With my freshly poached used battery fitted I tried to start up our £550 project bike, but with what appeared to be a seized choke cable thwarting my attempts I decided to whip the fuel tank off to investigate. What greeted me was the whiff of stale unleaded and plenty of cobwebs. Sure enough the choke cable is another part to add to my growing list of parts to hunt down. The cable sits in between the two middle carbs, this explains why I couldn’t reach it when I had stuck my fingers under the petrol tank hoping to pull the choke rail on when I had lit up the electrical system with the previously enjoyed battery!

I didn’t bother trying to strike up the gear driven inline four again, as it’s pretty clear my little Honda is going to need plenty of attention before that’s possible. The fuel must be a few years old, no big deal as I can drain the tank out, but what is worrying more is the amount of rust that’s on the belly on the petrol tank. Rust never sleeps, so I really need to look at my options once I’ve had an opportunity to take a thorough look at what I’m working with. The temptation to do that right now is overwhelming, but I fight the urge to do so right now.

Distracting yourself from one job and doing another can be dangerous territory, staying focused I get back to between the frame rails.

Next off is the air box, no tools were required for this task, it pretty much fell off when I touched it. The round mounting rubbers feel fine, so maybe someone else might have trod this exact past recently?

Before I manage to lose anything I find an old plastic crate to store my take offs in. There’s plenty of rusty fittings that will need looking at, it’s not really a surprise given the state of the rest of the bike. On a positive note what I can see of the wiring loom looks to be in a decent condition. The fuel pipe looks like it could be the original item and so to does the dusty fuel pump. Neither is a massive issue in the grand scheme of things.

Being blessed with an all alloy frame means that one thing that I haven’t got to worry about is a rotten chassis. Other than some dirt in the regions of the frame that doesn’t see daylight, the funky looking chassis is perhaps one of the best bits about this bike. Likewise the trademark gull shaped swinging arm is in good order.

Returning to the start of what I wanted to achieve, I realise I need to set a bit of time aside to getting the carbs off so that I can get inside them and see how good or bad they are.

Money spent so far

£550

Money in so far

£25

What we’ve learned today.

It’s not until you start digging that you find the true state of your project.