1974 Honda Motorcycle Manuals And Parts#

It might only need the carb, tank and points cleaned. 1974 Honda motorcycle MR 50 Elsinore. Powered by a peppy 50cc overhead cam 4-stroke engine, it’s fun to ride. The metallic green paint and chrome fenders are gleaming, and the wheels present as new. The seat and tires are a great indicator of the overall condition of the bike. Here is a beautiful 1974 Honda Z50 Mini Trail in excellent mechanical and cosmetic condition.

(Photos by the author)Parts Book for the old Honda 305cc Twin. Kurt Winter’s shop in Chatsworth, California, is a compact space packed with a lifetime’s worth of motorcycle parts and memorabilia, primarily from older Hondas and British bikes. The bike is a non runner with lots of extra parts including two spare engine 1 Miles Air Cooling System.

1974 Honda Motorcycle Manuals And Parts

Other times, the bike has so many little problems that it’s simply overwhelming to figure out how to deal with all of them, get parts and break out the wrenches. Service manual.Even if you enjoy repairing and maintaining older motorcycles, certain jobs can be too involved or intimidating to tackle yourself. Same web site as above only a different page with more Honda manuals. Motorcycle and car manuals and parts books.

The previous owner had wisely fitted an O-ring chain and replaced the stock rear “shocks” (as in shockingly bad) with some Progressive Suspension units that worked great, but the combination caused the chain to rub on the chain guard. The clutch rattled at idle when engaged (lever out, transmission in neutral) and the front brake was more like a speed adjuster than a stopper. It ran satisfactorily at low speeds, but wouldn’t pull 5th gear or even a steep hill. 3 carb had a leaky float valve, creating some highly volatile incontinence when the bike sat for more than a few days. Besides the usual balky carburetion from sitting, the CB’s petcock was not shutting off completely and the No. 1973-1974, 1978-1985 Honda ATC70 first.

No vintage ride this year.The alternative was opening my wallet, but finding a shop that would work on a bike more than 10-15 years old—and do the job right—is often more difficult than fixing the motorcycle. Simple complexity.Not having owned a CB750 before, but knowing that older motorcycles—even Japanese ones—often have mechanical peculiarities that can catch out an amateur mechanic like yours truly, I figured that if I started researching how to do everything properly that day in March, got the parts and set to work on the weekends, I’d have a nicely running bike by, er, Christmas. The author’s CB750 vitals awaiting inspection and replacement. Finally, the dry-sump engine was overdue for an oil and filter change and the bike needed a valve adjustment and tune-up (points, plugs, timing, etc.).

Although Kurt will service just about any classic bike, he specializes in older Triumphs and Hondas, CB750s particular. It’s now located in Chatsworth behind a motorcycle dealership—one-stop shopping. Kurt’s been wrenching on motorcycles since well before he opened Valley Cycles (valleycycles.net) in Van Nuys, California, in 1978.

Dodged that bullet! He replaced the petcock with New Old Stock (NOS), moved the shock over with a spacer, rebuilt and synched the carbs, cleaned and bled the front disc brake, replaced the pads and so on. I had considered removing the valve cover to adjust the valves, but Kurt warned that the engine has to be removed from the frame to get the cover completely off—meaning once I had loosened it and realized my mistake, I would have had to pull the engine to fit a new cover gasket. It was on display in the Petersen Museum for several years.Kurt got my CB750 squared away in short order, fixing the stuff that needed it but quite bluntly telling me that things like the rattling clutch and weeping head gasket are normal for this bike and that I should ignore them (unless I wanted to spend a lot more). Winter rides his personal 1970 Honda CB750 Four regularly. Without a lift, I might add. Far from being a stuffed shirt in an overly tidy service center, however, Kurt is a meat-and-potatoes kind of mechanic with a no-nonsense shop, in which every inch of wall and floor space is hung or stacked with parts, posters and tools, except the center where he does the work.

Still does, in fact, and I had a grand time on that 250-mile vintage ride the following week, relishing the sweet song from those four mufflers.