The 1974 Honda CT70 Dax Custom gets an engine rebuild.

With parts still out for finishes, attention was turned to the engine. The plan was to give it some more power with an 88cc bore kit, and race head and cam. This is a familiar upgrade, and delivers the extra punch needed to move a full-sized adult. Some bling was added as well, with polished engine cases and chromed side covers. The stator was upgraded to a 12Volt system with CDI ignition. A high volume oil pump and heavy duty clutch round out the internal upgrades. Wear items, seals and gaskets were replaced, and all hardware was either new or replated OEM.

The 88cc big bore kit and race head are from Hondatrailbikes.com, as are the heavy duty clutch and high volume oil pump. The chromed clutch and magneto covers were ones I had saved for a personal build, but decided to let go for this one. With the black of the brush guard, chain guard, footpeg assembly, and exhaust, and the deep dark tone of the paint, something was needed to balance it out. The heat shields on the muffler and brush guard are being chromed as well, to keep the dark colors from dominating too much. The extra wires coming out of the engine harness are for the CDI module.

Without a doubt, the dirtiest oil filter I have ever seen on over sixty rebuilds of these small Honda horizontals. Normally, this screen is see-through, and often with little or no debris even on high milage engines. This almost impenetrable screen would have been starving out the clutch and head portion of the engine…good thing they were replaced. This kind of debris is likely to be gasket scrapings, left inside after previous work done on the engine. The center case of the engine had an aftermarket gasket, and the clutch had been removed as well, indicating the engine was completely split open at some point.

Everything on this bike had been thoroughly painted, and required stripping. The engine was no exception, having a thick, partly peeling clear coat-base coat job. Normally, the case halves are unpainted from the factory, and the side covers are painted. The glued-in neutral contact switch can be seen in the upper left corner of the picture.

Just waiting on body parts to be painted. A lot of times, I build linearly, stopping at various points to do the polishing or engine building. It is nice to have these jobs done and waiting. Hopefully, final assembly will be quicker because of it.

A lot of work to get to this point, the center cases were extensively cleaned and polished, using hot ultrasonic degreasing done three times, to get the built-up sludge and polishing compound removed. Although it is hard for cast aluminum to take on a shine equal to chrome, it is shiny enough to see your reflection.

The HondaTB Race head is similar to the original domed head of the 1974 CT70, but the cam upgrades make it superior. The cam cover is like the later Honda type, with different castings that allow the use of a two-hole cam sprocket. There are round ones like the original, but this type head allows use of this cool finned one still available from Honda. A correct pristine magneto inspection cover was found to replace the one that came with the bike.

The engine case halves starting to be reassembled. They are sitting on the engine board, a tool for assembly and disassembly, made to hold the parts securely, with minimal marring. Some of the internal wear parts replaced were the transmission ball bearings, and shift pins. A replaced kick-start shaft was substituted at this time, as well.

All the take-off parts. With the oil starvation to the head, there is a chance the cam bearing surfaces and valve guides received excess wear, making it suspect for use without complete reconditioning. In the end, the new head is cheaper, and uses a ball bearing on the cam ends, an improvement on the flat journals molded into the aluminum on the original head. There were other small surprises, like a glued-in neutral contact switch, and a busted c-clip on the kick start shaft.

Other busy work. Stainless steel hardware for the body parts were high-polished after sanding off the numbering on the bolt tops.

Some more of the ugly. This is the oil slinger inside the clutch, packed with debris. The clutch uses centrifugal force to push impurities to the side recesses of the center cup, which are full in this picture. The clutch nut is chewed up by removal with a hammer and screwdriver…certainly not indicating it was work well done. The new clutch has stronger springs and heavier weights on the centrifugal clutch, for improved hook-up.

Adding to the polished parts on the “Bling Table.” Some aftermarket Webco-style valve inspection covers were used. In addition to dissipating more heat, they can be removed by hand or with the socket head on top.

Back from the North Texas Norton Owners Land of the Pines Motorcycle Rally

The North Texas Norton Owners Fall rally at the Yellow Rose Canyon Camp in Mt Enterprise, Texas was a great time. With this being the first time for the club at this location, we weren’t sure what to expect, but the YRC turned out to be a very pleasant venue for the event, with plenty of space, a bar and restaurant, cabins, showers, riding trails, and much more. The club held field events on Saturday(more comical than serious,) the bike show, and the awards ceremony (with lots of door prize give aways) to keep things interesting. There was an area of the venue far away from the RV park and cabins, designed for tent camping, for anyone wanting a quieter camp, but most of the night time action was at the cabins or RV’s, and people would migrate from one to another.

Packed in tight and strapped down well, headed for East Texas. This time, heading out with the 1970 Trident, 1967 Mountain Cub, the trike, and of course, the 1999 Z50, known as the” Hater.” There have been various plans to build out the interior of the van, but getting all these bikes in comfortably make me reluctant to add any partitions that would keep it from hauling as many.

In addition to the Cub, the Norsaki 1955 Norton/Kawasaki 400 was there for the bike show. In the same “Custom Street” category as the Mountain Cub, they placed first and second, with the Norsaki taking the top spot. I was really satisfied with the result, but there was more to come…

The 1970 Trident drew some looks, but no prizes. There was a single category for Triumphs in the bike show this year, opposed to the four or five of previous meets, and it was well represented. There were a couple “Bathtub” 350’s in the show, one of which won first place in the category.

An old friend, the “Red Baron” bike showed up for the fun. Owned by my buddy, Ben, it was in good form, and the perfect bike show pit bike. The 1999 Z50 Hater is nearby.

The Tijuana Trike took top honors in the Minibike class. For a club dedicated to Norton Motorcycles, we have a plethora of minibikes showing up for our meet. The bike show was held down near the main stage in a huge grassy bowl, with the cabins and restaurant on the edges of the upper rim.

…And the biggest surprise to me was the Peoples Choice Prize, awarded to the 1967 Mountain Cub. The trike winning would have surprised me less. I was honored to receive it, especially given the quality of entrants. Perhaps the small, light nature of the bike is what people find appealing, but whatever the reason, thanks to everyone who voted for it.

In the field events, the trike bent the rules slightly, as the requirement for eligibility in the slow race was “anything on two wheels.” We took the gold medal on this one, but it was based more on pity than performance.

One of the last details done on the Cub before the show was the seat logo stenciling on the back. My buddy, Mobtown Mike Smith’s custom seat cover was well appreciated, keeping some of the vintage British vibe with the color scheme of the original seat.

The famous pinstriper, Alton Gillespie, was camped next to me in the trees, on the road I dubbed “introvert’s lane” (by next to me, I mean a good thirty feet apart.) Alton is an old friend, and laid down the missing stars on the red, white and blue panel of the trike. My intention was always to place stars in this space, just didn’t think they would look as nice if I did them. When Alton offered Sunday morning, I delayed leaving for home by some hours, to take the rare opportunity. The job was cut short halfway into the process, by an emergency call to pick up a trailer and driver from his company with a dead truck turbo, stuck on the side of the road. Alton and I reconnected a few days later, and he finished the job.

The finished product is a real throw of the eye, making the stars appear to rise out of the background. Amazing work! This seat is another Mobtown Mike creation.

My buddy Chris, riding in the distance, letting loose of the checkered flag and his hat, on his victory lap following his drag race win.

Getting four bikes in the van was a new thing. So happy with the longer, larger space. This was the before picture. The van was even more full on return, with swap meet finds filling all the empty spaces.

Polishing aluminum parts for the 1974 Honda CT70 /Dax custom.

With the tins out for bodywork, the focus has been on getting all the aluminum parts polished out. When it comes to final finishes, there is always a balance that needs to be struck between the powder coat, chrome, paint, and polish. Keeping the chrome and polish on this build down to a few key components, going for tight and classy, and letting the lines of the bike bring some of the bling. In addition to these parts, there are some wheel rims that will be high polished.

All the shiny parts…when you are staring at the same set of parts prior to finishing, there is a slight feeling of dread, as the process is a lot of messy work. Nice to be on this side of it.

Stripping paint off is the first of many steps. After this, bearings will be removed, and the sanding and refinement will be done. There are small stubs around the nut recess on the tips of each spoke, that will be removed. They are a remnant of the casting process, and serve no purpose as far as I can tell. The finished wheel looks better without them.

With the sprue stubs removed, they look a lot cleaner.

The recesses took a lot of effort. Sometimes they look okay until you start buffing, and realize there is an oxide layer that needs removal. A combination of wet sanding, rotary abrasive wheels, and polishing wheels of all different sizes were used to get them done.

The rear hub used during mock-up is a one-piece type, and did not match the front wheel very well, so an original CT70 hub was sourced in decent shape. The other big plus with the original hub is that it has a steel tube cast into the hub for the rear sprocket retainer ring to fit into, opposed to the one on the one-piece wheel, which is machined out of the aluminum wheel casting. While not something you might think would be subject to much force, side to side, the rubber cush drive the sprocket tabs fit in will push outward on hard acceleration and braking. If the thin lip of cast aluminum holding the retainer C-clip in fails, the sprocket can come loose from the hub! I have seen one case of this exact wheel failing in this manner on an online forum. Since this one matches the front style, it gets the nod.

The after on the wheel hub. The parts all were cleaned in a hot ultrasonic tank after polishing. The steel brake lining was also freshened up on the lathe.

The fork leg on the left has just started to undergo the first polishing steps. The bungs on the upper part of the forks for the front fender mount will be ground down a little, to make them more rounded.

After machine polishing, everything gets a hand polish with some Mothers brand polish.

My buddy “Mobtown” Mikey Smith is smoothing out the tins and laying primer down. There is some thought being put into making some molds off these parts for fiberglass reproductions. Mike and I have worked together in the past, doing some silicone mold making on a “Dragula” clone coffin body, being made for a Munster’s star.

A House of Kolor paint color called “Wild Cherry” that matches the bike owner’s vintage Ford Bronco, was chosen for the finish. The bike will also have the white lower section, similar to the Honda CT117.

Getting excited to see these tins getting done.

Thanks, Mike!

Also sorting hardware to take to the zinc platers, and the parts for the chrome platers. All the hardware will be stripped and wire-wheeled before plating. There is a fair amount of stainless hardware that came with the bike that will get polished and re-used.