What year CA77?

LOUD MOUSE · Post by **LOUD MOUSE** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:49 am

Great info.
What are the trans differences?. .......lm

jensen wrote:Hi,

What year is on the main wiring tag ? The C78 frame number is introduced in 1964, but I have seen some C78 frame's with a a 1963 tag (wiring harness). A C78 always has a tubular steering, never plate steering, until proven otherwise. That doesn't mean that a C77 frame always has a plate steer, I have seen C77 frames with a tubular steering.

I have never seen a engine starting with C78E, and I can't find any info proving a C78 E engine number exists, but who knows.

According to my information the A stands for America, and a CA77 engine has a different transmission, please verify in the parts manual for transmission parts if you need them.

Jensen

LOUD MOUSE · Post by **LOUD MOUSE** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:47 am

Years back Bill published 3 books of really great info on these bikes plus was going to offer a publication with lots and lots of info in one book.
He has since compiled that info in PDF form and offers it for sale.
I have all of this info here and ya can only imagine how many times I look for info to verify things. .................lm

tobysdad wrote:LM, you mention Bill Silver publications. Are there a set of books he's done or are you talking about the Classic Honda Motorcycles book? Since I'm just getting started I really need to educate myself on these bikes. Hopefully I can avoid stupid mistakes like not realizing the chain guard was missing until a week after I got the bike home :(

Also, any suggestions on any valuation books like the NADA? I have VJEMC price guide but their prices seem all over the place from what I've seen actually sell. Thanks in advance!

jensen · Post by **jensen** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:39 am

Hi,

Countershaft C77 has 20 teeth, countershaft CA77 has 21 teeth (top gear counter),
top gear main shaft (C77) has 31 teeth, top gear CA77 has 30 teeth.

Both bikes also using different sprockets, don't know the reason, perhaps Honda designed the CA77 for the (lower) high way speeds.

Jensen

LOUD MOUSE · Post by **LOUD MOUSE** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:01 am

Interesting for sure. ..............lm

jensen wrote:Hi,

Countershaft C77 has 20 teeth, countershaft CA77 has 21 teeth (top gear counter),
top gear main shaft (C77) has 31 teeth, top gear CA77 has 30 teeth.

Both bikes also using different sprockets, don't know the reason, perhaps Honda designed the CA77 for the (lower) high way speeds.

Jensen

jimpapa · Post by **jimpapa** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:32 pm

mine is c78-1004008. no "a" after the c.
wiring harness shows 1965

rrietman · Post by **rrietman** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:07 pm

J; is there a parts manual available (downloadable) for these C77's?, one could compare with the CA's?. I've been mixing parts for so long maybe I need to regroup on my dream stuff..(all CA's)Randy

conbs · Post by **conbs** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:02 pm

The 1968 parts manual that is on Bill Silver's Dream CD has listings for C77 parts.

I asked the question earlier in this thread and I think I have a pretty good answer now. I started another thread "What is the difference between a CA77 and a CA78". Though the parts manuals show the change over from CA77 to CA78 between the 1963 and 1964 years, it is not correct. To add more confusion, many parts applications are listed for "CA77" when it is clear that the frame numbers would have to be "CA78" based on the 6 or 7 digit sequence numbers that follow.

The change apparently took place in 1963 as Jensen indicated in the middle of the 6-digit sequence of frame numbers. It is impossible to tell exactly where as KellieLyyne has frame number CA77 311472 which is higher than bbap's frame number of CA78 3111XX. In Idaho my DMV guy says there is a bike titled as CA77 311633 (even higher than KellieLyyne's), but I have not seen the bike. This may be accounted for if there were several production lines making bikes and the parts changeover below was made in different places on different lines. Anyone else have a 1963 Dream with a frame number in that range to add to the list?

Where the change from CA77 to CA78 occurred is not accurate in the Honda literature, but it seems pretty clear to me that the difference is between early and late versions of the handlebar controls (star adjusters, etc), fork plate, forks (unknown change), headlight bucket (adding the Honda emblem), frame (unknown change) and "luggage support" (shock mount). Per the bikes identified so far, the change from early to late parts seems to coincide with the change from CA77 to CA78 frame numbers, even with the overlap. That is, CA77's have the early parts and CA78's have the late parts. Other parts were changed and made as running changes that do not coincide with the CA77 and CA78 difference. The listed parts are what I have found. Anyone know of any other parts that should be on the list?

The change over for C77 to C78 seems to coincide with the changeover in parts from CA77 to CA78. Anyone have any examples that disprove my theory for CA77/CA78 or C77/C78?

One more oddity. There are examples of 1963 CA78's where the spread between the engine and frame numbers is about 5,000 instead of the normal range of about 200 and as with tobysdad's bike. Anyone have another example of a '63 CA78 or C77 where that is the case?

Does anyone know if the bikes that went to Canada were C77/C78's or CA77/78's?

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