1984 Honda 200X Rescue

[knappyfeet]

Since rain is forecasted for the latter part of this week I'm going to prep this fender so it can be my indoor project. All the oxidation will be scraped off and then finely scraped so it can be sanded indoors.

I dislike doing plastic fenders/items. The results are very rewarding but it's horribly time consuming ……. much more time consuming for me than smoothing out a badly orange peel paint job. Luckily only the front part of the fender needs the love. There are a couple little cracks here and there that will require some welding but overall the real chore for this is getting some shine back.

Even Maier plastics are pricey...... at least compared to about 5 years ago......but since the frame and motor will not be painted I would still shy away from putting nice shiny new plastics on it.

[350for350]

It's amazing what a little elbow grease will accomplish. That does it. You've convinced me to get back to my 1985 200X. I have an old truck that I have to get stripped out for parts this weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to get started on it again around the new year.

[knappyfeet]

That does it. You've convinced me to get back to my 1985 200X.

Right on!

The 85 200X and the first year Big Red are my favorite trikes......both of which I've owned and both were sold. I've never ridden/owned a Tri-Z or a Tecate or an R or a 2nd generation Big Red so I don't know. I've owned an 86 200x and an 85 & 86 350X ......but the 85 200X and 82 BR have my heart.

The shindy kit is in....and at $17 that brings the total to $721 invested in this rescue.

If things go right that should leave me enough $$ to convert it to an 85 200x clone!


I wouldn't mind owning a 90 or 110 in the future....just to putt around. I'm in no hurry to go anywhere.

[ATC King]

Thanks for posting that fender at 50/50 after scraping.

It's a whole lot of work, but worth it to save an OE fender. Not knocking Maier for what they do, but even after all the work you'll do on the stock fender, it still probably won't be any thinner than a new Maier. That's just the difference between the costly and complex injection molding the OEs use and the vacuum forming that Maier uses.

[knappyfeet]

Since it's going to be a rainy week I decided to clean the carburetor body/chasis........ so it can be leisurely reassembled indoors.

My recipe is fairly simple… a long dip in heated Berryman's (small electric space heater)..... a quick rinse then a brief soaking in the acid (pure not diluted).......another rinsing then a short bath in boiling/simmering distilled water......then compressed air. We've all cleaned and blew out carburetors with compressed air only to find that passages are still blocked with crud. Heat is the ultimate emulsifier and I've found over the years just a quick bath in hot simmering to boiling water will free up a lot of the crud that the acid and solvents don't. When I placed this carb in the boiling water you can see the crud oozing out of all the small orifices.

[patriot1]

Awesome tip for carb cleaning! Thank you!

[knappyfeet]

After about 10 kicks she fired right up.

A big rust cloud exploded out of the tail pipe..... It looked like one of those explosive dye kits going off.

It's an early Christmas gift as after it ran for a while all the initial oil burnt away ……. but the night is young and there's always tomorrow.

I had to keep the idle high or it would die. There's all these intake track related issues that needs to be addressed. These old Honda motors are very forgiving for neglect but they have a very quick temperament to intake track changes/issues...... and the smaller the displacement the more finicky they are

[350for350]

That's great news!

[ATC King]

A big rust cloud exploded out of the tail pipe..... It looked like one of those explosive dye kits going off.

That would've made a great GIF.

Congrats.

[Jim mac]

could you tell us what kind of acid you use? vinegar? jim

[knappyfeet]

could you tell us what kind of acid you use? vinegar? jim

Anything with hydrochloric acid or phosphoric acid. The Zep brand at home depot (rust calcium remover) is a good brand and what was used on my carburetor. It has hydrochloric acid but the dip should only be no more than a couple of minutes if that.....if using at full strength. Sometimes a little longer but usually a flash dip of 30 seconds to a minute clears and brighten things up.

Here's a video of the bike running a couple of days ago.

https://youtu.be/hxGB2SqjNuY


It's got intake leaks from a bad o-ring. That has already been ordered and the mating services will be cleaned with a new o-ring installed. That and installing the air box and taping up those drilled holes on its lid should allow it to idle and then allow me to fine tune it.

I started it today and there's no smoke coming out of the pipe and there's no oil dripping......no funny noises. This will be it's 3rd heat cycle. So far if things hold up this way I will not be going into the motor.

[knappyfeet]

I spoke too soon.

Looks like 5th times a charm......seeing some oil around entire head gasket area......also looks like one of the tappet covers has a small crack and it's slowly seeping oil out of that as well. After letting it sit for about 6 hours went to start and some smoke came out of the exhaust.....briefly then burned off. I'm guessing the top end needs to be sealed properly.

Still no funny noises from the motor so that's good.

[knappyfeet]

It looks like this exhaust may be unsalvageable. The front hole in the header is starting to grow and I can't foresee this metal so thin and rusted being repaired. It can be soaked in the rust remover/acid but I do not want to ruin a batch of remover only to find it can't be repaired anyways.

It looks like this exhaust was made for this 200 X but it doesn't at the same time. The welds on the muffler look like crap...... Like a beginner did it.....or like someone was trying to fit it. Plus it's starting to crack in some spots.

[knappyfeet]

This is the best this front fender is going to get.

Was sanded to 1500 then dry sanded at 2000 then buffed it out. The picture makes it look better than it is….like a personal photo on a dating site but it will work.

Really not looking forward to doing the rear fender but it'll be done.

[jasong_10]

That looks pretty good to me, nice work.