Enter The Carrot

[TominMO]

With apologies to Mr. Lee.

Picked this up today. Some of the parts in the pics are just sitting on there, as I had to take 'em off to fit it into my mini-soccer mom SUV. It's a little rough, but mostly there except for a couple of small things.

A 1972 Honda CT90. Gonna try to charge up the 6V battery it came with tomorrow, to see if I can get it to start on starting fluid. Compression is good. Only 2400 miles on it. Also will disassemble the carb tmw and see how it looks in there. I got it home around noon and starting taking stuff off. No bolts broke. Good old Honda steel!

I do not have the mounting strap for the spare gas can, the brake arm that bolts to the rear brake plate, or the right side cover. The seller might still find it in his garage though. Gas tank and exhaust are good. Cat in pic 1 is saying WTH is he up to now?

On Dec. 28th I will be picking up The Tomato from the same seller. A '69 CT90, in much better condition.

Edit: Link to build thread for The Tomahto. https://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=32065

[herbie]

Awesome find, those are great bikes to play around on.

[TominMO]

Trying to figure out why I am not getting any spark. Key on, battery @ 6.6 volts and looks properly hooked up, brand new correct NGK spark plug. Somehow spark is not making it to the plug wire. Carb is off, and I was using starting fluid down the intake manifold. Nuthin. Points system BTW.

In all the YT videos I have seen, the Will it Run? types, they always get them running. So after I was finished sobbing, bargaining with God, etc etc, it occurred to me to hit up the collective brain trust here. I've also dug around in the wiring harness and cannot see any wire breaks, no mouse chewing, etc. All looks intact.

[cheesy]

Kill switch grounded out?

[TominMO]

Originally Posted by cheesy

Kill switch grounded out?

Doh! Didn't even think of a kill switch. Not even sure it has one.

Just checked. No kill switch on either grip. Horn and turn on left, light switch on right. In 1972 you could actually turn off your headlight. Also there are not actually any turn signals; came that way. IIRC they were required in 1974ish.

[JerryHawk250]

More than likely the condenser for the points has gone bad. See if you can find a replacement. I've used the condenser for Briggs and Stratton on my old Honda 200x.

[cheesy]

If you haven't got them yet.
http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/WiringDiag...T90(early).jpg
http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/WiringDiagrams/CT90.jpg

So no kill switch. Other problem areas can be the points, condenser, coil, or the neutral switch. I'd start by disconnecting the neutral switch. If no love, then break out the multimeter.

[TominMO]

Thanks Jerry and Senor Queso. Will look into it tmw.

[TominMO]

Reproduction CT90 coil, condenser and points are all available on Amazon and are quite reasonable.

[TominMO]

Well, I've taken The Carrot mostly apart just to see what I bought. Since The Tomato will be in much better shape when I get it, that will be my on-road CT90, pretty much completely stock. Now for The Carrot, I am planning a complete offroad-only build with a Lifan 140cc motor kit (see below). Paint will change from orange to camo colors.

https://www.amazon.com/WPHMOTO-4-Str...s%2C101&sr=8-5

No lights, no battery, kick only. Full knobbies. Rebuild forks, put better shocks on back. Might upgrade the front end with a Chinese wheel/disk brake setup. All good parts taken off The Carrot will be spares for The Tomato. First I will just get The Carrot running with the stock engine, which will also become a Tomato spare.

Adding this thread for reference: https://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=31673

[TominMO]

Made some progress today. What I have come to realize is that this bike never had any maintenance and was stored outside. Also probably not ridden for years, I'm thinking. This bike was owned by the brother of the guy I bought both bikes from, Walter. Walter is a gearhead, so the red one is good. Lived in a garage too. (The bike, not Walter.) He inherited The Carrot when his brother passed away.

Anyway, making progress on the build. Drained the forks. Left was empty, right had just a little. Making long list of basic parts to get and in some cases upgrade (sealed wheel bearings, steering stem roller bearings). Both brake pivot arms frozen due to long lack of use. The high/low range selector was also sludged up and barely budged. Went into the sub-transmission and freed that up too. Pretty easy actually. Never been inside a transmission before. Or for that matter, messed with forks. Did some YT research.

The forks were resisting my efforts to come out, so after a brief struggle I decided at 1:30 to declare victory, peace with honor and a lunch break.

[2LZ]

One of these would be fun. Out here they average $2500.00 on CL or FB Marketplace for a decent runner. Not sure in your neck of the woods. One other concern is it hauling my 240 pound lard ass around our hills.

[TominMO]

I paid $2200 for both. Clearly The Carrot is not worth half that, so I figure I paid $1500 for The Tomato and $700 for The Carrot. For my money I get a nice project and a good runner, so that'll do.

[TominMO]

Got the forks off, and removed the triple tree as well. To get the forks out, I used Liquid Wrench penetrant last night and let it sit. A plastic hammer did part of the job on one, and I finished the job with a block of scrap wood and a 3 lb hammer. And that was the easier one. Recovered 39 of the ball bearings from the steering stem; one made a bold and successful escape attempt. As a matter of pride, I looked for it for awhile with flashlight and magnet, but no. I figure it has already hopped a freight train to Cincinnati by now. I saved the other 39 in a ziplock sandwich bag, because you never know. But the steering head is getting roller bearings anyway, so no biggy.

Pic of the forks, one with an initial cleaning so it wasn't gross to work on. Both are cleaned up now. Haven't gotten either of them separated yet. Probably more corrosion. The boots look really good, but I might have to slit one or both to see what the issue is in there. Replacements are no problem. I have a lot of work to do to remove all that corrosion up around the pinch bolts; that was why they were so hard to get off the triple tree.

[Sport Rider]

I'll send my intruder forks to you after you are done with these!