New winter project: 1972 Honda C70 Super Cub. Made in December 1971. I bought it for $300 from an artist friend who had kept it in a barn for like 20 years. It sat in my garage for a year. I recently tried to sell it, thinking it was too far gone. No bites for weeks, until a Super Cub aficionado came by to have a look. He waffled, but was enthusiastic enough about its value that I decided not to sell but to restore after all.
It looks like a mess, but it ran as recently as 2005. The chewed-up-looking wiring harness turned out to be from another Honda; amazingly, all the wiring and rubber parts are in great shape. The chrome is mostly still shiny and the plastic is solid. There’s even oil still in the crankcase. Someone did a regrettable paint job, but the original blue finish is still there, to be revealed after many hours of elbow grease. Only the battery, leg shield, one side cover, and seat are missing. I’ll post photos of the progress if anyone’s interested.
I just got a book about nature printing and it has a chapter about “flower pounding.” It’s just what it says, stick some flowers/leaves on a substrate and pound them with a hammer. I couldn’t believe it would actually work, and I love the idea of answering, “Whatchya doing?” With, “pounding flowers.” So it tried with some leaves and it actually works!
The red is leaves from staghorn sumac. Green is sage. The yellow is from a Norway maple leaf that didn’t really work. My mind is just blown that this actually works! I did it on watercolor paper but I’ve seen projects on tshirts and tote bags. Just need to iron to heat set the colors.
The results here may be unbeautiful but guaranteed to work:
Get a tube (like a caulking-tube-sized-tube) of food-grade silicone. Cut nozzle for a wide bead, but maybe not as wide as the gasket you are replacing. You might already have this tube of goo around from other projects.
Get a few sheets of cling-flim plastic. Thin is fine. Cut 2 oversize pieces to cover the outside diameter of the jar. Cut an X in each piece on-center.
Get some oil (doesn’t really matter what kind, as long at it’s food grade). If you are into using cooking spray, use that, liberally.
Clean the rims of the lid and bottom of the jar. Lid goes on the counter, facing up.
Put one sheet on the lid, oiled surface facing up.
Lay a bead of silicone caulk around the rim of the lid. Aim for zero bubbles. Don’t worry if it’s too much and gets everywhere, you’re going to cut off the excess with a razor-knife after it cures anyway. Put the second, oiled cling flim sheet over the wet bead on the lid, oiled side down (facing the caulk).
Put the bottom half of the jar on (upside down) and apply gentle even pressure. Oozing is ok. Stage a few tall things next to the whole deal to hold things vertical until full cure time has elapsed. I usually gauge progress by carefully poking it to see how hard the cure is getting.
When cure is “done” (YMMV, it can take a while in a colder house), peel it apart. Cut off the excess like you’d cut extra pie crust from the edge of a pie pan. A nice new and oiled razor blade in one’s utility knife is good.
Good luck!
(And yeah it’s easier ordering from Amazon but where’s the adventure in that?)
We put up the shelves for the cats, and after a while they needed some extra support, and I wanted a real cat tree (like I saw on Pinterest; yeah, I know.) The answer was a big staff-sized piece of sapling that dried too bendy to be a good staff but could be screwed into the shelves as a support bracket plus some tree branches that I had braided together last spring plus fake ivy.
Drained the sprinkler/landscape water lines today and tucked the potted citrus in for the first hard freeze of the season forecasted for tomorrow night. Hoping these Aldi winter protection greenhouses will be sufficient
My wife has severe fibromyalgia that inflames her hands and feet and makes them feel like they’re on fire. It’s particularly bad at night and often prevents her from sleeping, and lack of sleep makes her other symptoms worse. Light compression and cooling helps counter the feeling that she’s on fire, so I’m putting together a circulation chiller (“cold therapy system”) for her to use.
The prototype is nothing fancy - a modded cooler with a circulating pump and a cold plate, but it’s able to maintain a 10 degree differential to ambient for several hours.
I’m going to upgrade the cold plate to aluminum and pot the cooling loop in thermally conductive epoxy which should improve performance. Further out on the horizon there’s a second circuit for her feet and an Arduino controlled compression feature.
New approach: See if it runs. So, engine and electricals going back into the frame. Everything looks great, but I can’t tell whether the piston is seized. Still need a battery and a few other bits and bobs.
I still don’t know what to do about the paint. I spent a couple hours with citrus strip, wire brushes, and elbow grease and got these chain guards mostly clean, but there’s no way I can do that for the whole bike.
You know those cheap “endoscopes” they used tosell on the BoingBoing store? I finally found a practical use. This gas tank looks a bit rusty and flaky inside:
Unfortunately, due to the small spark plug hole, this is all I can see of the piston and cylinder. The bore looks smooth, maybe a bit of crud around the top. The piston looks pretty rough, though. I’ve been blasting it with lots of juice loosener.
I made this back in October but I did the tree today. I bought the truck and the changeable parts from Etsy. I’m no good at painting so I tried the Cricut and vinyl. It worked out okay. I’m gonna do another one this winter and see if I can get it better. I did make the oval plaque from scratch. The pieces mount to the board with some tiny very strong magnets. There six or seven more holidays I have to finish.
It hangs under my address on my porch. From a distance it looks really good. I bought some stainless steel clips that hook under the siding so I didn’t have to drill into the siding.
The important thing is my wife liked it so extra lovin’.
I filled that gas tank with vinegar for two days, added a handful of nuts, bolts, and BBs, and gave it a good shaking every few hours. It’s much cleaner now.
It still looks pitted and rusty in spots, but all the flaky crud is gone, and any tiny bits of rust will get caught in the filter or just move on through.
I hear ya. I have a long-running Ebay search for a 1974 Yamaha RD350. They do pop up now and again, at exorbitant prices. I picked up a 1973 Honda CL125 locally, was very excited about it, but it turned out to be a dud.
This current project is a 1972 Honda “Super Cub” C70 that I bought from an artist friend. According to WP, Super Cubs have been In continuous manufacture since 1958, and with various models produced through the years (C100, C50, C70, C90, C100EX, C70 Passport), it’s the most produced motor vehicle in history.
I almost bought a new Super Cub this year just for fun. No idea of the long history. I saw it at a dealer when I was buying an oil filter.
When the economy took a dump in 2009 I sold my near mint custom paint 1984 Honda Magna. That bike was fast but it was house payment or a bike.
When things and my business recovered we bought an RV and we needed a motorcycle to carry in case we broke down. We decided on a Suzuki Bergman so my wife could drive it. I thought no way am I riding a scooter but that thing is an 80mph bike and fun to ride.
