Honda MBX80, project 2

So… I have gone and bought myself another MBX80, I hear you ask ‘why another MBX80?’, I’ll counter that with ‘Why not!’

Seriously though, I have been on the lookout for another project to work on after my bike is finished and in the end the list got very small, with the main contenders were a Honda NS125F or R, Honda MB-8 and a Rothmans MBX80. Either bike would of fitted the bill although I was leaning towards the MB8 for cost reasons, then I was reminded of a MBX80 that was for sale from Jay Hancock who is a fellow moderator on the Facebook M Club, so the deal was done and the bike was collected.

So the next question is what do I do with the restoration of bike 2?

Partly inspired by Dean Gorfin’s parts special I think this is the direction of this machine. Actually a lot of the cost of a restoration is chasing that factory or showroom finish so bike 2 will not be pushed down this direction. It is possible to make a great restoration with a great finish but not factory, so things like stainless bolts, braided brake lines and powdercoated parts. Also as one of the bikes on my list was a Rothmans this is going to be the colour of this bike.

paint job inspiration 

UPDATE: After a change of plans I have now sold this bike, so this project wont go ahead. However there will still be a second bike project that I will share, just not this one, stay tuned!

My bike: Restoration update, the middle of the bike!

This week’s restoration update was to fit the Oil reservoir, coolent reservoir, airbox and battery box.

The oil reservoir fits very snuggly inside the frame and to get it in required the removal of the inner mudguard and the top shock bolt. With these removed I could lift the back end of the bike up to make the gap between the rear tyre and the frame larger and get the oil tank in to the frame via this gap. Once the tank was in I could re-fit the top shock bolt and then the rear mudguard which the oil tank bolts to it.

Next in was the air box, first connect the airbox to the carb and then bolt the air box to the frame. On the other side the battery box can go in with the coolent reservoir bolting to the bottom battery box mount. The oil res was then plumbed in to the oil pump and the coolent res water pipe routed roughly where it had to go.

Next the rear indicator mounts were de-greased, sanded, painted with primer and satin black paint.

Next job I fitted the rear cowling and checked alignment of the rear light in the bodywork, and its all looking good.

Lastly I stripped and straightened the front indicator stay, unfortunately one side has a broken tab. This part although cheap is a no longer available item, so it is going to a friend of mine who will fabricated a new tab and weld it on.

My bike, getting the loom on part 1

This weeks restoration update started with offering up the wiring loom to the bike, and to be honest I wasn’t looking forward to anything to do with the loom!

Ok, so using the workshop manual you can carefully trace the route of the loom, so starting at the mid-point for the indicator relay/ rectifier and connected the wires that directly plum in to the motor I worked backwards to the rear light. Once I had the loom in place I re-fitted the rear light assembly and connected the wires to the loom. Next I re-fitted both the rear mudguard parts and bolted on the CDI, Rectifier and Indicator relay.

The next job is to get the oil and coolant reservoir, batter box and air box in place, so these all came to work for a scrub in the parts washer.

Tip: The owner’s manual doesn’t tell you how to do jobs like ‘fit the rear mudguard’ so its supper handy to also have the exploded parts diagram handy so you can see which part goes where and with what bolt.