What is the difference between a CA77 and a CA78
I absolutely agree with you. I had to learn the hard way about the parts. With that being said, I have some parts that I am going be offing on EBAY due to not knowing all this information before starting my resto. So with that being said, I think this is GREAT information! My 1963 Dream had the old clamp on style mirror, as well as the star cable adjusters when I picked it up. However, when I started this resto I did not know the differences and got rid of them. They were of course rusted out like crazy, and probably beyond repair. I have the twist throttle. I also have the orignal tire pump and mounting brackets but i am missing the key. My fender packing was the orignal gray, and since I had to buy a new one, it doesn't seem to fit the fender the way it should. It comes up short on the sides instead of going all the way down to the edge of the fender. So maybe, that is one of the differences. Maybe the fender is longer on the sides? As far as the forks being different, I don't have any other forks to go off of to see how mine are different. I will take a good picture of mine and post it. Also I do not have the Honda logo on the front of my headlight housing. Now for the headlight housing itself? Again I don't have any other housing except for mine to compare. Again, I can take some good pictures and post them. I do have the early tank, and early rear shock mounts (luggage rack mount). Oh and from what I noticed, the actual rear shock housing is a little different too. I purchased two off of ebay to use for spare parts, and they were a "little" different too. I will take a picture of both so you can see what I mean.
Okay well, after going out into the garage and snapping up some pictures, I found that the only difference in the rear shock cases are that my painted top section is metal. The ones that I bought on Ebay were plastic. The insides and everything else were identical.
Here are some pictures that I hope will help in some way.  IMG_8222 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8228 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8238 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8239 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8236 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8235 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8234 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8233 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8232 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8231 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8230 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8229 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8221 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8220 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8219 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8217 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8216 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr  IMG_8214 by bruceandkellie, on Flickr
Last edited by KellieLyyne on Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Difference between a CA77 and a CA78KellieLynn, thanks for your post.
I am not sure about the tire pump. None of my parts manuals show a specific range of frame numbers for application. Same for the mounting brackets. They just start with the 1960 C77 A10001. Does anyone know if the pump was an option for all years. I thought I had read on this site that it was standard on early models, but not on late, but maybe that is not correct. I don't have one. My parts manuals show only one fender for all Dreams (except for England probably with holes to mount the license?) so I also don't know what to tell you about your fender packing. My original black one on a low-miles '66 goes all the way to the botom of the fender. Is yours a re-pop? Maybe they made it a little short. I don't know how the forks would be different, but I think the CA78 headlight housing would have been changed to add the holes to mount the emblem. The "luggage carrier support" (I don't know why they called it that; it is the shock mount) looks like another difference between a CA77 and a CA78 as the parts manuals show the change in the same place as other CA77 to CA78 changes at CA77 314731. Anyone have an original CA78 with the shorter early luggage carrier support? Anyone have a CA77 with the later longer one? If so, please post a picture. I also don't know what to say about the rear shocks. The parts manuals just show the same part number for the top and bottom housing for all years. I understand there were plastic and metal version, though. Thanks for your help with this.
Last edited by conbs on Sun Nov 06, 2011 2:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
My fender packing is a repop, maybe that is why it's shorter. Who knows. I know the original wasn't short. I did find some of the old stuff that I thought I got rid of. Like the old cables with the star adjusters, and original brake and clutch housing. I might try to restore them and use them. Im not sure though. The cables look pretty trashed. Either way, its nice to get all this information. Thanks for doing all that research and posting it.
CA78KellieLyyne, I am glad this helped you. I hope others with '63 305 Dreams will help with this thread to confirm or debunk all of my conjecture about the differences between CA77 and CA78.
The 5,000 spread between 1963 CA78 engine and frame numbers is an odd one for sure. Bill Silver made a comment: "If you all keep digging up more 1963 Dreams, you may see more of a pattern develop. Two "similar" bike/engine number spreads are food for thought, but I would like to see a few more to verify the trend." The "Dream Frame and Engine History" for 305's shows engine numbers only up to 314731, but the 1968 parts manual has at least one reference to 1963 engine number 318408 as the starting number for the last version of the top case. I hope others with 1963 305 Dreams will post their number to help confirm or debunk the "pattern" for the engine numbers. I was wondering about this. When I got mine it had the plastic tops ( and a spare broken plastic one) and a pair of metal tops on a second set of shocks. I've cleaned up and painted the metal ones and plan on using them, I figure they'll look better, for a while at least. The plastic ones have some pretty deep scratches. Guess I'll confuse the next owner, hopefully some day far in the future:) 63 CA78
CA77 vs CA78 in IdahoI contacted a guy from our DMV on this issue. He owns a CA77 that his dad bought in 1965.
In Idaho DMV records show: 1. The highest 1963 CA77 VIN sequential is 311633 - even higher than KellieLyyne's. 2. The highest 1963 CA77 motor number used for titling is E380061. He also said there are other 1963 Dreams titled with the engine number. I have a question about whether that number is correct. It is completely at odds with all of the Honda literature, production and sales numbers and is also way out of range for everything I have heard from others. 3. The lowest CA78 VIN sequential is 31092. Interestingly, this happens to be the DMV guy's apparently 1963 bike, titled as a 64 Honda 305 Dream that his Dad bought in 65. I asked him to check the frame number because the 1963 frame sequence should be a 6-digit number.
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