So I bought a 1994 "ebay special" from CA with one original owner. I spoke to him on the phone a few times and turns out he is a Honda dealership tech near LA and bought the bike new. He said mechanically it was good even though the pictures he advertised on ebay reflected the 15 years of age one would expect cosmetically on something that gets used the way a CR does. I chose the 1994 because it was the last year of the Showa suspension and the first year of the silver cases among other things.....like the price was right
Well the seller indicated he had done a top end once and the bottom end was stock and in spec. He said everything was good.So I selected Buy It Now and set up shipping. A few weeks go by and getting the title out of him is becoming a hassle. The bike shows up and I manage to get it started and ride it around a bit. The bike looked a bit rough for my tastes but it was all there and it seemed to run ok. But still no title. I call him multiple times and finally a title shows up.
Turns out the frame has been powdercoated black and I cant read the VIN to verify that the title matches. I was going to take it apart to the frame and basically rebuild every last piece of it to make it look new and part of that included powdercoating the frame white again so I can revive the VIN stamp then.
Here are some pics.
The ebay ad pic:
The day it came off the truck here in GA:
So then I got it home and began taking it apart. I have a good friend who came over to check things out with it since it is winter, we are both gear heads, ride bikes and were bored. He is a 5'2" MMA cage fighter but in these pics, he looks like he has no legs. Pretty funny pic actually.
The radiators were tweaked but didnt leak so off they went to Mylers who do absolutely amazing work.
After a few more hours of work, the frame ends up on my work bench ready to get blasted and coated.
So the motor and suspension gets dropped off at my buddy's shop Hyperformance Cycles here in GA http://hyperformancecycles.net/
and he proceeds to determine that a couple things are awry with both the motor and the shock. I wanted to at min rebuild the crank and replace the case bearings and when he split the cases, he found the right inner case half cracked. He managed to determine that a particular washer in the washer and gear sequence on one of the shafts was 1mm too thick and when it was bolted back together it caused stress creating the crack....as it turns out 2 cracks. So Mr Ebayer was lying about either never having been in the bottom end or buying it new. Either way I dont have the time to deal with that dick head so a new case got ordered. Along with a new crank...its only money right.
Here is the case with the crack.....
So a few weeks go by....some money(a lot) gets spent and things start coming back.
I got the frame back last week and began putting items back into it. The engine got a new crank, all new bearings, a new case half, a fresh top end with Eric Gorr porting work, the suspension got new seals, oil, springs for me (hefty) race tech gold valves and a good cleaning, the wheels got excel rims, stainless spokes and nipples and the hubs repainted black, and I found all original Honda plastic in the warehouse. Unfortunately, I could not locate the shrouds with the 1994 graphics so I went with 1993 instead. I am going to keep looking though.
The freshly powdercoated frame:
Subframe and airbox(which I managed to clean up nicely) attached for a pic:
Motor in:
Forks and rads on:
More to come as I get more done and some more pics.
I still need to pick up the shock, which Mr Ebayer never told me had the threads in the lower clevis stripped out and had to buy a new shock and the swingarm. I also need to buy a PWK carb and get footpegs, chain and sprockets, skidplate, exhaust and some misc fasteners and then she will be ready to ride.
Looking forward to it.
. was all the '93 plastics/seat readily available or was it a pain in the ass to find ?
