Hundreds of thousands were sold, the masses learned to ride on these venerable steeds---and some survived. This is the story of one of those.
In my excitement I started ripping off parts & forgot to take pics so these will have to do.
In the beginning...
Fairly complete & good shape--great restoration canidate. Missing flywheel cover, airbox, & original foot pegs. Tail light busted, top end worn. I'm not new to these. I've had 8-9 of these things in various states of disarrary; wound up selling them all off one by one---all parted out, never sold one as a complete bike. Needless to say I can take apart & build these things in my sleep. Of all I had, this one is in the best shape & most complete as I first got it. Anyone who has been around Honda Mini Trails knows the absolute squalor they can be found in....oh the stories a CT or Z can tell. I am kicking myself because I had a huge supply of nice parts for these & now I am starting over at square one---I had nothing left before this project & am now buying worse parts off Ebay than I had several of before .
This one ran for awhile with no air cleaner. A new top end is in order, over bore piston & rings on the way as we speak--& I never even disassembled the engine yet--eek. The seat. Yes CT fans just uttering that word brings shivers doesn't it. The pan has been slightly repaired but probably one of the top two original, unrestored seats I have seen. The second achillies of the CT--the muffler--is shot, NOS to the rescue. Rounding out the trilogy of CT unobtabium parts--the bars--yes bent like they all are, but not too bad. The fold down knobs are frozen & in my experience forcing them means breaking them. They will have to do. The paint looks good under the dust. I dont have the funds or resources to repaint--I will do what I can with it but a CT with paint in this condition almost wears its scars as a badge of honor. Anyone can repaint a crusty CT, finding one that does not need it? Priceless.
I've got it all stipped already, more pics as I progress
All stripped, cleaned up, & awaiting new decals (reproductions).
I found no good reason to replace the side badges (aluminum plate, not decals). They are not perfect, but I could not bring myself to destroy OEM ones removing them only to replace with reproductions. The side decals, I could. I hope these are the only reproduction parts I use. The market is flooded with reproductions & cheap Lifan/chinese knockoffs that very slightly.
Thanks for the comments. I won't be setting any speed records with this build for sure.
With the smell of credit card smoke still hanging in the air, the first batch of new parts arrived. 1st overbore piston & rings, chain guard, exhaust, gas cap, intake boot, gaskets, & oil seals. All genuine Honda. Plus reproduction "Honda Trail 70" decals & the "remember", tire pressure info, & battery warning decals. The helmet holder decal was fine.
I actually got the decals on straight with no bubbles.
Very nice, vibrant colors & they matched in size perfect--good thing sice there was a paint fade outline.
The steering head bearings were good--I was expecting mishapen rust blobs--but just cleaned them up & regreased. Also reinstalled front fork & seat latch. Fork seals looked good, so I just put in some fresh oil. The previous model (K0) had no dampening in the fork & had a lame bushing that would cause all kinds of front wheel slop like up to 1/4" at the axle. The K1 fork was a Cadillac by comparison. The K2 went to a rubber fork boot so the metal covers were a K1 only part. I like it because it makes it look inverted (its not, plus the springs are actually external, under the red covers & outside the fork tube itself.)
Next update may be some time. Have to come up with a media blasting setup for alot of parts, need to source some more on feebay & get alot of misc. hardware & trinkets, & find someone to bore my cylinder. Also need a new battery connector on the main wiring harness--& since the harness runs inside the frame I cant put anything else on until its in.
Great project! My childhood buddy Leonard had a green one, had hours of fun on that thing!
Ha! I had a buddy too that got one for Christmas one year. His name was Chucky Tingler and he thought it was cool that "Santa" put his initials on his bike. He rode the pi$$ outta that thing.
More new. Battery cover, battery strap, both lower exhaust shields, all new bulbs except headlight which is sealed beam, key cover, wiring harness connector & sheathing, carb rebuild kit, & some other misc exhaust hardware.
The entire muffler, guards, & mounting will be all new except the main shield--& if I can't find a nicer one than I have I'll have to get one of those too.
Installed sheathing on exposed section of wiring harness from steering head to headlight. Also on speedo wires. I had to repair some speedo wires under the sheathing. Also shown is new key cover & battery connector installed. All ends & connectors back to as Honda intended. The sheating I'm not nuts about. The original stuff was very thin wall & shiny plastic. This is like satin thick walled rubber. Oh well, the other was cracked as they all are.
Last parts en masse. Still need some Feebay ones though.
Actually have to figure out where that all goes.
The bars are not perfect, slightly bent & the knobs are frozen so they don't fold down--in my experience forcing them means breaking them & making them worthless. I'm impressed by how much they cleaned up since they were pretty rusty--but budget has been exceeded already so they will have to do. Speedo installed with all new bulbs, repaired wire & shrink tube.
My old man pulled one out of a friend's grove and got it back to working order at least, had hours of fun on that thing. I'm wanting to say we did end up getting the knobs loose for the fold down bars without breaking them by heating up the outside part with a torch, but don't quote me on that.
__________________
I'm here for a good time, not a long time
New bowl gasket, all O Rings, all phillips screws, petcock rubber disc, petcock strainer screen, float needle & seat. Don't want to mess with a leaky-weapy carb later on. Rest assured the inside is just as clean as the outside. Nice new soft carb-airbox boot also.
These things are like gremlins, you get them wet & then they are everywhere. Came across these today.
Bought them off those pics alone. Had hopes of using alot of parts of parts but after picking them up wont be able to use as much as I would of liked. Front fender--my original is better. Headlight switch--missing. Seat---my original pan is better. Engine guard--one dent about same as my original--undecided. Left engine cover--wrong year logo. Exhaust guard--one like mine was missing. Still think I wont get burned on them. Can use a few misc odds & ends, will sell some to recoupe some $$, & keep some parts in "inventory." Still planning on using 99% of what came on the original bike.
New bowl gasket, all O Rings, all phillips screws, petcock rubber disc, petcock strainer screen, float needle & seat. Don't want to mess with a leaky-weapy carb later on. Rest assured the inside is just as clean as the outside. Nice new soft carb-airbox boot also.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryce919er
oops I did it again.
These things are like gremlins, you get them wet & then they are everywhere. Came across these today.
You're killing me! I feel like I'm in a race, and I'm wayyyyyyyyy behind...
Installed new grips & some new, some old throttle parts. Still going to be a cruise-o-matic it seems as I hooked up the carb & it needed some motovation to close the slide. Can't say I have ever had one snap back. Installed horn button & the rear brake, throttle, & speedo cables. (CT70 cables need to be grey, if you order new ones from Honda they will be black. You have 3 options--1. find nice original, 2. dye or paint the black, 3. buy aftermarket. So far I'm number 1 on all. I have two OK front brake cables but have not installed incase I come across a nicer one. Alos note the K1 has a longer front brake & speedo cable than the K0 due to the longer fork).
One of my parts bike had a nice speedo harness so I swapped that out in lieu of my repaired one that had ugly non original sheathing
Cleaned up the headlight & shift/kick levers. New rubber on the kicker.
With this mess now strewn across the bench things will start happening faster. Weather has terrible this past month--too cold & rainy to do any blasting, painting, etc. I hope to catch up before winter
Turned the corner on the motor. All clean & ready to start reassembly--getting my cylinder bored is the bottleneck stoping me.
Also got some stuff painted. All parts glass bead blasted to bare metal then 2-3 coats primer & 3-4 coats color (just spray paint). Engine parts used engine paint & primer so it should withstand heat.
Should only have the wheels & foot peg bar left to paint--probably spring.
New gas cap, strap, & repainted hold down bracket (did this piece a couple weeks ago so the paint is cured). The battery should be a green case Yuasa. This one is correct, clean, & came with the bike, probably does not hold charge but they do not need them to run (other than hooked up) & this will just sit in my basement so I new one would soon go bad anyway.
No this one & most others were 3 speed manual shift, auto clutch. There are some rarer ones with 4 speed manual clutches; according to the original advertisements these models were "especially for the men" LOL. Can't do that today I have had two four speeds that I parted out. One K0 & one K1. I wish I kept the K1--the 4 speed manual K1 is my favorite & the best of the best. The one I am fixing here is K1 also but the 3 speed, in my favorite color--candy ruby red. My dad has a matching one in the other K1 color--candy yellow special.
This bike was down on power according to the PO when I bought---it never even started for me the one time I tried in the PO's garage when I bought it. It had been ran with no air cleaner for a year or more so I figured it breathed dirt & needed a bore.
On disassembly it showed little to no sign of blow by surprisingly. I am still going to the first overbore though just incase.
The exhaust valve looked OK in my amatuer opinion. The intake valve though was not close to smooth where it contacted the valve seat nor would any amount of work get it there (Honda says cant grind these valves anyway). So I stole a intake valve from one of my parts bikes & it looked much better, I then cleaned the seats & valves with a soft stainless & brass brushes & polished them after.
They look like this
Pic sucks I know.
I then held the valves in the seats from the chamber side with my finger (no springs) & filled each port at a time with acetone (has to be thinnest material known to man). I was satisfied they were not leaking after this----but want to make sure with others before I button this up---opinions?
I've completely disassembled it & cleaned it but nothing like I am doing to this one.
Anyway...
All CT70 fenders look like this.
(Ignore the shiny spot where I was testing out my blasting.)
Without buying NOS I am trying something new to improve on them. I glass bead blasted the undersides, not the chrome. I then covered all chrome with tape including the wrap around lip--the front fender is so scratched I need to find another but I will clean that one up the same way.
Then I sprayed with a couple coats of clear coat.
Cylinder is bored & I am repainting since the bore guy messed all my nice paint up.
No this one & most others were 3 speed manual shift, auto clutch. There are some rarer ones with 4 speed manual clutches; according to the original advertisements these models were "especially for the men" LOL. Can't do that today I have had two four speeds that I parted out. One K0 & one K1. I wish I kept the K1--the 4 speed manual K1 is my favorite & the best of the best. The one I am fixing here is K1 also but the 3 speed, in my favorite color--candy ruby red. My dad has a matching one in the other K1 color--candy yellow special.
thanks for the info your doing a great job
__________________
dont need a bike to ride the fast lane
Looking good. The comment about "just set in the basement." You're planning on riding this thing aren't you?
I will ride it when I'm done & take it out for excercise a couple times a year I suppose--but I don't plan on using it as any form of transportation. Bad deal is I don't have a title. I have gotten a title for a bike before but it was expensive & at this point not worth the $$$ & risk for the reward. Mostly it will just sit in my house, yes.
After pricing reproduction seat covers it just made more sense to get a whole new seat. Here it is:
Extremely good reproduction. The pan is almost exact, could not tell unless side by side (original is missing seat bumpers & tool retainer from the years--they are suppsoed to have them & it did at one time, I even bought brand new Honda replacements from when I thought I was using it). The box says "Honda" on it & it may fool some but this is not original Honda--none are. An original Honda seat is akin to the Yeti, Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman---they don't exist. The K1 had this 1 year only 6 pack/washboard type heat pressing. K0's had more of tuck & roll look with rivets around the base & K2 & later had heat press alll the way across the seat with the same chrome base.
Did not come with a seat bracket so I'll have to strip & repaint the old when the weather turns.
Bolted on a few more parts. Completed controls (minus 1 point for non original black heat shrink on the HI/LO switch, it should be light gray) with original gray cables. Levers (minus 1 point for missing the black tip caps, the levers are original Honda but the tips were removed, might try some tool dip later), horn, test fit new exhaust, K1 1 year only hard to find tail light bracket. The K0 had their own tail light bracket & shared a light with the Z50. The K1 was the odd man out & used the full CB tail light (getting a nicer one, the light is easy to get the bracket is whats rare). They look huge on a bike this size. By the time the K2 came out Honda had developed the XL series & they switched to that tail light which fit the bike a whole lot better.
I have 11 CT70 shocks at current. I'd say no more than 4 are not bent. The exhaust side is almost always bent--the one on my bike included. After tossing aside the obviously bent ones I took apart about 4 more shocks before I found another non bent mate to my chain-side original. I was surprised the ones that did not even look bent that were as soon as you got the cover & spring off to see the damper rod.
I used a homemade CT70 shock compressor. Both of these travel through the full stroke without any binding or stickiing & even have some dampening left. The exhaust side paint always gets burnt off the cover. K1 & later had the full black plastic under the springs, K0 models did not.
I have 11 CT70 shocks at current. I'd say no more than 4 are not bent. The exhaust side is almost always bent--the one on my bike included. After tossing aside the obviously bent ones I took apart about 4 more shocks before I found another non bent mate to my chain-side original. I was surprised the ones that did not even look bent that were as soon as you got the cover & spring off to see the damper rod.
I used a homemade CT70 shock compressor. Both of these travel through the full stroke without any binding or stickiing & even have some dampening left. The exhaust side paint always gets burnt off the cover. K1 & later had the full black plastic under the springs, K0 models did not.
.
I have had two four speeds that I parted out. One K0 & one K1. I wish I kept the K1--the 4 speed manual K1 is my favorite & the best of the best. The one I am fixing here is K1 also but the 3 speed, in my favorite color--candy ruby red. My dad has a matching one in the other K1 color--candy yellow special.
Linear Mode
Chevy Camaro Forum
Ford Mustang Forum
Jeep Wrangler Forum
Volkswagen Touareg Forum
Land Rover Defender Forum
