to many of us older dudes, these bikes are the gateway to a life-long obsession. mine began on a Trail 70 & Suzuki TS 75, and many of my pals had a Honda Trail at home. we’d meet up, trade rides & enjoy the new freedom of being miles away from home & authority. maybe this’s one reason why Joe’s channel is so successful…he revives our coveted machines.
Oh man i had a brand new white one for Christmas & i was soooooo happy. I asked all year & my parents kept saying Absolutely Not they are dangerous suicide machines, so Xmas morning i had absolutely no clue & when i came out into the lounge room there it was sitting & i was so happy i was crying.. Great memories & it seamed so big & powerful to me at that age…& i loved it & looked after it so well always washed it & serviced it & that was the start of bigger & better bikes. Oh dude keep it just for it’s rarity. & mine had a nice little chrome pack rack on the back, Awesome little bike it was to learn on it wasn’t to scary ..
As we get older, we chase our childhood memories n dreams. Mine was a yz80. Ssme thing w my parents..best days of my life !😃👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍also - it kept me outta trouble , away from drugs ,etc...
Remember you have to get the part that you're soldering hot enough to soak the solder up instead of melting the solder onto the cold part. You can tell when it's hot enough because the solder disappears from the puddle form
Came to look for this exact comment lol one of the first things I learned when I was first teaching myself before my access to the now ridiculous amount of TH-cam tutorials lol
That's what I was thinking Heat up The largest piece of metal And then melt the solder into that only way to get a good weld otherwise it's just a cold one That will break under vibration. Also use a flux Especially on dirty metal
I bought a 1977 Honda 70 for $500 all it needed was a carburetor put back on and new bolts. Fired right up 2nd kick, has under 2000 miles and currently it sits in my house looking beautiful and catching all my friends attention.
The ignition timing on these small engines is set using the F mark on the fly wheel not the T. When the F mark lines up with the mark on the case the points should just be starting to open. Ignition timing is set with the points gap. 0.3mm - 0.4mm. There is no reason to remove the cover to view the cam sprocket to do this. The mark on the sprocket is for timing the cam not the ignition. These small Hondas will run even if the points are worn and timing out so the fact it has spark and started doesn't mean the ignition timing is correct. It's more a testament to Honda engineering . The stator plate has several seals. The o ring on the back plate, a seal on the crank and there should be small o rings on the fixing screws. Worth checking all of them. Didn't see any on the screws.
@@linkinpiatak6669 yep, my mistake. He'd been talking about spark so my next thought was set the ignition timing not check the valves. Didn't see the ignition timing set.
Wow... the first motorbike I ever rode was one of these beauties. It was a 79 I believe, essentially the same thing. I spent all day on it riding through fields and some easy trails. One of the best memories I have from my childhood.
Enjoy your videos. One tip though, your soldering technique is leaving "cold solder joints " . In the video your iron looks to be chasing and smearing the solder around. You have to get what you're soldering up to temperature. When the wires or terminal are up to temperature, the solder will flow to it and adhere. Simply melting solder over and onto what you want to solder will not get proper adhesion.
@jimmyteevee. He won't listen to you. I've seen at least 50 people mention that in the comment section, he completely ignores it. It's the same thing as when people tell him to stop opening the throttle when he's trying to start a bike on choke, he simply will not listen! People advise him to get a work stand, he prefers to work on the floor like a 10-year-old child.
Another fun and nostalgic video, for us older guys. One comment: as someone else pointed out, heat the metal you are soldering to first til solder melts onto it, then your wires. Get you some Kester 186 liquid flux to coat wires and terminals, and that will help insure a very tight bond. It's all about the flow. 🙂
Couple tips for you. It's not gonna be able to draw enough air through the venturi in the carb without a slide so it's not gonna wanna start. Also you will find that heating the wires you are soldering to the point where the solder melts on the wires themselves will not only do a nicer looking job but will result in a stronger and better connection. Edit: Ah I see you figured out you had to plug the slide. I love z50s thanks for doing a video on one.
I had a blue Honda 50 a few years older than that one you have. And when I was a grade school kid I have some great memerys of riding and things that happed around that time. I used to ride in in a small town that was no longer a town just some left over houses with a couple of dozen people around. It had lots of old black top roads with no body on them and my Mema and Pepaw lived there. There was an old high school and a general store. Sure was fun to ride around the town. My grandpa I called Pepaw and old Indain guy called my mini bike "Your Wheel" LOL
Man you need to get some soldering flux paste it makes soldering 10x easier. And it makes your soldering look perfect. The solder just melts into the wire perfectly there is no fumbling around with a puddle of solder trying to get it to stick in the right place. Once you use it you'll never go back
I think that most solder has a rosin core which is flux in the solder. Separate flux paste is normally for soldering copper pipes in plumbing. But if Joe is trying to solder with no flux of any kind then it will definitely not flow or stick properly and create poor solder joints. The bottom line is that you NEED some kind of flux when soldering. PS - "flux" means "flow" in Greek or something. 🙂👍
I know he said weld it. But you can sometimes drill a hole and put a roll pin in. So you can still get that case off on that side. I’m not telling you how to do your job just a suggestion. Thanks for sharing brother. See you on the next.
So many memories. Back in around 1978 my dad and I were worm-hunting and came across an abandoned, wrecked Z50 under some brush. He threw it in the back of the car and, at home, threw tools my way and said if I could get it running I could keep it. I did everything you did there -- multiple times -- except welding the kickstarter. I had never-ending trouble with the cam chain jumping time and my dad didn't help me with new parts lol. Such a fun little bike to learn on. These days, nearly 45 years later, my dad is long gone and I ride a Tuono 1100 Factory, continuing a hobby that started in fits and spurts and clouds of blue smoke on that tiny little clapped out Honda.
Your videos are superb. I love watching them. But one thing I do notice which has room for improvement is your soldering skills. Particularly when it comes to soldering enamelled copper wire like in this video!. I won't give you a lecture here on how to solder properly as there are many videos on TH-cam which explain this very well. But one thing I find important when trying to solder old or dirty wires etc is to first 'tin' the individual wires or solder lugs etc first!. Then when you have 'wetted' them successfully you can concentrate on holding the 'pretinned' wires whilst you solder them together. Also, it helps to scrape some of the enamel from enamelled copper wire (of course only where necessary) before attempting to solder it as this allows better heat transfer to the copper wire itself and helps to burn off the remaining bits of enamel where you want to 'tin'. Lastly, don't be afraid to apply a bit more heat and solder to to clean old wires etc the extra heat and flux cleans the surface. The residual solder should just fall away. Keep up the good work. And thanks for your great videos.
those stator coil wires have insulation/varnish on them that has to be sanded off before solder will stick to them. once you get rid of the insulation and use some flux, it should solder easily.
Tip...a good jug shouldn't look shiny like glass. I got away with simply cleaning the original rings and de-glassing the walls. New gaskets and good to go. Rings ride on a micro film of oil that resides within the grooves left behind by the hone. Without those horizontal micro grooves...metal to metal contact and low sealing capabilities. I do see your rings are shot. But I would rehone that jug before installing new rings. But that's just me...with my 600 hour Honda 90.
Welding kickstarters or gear shifters is not an option unless youre working on a complete piece of junk.. in this case you could remove the kickstarter, you can pry open the clamped part to open it up so you can slide it off.. some wont slide off unless you completely remove the bolt.. once its off you can take a cutoff wheel or hacksaw and cut where the relief is so youre not bottoming out when you tighten the bolt... a few minutes work and shouldnt cost you anything
Enjoy your videos! Soldering comment: You'll find that heating the metal with your tip such that the solder melts will provide a stronger bond. Stay safe!
Loved this video. Had a blue Honda 50cc Monkey in the 70’s. Three speed, no clutch. First minibike I had with a kick starter, seemed like a big deal at the time when others were mostly Rupp pull starts and non-running Tecumseh’s! But when the Rupps actually started and ran they rode circles around the little slow Honda. Always wished I had the Trail 70👍
Great content. Note cylinder may look good ie smooth but needs a visible cross hatch to retain oil and not burn it. Not sure where you will go from here but I would go up 0.25mm on bore/piston, possibly more pending measurements
That's awesome, my son and I took out the 81 ct70 today , cool machine the 50 is to , I still need to put a big bore kit on my 400ex , it's a 03 and looks new but we blew it up, lol. Buddy you have some serious skills , still not sure what big bore kit to buy
I don’t know the first thing about welding, but have to assume Joe took the gas tank off to avoid it exploding when he welded the kick starter. But didn’t even think about removing it until I saw him start to weld and it was gone. Although there is a good distance between where he welded and the gas tank, I think if you did not work with motorcycles as much as Joe does, it would be easy to forget to take it off.
Check the middle rear of the stator plate, seal in there too. I also think sometimes the screws holding it in have o rings, I think they did on my atc70. I have a kickstart shaft from a 69 z50 if you wanted one for this project.
On that stator plate oil leak it could be the big o ring but make sure you check the o rings under the 2 bolts that hold on the plate. In my experience the lower bolt will leak. I always use a little rtv on them
im in michigan..im not sure where u are but i wud deff drop em off for you to get runnin again...the Trail 70 and RV 90 still have orig tires on them....they have air and the rubber never rotted...unbeleivable..they are both clean original everything
I had bought an mint 1981 z50 for 150$ 6-7 years ago from my local fleamarket got it running for an little an minute wouldn’t start again ending up selling it an month later for $1200 and 12ga mossberg with 100 rounds
Add me to list of people that had one of these as their first ride. Mine is a 73. My grandfather bought it for my aunt. It became mine when she outgrew it. Then my cousins and it's now my cousins sons until it gets passed down again. I still get to take it for a mini rip any time I visit.
Greetings from Texas. Love the channel. I am always working on mini bikes, motorcycles, four wheelers, you name it. Learned a lit watching your channel. Only thing I can say is - Dude! You welded the kickstart?? Get a cutting disk and widen the cutout so you can tighten it down more and possibly cut new splines on the shaft manually. Not really a bit deal, but a red flag in my book. Keep working. I love to see you get the really tough ones going.
I didn't see you do it in the video so I hope you scraped off some of the lacquer of that wire on the coil before you soldered the wire eye end. It looked like it still had lacquer on it and that might be the reason why the solder wasn't flowing well
Reminds me of the old days bud. Thanks for bringing it back with the video. We used to do the same back in the day with all the makes and models but no phone camera or video in the early nineties. Lol. Bout ta get me a Honda 250 dirt bike ta mess around with. Thanks again
Just curious if your ever going to get a motorcycle lift table to work with? You do so many bikes and quads I'm wondering why your not using a table to work on the bikes it's alot easier to work on at waist height than on the floor. But always enjoy seeing you bring the machines back to life!
Yes bud! Just went back to the well (where we all stared) got myself a trail 70 few days ago...lol 82, thought it was missing all sorts of stuff cuz I always had the 70s modles but turns out the 82s didn't even have all the "stuff"
My Honda mini Trail 50 was I believe 1972! I had begged to get a minibike for years because some kid down the road had a old style pool start minibike. So my parents did one better for me and got me that Honda and I wrote it until it wouldn’t ride anymore, I wore that motorcycle out.
When you’re soldering, try heating the items being soldered. Dripping solder onto cold parts makes for poor adhesion. When the parts are hot enough they suck the solder in. I use flux also
I remember I had one of them and 86 that's my first bike I traded it for a Moto 4 to my cousin cuz I didn't like dirt bikes at that time I was a kid great video keep up the great work Joe!!
Loose cam chains on those is normal for some reason.try tensioner but don't over do it. Good luck, once again. Great vid. Love them little mo key bikes, have one for my grandson put away. Doubt ge will ride it he loves atvs.
I have a 77. They don't need the Kickstarter. Just put them in gear, sit on the seat and push forward. They compression start very easily if everything else is working like mine always has. Just a squirt of starting fluid sometimes..
that same bike was my first bike i had ===and i rode it everywhere think back then my dad bought it used for $25.00 i see them go for 2000 now crazy great video again
Oil pump gear is wore out, I just replaced the chain, oil pump gear, roller on my sons bike, go with Honda parts the aftermarket is cheap quality. Unfortunately you have to split the cases as you can't lock the gear in place.
Yeah had to watch I had a 1980 z 50 ..first bike..flogged it to death ..loved it ..YZ 125 X my second bike ..American YZ .A frame with gas I think front shocks ..looked liked big cylinders on top of the front shocks..beast .....like honestly...I rebuilt the top end ..honed new pistons and rings ..small end bearings..it was . A Beast ..and my 2 stroke life began ...lol...
Like your videos. Was wondering where you get your parts from for the older bikes. Random websites or you got a go to site so to say for parts that are hard to find?
This bike would be perfect for my son, i wish i had it Joe..my sons birthday is around the corner and it would make his day and i would be father of the year if i could give it to him..
this might need next size up piston and rings. honda usually give you extra 3 sizes for every cylinder regrind. And you still legal 50cc at at last regrind. I wonder how do you determine?? would be cool if you show process. Had similar situation but here in thailand is super cheap for new cylinder with matching piston n rings so i went with that. cheers
All those issues are because the owner just doesn't know what he is doing when working on it. I appreciate that everyone has to learn some way and the best way is to just get stuck in but that is also why it wouldn't run.
2 vintage I tried to message you the other day and got the prize message I have two questions about two of my bikes if you can help nobody else could help me on the one question but I trust your opinion and knowledge bro. My name is Jon I'm from Delaware if you could help me I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks keep making videos bro you are an amazing mechanic
Some pit bike style engines that top sprocket you took off under the stator plate is the tensioner and can tension from oil pressure so might be why it felt abit loose or tension from a spring from where you unscrewed that bolt to try tension it
Don't ever weld a kickstart welding will ruin the temper of the shaft it becomes brittle and will snap off. Ask me how I know someone did that to my bike.
Also had one, i put a 190cc daytona under it, man thatvthing was fun, people laughing at it. I could hold up with a 350cc im serious, drag raced some european hatchbacks and won it was crazy
My dad bought me a brand new Honda CT 70 back in the day, the engine was similar to the z50. I also owned a Suzuki TM 400 which was easier to work on than the CT 70 lol Did you end up taking the front tire off or just let some air out ? The head seemed like it almost had enough clearance to come off.
I’ve been struggling with mine, I’ve been using an impact on the flywheel to avoid having to kick for testing but idk if I’m just not giving enough rpm to make spark or what. I’m getting power and timing to the spark plug tip when testing with a multimeter (black lead onto the red wire coming from stator, red lead makin contact on spark plug) but it won’t actually make any spark. Do I need to up the rpm or is something else happening? I’m reading upwards of 7-8v at the spark plug
Cool video. I love these little 50s. Not trying to bash on you but when you saw it or something do you want to hit the metal first and let it melt the Sauter, the Sauter will GLAM2 or follow the heat. When you’re just hitting the solder and putting it on cold metal it will glom around it but eventually it will corrode underneath there and not make a great connection. You might check out a couple videos on soldering or NASA standards which is a little crazy but it’s a good way to learn to Sauter but basically you want to hit the metal up and let it melt the Sauter and as soon as it melts the Sauter pull your heat source away that Sauter will suck itself onto that metal really well. When you don’t do that you get was called cold solder joint and they fail much sooner. When you make a good solder joint you can tell got it all you want and you’ll rip the wire before the soldered section. It might be worth practicing a few times, especially on stuff like this that’s gonna vibrate a lot and get bashed around.
to many of us older dudes, these bikes are the gateway to a life-long obsession. mine began on a Trail 70 & Suzuki TS 75, and many of my pals had a Honda Trail at home. we’d meet up, trade rides & enjoy the new freedom of being miles away from home & authority. maybe this’s one reason why Joe’s channel is so successful…he revives our coveted machines.
Mine was an XR 75, then went nuts from there, the addiction was on.
@@troyrosenbaugh9935 mine was a yz80.. Kept me outta REAL trouble as a kid n ride still today! 😃👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Oh man i had a brand new white one for Christmas & i was soooooo happy. I asked all year & my parents kept saying Absolutely Not they are dangerous suicide machines, so Xmas morning i had absolutely no clue & when i came out into the lounge room there it was sitting & i was so happy i was crying.. Great memories & it seamed so big & powerful to me at that age…& i loved it & looked after it so well always washed it & serviced it & that was the start of bigger & better bikes. Oh dude keep it just for it’s rarity. & mine had a nice little chrome pack rack on the back, Awesome little bike it was to learn on it wasn’t to scary ..
Great & story & dude &
You still got it?
As we get older, we chase our childhood memories n dreams. Mine was a yz80. Ssme thing w my parents..best days of my life !😃👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍also - it kept me outta trouble , away from drugs ,etc...
Rich sob
I had one in Yellow at 14 years old and it was my EVERYTHING!
Remember you have to get the part that you're soldering hot enough to soak the solder up instead of melting the solder onto the cold part. You can tell when it's hot enough because the solder disappears from the puddle form
Came to look for this exact comment lol one of the first things I learned when I was first teaching myself before my access to the now ridiculous amount of TH-cam tutorials lol
That's what I was thinking Heat up The largest piece of metal And then melt the solder into that only way to get a good weld otherwise it's just a cold one That will break under vibration. Also use a flux Especially on dirty metal
I bought a 1977 Honda 70 for $500 all it needed was a carburetor put back on and new bolts. Fired right up 2nd kick, has under 2000 miles and currently it sits in my house looking beautiful and catching all my friends attention.
The ignition timing on these small engines is set using the F mark on the fly wheel not the T. When the F mark lines up with the mark on the case the points should just be starting to open. Ignition timing is set with the points gap. 0.3mm - 0.4mm. There is no reason to remove the cover to view the cam sprocket to do this. The mark on the sprocket is for timing the cam not the ignition. These small Hondas will run even if the points are worn and timing out so the fact it has spark and started doesn't mean the ignition timing is correct. It's more a testament to Honda engineering . The stator plate has several seals. The o ring on the back plate, a seal on the crank and there should be small o rings on the fixing screws. Worth checking all of them. Didn't see any on the screws.
He was checking valve timing not ignition
@@linkinpiatak6669 yep, my mistake. He'd been talking about spark so my next thought was set the ignition timing not check the valves. Didn't see the ignition timing set.
Im restoring a 1965 honda trail 55, and I think you just solved my problem thanks
Wow... the first motorbike I ever rode was one of these beauties. It was a 79 I believe, essentially the same thing. I spent all day on it riding through fields and some easy trails. One of the best memories I have from my childhood.
Same here!
also
Enjoy your videos. One tip though, your soldering technique is leaving "cold solder joints " . In the video your iron looks to be chasing and smearing the solder around. You have to get what you're soldering up to temperature. When the wires or terminal are up to temperature, the solder will flow to it and adhere. Simply melting solder over and onto what you want to solder will not get proper adhesion.
@jimmyteevee. He won't listen to you. I've seen at least 50 people mention that in the comment section, he completely ignores it. It's the same thing as when people tell him to stop opening the throttle when he's trying to start a bike on choke, he simply will not listen! People advise him to get a work stand, he prefers to work on the floor like a 10-year-old child.
He has no idea how to solder, noticed that in a few of his videos 🤔
None of us care about your soldering techniques - get the picture? Get your own channel with a quarter million subscribers and have at it.
@@dannyjamison8337 You'll be ok tiger - nobody forces you to watch - ever.
Another fun and nostalgic video, for us older guys. One comment: as someone else pointed out, heat the metal you are soldering to first til solder melts onto it, then your wires. Get you some Kester 186 liquid flux to coat wires and terminals, and that will help insure a very tight bond. It's all about the flow. 🙂
Couple tips for you. It's not gonna be able to draw enough air through the venturi in the carb without a slide so it's not gonna wanna start. Also you will find that heating the wires you are soldering to the point where the solder melts on the wires themselves will not only do a nicer looking job but will result in a stronger and better connection.
Edit: Ah I see you figured out you had to plug the slide. I love z50s thanks for doing a video on one.
Hey Joe! keep up the good work and constant videos! you're smashing it
I had a blue Honda 50 a few years older than that one you have. And when I was a grade school kid I have some great memerys of riding and things that happed around that time. I used to ride in in a small town that was no longer a town just some left over houses with a couple of dozen people around. It had lots of old black top roads with no body on them and my Mema and Pepaw lived there. There was an old high school and a general store. Sure was fun to ride around the town. My grandpa I called Pepaw and old Indain guy called my mini bike "Your Wheel" LOL
I had a 1996 Honda z50r and made some money on it and they are very cool bikes
My first bike was a 1992 Honda z50. Been watching your videos since you used to hand draw the intros love you videos
Man you need to get some soldering flux paste it makes soldering 10x easier. And it makes your soldering look perfect. The solder just melts into the wire perfectly there is no fumbling around with a puddle of solder trying to get it to stick in the right place. Once you use it you'll never go back
And burn the shellacked ends of the wire.
I think that most solder has a rosin core which is flux in the solder. Separate flux paste is normally for soldering copper pipes in plumbing. But if Joe is trying to solder with no flux of any kind then it will definitely not flow or stick properly and create poor solder joints. The bottom line is that you NEED some kind of flux when soldering. PS - "flux" means "flow" in Greek or something.
🙂👍
I know he said weld it. But you can sometimes drill a hole and put a roll pin in. So you can still get that case off on that side. I’m not telling you how to do your job just a suggestion. Thanks for sharing brother. See you on the next.
So many memories. Back in around 1978 my dad and I were worm-hunting and came across an abandoned, wrecked Z50 under some brush. He threw it in the back of the car and, at home, threw tools my way and said if I could get it running I could keep it. I did everything you did there -- multiple times -- except welding the kickstarter. I had never-ending trouble with the cam chain jumping time and my dad didn't help me with new parts lol. Such a fun little bike to learn on. These days, nearly 45 years later, my dad is long gone and I ride a Tuono 1100 Factory, continuing a hobby that started in fits and spurts and clouds of blue smoke on that tiny little clapped out Honda.
Great story
Your videos are superb. I love watching them. But one thing I do notice which has room for improvement is your soldering skills. Particularly when it comes to soldering enamelled copper wire like in this video!. I won't give you a lecture here on how to solder properly as there are many videos on TH-cam which explain this very well. But one thing I find important when trying to solder old or dirty wires etc is to first 'tin' the individual wires or solder lugs etc first!. Then when you have 'wetted' them successfully you can concentrate on holding the 'pretinned' wires whilst you solder them together. Also, it helps to scrape some of the enamel from enamelled copper wire (of course only where necessary) before attempting to solder it as this allows better heat transfer to the copper wire itself and helps to burn off the remaining bits of enamel where you want to 'tin'. Lastly, don't be afraid to apply a bit more heat and solder to to clean old wires etc the extra heat and flux cleans the surface. The residual solder should just fall away. Keep up the good work. And thanks for your great videos.
Did you go to school for small engines or are you self taught? I enjoy watching you channel. It’s relaxing after a long night at work.
I always scrape varnish off enamelled wire before soldering, I think some may be intended to allow soldering but I never chance it.
Vinny is gonna love it when the snow comes ... heez built for winter
My childhood bike good memories. Rare bike now
those stator coil wires have insulation/varnish on them that has to be sanded off before solder will stick to them. once you get rid of the insulation and use some flux, it should solder easily.
Tip...a good jug shouldn't look shiny like glass. I got away with simply cleaning the original rings and de-glassing the walls. New gaskets and good to go. Rings ride on a micro film of oil that resides within the grooves left behind by the hone. Without those horizontal micro grooves...metal to metal contact and low sealing capabilities. I do see your rings are shot. But I would rehone that jug before installing new rings. But that's just me...with my 600 hour Honda 90.
I had one of those z50 1969. I had so much fun with that. Great little machine. Mine was a 3 speed if your wondering about transmission
This is the exact year bike I had when I was a kid. I wish I still had it. Great Video Joe!
My brother ate it HARD on one of these when we were teenagers….and he hasn’t been on a minibike since!
Welding kickstarters or gear shifters is not an option unless youre working on a complete piece of junk.. in this case you could remove the kickstarter, you can pry open the clamped part to open it up so you can slide it off.. some wont slide off unless you completely remove the bolt.. once its off you can take a cutoff wheel or hacksaw and cut where the relief is so youre not bottoming out when you tighten the bolt... a few minutes work and shouldnt cost you anything
Owner told him to - simple answer
had one a kid with folding bars went in trunk great bike for a eight to ten years on
Finally a Z your working on great little bikes and great job so far.
Enjoy your videos! Soldering comment: You'll find that heating the metal with your tip such that the solder melts will provide a stronger bond.
Stay safe!
Haha we were thinking the same thing.
I had one as a kid loved it. The graduated to a 1980s yamaha 80
Loved this video. Had a blue Honda 50cc Monkey in the 70’s. Three speed, no clutch. First minibike I had with a kick starter, seemed like a big deal at the time when others were mostly Rupp pull starts and non-running Tecumseh’s! But when the Rupps actually started and ran they rode circles around the little slow Honda. Always wished I had the Trail 70👍
Great content. Note cylinder may look good ie smooth but needs a visible cross hatch to retain oil and not burn it. Not sure where you will go from here but I would go up 0.25mm on bore/piston, possibly more pending measurements
That's awesome, my son and I took out the 81 ct70 today , cool machine the 50 is to , I still need to put a big bore kit on my 400ex , it's a 03 and looks new but we blew it up, lol. Buddy you have some serious skills , still not sure what big bore kit to buy
I don’t know the first thing about welding, but have to assume Joe took the gas tank off to avoid it exploding when he welded the kick starter. But didn’t even think about removing it until I saw him start to weld and it was gone. Although there is a good distance between where he welded and the gas tank, I think if you did not work with motorcycles as much as Joe does, it would be easy to forget to take it off.
Its very nice watching someone who knows what they are doing diagnose and repair these machines, thank you,
Check the middle rear of the stator plate, seal in there too. I also think sometimes the screws holding it in have o rings, I think they did on my atc70. I have a kickstart shaft from a 69 z50 if you wanted one for this project.
On that stator plate oil leak it could be the big o ring but make sure you check the o rings under the 2 bolts that hold on the plate. In my experience the lower bolt will leak. I always use a little rtv on them
im in michigan..im not sure where u are but i wud deff drop em off for you to get runnin again...the Trail 70 and RV 90 still have orig tires on them....they have air and the rubber never rotted...unbeleivable..they are both clean original everything
I had bought an mint 1981 z50 for 150$ 6-7 years ago from my local fleamarket got it running for an little an minute wouldn’t start again ending up selling it an month later for $1200 and 12ga mossberg with 100 rounds
Add me to list of people that had one of these as their first ride. Mine is a 73. My grandfather bought it for my aunt. It became mine when she outgrew it. Then my cousins and it's now my cousins sons until it gets passed down again. I still get to take it for a mini rip any time I visit.
You should put load on the kick start before kicking it, that's why they strip/break.
Greetings from Texas. Love the channel. I am always working on mini bikes, motorcycles, four wheelers, you name it. Learned a lit watching your channel. Only thing I can say is - Dude! You welded the kickstart?? Get a cutting disk and widen the cutout so you can tighten it down more and possibly cut new splines on the shaft manually. Not really a bit deal, but a red flag in my book. Keep working. I love to see you get the really tough ones going.
Never boring and always a good project!!!
Heck ya it can be saved. I learned to ride on one back in 1982, awesome mini.
I didn't see you do it in the video so I hope you scraped off some of the lacquer of that wire on the coil before you soldered the wire eye end. It looked like it still had lacquer on it and that might be the reason why the solder wasn't flowing well
Reminds me of the old days bud. Thanks for bringing it back with the video. We used to do the same back in the day with all the makes and models but no phone camera or video in the early nineties. Lol. Bout ta get me a Honda 250 dirt bike ta mess around with. Thanks again
Did U check the crank case vent? That could cause external leaks too.
but ur videos have motivated me to get them out and get them goin again....thank you for being so awesome!!!!
Just curious if your ever going to get a motorcycle lift table to work with? You do so many bikes and quads I'm wondering why your not using a table to work on the bikes it's alot easier to work on at waist height than on the floor. But always enjoy seeing you bring the machines back to life!
Yes bud! Just went back to the well (where we all stared) got myself a trail 70 few days ago...lol 82, thought it was missing all sorts of stuff cuz I always had the 70s modles but turns out the 82s didn't even have all the "stuff"
Love the vids and i didnt even know a z50 was a thing lol, keep up the good work!
You should by a Harbor Freight bike lift. The platform one.
My Honda mini Trail 50 was I believe 1972! I had begged to get a minibike for years because some kid down the road had a old style pool start minibike. So my parents did one better for me and got me that Honda and I wrote it until it wouldn’t ride anymore, I wore that motorcycle out.
When you’re soldering, try heating the items being soldered. Dripping solder onto cold parts makes for poor adhesion. When the parts are hot enough they suck the solder in. I use flux also
I remember I had one of them and 86 that's my first bike I traded it for a Moto 4 to my cousin cuz I didn't like dirt bikes at that time I was a kid great video keep up the great work Joe!!
Loose cam chains on those is normal for some reason.try tensioner but don't over do it. Good luck, once again. Great vid. Love them little mo key bikes, have one for my grandson put away. Doubt ge will ride it he loves atvs.
Joe, do yourself a favor and get a bottle of liquid Rosin solder flux. Your solder joints will be MUCH better. I like the GC brand myself.
I have a 77. They don't need the Kickstarter. Just put them in gear, sit on the seat and push forward. They compression start very easily if everything else is working like mine always has. Just a squirt of starting fluid sometimes..
that same bike was my first bike i had ===and i rode it everywhere think back then my dad bought it used for $25.00 i see them go for 2000 now crazy great video again
Oil pump gear is wore out, I just replaced the chain, oil pump gear, roller on my sons bike, go with Honda parts the aftermarket is cheap quality. Unfortunately you have to split the cases as you can't lock the gear in place.
Yeah had to watch I had a 1980 z 50 ..first bike..flogged it to death ..loved it ..YZ 125 X my second bike ..American YZ .A frame with gas I think front shocks ..looked liked big cylinders on top of the front shocks..beast .....like honestly...I rebuilt the top end ..honed new pistons and rings ..small end bearings..it was . A Beast ..and my 2 stroke life began ...lol...
Oh wow you make my day I had one back in early 80s best memories I'm 50 years old now
Can you do some snowmobile fix up videos this winter? Really enjoy your videos
Like your videos. Was wondering where you get your parts from for the older bikes. Random websites or you got a go to site so to say for parts that are hard to find?
This bike would be perfect for my son, i wish i had it Joe..my sons birthday is around the corner and it would make his day and i would be father of the year if i could give it to him..
Time to start saving buddy. You'll be dad of the century.
this might need next size up piston and rings. honda usually give you extra 3 sizes for every cylinder regrind. And you still legal 50cc at at last regrind. I wonder how do you determine?? would be cool if you show process. Had similar situation but here in thailand is super cheap for new cylinder with matching piston n rings so i went with that. cheers
All those issues are because the owner just doesn't know what he is doing when working on it. I appreciate that everyone has to learn some way and the best way is to just get stuck in but that is also why it wouldn't run.
2 vintage I tried to message you the other day and got the prize message I have two questions about two of my bikes if you can help nobody else could help me on the one question but I trust your opinion and knowledge bro. My name is Jon I'm from Delaware if you could help me I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks keep making videos bro you are an amazing mechanic
Great video. Invest in some tinning flux or at least some kind of flux for your soldering.
Some pit bike style engines that top sprocket you took off under the stator plate is the tensioner and can tension from oil pressure so might be why it felt abit loose or tension from a spring from where you unscrewed that bolt to try tension it
Pretty nice little 50 looking forward for the next video. Coolio seeing little Vinny👍🏼👍🏼
Yes it can be saved. Check the valves, carb and spark power. It will run pretty easy.
What a nice little bike so cool!
I believe that you have to split the cases to put a new kickstart shaft
Don't ever weld a kickstart welding will ruin the temper of the shaft it becomes brittle and will snap off. Ask me how I know someone did that to my bike.
On those kickers you can grind the slot wider so it can squeeze the shaft better
This saved me more than once. Eazy quick fix.
This was my first dirt bike I got it when I was 7 years old mine was blue I loved it I wish I still had it honestly
how are you going to split the cases now since you welded the kick lever on
Good compression...runs darn nice should be fine for long time. 👌
Also had one, i put a 190cc daytona under it, man thatvthing was fun, people laughing at it. I could hold up with a 350cc im serious, drag raced some european hatchbacks and won it was crazy
Bro I wish I had a bike like this dude you are so lucky
You get that xl500 together first then do that little pipsqueak bike
I have a 1974 one of these. I’m looking for some new handlebars for it. Know a good place to find some?
My dad bought me a brand new Honda CT 70 back in the day, the engine was similar to the z50.
I also owned a Suzuki TM 400 which was easier to work on than the CT 70 lol
Did you end up taking the front tire off or just let some air out ? The head seemed like it almost had enough clearance to come off.
a follow up of this would be nice
For some reason, I like those little bikes.
I’ve been struggling with mine, I’ve been using an impact on the flywheel to avoid having to kick for testing but idk if I’m just not giving enough rpm to make spark or what. I’m getting power and timing to the spark plug tip when testing with a multimeter (black lead onto the red wire coming from stator, red lead makin contact on spark plug) but it won’t actually make any spark. Do I need to up the rpm or is something else happening? I’m reading upwards of 7-8v at the spark plug
My manual says correct valve clearance is .002 inches or .05mm. Did you mean .05mm Joe?
Dont weld the kick starter shaft unless its a last resort, you had other options you could have tried first.
Cool little bike joe can't wait to see you on it lol take care mate vinnie is getting big don't think he was impressed with the bike haha 🔧🔧👍👌🔧
You should think about getting a motorcycle lift, it would be super helpful and would save your back
First love the vids from Australia 🇦🇺
I learn so much from you. another awesome video!
Cool video. I love these little 50s.
Not trying to bash on you but when you saw it or something do you want to hit the metal first and let it melt the Sauter, the Sauter will GLAM2 or follow the heat. When you’re just hitting the solder and putting it on cold metal it will glom around it but eventually it will corrode underneath there and not make a great connection. You might check out a couple videos on soldering or NASA standards which is a little crazy but it’s a good way to learn to Sauter but basically you want to hit the metal up and let it melt the Sauter and as soon as it melts the Sauter pull your heat source away that Sauter will suck itself onto that metal really well. When you don’t do that you get was called cold solder joint and they fail much sooner. When you make a good solder joint you can tell got it all you want and you’ll rip the wire before the soldered section. It might be worth practicing a few times, especially on stuff like this that’s gonna vibrate a lot and get bashed around.
Iron under or on side if can’t be under the metal you are soldering to heat metal then dab solder so it soaks in from the top to bottom
Another great video Joe
Lol…..this little bike has almost more pressure than that Honda 500 you previously worked on, dang!……..😂
When you pulled the jug, the ring gaps were in line and not staggered. May have been part of it.