What if my gas tank is rusty? How to seal and coat a fuel tank!

 So... Don't ever take your hand off the funnel when pouring tank liner in...

SUPER common problem when working on old motorcycles- the tank is rusty, has pinholes, or it's just filthy dirty. RED KOTE to the rescue! I've used this stuff several times with great success.

You can find Red Kote here: https://ebay.us/LPRnEx

How to buy parts for a project mini bike! Amazon and Ebay to the rescue!

 Have you ever struggled to find parts for a project?  I'm going to let you in on a few secrets...

Be sure to subscribe to my channel!

DIY Seat Cover for a Vintage Dirtbike! Don't tell my wife...

 I might have snuck my wife's sewing machine down to the workshop for this one...

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DIY Minibike Frame Restoration in Action!

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

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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.

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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.









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

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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.

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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:








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





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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Remember me?

 Hey!  Yeah, I'm still alive.  Been an interesting few years.  To add to the last post... 5 years ago...  

Remember the cancer?  Well it's in remission.  Stage IV melanoma, a liver full of tumors, a few large growths in a few other places.  Gone.  All of it, all gone.  

Shortly after my last post, my wife at the time decided that since I was dyin' it was as good a time as any, and left me with my 3 boys.  So I spent the last 5 years as a single dad, raising 2 teenagers and a toddler, while recovering from something that should have killed me.  

It didn't.  Kill me, that is.  And supposedly, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger?  Not sure how I feel about that, but I've learned a lot the last few years.  I've been brought to my knees, and been picked up again.  I've experienced miracles- the most recent of which was re-gaining access to this blog!!!  What a fight that was.  

Lot's of new things going on, can't wait to tell you all about them!!!

STAY TUNED!  Setting a goal right now to make posting here happen at least once a week.  

And, a little teaser of what I've been working on the last few months:

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February Riding.

So with the Presidents Day long weekend and the SUPER nice weather we had, I was able to get out and do some yard work, till up the flower bed, AND!!! Dig the bike out of its winter cocoon. Got the plates renewed on Tuesday, and rode it to school Weds, Thurs, and Fri. Weds was super cold but doable. Thurs and Fri were great- but of course I look out my window Friday afternoon and see this...


d
Didn't last long or stick, but sheesh.  60 degree temps in February?!  Then it drops back down to the mid teens.  Dang tulips don't know what to do- noticed today that they are poking up already.

Side note- Son 1 is now playing the trombone and rides home with me after school... So I'm sure that makes for an interesting sight as we go through town with the 'Bone strapped on the rack and us with our backpacks and coats on, in February.  Did I mention its only February and we are RIDING!?  ;)

How to keep a 10 yr. old busy for hours...

Drag home an old pile of junk, park it in front of the garage, and wait for said boy to wander by.

d
Scrounged up this bike with the intent to have my students play with it, but son-one took an interest in it- spent an hour trying to "get it started".  When I finished mowing the lawn we had a quick lesson in troubleshooting- checked spark, compression, and squirted some gas down the carb and by golly it popped.

Did a little more work and got it running half decent and had a short lesson on clutches. He only killed it once (keep in mind, its a TL and 1st gear tops out at something like 3/4ths of a mile an hour...).



He road it down the street, turned it around, and stopped and started a few times in the process. Its a little tall and plenty too heavy for him, and he said he was done after that one pass. Once we start changing gears so he can go faster, he might like it more. Next issues to address- leaking petcock, bent gear shifter, and busted brake lever.  We also discovered that the swingarm slopped around like it was connected with a rubber bolt.  Found a used one on ebay, gave it to him, and turned him loose.

He's had very minimal help from me. Helped him crack a few bolts loose that were too tight and showed him some nuts he forgot to take off, but he's figuring it out mostly by himself.  The swingarm fixed our wobble issues-

Now time to keep DAD busy for hours!!!





























Still have to do some finish work up- inside still needs a redkote. New petcock on the way. Trying to decide if this should be a Christmas present or if I should ride it...

__________________

Airing out the Z50's...

Man, I have got to do this more often.  The boys have been driving me batty asking if they could do this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or that.  Time to get them OUT OF THE HOUSE.  They finally asked, very half-heartedly because they knew the answer was going to be no-  "Can we get the dirt bikes out?".  SURE! 

Trusty old Honda's fired right up and away they went.  I could tell they were going to get bored with the standard loop down the road so I let them add a 'round the house loop.


Didn't take long until they were bending the last corner pretty hard so they could hit the "jump".







Yeee-HAW!







Oooopss... Little TOO fast on that corner with the wet grass.



Who knew? The front fender of a Z50 can be used as a plow in a pinch.



He got back on his horse though.





Might have to load 'em up and head to the Rose pond again. That was a lot of fun too!