Mistakes, damn mistakes!

So, where I have I gone wrong so far. What can I tell you budding restoration guys out there? Well, it seems almost everyone in the USA polishes their triple tree and hubs to a mirror like finish. Wrong!!!!!!!!!!! Of course I followed their lead, having only seen polished parts. I bought a polishing machine and went to work. I was so proud! They looked like they had been chromed. I was the MAN! Not............. It was only after a bit more searching that I found out the finish was brushed, then coated. Oooops. To be honest when polishing the hubs etc I did have problems getting the tight bits to look as good as the bigger flatter parts, so I searched again on http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/ and found GS polishing in fairly nearby Kent http://www.gspolishing.co.uk/ . I have been lucky so far, another great job at a very reasonable price. Cheers Gavin.

The frame, forks, muffler guard and headlamp

Next on the list was to find someone to blast the frame and repaint it back to it's original colours and design. This would have been an easier job if Honda had used solid colours, but no such luck. Silver and Candy Sapphire Blue. The silver goes on first, then the blue is sprayed over it to give it the candy finish. Not the easiest to get right. The frame itself was in great condition considering the age and type of riding people used to do on these bikes. Normally you will find bent or broken steering stops, and at least 1 crack on the frame somewhere, but I had none of that. There was some minor damage caused by a chain coming off a few times, but otherwise it required only a bit of work to get it ready for paint. Same for the tank, headlamp bowl and muffler guard. Even though not a visually not a great site, I have found http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/ a really useful resource for anything bike. I eventually found a fairly local guy, Tony, in Cranleigh, Surrey. He trades under the name Cyclesprays http://www.cyclesprays.com/ , and I took a trip down to see him and discuss the project. I liked what I saw, was happy with his estimate of £350, and left him too it. I think I got a call around a month later and went to pick it up. Another brilliant job, I was pleasantly surprised! I couldn't have asked for more, especially as the final cost came in below estimate at £320. Cheers Tony.
I have stripped the forks completely and replaced all the bushes and springs and re-greased everything. I woke one morning to find the original headlamp lens cracked, so was a bit put out by that. It took me about 3 weeks to find a NOS one, and I bought a NOS chrome surround too.

NOS - New Old Stock?

NOS - short for New Old Stock, or so I thought. It took me a little while to figure out this little 'scam'. When restoring a bike to its original condition it is always best to use as many original parts as possible. If the part is missing or damaged beyong reasonable repair then either a second-hand one or a NOS one should be used to keep things authentic. Believe it or not Honda still make the majority of spares for these bikes, but the new parts aren't always exactly the same as the parts made back in 1969. Often they have been improved, but that is missing the point. We are trying to restore the bike to original. So NOS parts command an often significant premium to plain New stock. One case in point is NOS brake cables. Honda still produce these today, but only supply them in black, whereas the original bike had them in grey. They are almost impossible to find as NOS, and a rear brake cable with brake light sensor cost me £75, a huge premium over the new item in black. Similarly it took me 3 months of looking to source a NOS Rear light and number plate holder, something that is no longer produced, and almost always damaged when kids used to wheelie these little bikes over the top. I couldn't believe it when I found it, however a fierce bidding war meant I had to pay £198.19 for it! However the restorer has to be careful when buying NOS on eBay. Several times I have questioned the seller about the use of the term NOS, and it seems now it is also an acronym for New Original Stock, ie just new parts from Honda. Not the same thing at all! So I reference every part offered for sale as NOS with the original parts numbers, as new stock is always 1 or so digits different. Aslo genuine NOS sellers always photograph their products next to or still in the original wrapping with the original Honda packing code visible.

The engine - what happened next

When I start a project, I tend to go all out. The internet has changed everything. What it did allow was for me to find undoubtedly the best engine rebuild/restore guy out there. The same name kept coming back to me time after time. Enzo Assainte of http://www.motoenzo.com/

Small problem...... I live in London, UK and Enzo lives in New Jersey, USA. But easily solved. I have an office in the Metlife Building in good ole New York, New York. I duly called up DHL and they couriered it over to Enzo. I was due in New York six weeks later, so checked with Virgin if it was ok to bring it back as hold luggage. No probs they said, as long as it was empty of fuel and oil. My baggage allowance is 30kg and the engine packed up was around 30kg. Sweet. So here I am in New York on a Sunday morning in my hotel. I have never driven in New York before, so have ordered a Satnav to go with my rental car. However that was to be the least of my problems. Looking out the window I saw 2 ft of snow. This didn't prove to be much of a problem, and it only took me an hour to find Enzo. His garage is his workshop, and from inside looked just like any other pro garage with air tools etc. My engine was in a donor frame so Enzo could show me it working. He hand started it first time. I was impressed. It also looked like it had just come out the factory. In the background were several other engines Enzo was working on. Cheers Enzo.

Dismantling the bike

I arrived back some 2 hours later and immediately took it round the local roads for a burn up. Even though a runner, it was slightly rough, though all the gears worked ok. No problems so far.
So I assembled all the tools necessary, including copious amounts of WD40 and set about pulling it apart in its entirety. It didn't take too long, about 2 hours or so, and would have been quicker had I not taken photos of each stage of dismantling it. I knew if I didn't do that I would regret it later.

A brief history in 'Z50A' time

As I said the bike was bought late Octber 2007 from eBay UK. I chose this one because, even though tatty, it was both a runner and original. It had a certificate proving that duty had been paid as it had been imported from the USA. Honda made thousands of these little bikes, and they were popular with American RV'ers who liked to take them on camping trips to allow them to move around the local area. My model is a K1 which is the second year it was in procduction. The K0 preceded this model, and the changes were minor, but significant. The K1 added a battery and lights which made it road legal for the first time. Both the K0 and K1 models are known as hardtails ie no rear suspension. The later K3 model introduced rear suspension to the model and the bike is still in production today, some 40 odd years on. There is neither a speedometer or mileometer fitted so I have no idea how much use this particular bike has had, but considering it is 39 years old, I suspect light use only round the fields of wherever it lived in the States. I placed a maximum bid of £1000 on eBay and subsequently bought it for this price. A trip to the South coast followed and it fitted nicely in the back of my ML320.

In the beginning

Hi. This blog is the brief history of my 1969 Honda Z50A-K1 and my restoration of it. This is my first project for many years and you will see it warts and all. You will see where I have gone wrong and where I have learn't the hard way so that I don't make the same mistakes next time. I have hired professionals where necessary and plan to do more and more work myself as I learn from either reading about it or from forums etc. I doubt I will recover the cost of this project but that is not the point. It has given me great pleasure doing it and taken me away from the TV. I have a second bike ready to restore when this one is finished. I should have started the blog when I started this project but I didn't, so it is not chronologically correct. However to give you an idea of timescale I bought it in October of 2007. I will credit those as necessary. The bike is also known as a Monkey Bike.