dorkpunch Garage: January 2023

Sunday, January 29, 2023

DIY Minibike Frame Restoration in Action!

The "build" vid for the frame! Would love to hear your thoughts on this!!!

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Saturday, January 28, 2023

Disaster Strikes...

Here's what was left of the muffler after the pressure washing...

Going to need to come up with something else! If it's that bad, attempting to weld it up will just make it worse.

Saturday, January 21, 2023

And so it begins... DIY Motorcycle Restoration Commences with Frame Cleaning and Paint!

Made a little progress this morning. Got the frame cleaned up and painted.

Love this paint, it goes on thick and seems to hold up well to years of abuse. Takes forever to dry though... VanSickle tractor paint, I find it at CAL ranch.

Knocked out the swingarm and chain guard while I was at it.

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It's a start. Have a loooonnnnngggggg ways to go still.

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Friday, January 06, 2023

Stripping the poor minibike down!

First video.

Been shopping for parts, and man this could get expensive! Going the budget route for now. Plan on fixing / cleaning / painting everything I can on my own, but there's a couple of things I haven't found at decent prices used- muffler, gas tank, and front end. Think I'll buy repro's for the tank and front end, and trying to make my own muffler using the stock header pipe.

Spent the afternoon pressure washing the big parts. Most of them came out great. The one exception is the exhuast... The pressure washer punched all the rust spots all the way through. Don't know that I could save this one even if I had all my tools accessible.

Tuesday, January 03, 2023

Before and after- Saving a vintage Honda minibike that should have gone to the scrapyard.

So 3 years ago, I found a Z50 for my 3 year old. I figured it would be an awesome fun project for us to work on. I teach. I have all of my boys with me during the school year, and no time to work on fun stuff. In the summer, the boys go to mom's. I have plenty of time, but no kids to work with.

It's time to make a go of this, because he's already tearing it up on his older brother's Z.

A few "before" pics we took just a couple days ago:

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Annnnddd.... where she's at now.

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It is MEGA rough. But I think we can save it. Going to need a few harder to find parts- front end, muffler, rims, maybe a gas tank.

Not going to restore it. A 6 yr old will be thrashing on this one, just like his older brothers did on theres. They got them for Christmas 12 years ago. https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/hope-my-boys-like-second-hand-junk-for-christmas.646877/

Stay tuned for more. Planning a whole YouTube video series on this one! Goal is to have it done by August 10.

Think I can do it?!

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