Bringing back my '97 Z50R

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Crackle_Smackle

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Was helping my father clean out their old house about a year or two ago, and guess what was still sitting in the shed? My '97 Z50R. It hadn't run in maybe several years, I couldn't even remember. I had so much fun on that little thing growing up, it brought back a lot of memories. Sadly, at the time I found it I had to move out of state and didn't get to see it again for another two years. We got it running, but roughly. Just needed new gas and the carb cleaned at the time.

A few days ago, though, I moved back nearby and finally got reunited with the little thing. It's mostly all there, the fenders are a little rough but I think I can maybe sand the plastic down and smooth it out some. The engine honestly deserves a rebuild, or at least some new rings for the piston. It's at least gotta have 200 hours or something on it I'm sure. You can turn the engine over with your pinkie finger on the flywheel aha.

I've got some plans in mind for it in the future I think. Maybe a Lifan 125 swap? Though keeping the 50 might be neat. Maybe an 88cc kit. Thinking of swapping the swing arm with one from a CT70, though I'm not sure what'd work well for the forks.

I'll try and post pics as soon as I get the chance!
 
Post some pics. With the plastics, i scrape and deep gouges out with a razor blade (hold the blade at 90° to the surface and take off thin shavings) then rub the surface with sandpaper, you're not trying to get a smooth finish with the sandpaper, more like a fuzzy tennis ball finish. Then with a heat gun on low, not too close and constantly moving you want to get the fuzzy plastic on the surface to just melt and go flat, you end up with a flat shiny surface if done right. Ct70 swingarm wont fit at all, you can use an xr75/xr80 , sl70, xl70, they end up about 10cm longer than stock. As for front end, its just like a crf50, longer fork legs, hd springs are the easiest option. If it were me, get her running then see if you wanna go big on suspension, even with a 125 stockers are fun, the longer the swingarm, the harder it will be to pop the front wheel, if its a play bike that may not be what you want. If she runs ok now, with a cheap 88 bore kit and a decent pair of rear shocks , you'd be surprised how much fun you can have. Heres my 87 with cheap shocks, snow hog tyre and i haven't even bothered putting on the bore kit i bought 6 months ago and everyone who rides it loves itapril motodevo_zpsaofq1amf.jpg
 
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Oh I'm a goof, not sure why I was thinking of a Ct70 swingarm. Was thinking of an xl70 swingarm I think. Anyhow, I took a few pics of it today. Someone had hydro-dipped the front fender this carbon fiber sorta stuff but it's peeling because the plastics are all chipped up. Also had eBay special rear shock absorbers thrown own but I kinda like the stance they give the bike, I think I might keep them on. Some of the other bits missing on the bike were taken off but I have them all in the trunk of my car, I'll get around to posting pics of them soon. Might make a separate thread for building up this little bike while I'm at it.

Crackle_Smackle's 1997 Honda Z50R - 8/18/2017 - Album on Imgur (pics) <---
 
Looks cool, clean up the plastics and a bit of vinyl on the seat, maybe a set of snow hog tyres and I'd rock that as is. Late Rs are sweet
 
Looks cool! I'm a Fan of the z50r models hey
 
Thanks! This will be a fun little project, it's been sitting around for too long and I know it's just dying to hit some trails.

Was thinking the same thing, too, I've seen those snow hog tires on a couple of Z's before and they looked rad. While I'm at it with the wheels and tires, I'll try and clean up the surface rust on the rear and paint the front wheel white to match. Or maybe a bronze-gold? They'd look nice with a white/red color scheme, honestly.
 

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