leaks from the tank.  I also rebuilt the carb while I was at it and set the float correctly so gas doesn't leak from there either.  I am still having a lot of trouble with the electronics.  I charged the battery so everything works as it should except the starter....  When I try to use it, i just makes one knocking sound and the the neutral light goes out, then comes back on (whenever it feels like it).  I have no idea what to do.  Every 5 or 6 tries it will actually engage...   I am having the same problem with the kick start.  I will only catch and turn over the engine every 20-25 kicks....which is tiring and I just end up giving up on starting it.  

Any suggestions on these two problems?  They are all that keeps me from riding it around.

IT has been a while...

The following things have been done in the last few weeks--

1.  got that stupid bolt off and changed the oil..it was thick...

2.  since the bolts to hold the petcock to the tank needed retapped and I was waiting till I visited my parents to do it, I rigged an old oil quart (thanks alan) as a gas tank and drove it down the street!  yeah!

3.  Discovered (the Nick) that the headlight is in working order, the ground wire was just no grounded so well......yeah!

(3.5)  While I was as the parents house I also shined up the header pipes a little bit and painted the rusted out flakey chrome flat black.  I actually looks pretty okay with the black seat and rubber side panel on the gas tank....

4.  Got the tank ready but found out the petcock leaks (duh) (have a kit on order) and the float needs to be re-set (carb also leaks) but I was able to ride around block(even had a passenger) and the engine is strong.  When the kit comes in the mail I will do these things...

 A few problems I have discovered.....  So I was going to start it and run it around yesterday but the battery was dead...something is sipping juice even when the bike is off....have to figure that  out.  Also, the kick start had been really unreliable.  some times it catches but most of the time is doesn't...which is really annoying because it works better than the electric start.  I am not very familiar with kick starts and don't really know where to ..uh....start?  

  I haven't done much with the looks of the bike so I am going to wait to post pics till I can get a blurry one of me driving off into the distance........

Battery

works great.  I know now that I need to get a new headlight.....I will worry about that later as it seems those are hard to come by and tend to be very  very expensive.  I will probably just rig something up.  

  In totally unrelated to the baby dream news, I got my cb350F timed, synched, and valve adjustments done.  The thing runs great.  Thank you to cyclerecycle for the carb help and Mr. Nick Dombrosky for brining over the tools for the synch and being down to help me do all that stuff for the first time and explain it to me.  I just need to plate and insure it and I will have another daily driver.....is 4 motorcycles too many? 

The mail

came with a nice surprise today.  I got my new battery in the mail, good as gold.  I plan on getting this thing filled with acid tomorrow and then I can see just how much of the electronics really work on  this thing.   By the way, if you ever need any parts, go here --->   http://stores.rustyriders.net  ----> they will treat you good.

After the oil change and gas tank set up, if she runs decent I will put more money into the aesthetics......mirrors, paint, side covers, mufflers.............maybe a headlite?

A few days later

Nothing new to show really.  I cleaned out the carb and put it all back together the same day my carb kit came in the mail.  When I am going to learn not to buy stuff unless I absolutely need it?

Ordered a battery which arrived cracked......came from this little shop in Ohio.  Hopefully they have another one they can send.  I have checked at all the major battery joints and a 6N12-4A ain't the most popular battery they sell (they don't anymore).I even ordered on online and about 5 minutes after the order went through I got an email saying that the order had been voided b/c that battery is no longer made.....booooo.

  Other than the battery, the turd who worked on this before I got it was probably working on it with standard tools b/c the oil bolt is stripped....  I don't have much power in the right had these days due to a skateboard fall that dislocates 4 of 5, 2 weeks ago.  

  I have been trying to clean the tank out a little too.  Got two 1-foot stretches of chain and some acid and cleaned out the tank a little.  I need to do it again probably.  When doing this I discovered that only 2 of the 3 petcock screws were in use.  When I took the petcock off, one of them stripped and then broke off...I put penetrating oil in it a few times but even with vice grips it refuses to move... I think I might have to just drill it out and re-tap the tank...  I just want a new tank at this point......more annoying that carbs!

  One last thing.  the title..it from 1969.  When I took it in to transfer it, the nices ladies said I needed more information (even though there is no space to write it in on the original.....barf)  I need to get this signed over that it was a gift, etc..... I hate that place..remind me again why the government has to keep track of everything that is rolling down the road?....

 Lots of frustration but I just have to remember...the bike was free!  Back to the garage....

The journey begins

I have been waiting for the manual and carb kit for a few days now and just couldn't wait any longer.  As you can see from the main blog picture, this bike has few things missing or wrong with it.  It is a 65 CA95 Honda Dream.  For those of you that don't know (I didn't, now I do) this is the 150cc version.  Over the next few weeks (probably end up being months....) I am going to document my progress with this bike through text and pictures.  Here is my attempt at a first post.

This first picture is my baby naked.  I stripped her down, cleaned her off and took off a few parts for inspection and cleaning.  From far away she almost looks like she has no rust except for the mufflers.  I took off the carb and have it sitting in cleaner.  I will go through it thoroughly tomorrow.  It is supposed to rain so I probably won't be able to go out skating anyway.  I have cleaned a few carbs that have sat for 20+ years and I must say this one was pretty clean.  I couldn't get the float bowl off though, didn't want to break it and was hoping the carb cleaner will loosen it up.

When removing the carb and air filter assembly, I found something of a mouse nest.  This had me worried for a bit but upon inspection, the wire had not been chewed up at all.  It took me a while to get the large air filter out.  I did not realize I would pop off the panel underneath the left side panel.  I was also relieved to find out that these stock parts are still available for purchase from a variety of places including Asia (not Japan though, just knock-off parts).  

I don't have a pic to go with it but I also am in the process of cleaning out the gas tank.  I got some good ideas from my friend Hutch and the sohc4 forums.  This appears to be the biggest obstacle I will face to getting this bike running well.

This last picture was a seal from what I assume was something like the BMV in the 60's?  Anyway, I thought it was interesting so I took a picture.  I think that this took the place of the registration, maybe the plate too?  I wanted to take a picture before I remove it and get all the body ready for painting (long way away I am sure, gotta get it started first...)

By the next post I hope to have the carb rebuilt and back on, the filter cleaned (for now) and back on, and I will be working on changing the plugs, making sure the electrical works, and changing the oil....is there a filter on this thing?  I hope I get the manual tomorrow........