I've been wanting to do a small cc bike project for a while now, swapping in one of the Honda clone pit bike engines.
I finally found the right bike. It's a 1970 Honda CL70. It's mostly complete, not running at the moment but with good compression. It also came with a small box of spares.
The tank is fairly straight but needs to be cleaned inside. I plan on clear coating directly over the patina and leaving it just like it is. The frame, fenders, etc. should all clean up nicely and will not be restored either, at least not any farther than a little elbow grease and wax/polish will take them.
I'll put on new tires and make sure everything works properly
I paid a tad more than I would have liked, but these bikes (and the S90, etc.) are hard to come by in my area. Plus, the tank and exhaust are worth a little bit on their own, so....
I've just started doing some reading and research on the Honda "clone" engines. You know: Lifan, Predator, Daytona, PitsterPro, etc.
There are a few forums out there dedicated to the small bikes and maybe I'll join one eventually. I was hoping you guys could steer me for right now, though.
There are replacement wiring harnesses that make the switch from 6V to 12V really simple. The biggest plus to a new harness, other than replacing old wiring, is that they come with all the plugs and provisions for CDI ignitions. To me, that's money well spent.
I'm wondering about engine sizes, though. The Lifan 125 seems to be popular and can be had for under $300, including carb.
I was told to stay away from the Lifan 140.
There are some 150-190cc engines, but some of them are "race only" and don't look quite as much like the original Honda engine. I'd like to go fairly large, but keep it reliable. Hoping for something in the 140-150cc range.
Here are some links to a couple of companies that specialize in the pit bike engines and swaps. If you know of any others, please let me know.
http://tboltusa.com/store/http://dratv.com/index.html
