Honda305.com Forum

Hello again everyone. Seeing the riding season is over for me I figured I try and do my share by posting the progress on my 1969 Honda Z50 Mini Trail.

1968 was the first year for the Z50. That year Honda came out with the Z50 and it had no headlight or tail light. In 1969 they added the tail light and the head light. In 1969 they added a battery and never ever added a battery to any other Z50 after that making the "69 Z50 a rarer Z50 than most. This bike is also a Hard Tail but in 1972 Honda changed there design to a soft tail and kept them that way ever since.

The guy in Vancouver, Canada by the name of Jed that I bought the bike from was a motorcycle tech so he was kind enough to dismantle the thing and ship it across the country to me. (Thanks Jed)

I have to admit the bike was in rough condition. The frame had three cracks in the welds which was easy enough to fix. The welding on these bikes from the factory would look rough by today's standards so I wouldn't Tig weld them because it would look to neat so I just Migged them. You would never know by looking at the frame it was ever welded.
As you can see in the photo's I bead blasted all the metal parts and the frame in in the stand I made when I did the CT70 and I'm doing all the fine body work such as removing any grinding marks that were there from the factory plus and welding slag that was left on the frame and any imperfections that were there before such as small scratches. The bike will be painted a Candy Blue with the tank being two tone blue/silver and base/clear so I need to have it look as good as I can get it.

I have the motor stripped down. Who ever worked on the 41 year old bike in the past had it assembled wrong. There were thrust washers either in the wrong place on the tranny or missing all together. While I have the cases all apart I bead blasted them and painted them as well. All new case bolts and gaskets will be used in the assembly to give the motor that new fresh look.

Also with the motor the chain case guard was cracked and Honda One got that and all new wheel bearings plus bolts on the way to help with the restoration. Someone decided after the spline wore out on the kick starter to weld the kick starter directly to the kick starter shaft so I had to cut that off and install a new kick starter shaft.

I rebuilt the cyl head. New valves, honed the cylinder and bead blasted both parts then painted them. I'm waiting on parts from everywhere. New picton, rings, timing chain, timing gears, oil pump gear, gasket kit and seals. There coming from as far as Australia, Thailand, the UK and Tyler, Texas so that's why I'm doing these items now. The carb has been dismantled and placed in the ultrasonic cleaner. A new kit is on the way for it plus all new clutch disc's so I've bagged everything to keep it clean and prevent anything from being misplaced. All the wheel rims were removed blasted and painted as well and I'm waiting on the new Bridgestone Trail Wing tires which were the originals on the bike when new and new tubes as well.

I did have a little setback. My son came home last week for a visit with his girlfriend and along with there cat and dog and they all went shopping so I had to baby-sit his 7 month little beagle so I lost a day in the shop but I enjoyed being with the little dog so I can't complain. Here's what I got done so far.










The frame being bead blasted :







Cylinder head and cylinder work:







Tranny and cases:





Battery holder:







Carb work:







The rear brake hub had a small piece missing so I had to Tig weld it back and then polish all the aluminum parts:














And this was my special guest. His name is Milo :) He is a house dog and very spoiled :)





Stay tuned!

One of the things I like about working with aluminum is you can take an ugly part like this little intake, file and sand the rough parts out of it and buff it to make it look more appealing. OK. I got a little bored late this afternoon and wanted to try it. :D

Paul, looks like a great project! I have done several Z50s. The 1968 model did not have lights. The K1 had head and tail light, and a battery. The K2 had head and tail lights, no battery, and the oval tank enblems like your tank has. The tank you have is not correct for a 1969 K1. K1 and K2s also had different emblems in the headlight bucket, a different ignition switch, different witing harness, different tail light bracket, the K1 had black plastic levers, the k2 aluminum levers, and the K2 had a rear brake pedal, as well as a lever on the bars. Here's some pics, the yellow bike is a 68, and the blue and silver a 69. Hit me with any questions you might have. Sorry it won't let me post pics.

davomoto

davomoto wrote:Paul, looks like a great project! I have done several Z50s. The 1968 model did not have lights. The K1 had head and tail light, and a battery. The K2 had head and tail lights, no battery, and the oval tank enblems like your tank has. The tank you have is not correct for a 1969 K1. K1 and K2s also had different emblems in the headlight bucket, a different ignition switch, different witing harness, different tail light bracket, the K1 had black plastic levers, the k2 aluminum levers, and the K2 had a rear brake pedal, as well as a lever on the bars. Here's some pics, the yellow bike is a 68, and the blue and silver a 69. Hit me with any questions you might have. Sorry it won't let me post pics.

davomoto

You sir are absolutely right and to make matters worst, I knew the difference :) Up here in Canada we call that having a "Brain Fart" and I posted the wrong dates which I have corrected. I knew the tank was not correct for the bike when I got it. I have the proper NOS tank on the way. Also in "70 the tank that had the oval badge also had a different paint scheme(white on bottom) and the bike had an ugly rear fender (longer).

I appreciate you bringing this to my attention and to tell the truth I'm just happy someone is reading these posts. It gets lonely over here I find! :)

Paul, Honda sold 100,000 Z50s in 1969, thier best single model sales to date. Everyone and thier brother, sister, cousin and neighbor had one. The K2 did indeed have the longer rear fender. Honda had a Z50 in 67, but it was not exported, called the Z50M. Before that it was a bit of a bastard bike, the CZ100. C100 pushrod 50cc engine, sport 50 tank, plastic fenders etc. Good luck with the project, can't wait to see the results!

davomoto

davomoto wrote:Paul, Honda sold 100,000 Z50s in 1969, thier best single model sales to date. Everyone and thier brother, sister, cousin and neighbor had one. The K2 did indeed have the longer rear fender. Honda had a Z50 in 67, but it was not exported, called the Z50M. Before that it was a bit of a bastard bike, the CZ100. C100 pushrod 50cc engine, sport 50 tank, plastic fenders etc. Good luck with the project, can't wait to see the results!

davomoto

Great info my friend. I enjoyed reading that. Did you keep the Z50's you restored? This is my 11th bike and I've kept them all but it's the very last for me personally. I'm plumb out of room. If I do another it will be for a customer but that won't likely happen too soon considering the cost of doing this sort of thing. Folks think because it's a small bike it's cheap to do. boy are they every wrong.
The "69 Z50 was my first bike and the "72 CT70 was my second that I owned many years ago. I just completed the CT70 a few weeks ago so It's nice to finish off the collection with the first bike I had. Thanks for the reply and the info. Very much appreciated!

Paul. I have kept a 68 slant gaurd, and a 69. I also have a 72 CT70H, 4 speed, manual clutch, an S90, and too many CB77 CL77s and CL72s than I care to mention. Also a 2000 XR650R with a plate, and supermoto wheels, a 2008 Suzuki DL1000 V Strom, and a 2008 YZ250F. Last summer I sold 7 bikes, and olny bought two. A total reversal from my usual tactics, sell 2, buy 10