New Benly Owner, Many Restoration Questions

[Jonathan]

Hey all, I just bought what I think is an early '63 CA95 and I've got a bunch of questions. One of the main ones is "Is it restorable?" I bought it from a kid up the street who was using it as Haloween decoration. Please excuse me if some of these questions seem pretty basic; I'm new to motorcycles. I've got plenty of experience with four wheel vehicles, but I'm just starting out with the two wheel ones. So, after doing some reading, let the questions begin!

1) The fuel petcock - I read plenty on this, the main question here would be is this rebuildable or should I not bother (the boogering up of the bottom bowl wasn't by me!




2) What am I missing here? Are these specific to year or will any '59-'66 cover work? Is the chain readily available?



3) Am I missing any parts glaringly obvious from the engine (exhaust is separate from the bike, but there).



4) I didn't find a frame number, but it looks like there were at least two coats of paint over the factory paint, so I'm going to assume it's just obscured. I should be looking for it here, right?


5) Overview of the bike - it looks pretty solid, but it it worth restoring or would I be dollars ahead starting with something complete and running?



6) The engine doesn't want to turn over using the kickstarter, so I assume I'll need to wind up doing a complete overhaul. Are there any parts like the petcock that I'd be better off re-using since they're too hard to find?

7) The transmission won't shift out of first - could that be due to a clutch issue? The handlebars are disassembeled currently, so I can't work the clutch. Would this keep me from being able to shift?

8) Reproduction parts - is there anything from Thailand that is usable / decent? I'm looking at cables, piston rings, pistons, seat cover, headlight, etc. It looks like they're all knockoff parts on fake Honda bags. Should I avoid them all? Are any parts still available from local Honda motorcycle parts departments?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[ByTheLake]

Welcome to the forum, Jonathan! I'm not among the experts out here, but I've restored one of these little beasts, so I'll toss in my 2 cents. Excellent pictures, by the way - that always helps.

First, if you want a set of the CA95 manuals, you can download them from my basement web server here:
http://www.forths.com/honda/CA95Manuals.zip

You certainly have an early-edition CA95 Benly Touring 150, with the shorter rear fender braces and larger rubber fuel tank pad.

1) The petcock looks rough, but these can be rebuilt. I tried but failed, since my petcock body was a bit warped, so I ended up using an adapter plate with a standard chrome Harley-style petcock. If you're looking for historic accuracy, you can rebuild or replace the petcock with a correct unit, but that will likely cost a bit more than going with an adapter plate and a generic petcock. If you opt to rebuild, you'll need to replace a few internal parts, which are available on-line.

2) You're missing a few parts that are readily available. In the illustration below from the manual, parts 2, 3, 4 and 9 are among the missing, but are not hard to find. Chain is a standard size and readily available.



3) Let's see - I see that the carb mounting nuts are missing. Fuel line is missing, too. Left spark plug wire? Maybe it's just off and set aside in the picture? Kick starter lever is missing, along with the side covers. Looks like the fuel tank isn't mounted, but is just sitting loosely on the frame.

4) That frame number is a bear to find - it doesn't take much paint or corrosion to obscure it. I think you're looking in the right place. I didn't see mine until I disassembled the motorcycle.

5) Hand grips appear to be missing, but it's hard to tell in the picture if the handlebars are original or not. I'm assuming they are. Overall, the bike looks pretty good. If you poke around this forum, you'll see bikes in much worse shape that have been restored. Spokes started with nothing for one of his projects, making a CA95 a part at a time.

Lower chain guard is missing - that's a challenge to find. I found a chain guard set after several months of searching, but they can be tough to find.

6) There have been tips on this forum for freeing a seized engine, you can try them. Personally, I'm a fan of simply tearing everything down for inspection, cleaning and if necessary, replacement as needed. These bikes always have hidden surprises.

I used many parts from Thailand for my project. Overall, I purchased 27 parts from Thailand, 38 from the USA, 2 from Canada and 1 from England. The Thai parts gave me no issue, but shipping costs can easily double the cost of a part. I got my cables, pistons, rings, and gaskets from Thailand and my engine runs well. Be sure to scrutinize the seller's ratings and reviews.

Honda dealers will have some parts. If you use the parts numbers listed in the manuals that I listed above, you can sometimes find generic items at Honda stores, such as the cable adjusters.

Good luck with your project, and thanks for sharing your pictures.

Kevin

[Spokes]

IMO Bythelake is one of our experts. He did a great job with his restoration. The hard part is answering the question if the bike is worth restoring. If your looking for a challenge, like searching for parts, like learning about the bike, have lots of time to complete it and have spare change to put into it...then it is worth restoring. Realize that there is no money to be made. These bikes are a bit of 60's history, they are loved wherever they go and you can meet lots of folks here at this forum and elsewhere.

It is easier to work on a complete bike with all of the parts. I am working on one that was way rusty, but 99% complete for about $600(bike + cost of getting it), but I built one from scratch sourcing every part, which took me 3+ years...and much time cleaning, rebuilding, refinishing, I even quit working on for a while.

So it's up to you. One other benefit to restoring an old bike is that you can do anything you want to it, any color, any modification, any personal finesse.

You will find every answer here at this forum about the CA95. Welcome.

[Smithers]

Exactly... just restore it like you want to restore it. Just get the chassis rolling and just clean up the engine and get it running. Use a temporary fuel tank to supply basic gravity fed fuel into it and ride it around a bit. See if you really want to continue with the commitment at that point. That will require a minimum investment and you could sell the working engine at that point if you changed your mind about the whole thing. Maybe a quick and dirty restoration just to play around with it and learn the way of the Honda. If you jump into it trying to do a really nice restoration job you'll go nuts spending money. You should really get the engine going and road test it to find out if you want to invest more time and $. You have all the info you need on this website and the parts that you need are out there.

It will certainly cost more to go the original route. If you aftermarket the fuel petcock, seat, throttle assembly/cable and everything else it won't hurt so much. The bike looks like it could be made a runner without killing the pocketbook as long as you just buy the necessary stuff to make it go. You can refinish, re-coat, clean a polish most everything up to be presentable. Start adding up some costs by looking at prices (ebay perhaps : ) for chrome tank panels, tank pads, side covers, seat covers and foam, exhaust pipes... stuff like that. You'll quickly find that original parts are tons of money to acquire. If you go aftermarket it's a whole lot cheaper. I would do a custom job... or all black to keep the cost of the paint job down.

[Smithers]

That petcock is done for. Parts only I see. That will require some expert skill to disassemble any more without hurting it. The alloy is really soft so it's hard to handle it with force and not damage it further. I would convert to the simply style petcock for sure. Conditioning the original unit is one of the most challenging parts of the whole restoration process.

The engine needs all new seals but I'm curious of the cylinder condition. If they are ok then I would just fill them with diesel (to soak the rings for a while), flush the case out with oil and work on the basics (spark and carb clean) to see if you can get it to run.

[Sam Green]

Other things missing are carb side covers (Thailand), tool kit shelf and the special bolt that locates in the tacho worm guide along with the cable blanking cap.

Now it's competition time. After all these years, this bike still has something that all Honda dealers discarded from all the early 60s Hondas (if they had any sense), I havn't seen any for years apart from on bikes that just had to be as they came out of the showroom....what is it ?

Sam.
Did anyone mention the air fillter and hose ?

[Sam Green]

Kevin is on drugs, both plug wires can be seen.

[ByTheLake]

Kevin is on drugs, both plug wires can be seen.

Guilty as charged - but present or not, I'll venture a guess that the plug wires aren't the main concern with this bike.

I can sense that Sam is sizing it up for the track already.

[Spokes]

Now it's competition time. After all these years, this bike still has something that all Honda dealers discarded from all the early 60s Hondas (if they had any sense), I havn't seen any for years apart from on bikes that just had to be as they came out of the showroom....what is it ?

The reminder sticker to remove the crankshaft shipping stabilizer found at the end of the advance mechanism. The dealers discarded this part preparing the bike for sale.

[Sam Green]

Guilty as charged - but present or not, I'll venture a guess that the plug wires aren't the main concern with this bike.

I can sense that Sam is sizing it up for the track already.

No he isn't sizing it up but the plug wires could have been a clue (Chip)

[Larzfromarz]

Welcome Jonathan and Happy Thanksgiving to the crew!
You should have the fun you want to have with this bike whether you are a builder or rider.
This is a great non judgmental place to begin. Everybody here does a great job helping out
Spokes of course hit the nail for Sam's question tho I've never seen one...
ps Looks like a early frame ...has the pinch in the forming of the frame???

[Sam Green]

Chip (spokes) answer was not the one I was looking for and like you I have never heard of one, think along the lines of HT cables (plug wires as you call them) and what's on the end of them.
Anyway Jonathan, take no notice of this lot, your best bet is to crate the heap up and send it to me in England and I will dispose of it for you at no cost to yourself.
On a serious note, If you don't find all the help that you need on here, you'll not find it anywhere, The guys on here are the tops.
Happy Thanks Giving to all.

Sam.

PS. yes it is an early frame and motor.

[Erik S]

A mostly complete early Benly. It would be interesting to see how far apart the engine and frame #'s are. The pinstriping acually looks cool. The bike will need to be completely disassembled, cleaned and relubed. Painted if needbe. You are missing some parts that BTL mentioned and it looks like the PO has been in the wiring. It's not good the engine won't turn over, but can be fixed.
Here I'll have to be honest with you- fixing it to running is the best thing, but the sum of it's parts is worth more on Ebay. Now guys don't go off on me because I saved my '65 from the very same fate. That said, you will positively get the best advice on this forum and access to little parts found nowhere else. All here are very interested in getting that piece of early Japanese roadgear on the road again. Mine's almost on the road thanks to this forum. Good luck- and go thru archived threads and answers.
Erik S

PS- I've got some extra solid core spark plug wire if you'd like some. Same for any other member.

[Jonathan]

Thank you for the replies! I did a little more cleaning/going through the parts that came with the bike, and it looks like the lower chain cover is in there, along with the inner chain sproket cover (4 in the above picture. I still need 2/3/9 I think - I asked the PO if he had any of the parts still, he said he didn't think so but he'd check).

Are there any parts from the later bikes that won't work on the early ones? I'm looking at getting some new cables (the old ones are pretty bad). Are there differences in length from early to late or will the sets from Thailand work for any bike? I'm looking at the reproduction wiring harness as well - will one work for all bikes?

Has anyone bought the airfilter/hose from Thailand? I'm not sure a 50 year old original air filter will be any better than a repro though.

I'm guessing the rarely seen part is the metal ends on the plug wires? I don't see a label mentioning a crankshaft stabilizer - I'm guessing you mean the one on the tank? That's a old racing sticker; Goodyear racing I think. I'll post a picture later.

Could someone post a picture of the rear area of the front fender? The one on the bike has some damage, it almost looks like the bike was dropped without the front wheel on.

I guess the parts wish list begins - anyone parting out a bike/selling the below parts, or is e-bay my best bet?

Parts 2/3/9
Tool Shelf/Side Covers
Clutch/Brake levers and throttle
Carburetor nuts
Special bolt for the tachometer worm giude

[ByTheLake]

Are there any parts from the later bikes that won't work on the early ones? I'm looking at getting some new cables (the old ones are pretty bad). Are there differences in length from early to late or will the sets from Thailand work for any bike?

The parts manual will list different parts numbers for any parts that differ. Most parts are the same, but some engine parts and trim parts differ.

I'm looking at the reproduction wiring harness as well - will one work for all bikes?

I used a reproduction harness for my restoration. It should work, but it's likely that a repro harness will be designed for the general export C95 and have a few extra wires for the turn signals and turn signal switch, which wasn't included on the American export CA95. You could simply tape off the extra connections.

Has anyone bought the airfilter/hose from Thailand? I'm not sure a 50 year old original air filter will be any better than a repro though.

I used a Thailand-sourced air filter and connector tube. Works just fine.

Could someone post a picture of the rear area of the front fender? The one on the bike has some damage, it almost looks like the bike was dropped without the front wheel on.

Yeah, they've all been damaged that way. Hard to find one in pristine condition. Spokes might have a picture of how the rear of a front fender is supposed to look.

I guess the parts wish list begins - anyone parting out a bike/selling the below parts, or is e-bay my best bet?

Parts 2/3/9
Tool Shelf/Side Covers
Clutch/Brake levers and throttle
Carburetor nuts
Special bolt for the tachometer worm giude

It all depends on how much money you want to put into the project. You'll be able to track most everything down given time and money. I used eBay for most of the parts I needed.