Honda Express

My grandparents are going to let me have and restore their old 77' Honda Express Moped (Line Green).
Sat for years, sounds like it had carb/oil pump problems before parked.
It has the 2 cycle where the oil is pumped into the gas I believe.

Shoot if I could get it running I would use it for my college drive across town

Anybody ever have one of these old mopeds?
Should Honda dealers still carry parts on these you think?

 

I have a friend that rides his, more than he does his Harley. Parts can't be that hard to get.

 

you might still be able to get parts from the dealer but dealers dont like helping people with older bikes. Try bikebandit.com thats where I get most of my from. If the bike had oil injection problems its will probably need a new bottom end. I never trusted oil injection on any of my bikes, always premixed

 

@MaverickDan
yea i may just go pre mix, could be a little diaphragm thats dried out hopefully.

@Dave
yea, mom said the thing was alot of fun to ride back when they first got it.

i think the 49cc motors only push them to about 25-30 mph

 

Honda Dealer prices can be really expensive. The cheapest i've found is majestichonda.com they're usually a third to half the price of the local dealer for the same part.

 

i have used bike bandit before to get stuff for my 77 honda, very reasonable on some stuff, others i found on e bay really cheap

 

Well the gas tank has a crack inside . It's a tank where the oil and gas are separated but eventually mix at the carburetor. I must find another on ebay, or somewhere else, or pull some moves on the old one. Hopefully I can reach with my solder and weld the plastic back together.

 

my dad has a 78 honda hobbit or something like it in his shed it doesnt run though

 

thats cool, you might fix it up one day
should have the same little motor as the one im working on, i think they were bigger and more scooter styled compared to the express.

 

I have a yellow one sitting in my back yard behind the garage. Those things were famous for the oil injection going bad. A few years back I was thinking about getting mine running again and found several hop up articles. Every one said to ditch the oil injection and just go with a premix gas.

My express wouldn't go faster than 30-35.

-Scott H.

 

yea, I'll definitely try and bypass the pump i
If I ever decided to use for class I only travel on one road, speed limit is 35. I usually run it 30 in the Mav. you think the express would keep pace?

 

I'm stumped
I cleaned out the tank, cleaned that little carb spotless, bought new fuel lines, and new spark plug, and set the points.

I want to fire the thing and know it runs before I dump the big money into it (battery/tires/tubes/new lights/paint/etc)

I link the battery wires together (so the motor is basically powering itself)
I'm getting plenty of spark (I stuck my hand out and it bit me good )

I ran gas/oil mix in the tank.......nothing.

I ran gas/oil mix directly into the carb...nothing

I've cleaned the plug countless times, so gas is reaching the cylinder. The motor has plenty of backpressure off the muffler so the compression is surely good.

I tried all afternoon and the little motor wont fire a lick.

Any idea's?

The only thing I can think is I have a dead plug or I need a battery hooked up, but I've heard others starting a bike without a battery, plus I know I'm getting spark to the plug wire.

 

Low compression and or plugged exhaust system.

 

I bought a new plug, removed the muffler, and still no prevail.

I accidentally bumped the coil/wiring under the seat and got the motor to fire (for a second) .

I cut and spliced the wires together as the plug-ins look rough.

Been able to get the motor to pop, fire, and run for a few seconds.
Tries to start best on choke or with my hand over the carburetor.
I've spent alot of cranking, If it was a kickstart I may have got it running but the spring start doesnt have enough power behind it.

So the motor has life it, just having trouble now getting it to run/idle

 

The carb neads soaked / rebuilt / tuned.

Those suckers have TINY passages in the carbs that will clog up and you can't clean 'em unless you're real lucky or put it through a good soaking.

Trust me, you need a Honda bike carb operating room clean when you're first starting them after they've been sitting a while. I've been dealing with Honda 750s for about 20 years now and have had my express since I was in my teens. Almost every one has had to have the carb cleaned that way to get it running right the first time.

Hope this helps,
-Scott H.