Honda Express.... Where to begin

[SUP Dude]

So I have inherited a 1979 Honda Express... Well I was told it was running before placed in the corner of a barn almost 10 years ago. Even though it was in a barn it must have not been fully protected from the environment! after pulling the engine and taking it apart as much as possible I drained quite a bit of water and dirt from the engine. My question is what is best to clean this engine out? As well I am having issues getting the bolts out of the crank case. They are not rusty just locked in place. I am pretty stoked about the free scooter and project...... Just not familiar with the Express. I have had a few Spree's and an Aero 50 in the past but never an express. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much

[patthesoundguy]

The express is pretty easy to work on I love mine try a little heat on the the bolt heads and quench with pb blaster. Its usually just the heads of the screws that are stuck on the case. An impact has been my answer to stuck screws and bolts on my express. Parts like cylinders stock and big bore kits are plenty on treatland.tv even on a stock bore they can be fast with an intake carb and pipe B-) when you get ready to fire it up for the first time, be sure to have a new battery charged and in place, or you will blow up every bulb on the bike including the head light in about 2 sec. The battery is the regulator.

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[SUP Dude]

Thanks for the reply and the info. I got the crank case off yesterday using a little heat and a impact driver.. Thanks. Everything looks pretty clean! Very stoked! I checked out treatland.... That place has everything I need and hope to order most of it this week sometime. I think I am going to replace the piston and rings since I have the thing apart. How much trouble is it to install a big bore kit?

One question I have is when I took the crank case cover off I had this just sitting in the case.... where does it belong?


beyond that the rest of the case looked pretty good considering it had been sitting for years

[motormike]

There are at least 3 springs in the driveline case..parts diagrams are available at many online parts suppliers....maybe it will help. The spring in question may be the chain tensioner spring, just judging by the size and the appearance of slack in your drive-chain.

[patthesoundguy]

Thanks for the reply and the info. I got the crank case off yesterday using a little heat and a impact driver.. Thanks. Everything looks pretty clean! Very stoked! I checked out treatland.... That place has everything I need and hope to order most of it this week sometime. I think I am going to replace the piston and rings since I have the thing apart. How much trouble is it to install a big bore kit?

One question I have is when I took the crank case cover off I had this just sitting in the case.... where does it belong?


beyond that the rest of the case looked pretty good considering it had been sitting for years

The shop manual is available free online, I have a copy if you can't find it the big bore kit is pretty easy to do but you will want a bigger carb you can run as most express carbs do not have replaceable main jets and are really small 12mm I think. There is a an adapter that MLM makes to bolt a Dellorto SHA carb to the stock intake its available from treatland. I have a weakends intake with a 19mm dellorto on it. I'm wishing now I had gone with the trick metric adapter and put on a dio intake and reeds with a 21mm oko. If I go back with my big bore kit again I may go that route. What ever aftermarket carb you use you will have to either mod the stock throttle cable as I did or buy a cable to match the new carb. I'm running my stock .025 oversize cylinder with the carb and pipe and can still hit 40+. The bottom end sucks but when it gets in the pipe its wicked the speedo needle will go all the way around to the odemeter B-)

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[patthesoundguy]

I remember now why I went with the weak ends intake... it had the brake cable mount and the fender mount.

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[mmeadows]

im still figuring out how to put mine back together. you have to balance it on its side, fill it with oil, crank back the kick start, then some how keep everything in place and get the case on with out spilling oil anywhere. Im about to take the case off a 4th time.

[mousewheels]

im still figuring out how to put mine back together. you have to balance it on its side, fill it with oil, crank back the kick start, then some how keep everything in place and get the case on with out spilling oil anywhere.

Did Honda delete the plug for some model years? This manual page shows an oil fill plug and outlines a method to drain/fill w/o laying the bike on its side.

Honda_Express_Oil_Fill_and_Drain.JPG (100.24 KiB) Viewed 7096 times

[SUP Dude]

Found the service manual online.... Thanks! Pretty stoked to get this running. Thanks again for all the advice so far!! I have a feeling I will be spending quite a bit of time here!
I forgot how much fun it is to work on a scooter.

the drain/fill plug is right in front on mine (just as the illustration shows) figured if it drains out of the plug should be able to fill it from the plug.

[mmeadows]

you cant get all the oil out with the drain plug, ( manual says only .65 quats will come out, but its probably " good enough" for an oil change,


however! unless you have a hummingbird beak there is no way you are getting .9 l of thick 10 weight back in the small drain hole. the physical hole inside the drain plug hole that connects to the case is a pin hole.

section 13-1 will show you putting the entire bike on its side.

[patthesoundguy]

this is the fill plug.
and if I remember correctly or I may be dreaming but one of these screws on the underside of the case is suposed to be a drain screw, might have been later years i think the 1980 motor i had originally on the bike had the drain screw. That motor on it now is 77 motor.

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[motormike]

Why does it seem that mmeadows and ptsguy didn't bother to look at the schematic that mousewheels put up and HIGH-LIGHTED BOTH the DRAIN and the FILL....

[patthesoundguy]

Why does it seem that mmeadows and ptsguy didn't bother to look at the schematic that mousewheels put up and HIGH-LIGHTED BOTH the DRAIN and the FILL....

diddnt see it the pic took to long to show up on tapatalk and i missed it my bad. But hey I should get points for taking the time to drive my golf cart across the yard to take pics and post them right? LOL

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[motormike]

You are always very good at helping Pat...
Sorry to criticize...but I have no idea how the forum looks cell-phone...
You score "10 internets" for effort ...

[patthesoundguy]

Wasn't upset in the first place, I had a good chuckle

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