[507 brett]

Today dad came home from work with a crisp new project lol

not sure what year it is, and of course theres no title.. BUT its gonna be a pretty sweet little bike.

he paid 35 bucks for it and the only noticeable thing wrong with it is the kick shaft is broke off where the kicker goes onto the spline. shouldnt be a biggie though because i have a few laying around from some xr50 engines. and this way i can go through the engine and make sure its all good. also, the guy he got it from thought the tranny was locked up because it wouldnt roll and it was hard to shift (while not running), but turns out the damn chain was tighter than a corn cob in the butt.. loosened it and she shifted pretty well and rolled good (considering it had 2 flat tires lol)

he thought it was an old minitrail 50 but it doesnt have brackets or wires for a headlight ? so im thinking its just an old hardtail Z.

some kid painted the tank and forks black, but where the paints chipping it seems that the tank was green and the forks red.. weird



anywho, here ya go

i already have the engine pulled out and on the workbench! hopefully find some time this weekend to clean it and tear into it

 

[mxr33]

what i deal for $35, the only thing i can think of is at some time the front fork assembly was replaced with a later z50r, explaining the red paint and lack of headlight mount. what are your plans for this little project?

 

[doopsx3]

awesome deal...would ya take $36...lol...good luck on your new toy

 

[nickypoo]

i am jelous! any motorcycle under 100 is worth snatching up, especially a classic honda like that

 

[dirttrackin280h]

Whats the engine #?

Bike is an early model Z50 Hardtail with a QA50 tank. Make sure to keep that flywheel cover in good shape, thats worth a small fortune by itself!

 

[507 brett]

ya know i have a qa50 hanging up lol and i didnt even realize that this z had the qa tank...

i guess thats why its green lol

no idea what the # is on the motor, but ill take a look at it when i get her cleaned up.

and yea, i think this may have been a minitrail and then the forks swapped out, or could it have been a none minitrail hardtail? i didnt see a # on the frame and there isnt a sticker on the neck like usual..



and idk if this will help to guess the year model, but its an all down shift pattern tranny.. dont really know what year they went to the all up pattern

 

[z50 chopper]

since you didn't see a # on the frame, are you sure it isn't a qa50?

 

[dirttrackin280h]

It's definitely an early Z50A, 68' or 69'. The forks are correct. Fenders are wrong.

You'll find the frame # on the rear of the bike, where the rear axle is. I can't remember if it's on the left or right side.

 

[507 brett]

qa engine mounts are different and this bike doesnt look like its been hacked up and modded..

and i did not know that the #s would be near the wheel.. huh . learn something new everyday..



but the tanks wrong correct? or did the 68 and 69 Zs share the qa tank?

also, my qa is a '69 model. why would honda make 2 different 50s the same year?

 

[RAZZO]

No. That's a QA tank on a hardtail. Never shared them.

 

[dirttrackin280h]

Correct, the tank is wrong as it is off a QA50. Different than the Z50's.

 

[mexicanyella]

I think QA tanks look pretty cool on hardtail frames; this is the second one of those swaps I've seen since I've been hanging around PM. There was a guy named Peaceout, in Hawaii, who posted photos of one he'd picked up last year too. Plus Alpinaclone's ongoing hybrid project.



This bike looks to me like it might have trimmed-up early CT70 fenders on it. Whatever they are, it looks like whoever did the swaps had a pretty decent eye for keeping it looking like something Honda could have built, and keeping it functional. I know it's not correct but if that tank and fenders are solid, I'd consider cleaning it up and retaining the mods as something unique, for a funky old-school rider.

 

[507 brett]

yea, i wanted to paint it all black and have white walls, but pops wants it all original..

he's probably going to be disappointed to find out that he has to get another tank.

 

[507 brett]

frame and engine numbers!!

now someone please tell me what they mean haha

 

[mexicanyella]

I believe that's a '68 Z50A-K0, according to the frame # decoder table and engine # decoder table, both found on this sticky:



http://planetminis.com/f14/z50-ct70-technical-resources-94207.html



Wow! I'm not a collector, but I think those are kind of rare, or something.

 

[507 brett]

lol and pop got em for $35 !!





he was tellin me about all the lil hondas he had back in the day... he had a little z hardtail with a clutch off a sl75 or something and a bigger jug. had a ton of stuff.. and gaveit all away when he got into drag racing. he said he was building his camaro when he just turned 18 and pushed all his honda stuff to the side and someone he worked with backed their truck up and he loaded it all up and let it go to make room..

 

[507 brett]

got some time after school today to clean the engine up a bit (just your standard hose pipe and purple power job)

got it back on the bench and top end off.



behold

they are cell phone pics, now.. but the plug didnt look bad at all i thought. the cylinder was slick, no scars. rings are shot (duh they're almost as old as my dad) and the dome, top of the piston and valves looked kinda grungy..ports didnt look bad though. overall, for a 1968 model engine, i dont think it looks too shabby so far.. bottom end may be another story though

 

[507 brett]

finally got my double ended clutch nut socket from FPM and tore it all the way down. replaced the old broke kick shaft with one out of a '05 crf, pretty good upgrade from the old school shaft. got it all back buttoned up with new gaskets and what-not. hopefully get snowed in so ill have a good excuse to stay home from school and work on it