1978 Honda Hobbit Resurrected

[Redneck]

Had a 1978 Honda Hobbit given to me that had been setting for around 20 years. Pretty good shape, complete minus the air filter box (which I cannot locate online thus far) , 2500 miles, had "carb issues" when parked, and definitely had them now.

So... Bought a new plug, drained the remaining rotten gas... Filled up, petcock leaking / junk , fuel line hard as a rock and cracked. Discarded petcock, attached new fuel line directly to tank with a fuel filter inline.

Won't run unless I pour gas directly into carb.

Split moped in half to get at carb. Remove and dismantle carb. Full of gunk, crystallized gunk, and rust. Got it mostly cleaned up, idle circuit plugged. Drilled out brass ball sealing the bottom to access the port to clean it with a torch tip cleaner. Resealed with a lead shaving from a tire weight, hammer and punch ...Lol.

Put it all back together, pedaled it not 2 revolutions and fired right up. Idled fine, took for a ride, getting too much fuel .

Dismantled again, re-cleaned, checked out, found nothing, reassembled.

Still getting too much fuel at top end.

Dismantled everything again, concluded the main jet (stock size 78 ) had been apparently cleaned / reemed out and was bigger. Looked online but couldn't find any jets, but did find BRAND NEW COMPLETE carb for $25.95 with free shipping !!!! (my luck, wish I would've looked 12 hours prior !!)

Stopped at a local tractor shop who their kids race go karts. Found 2 spare jets in a parts drawer, one stamped 70, the other unstamped but slightly bigger than a 70 yet smaller than the reemed out stock 78.
So I put it in.

Mixed up some fresh gas 25:1 with Klotz, half a pedal fired right up !
Purrs....runs like a sewing machine and if speedo is correct holds at 27 mph, and 20 mph uphill with my 205 lbs on it !

Bought new belt, plug, fuel filter, gas line, 2 cans carb cleaner - I'm in it for around $40 and approx. 24 hours "spare" time at night.

Pretty cool machine , especially for FREE !

[MICRider]

Some pics of this bike would be really cool, I've never heard of a Honda Hobbit?

[Redneck]

Originally Posted by MICRider

Some pics of this bike would be really cool, I've never heard of a Honda Hobbit?

How can I post pics?

My only access is this iPhone .... So..?

It's a Honda Hobbit Model PA50-II Moped.

[Weldangrind]

Excellent investment! I had a Vespa moped back in the early 80's, and I rode the wheels off of it. Good silly fun.

You should be able to upload your iPhone pics to photobucket.com, and then link them back here.

Did you get the title with your Hobbit?

[pete]

Honda Hobbit = PA50

[Weldangrind]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_PA50

[Redneck]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Excellent investment! I had a Vespa moped back in the early 80's, and I rode the wheels off of it. Good silly fun.

You should be able to upload your iPhone pics to photobucket.com, and then link them back here.

Did you get the title with your Hobbit?

I'll try that later with photobucket, thanks.

No title.

Here you don't need anything to ride it on the road, no plates, license, etc... So I didn't really need a title as far as all that's concerned.

[Redneck]

Originally Posted by pete

Honda Hobbit = PA50

Actually mine is the PA50-II.

Not sure what all the differences are, most likely very minute.

The main carb jet obviously was one of the differences.

[Weldangrind]

It might be fun to ditch the existing pedals and motor assembly, and figure out how to swap a 125 pit bike motor in. That's the redneck in me coming out.

[FastDoc]

Good idea Weld. That would make it like a Sachs MadAss. :P

I had to Google 'Hobbit' but I was familiar with it under it's PA50 acronym.

[MICRider]

Ah, got it! I didn't realize it was a moped... I saw Hobbit and thought Lord of the Rings . I have to say, the mopeds have always fascinated me but I've never owned/ridden one... I think they would be the hot ticket around town, dynamite mileage and less work than pedaling :wink:

My precious... My precious...

[Weldangrind]

Yeah, they're precious until you come to a hill. Start pedalling.

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Yeah, they're precious until you come to a hill. Start pedalling.

Voice of experience my friend?

[katoranger]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Yeah, they're precious until you come to a hill. Start pedalling.

I would work great for me then. Pretty much no hills in town.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by MICRider

Voice of experience my friend?

Yep. Did 7500km on one in two Edmonton summers. As long as I stayed out of the river valley, I was ok. Heaven help me if the wind picked up.

Redneck, now that you've had the Hobbit running for a couple of days, what's your plan with it?