C90Club.co.uk

Hi all,

We've had a 1974 Chaly in our family since the last 70's and I've recently come to the decision to do a full nut and bolt restoration on it.

The bike is complete Having been last ridden in 1994 but laid up since then.

Are there any specialists on here that may be able to give me some pointers as I progress? The resto will be done in parts and will be put onto my Youtube channel as progress is gained. We're under no particular schedule but would really like to get it done before the end of the year.

Any advice on parts suppliers for OEM stuff would be helpful if anyone has any links. The bike is Candy blue in colour and the first think I've noticed (apart from the chromework corrosiob) is that the headlamp unit is cracked in several places - finding an original one of those appears to be an impossible task, even trying online Japanese parts website. Oh, and a carburettor overhaul kit - do they exist?

All the best
Dean.

Hi and welcome to the club , we like all small Hondas .When you say the headlight is cracked which bit do you mean ? CSMNL list most parts though not all OE , get part njumbers from their site and check David Silvers and Google to see if it available elsewhere , CSMNL postage is very high and if you go over £135 you get hit with import duty as well . Paint should be available through RS Paints .

Oh and put 74 Chaly with a rough location in your details

Hi,

Apologies for the lack of detail. I'm located near Bedford, and it's a 1974 model, Reg: VAR 195M.

It has approximately 5400 miles on the clock so I'm wondering if a full engine/transmission strip is required. Does anyone know if the head is suitable with Unleaded fuel? From my very limited knowledge of early Jap bikes I know they'd adopted unleaded in 1972, years before we did.

The plastic nascelle/headlight unit containing the speedo is the part thats broken. I've found replica units via David Silver and others but was trying to keep it as original as possible. I guess I'll have to concede on a few parts if they're now obsolete.

Cheers
Dean

You could always try a car body shop, they weld plastic bumpers all day long...would need a coat of ( thin ) filler after thou. Ask how i know these things, go on

For the headlight shell its the same as the 6v ST70 Dax.
I have the later 12v 3 spoke wheel model.

steve g

Good luck with your restoration. I’m new to this forum and also live near Bedford UK (Cranfield). My recently acquired (purchased partially dismantled three weeks ago, now back together) Chaly is a 1982 12v automatic version, not for the **** but I like it. I think availability of spares for the 6v isn’t too bad as it was definitely more popular than the later 12v model. Shire Bikes seem to be good, but constant monitoring of eBay is essential if you want original. There is a carburettor specialist in Leighton Buzzard they may be able to help https://www.carburetterexchange.co.uk/. So good luck and will hopefully see you dodging the local potholes with those small wheels soon.

Ah good to know there's someone local to me Clophill) going through a similar situation.

Looking at the headlamp unit, I think it's too far gone for it to be reliably repaired (I understand these were before the era of UV resistant plastics so if I did get it repaired it might go somewhere else anyway), and I think OEM is a nigh impossible task. I also took a look on a host of Japanese websites and still drew a blank even looking as Dax bits.

Also wondering if it's worth getting the original exhaust rechromed. I'm not sure if the later aftermarket ones have the exact same fitmant (will need to check on that). I think David Silver may be getting some orders from me pretty soon!

Thanks for the lead on Shire Bikes and the Carb refurbisher!

The resto will be for our Youtube Channel and will likely be in 20 or so parts depending on how the timings go. We have a local bodyshop on hand to do all of our media blasting powder coating and repainting and so we hope to get something at the end as near to showroom as we can make it.

After it's done the plan is to not ride it (apart from testing), but to sell it on and invest the cash into something else for the channel (damaged Porsche 911 is a likely candidate!).

Dean