Honda CA160 Motorcycle – Restoration Part 4 - (Pics)

What's with the dented headlight?

Good job on the restoration update. Just curious why you chose red and silver instead of the original white? Are you powdercoating, or wet paint?

Thanks - I wanted something a bit brighter then the original white. Mostly because I thought red would look pretty slick. Worse comes to worse I can always respray it as the reds just a wet paint. I've got a powder coat setup but my ovens too small by an 1"!!! Oh well - Back out to the garage to mount some new rims and tires...

I wanted to see how a metallic silver would look - I've decided it a bit flashing for this old bike.

Wow! You are flying along on the restoration. Can't wait to hear about your first ride. Good Luck.

Looking good!

Man, that sure brings back memories.

Hi,

Looks good, was that model called a Honda Benley? or some name like that, I think I remember a model about that capacity here in Australia called that & a Honda 250 cc called Honda Dream.

[ I owned a Marushu Lilac Le Mans 250 about that time, didn't see too many of them around !! vee twin & shaft drive, bit like a Guzzi. ]

Brien.

Like this? Or with the stamped frame? These were really neat machines only very rarely seen in the US in those days -- and almost never seen now.

Yep! My Lilac was exactly like the photo with the tubular frame except mine was black, there was also a 500cc lilac out here in OZ with a horizontally opposed twin , a la BMW, I only ever saw one other Lilac 250 when I had mine., spares were hard to get, the original importer went broke, & all the spares were sent to another bike shop they owed money to, bit of a weird mob, had them in a room upstairs, wanted to know how I knew that they had the spares before they took me upstairs to look for some bits I needed. Actually was cheaper to get bits directly from Japan by air freight.

Mine used to leak oil thru the centre push rod that actuated the dry plate clutch inside the flywheel [like an early VW ] & the clutch used to slip, I could whip the plate out & run it thru the "Trico" tank where I worked in a flash, apart from that it was fairly reliable, the Mitsubishi " Dyna- Start " starter motor/generator/breaker points was a compact neat idea as long as you sealed the cover against water entry.

The rocker arm lock nuts on the tappet adjusters used to work loose as well & had to be "Loctited" . I rebuilt the engine on mine , bored & honed the cylinder barrels to suit 0.005" oversize pistons, which I found weren't available !! so I rebuilt it with original standard pistons with the oversize rings gapped to suit, clattered a bit when cold but once it warmed up ran just fine.

Brien.