Honda CG125 1976

The latest rebuild gets underway... This is a very early example of one of the most famous Hondas. We bought it a few years ago as a basket case & I've spent the last few days collecting as many of the parts together as haven't been used in other projects! The most significant missing items are the front fork legs...
The frame is being stripped & then re-sprayed...

The frame stripped, ready for primer...

 

Primed...

With more parts sourced, the re-assembly continues...

Laser Cutter repairs

When cutting a thick piece of clear acrylic the laser cutter at work managed to set itself on fire... It turned out not to be as bad as it first looked & I was fortunately able to carry out a cost-effective repair with the help of the suppliers (www.techsoft.co.uk)...
All working fine again now...

Peugeot 106 driveshaft replacement

A knocking noise when pulling away with the wheels pointing anyway but straight ahead suggested that a driveshaft might be worn... The left side was replaced first...

The easy way of doing this job is to drop the lower wishbone, thus allowing the leg to be swung outwards so that the driveshaft can be removed.
The rear mounting is released by un-doing two nuts from inside the footwell, the front is a single pivot bolt. This is much easier than removing the brake calliper & releasing the lower ball joint...

Front Door replacement

Krys' old front door was what looked like an early aluminium framed replacement & had probably been fitted quite a while ago... It was draughty!
His brother had just had a porch built & we fitted a new door so the old PVC one wasn't needed... It fortunately was the size we needed here...

The old one came out easily, four long screws & plugs into the brickwork, check for squareness & door fit... Pu foam to seal & secure!
Sounds simple... & it was... The only challenge was not putting too much foam into the gap... I failed on that one!

Honda C50L AC restoration...the rebuild

All coming back together nicely now... The only potential problem is sorting the loose spokes in the rear wheel...

All done, MOT passed & now sold!

Honda C50LAC restoration

We've had this little Honda for around three years, it came along with the remains of a Honda CB200 which we sold off....
The C50L was the moped version of the Honda cub with a 30mph limit presumably to enable it to be ridden by learners. It shares many parts with the "normal" C50 the main difference being that it is "point & squirt" as opposed to the manual box/auto clutch. It also shares the rust problem around in the rear mudguard area!
The solution to that particular problem has been running in the background for the last few weeks after the repair panel arrived. The frame was sprayed this weekend... Taking advantage of the nice warm weather!

Sandwich Whitemill Windmill

Almost there with the replacement oil tank... Now almost completely hidden behind the new metal screen.... & a locked door... No one would know its there!

Add caption

Chimney repairs

Another mess left by someone else was sorted out when we constructed a timber framework to support half of the chimney stack that was left "hanging" when the chimney breast was removed...
Who employs these people?!!

Sandwich windmill white mill

Progress this week centred on constructing a framework to support sone corrugated sheeting which will conceal the oil tank itself & hopefully prevent a repeat of this years expensive disaster...

Morris minor restoration

A bit more progress today... made arrangements to have the doors stripped & removed the engine & gearbox...

Sandwich Windmill White Mill

The project that has occupied us for most of this season took a step nearer completion this weekend when we installed the new oil tank onto its frame ready to be commissioned.
This time we'll make sure that the tank is protected from the oil thieves...

Raising the tank the four or so feet onto its platform wasn't as difficult as we were expecting, we built a ramp from the longest pieces of 4x2 we could find, braced it to keep it parallel, supported it midway to stop it flexing too much & then pushed the tank up it...
19th century engineering!

Morris Minor 1000 restoration

The strip down continues... Engine & front panel next...

Prity woodburner, lining the flue

After a couple of weekends vainly hoping that the 100yr old chimney would still be useable, we finally resorted to fitting a stainless steel liner... Only to discover that the flue was still blocked, so another couple of hours hacking upwards from the cellar & through holes made in the chimney breast, we finally got all the old bricks & bits of birds nest out. Fitting the liner itself wasn't too difficult although a bit hairy feeding it in from the top as so many of the bricks in the top of the stack are loose...
The next step is how to sort the mess that is the chimney stack...

Sandwich Whitemill Windmill Museum

The continuing saga of the oil tank noved a little closer to resolution over the last couple of weekends...

Two concrete pads to support the stand for the new oil tank... this one will be enclosed....

Prity wood burner & the flue...

With the wood burner installed & the system filled we're left with a couple of small leaks & the question of weather to fit a pump into the hot water circuit....
However the flue is a whole other problem... the existing brick flue is no longer smoke-tight despite all attempts to find & fix the leaks... the morter is obviously so badly deteriorated in places we cant see...
Two choices... line the flue or install an external flue, the latter is second choice at the moment as there are bound to be some obscure anal regulation to comply with, so we decided to investigate the stainless liner option, first problem was cost... that aside, we began to investigate the route it would have to take... this is where this weeks problems began... a 5" dia pipe had been previously installed in the lower part of the chimney (probably when the lounge fire place was sealed?)
As we went further up & began to look at the stack itself the full horror of the problem revealed itself...

Finding a foothold was one of the problems

No tools required!!

Prity Woodburning Boiler

The flue presented some problems as the standard 45deg elbow to take the smoke from the boiler would mean that the pipe would enter the bottom of the chimney too high.... this meant we had to make an elbow with a slightly sharper bend...

This was fabricated from steel sheet & mig welded...

First lighting filled the house with smoke due to an un-noticed split in the old piece of flue.... some water leaks also became apparent!

All in all a challenging afternoon... drain down, sort leaks & think about the flue... the vitreous enamel pipe sold for stoves is incredably expensive, so, as always a lower cost alternative had to be found... local scrap yard came up with two pieces of heavy steel pipe, each about 2m long... for a fiver!

Benn & Rhians lounge

Some of the floorboards were in need of replacement after being repeatedly taken up and re-fitted (badly) over the years re sulting in gaps, splits and draughts! the reduced rack at our local B&Q provided some nice quality pine T&G floorboards.
Removing the old boards was a bit brutal & raised the inevitable question when dealing with old houses "Where do we stop?".... however a decision was made & the groove of the last old board cleaned up ready to accept the tongue of the first new board...

Dexter watched...

Prity woodburning stove

Good progress was made on the installation of the wood burner this weekend. The pipe work was connected using a mixture of 1" iron pipe & 28mm copper. This was done to avoid the expense of buying any 28mm copper. I was able to borrow a die to cut the correct 1"BSP threads. The pipework had to match up with the existing system but the end result looks fairly neat. All of the joints proved water-tight when it was filled...except the return which was, of course, situated on the back of the boiler at the bottom, meaning that, in addition to draining down, the boiler had to be moved too....twice!

The hot water is gravity circulated & the central heating is pumped, the pump can be seen on the return pipe on the left above the boiler.



The next job is to fit the flue, this needs to pass through the hole in the wall on the left & meet the pipe that is already fitted into the base of the chimney in the front of the cellar... not quite as simple as it sounds because this boiler is taller than the old one...