Honda NC50: Restoration and rebuild

 Turning my attention to the rear wheel- I removed the mudguard (cracked and needs a plastic repair) and exhaust.  Rear mudguard and exhaust removed Removing the rear wheel is a case of removing the split pin and undoing the nut- can be tight- this one wasn't. Remove split pin and castellated nut and washer The rear wheel then just pulls off to the left after the brakes have been slackened- if necessary. Removing the wheel showed the brake linings were contaminated and dirty. The inside of the hub was also oily with corrosion around the surfaces. This was removed and cleaned and the "brake mounting surface" also cleaned.       I don't think the brake shoes are salvageable, but the springs can be reused. Lift the shoes into a "V" shape to remove. Cleaned up brake mounting surface- no sign of leaking here and bearing looks in good condition. This raises the question of where all this oily stuff has come from - the obvious place being a damaged drive shaft oil...

I was disappointed to find that the front wheel was very stiff to rotate and the bearings clearly needed attention. I took some pics left and right before removing- note spacer and castellated nut on rhs. Castellated nut on the lhs of the front wheel. Split pin to secure Rhs of front wheel I removed the crosshead screw and slipped the speedo cable out. The brake adjuster was slackened and the cable detached. Brake and speedo cables detached Stripping was quite straight forward-  Disconnect the brake and speedo cables, then remove the split pin and castellated nut. Finally  tap the spindle out towards the left- catching the spacer as it drops free. Lift out the brake plate and speedo drive unit complete with brake shoes to reveal the bearing. Remove the oil seal from the hub on the lhs. Usually I would tap the bearing out from the opposite side, but in this case there was no obvious ridge to tap on so I used a blind be...

The Ballast Resistor  I have already started to reconnect the electrics on this orange bike. This process was very similar to that on the blue bike. However I needed to make a new retainer for the front basket carrier which carries the front indicators and headlight. I also needed to refit the rear indicator bar (including ballast resistor) which holds the rear indicators, as well as the number-plate holder which carries the rear tail light/brake light combination. I also changed the ignition switch and fitted a new battery (AGM type). The wiring seems to be functional for both parking brake lights and indicators.   The ballast resistor was missing from the rear indicator bar and although I had acquired a spare, it didn't look to be in good condition; the wiring insulation had broken and the ceramic  insulator was cracked. I measured the resistance and found values of 1-10Mega ohms - far too high as the cited value is only 3 ohms! New resistors are a silly price, so ...

Carburettor The carb on this bike is a PA11- it is similar, but not identical, to that on the blue bike which was a PA25. In particular it seems to be a more primitive design. The throttle needle jet isn't removeable and the float needle seat is coarsely moulded into the carb body- there's no brass insert. The Chinese replacement looks a much better engineered alternative with pressed-in brass jets and seats. However, that carb doesn't have the self-mix option for 2-stroke oil and so has to be run on pre-mix. It may come to that, but I would like to use the self mixing facility if it works so in the meantime I'll try to fix the original carb. There are a few differences in the connections to the carb where the junction unions look more complex with cubic facets and the oil pump connection to the throttle cable is now contained in a separate trapezoidally-shaped junction box. I photographed the hose connections before easing them off with a screwdriver. Carb connections-...