Topic: My Restoration Project Bike - 1980 Yamaha YZ50G - "Hooker"

[Really?]

It's a 1980 Yamaha YZ50G. My dad bought this for my brother off the showroom floor in '80 for his first bike.

He had it until about '90 and then gave it to his art teacher from high school because he had three kids. They rode the piss out of it and my brother got it back around 2001. It sat in his garage thinking he would clean it up for his boy. Well, that did not happen so he gave it to me.

The motor is stuck so I have a bit of work to do.

From what I understand, the 50 was a one year only bike. They went to a 60.

This bike is crazy fast from what I remember. It has a clutch, it is not an automatic.

Hope y'all don't mind that I will project it here. This place is like my second home.

Just one pic for now.  It fit in the back of my Ford Explorer with the rear fender off.  I have a couple others at home.

[CrankyOldGuy]

TipperT,

Its nice to see that the Yamaha has returned to your family for a sprucing up.  It will be interesting to see what happens when you get it finished and your brother sees it 

Harry O.

[theofam]

Those were way fast. Seem to remember Bob Hannah cleaning up the circuit on one of those.

[Really?]

Pulled it out of the back of the Explorer and found a milk crate to stand it on.  I already have a new chain, seat cover, either the clutch or throttle cable and a paper Clymer manual.

A few good kicks with the kickstarter and without the spark plug, the motor broke free and seems to spin very well.

We spent a little time today wiping it down to see what we have to work with.  The hoops came up very nice and spokes look cleanable.  The spoke need to e tightened a bit along with a little trueing.  Frame and swingarm will need to be powedercoated, it needs new swingarms bushings, I have to figure out the air cleaner, it needs both side covers and number plate (unobtainium), clutch and brake levers along with a new set of handlebars.  I am sure there are more that is the jist for now.


Here are a few more pictures of the bike.









There is my boy.  He is helping me with this resto.



Found this nest in the air cleaner.



That is what I found when I took off the seat.  That is supposed to be the air cleaner.  Cleaning what, I don't know.



We worked on the fender a bit and got it to look like this.  That  number plate is history.  Hopefully I can find something to replace it.

[Really?]

Those were way fast. Seem to remember Bob Hannah cleaning up the circuit on one of those.

I found an artical where he was the only 50 and the rest were 60's.  Thanks for bringing this up, it makes it that much kewler of a bike!

[Really?]

TipperT,

Its nice to see that the Yamaha has returned to your family for a sprucing up.  It will be interesting to see what happens when you get it finished and your brother sees it 

Harry O.

He should be perty shocked and appreciate that it will live again as well as look good doing it.  It is kewl that it came back to the family.  I sure wish a few others I had in my life would show back up!

[Greggo]

Sweet li'l bike.  My first was a Yammy 80.  It was one of the self mixing 2-strokes...fun bike! 

Have fun with it!

[theofam]

  I thought I read YZ "250," hence the Bob Hannah comment!!!  Your son will love buzzing around on the YZ50.

[Really?]

But still, supposedly he raced a bunch of 60's with it.  I have heard these little 50's to show up some 80's.  I like to fell out when I heard the hear ratio, I do not know what would be considered normal.  THis thins is 12T/45T  and you can find an 11T for the front too.

[Really?]

Tank came out alright.  Did it with the old decals on, I have not pulled them off yet.  I have found the emblems though.



I still need to work on the polish part for both the front fender and tank.  My boy and I sanded them down to 2000 grit.  This will be my first plastic polishing.  I have done plenty of aluminum already.  I need practice before I attack the breadbox on the 750.

[Really?]

Looking for the air filter element - 3R0-14451-00-00.  Many places show it to be unavailable.  Powersportsplus has it listed so I sent them an email to see if they really have it or can get it.

It is not much of a filter, just a flat piece of foam sandwiched between two plates.  i wonder if I can find a generic slice of foam to make and oil on my own.

[Really?]

Yup, no got the filter.  It appears to be one of those unobtanium parts.  It's #13 and it is squeezed between #14 & #15.  So, why not do a pod or something else?  I dunno if I have enough room but if you see the hole in the middle of #12, the monoshock goes through there.  Interesting aye?  I think so.



Uni does have sheet foam that I may be able to work with.  I wonder if I will need to fit a metal mesh under it so it does not get sucked into the motor.

http://www.partsforscooters.com/Uni_air_filter_sheet?sc=2&category=76590

[TerryK]

Those were way fast. Seem to remember Bob Hannah cleaning up the circuit on one of those.

Bob Hannah never raced minicycles. Bob was an AMA pro before the yz50 went into production and didn't start racing until he was 18.

[Really?]

That made me go look for that article again.  I misread it, it was not Bob Hannah.  But, if that is Bob Hannah in the pic, did he overshoot the berm because of that one chiq?

[Bankerdanny]

Hey, the thread title is "project Bikes" not Honda Project Bikes or SOHC4 project bikes.

[Really?]

Eh, Danny?

[Bankerdanny]

In your first post you asked before if we minded that you were posting about this bike

[Stev-o]

Nice project! Back in the day, I had a YZ125, fun little bike.

If you want to replace the tank graphics, I bet Ray (my Hondas) could duplicate then fairly inexpensive.

I bet your boy is stoked!

[Really?]

Kewl, TY Danny.

[Really?]

I will check with myhonda, thanks for the tip.

I am enjoying the project so far.  Cannot complain - it stays in the family, it was free, it is maxing out my search skills, I am now having to cross reference parts and will need to be creative.  Lots of parts still available but many are not.  It is what's not available that I need, lol.

Yes, my boy is in a hurry to make it work.  I dunno though, he has never driven a motorized bike and this one is wild - kinda like a teenager getting a 750 H2 for a first bike.

[Stev-o]

Certain parts will be impossible to get but I bet you can get basically what you need from eBay and mod them as needed to fit. Especially the air filter...

[Really?]

Spent time on the young miss today.  My eldest boy and eldest girl helped some as well.

All three of us went to Maxim Honda since they are heavy into dirt bikes, dirt bike racing and the customer service is fantastic.  I would rather go there than the local Yamaha dealer.  Maxim Honda has a decent selection of generic dirt bike stuff.

I picked up some foam for the air filter element, a spark plug and a measurement jug so I can figure out what 650cc's of oil is.

I got the carb, air cleaner element holder and air intake ducting off.  The ducting was slam full of dirt.  Had to pull the rear end off with the monoshock to get the ducting out.  The twins cleaned up a lot of the dirt on the frame and stuff and used Mequire's Cleaner wax on the painted surfaces.




Tore down the carb.  This thing is tiny!  She was a bit gunked up.



Soaked it in berryman's and ultrasonic'ed the carb parts, intake manifold, air ducting, reed valve/block and the metal part of the air filter element.  It came out good enough.  Reed valves looked good and saw no light.  Good thing they are metal I guess.



Here it is back together.



Filter element came from a foam hat, yea you heard that right.  I was going to buy a foam sheet but the sales guy said that he has something that will flow well and filter better.  He brought out the hat that is made of filter foam and said he would let me have the hat if I made a donation to Ride For Kids - a pediatric brain tumor foundation.  I made a donation, got the hat and put the sheet of foam back on the shelf.

We have a member here, sohc4Lat, that helps with this fundraiser.  http://www.pbtfus.org/rideforkids/events/2010/dallasfortworth.html   



Iy looks good in the bike, it was yellow too!  The edges are not perfect but I wanted to seal the edges as well.  No one is gonna see it anyway.  I charged it with with the K&N filter charging oil I have.



Drained and added new oil (Rotella). 

Next was to check for spark.  I looked at the coil and about shiite!  The wire from the coil is cooked and the wire to the kill switch was melted.  The kill switch is unobtainum but I should be able to replace the wires.  I have the old CB750 harness wiring with the bullet connectors I can use.  I don't if I can repair the coil and it really does not look good.  I can get a coil with the wire and plug connector off of eBay for $40 new.



The coil is supposed to have a diode (I have no idea what the diode would do) but it was not there.  That will be just over $20 from BB.  Boats.net might have it cheaper.

Anyone deal with boats.net for bike parts?  They seem to be a bit cheaper on things compared to BB.

Seeing that coil and wires like that make me nervous as to what the points, condenser and source coils look like under the magneto.  I guess I will take look under the cover tomorrow to see whats up.

[sohc4Lat]

Finally - a good use for Facebook! I just saw the link to your trip down memory lane there. What great father/kids fun!

Thanks for the Ride for Kids plug! Maxim is such a fine example of what our local dealers can do when they take the time and energy to help these kids with brain tumors. Here is the link to this year's ride, October 2, http://www.pbtfus.org/rideforkids/events/2011/dallas-fortworth.html Very family friendly event! If you can't bring your friends, bring their money! The kids will thank you at the ride.

Looks like you have plenty of the right kind of help, Rick. Let me know if you can take a break for tacos! Keep the post coming. Subscribed now. ~Jeff

[Really?]

Spend a little time on her today.  Picked up an air polisher at HF today.  Put a bit of shine on the front fender and the tank.

Fixed the wiring on the kill switch and coil - she has SOHC4 blood in her now.  Cleaned up the remaining connectors as they were corroded.  Shortened the secondary coil wire.  It was cracked in two places and way too long anyway.  I have spark.  The wires are not getting hot, maybe it was the heat from the engine that melted them.  They are right above the head and near the exhaust chamber.

Put gas/oil in the tank and tried to see if it will start.  Nope, wont start.  I may not be getting any compression.  When I put the plug in and kicked it over, it felt the same.  I would expect some resistance.  I have a compression tester but it is over 30 years old, last used then too.  It read "0".  I noticed when i was pulling the plug out the head moved.  Heh, I tightened that down but still "0" for compression and no start.

I am wondering if I really have no compression or that compression tester is toast.  I may go HF and pick one up, I could stand a new one anyway.  I need to find some inside micrometers so I can measure the bore and see what I need to do to tighten that up.

Till next time...

[Really?]

Well, it was driving me nuts so I tore it down a bit.  Took the pipe, carb, head, cyl, piston, piston pin and piston bearing out in about 5 minutes.  That was just too easy.

Anyway, that gauge might be working after all.  Let me list off what was just plain not there...no head gasket, no base gasket, no exhaust gasket, no rings and no pin clips.  Yup a big fat "0" for compression.

The piston and wall had a nice gouge in them.  The wall was quite deep, so I might need to have it re-sleeved.  Anyone have an idea at what that costs?  I think I can find a new sleeve for about $100.  I think I can also locate std piston and rings.

Thought you would like to see how little that piston is next to the sugar substitute packet.