Just a short 25 degree ride.





See you in the spring.

When we last left you, the carb for the Cub was in sorry condition. The main jet was basically cemented in place by however many years, decades of gas varnish and whatever other chemical carburetor gremlins that were conspiring against me.

I had left the extraction of the jet up to a co-worker since he was sure he could do it. I got too antsy and reclaimed it from him before he had gotten a chance to 1: fix it, or 2: throw in the towel in disgust. I think he may have been closer to 2.

He had gotten to the point of drilling out the jet pretty close to the threads in the carb body and had intended on trying to pry out the remaining material. This is where I came in. Try as I might, I could not get even the smallest piece of brass to pull away from those precious threads. I gave up pretty fast with what he had left me, and drilled it out even more. The jet remains still wouldn't budge and it was time for another approach.

I did have an idea to try simply run a tap through the jet carcass, but with a thread gauge vs the new main jet that I had, it was discovered the pitch didn't match any normal metric pitch. I did a little research and it turns out that in the 60's the Japanese used a different pitch for some bolt sizes. This was known as JIS. I went to several hardware stores and automotive parts stores and inquired about JIS pitch taps. They looked at me like I was an alien.

I did a little more research and I finally found a chart on a vintage Honda website showing exactly what pitch I needed. At the hardware store I figured out that the main jet has the same size threads as a M5 bolt. Through this magical online chart I found that indeed the M5 bolt was one of the bolt sizes where the Japanese standard differed from the modern metric standard.

Hold onto your seats, because this is all what you've been waiting for....wait for it...the modern standard metric pitch for M5 bolts is .8, the discontinued in the 1960s JIS pitch for an M5 bolt is .9!

I thought finding a tap for a standard not used for almost 50 years on the other side of the world was going to be tough. Turns out you can wander over to your local Sears, and walk out with a metric tap set containing this wondrous obscure tap.


Ta-da! You can see that the remains of the old jet were glued into the threads so well by whatever dark arts were at hand, that the some of the old jet ended up being the threads for the new jet. Is that similar to reincarnation? Cannibalism? Incest?

I could then finally install the rest of this rebuild kit. Happy day.

Here we have the intake half of the carb wearing all new shiny accessories. Looking great! You see how the carb body is a weird shade of light gray and looking pitted? The CLR did that. The CLR wasn't a good idea. Or maybe just leaving it soaking over a weekend was a bit excessive.

With everything on the intake half taken care of, I threw the new needle into the float. Those E-clips are a bitch.

After swearing at that stupid retainer (top left) that holds the slide needle in place for quite some time, I realized I didn't mind those E-clips that much after all.

With the carb back in place, it was again time for the moment of truth. Thankfully the bike started quite easily, probably on the third kick or so. Double thankfully it now can idle! Without even have to mess with the idle or mixture screws the Cub happily sat there idling away. What a nice gesture from that lil' guy.

But all was not well.

Somehow the brand new front tire had magically gone flat while the Cub was sitting there waiting to be reunited with its carb. The chances for a test ride weren't looking so good. Thankfully with a little help from the trusty bike pump, the tire held air well enough to ride.

So as we stand the bike idles ok. Occasionally it will die, but I'm sure that can easily be fixed. 25% to 60% throttle seems kind of boggy and rough. I'm thinking moving the slide needle may help with this. 60% - 100% throttle is great. The Cub rips when you're giving it lots of gas with no complaints.

Almost street worthy! These things need to be done to get it fully there:
-Fix front tire.
-Get headlight and taillight going.
-Maybe try to figure out what's up with the speedometer. It acts like it wants to work some of the time, but other times does nothing at all. Obviously not required to ride, but I do enjoy monitoring my current speeds while riding.

Third gear remains mysterious. I hope to find it someday.

What a beautiful fall day. After trying to figure out the gas overflow problem (which I didn't figure out), Josh and I went for a nice little ride down by the lake.



The Cub was running like a champ. As was the Tomos. After the ride I decided to do some minor adjustments when Josh came to the garage and noticed my throttle was not working as it should. So for the second time today, I took the carb off to check to see if the slide was moving freely and to make sure the spring was doing its job. I noticed the slide didn't want to slide, so I took it apart and sanded it down a bit to give it more room in the carb which worked nicely. I started to put it all back together to take it for a test ride. Then this happened:



The bolt that holds the carb to the intake snapped like a twig. Instant bummer. No test ride and worse than that, now I have to waste time and money taking it somewhere to have the rest of the bolt drilled out.

I guess when dealing with machines that are 40+ years old, you have to expect anything.

Lesson learned.

I haven't been keeping a pictorial history of the progress I have been making, but it has been quite easy compared to what Josh is going through with his Cub right now. Nothing could be more frustrating than trying to fix an outdated machine without parts available in our country. I've been trying to help him in his search for the elusive C100 carb (that seems to be harder to locate than the lost ark of the covenant), but not much luck besides a beat up looking used one on eBay and a few "almost right" matches in Thailand. I wish him luck and really hope to one day see that bike in a proper running order.

Since I last updated I made some real progress with the CM91. I fixed the leak on the carb, removed a baffle from the muffler, replaced a leaky gas line, worked a bit to make the throttle turn smoothly, changed the bulbs on the headlight and taillight, gave it another oil change and cleaned it up.

The bike is running great now. It really hauls. I don't exactly know what I did to make it start and idle, but it's a first kick start and it doesn't die when I slow down anymore. I think it had something to do with that baffle I removed as it was filthy and clogged. But who knows. Here's some pictures.







It cleaned up real nice. Things left to do:
Figure out why it pukes gas out of the bowl overflow drain after I ride it (needs a new needle? stuck float?).
Get it shifting smoothly.
New rear shocks.
Get it registered.
Ride until snowfall.



Best friends forever.

I don't have much to report in progress towards getting the Cub running. The carb is still in sort of a purgatory, we are not sure if the jet will be able to be removed yet or not. Currently it is drilled out as close to the threads as can be, next step will be trying to pry out the bits of jet that remain. They seem to literally be glued into place and are very hard to remove. Hopefully by tomorrow I will know if it will be a go or not.

While my project hasn't made much progress, Tim's and Risser's have.



Bros and rad times. That's what it's all about.

Hopefully Tim will soon chime in with the details of his Cub's current statistics.

This is my 1979 Tomos Bullet, the first moped to come into my life. It has been a very, very tumultuous relationship. I'm not going to get into that now. Thankfully, and unusually the current unhappiness was an easy one to remedy.

What's that green wire for? Why is it hooked up to nothing? There's a lot of mysteries in this world. It was not meant for us to know all of the answers. At least I have a working headlight bulb again. It is supposed to be a 6v bulb, but of course stores only have 12v ones. Seems to work a-ok.

In preparation of receiving the carb rebuild kit, I set about removing the final jet from the carb. I had left it alone thus far because I didn't have a small enough screw driver to get at it. I picked up the necessary screw driver and went for it. The jet wouldn't budge.

The carb had been soaked in carb cleaner so I thought it should be relatively free. Just to be sure, I threw it in the oven for awhile. I gave it a really good go and the screwdriver slot stripped out like it was nothing. Brass is quite soft, and my screwdriver too sharp for the slot. At this point I felt like I had nothing to lose so I just went for it without being careful. I do not possess that virtue known as patience.

I never claimed I was very smart.

I talked to the guy at my work that keeps all the huge manufacturing machinery running. He said he could get it out for sure, no problem. He drilled a bigger hole in it and tried a screw extractor. The extractor gave away before it would turn. He then clamped it down and put it in a vice for better leverage and heated it up with a blow torch for a bit. Still would not give.

I thought about it for awhile and remembered the calcium like deposits that were on the other jets and figured they might have an extra strong hold on such a long jet with so much surface area. Almost like some cement gluing it in there. For now, the whole thing is soaking in CLR over the weekend. Monday we'll try again.

Cross your fingers, we're running out of options here.

I didn't know the first thing about engines of any kind besides what is needed to know (runs on gas, needs oil, etc), but since purchasing my first scooter in April, the information has been forced fed to me like broccoli to a 4 year old. Josh has been a great help as he likes to research and solve the problems his bikes have, while I would much sooner call a mechanic to lay my problems on. He has shown me, however, that these machines are real simple and a breeze to work on (if you have the right tools).

I will start off by introducing my bikes and then we will get into the fun stuff.



This is the bike I purchased on a whim last April. A 1982 C70 Passport. I've known that I wanted a Passport for a long time, but never found the right one. The guy that sold it to me re-built it for his wife to ride, but she wanted nothing to do with it. Got it for a paltry sum and it needed no work. He rebuilt the top end and it runs great. Had a couple of issues with the petcock and fuel lines, but nothing serious. This is my commuter. I ride it as my main source of transportation and fill up the one gallon tank about every 3 weeks. It has also sparked my obsession for Hondas. Since April, I have had in my possession; a '77 Express, a '78 PA50I Hobbit, a '64 C100 Cub and my current project: a 1967 Honda CM91.



Found this bike while cruising through a alley. Looked into the back of a car alarm install type place and saw it leaning up against the wall, covered in dust. I ran in and the owner of the business was less than amused. That is, until I offered to buy it from him. He was firm on the price which was a bit steep, but I had to have it. Went back the next day to inspect it a bit closer and took it for a short ride. For it's age it's real clean. Needs a bit of tlc cosmetically, but I will get into all that later. For now, getting it to run properly is my main focus.



Which brings us to this. When I checked the bike out, I noticed it had a minor gas leak when the petcock was set to reserve. Didn't think much of it as I placed the blame on a worn o ring and planned to re-build the carb anyway. After removing the carb, I discovered it wasn't going to be that simple. Somehow the previous owner stripped out the threads on the hole where the reserve cover is bolted to. This isn't a easy fix and will probably need to replace the entire bottom half of the carburetor. I'm going to try to have it tapped first to avoid the purchase, but I think I would be better off just replacing it (if i can find the part).



Here you can see where someone got real excited about over tightening the cap that covers this. Not cool.

Hopefully fixing the carb will solve the problem of the weight baring issue that Josh spoke of in one of his earlier posts. I just want to take her out for a ride before old man winter says I can't.

The history of the Columbia Commuter is shrouded in mystery. Where Eric dug this beast up, I'm not quite sure of, but I do know that it looks similar to some sort of WW2 Army relic and it sat in a backyard for many years. Olive green, very rusty, and non running was the Commuter's status upon receipt. I'm not quite sure on the details, but I think all it took to get it going again was a good carb cleaning.

The Commuter definitely has its foibles. As you can see in the above photograph, it appears the baffle on the pipe appears to be some sort of pepper shaker. It fell off soon after this photo was taken. The pipe itself also likes to occasionally liberate itself from the engine proper. Needless to say, you can hear the Commuter's approach from blocks away.

However exciting the spontaneously detaching pipe is, it is not my favorite feature of this moped. Actually my favorite feature is the missing screw which is meant to fill the hole where you check and pour in transmission fluid. This is not a small hole, this hole is at least 1/2" in diameter, if not more. If you happen to tip the bike more than say, two degrees to the left, your shoe will get a nice shower of bright red ATF. Many city streets and sidewalks have been marred by the ever spilling red puke pouring forth from the transmission's ever agape maw.

Even with these handicaps, the Commuter actually runs quite well. Seems to me that it is actually the most reliable member of Eric's arsenal and the one he most often makes appearances with. I'd attribute the bikes endurance to Eric's constant and efficient reattaching of the pipe and topping off the ever spilling transmission fluid. Also to the impeccable engineering of the German-made Sachs engine. Or perhaps dumb luck.

With the positives have to come the negatives, and my least favorite aspect of the Commuter is the blurred line of who actually owns it. While it is in Eric's arsenal his friend apparently is the true owner. This means I don't get to spend enough quality time with it, and that is quite heart wrenching.

Commuter fun fact: "Columbia mopeds were the only mopeds ever assembled inside the U.S., even though the parts and motor were not made there. " Source

I decided how dumb trying to wrestle with these old, crusty, possibly 45 year old carb parts really is. I wised up and ordered a carb rebuild kit. Perhaps this will help remedy the idle situation.

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