1976 Honda XL175

Bought this bike yesterday from a wrecker for 250 after winning an auction on ebay.
although its rough, $250 if your from sydney is a good deal for a relatively complete project!
They said it had been rolled off a truck by a 85 year old farmer from the northern territory and basically just left there
the bike had all its papers and have previously been registered in the northern territory.
They claimed the owner said the bike ran when it was put in barn in the 90s but hadnt been used since, i was skeptical about that but had been eyeing of a small displacement Honda single for some time so made sure i got it.
This is how i got it











The seat had completely rusted out underneath and fell away, the air filter had rotted completely and crumbled in my hand, the muffler is a goner possibly repairable, but im not keen on it anyway - it will be replaced.
The good things were, is that as far as i can tell they werent lying about it being running before storage.
looking down the dipstick and sparkplug hole, it all appeared sparkling and clean. pull the timing caps and valves looked the same. the bike select all gears to so im hoping itll require little work to have the engine as a runner.

Im going down the tracker path with this as a resto on these is out of my budget, that said i dont intend to chop it to bits. Once i get the engine going im gonna pull it and do a top end rebuild.

The bike has no spark, but the wiring is a mess around the battery side.
what does seem cool is that it appears as if the PO already did a capacitor battery eliminator as the
cylinder peice to the right of the battery box is definitely not in the parts diagrams.
A few of the wires connecting to it have been eaten at by what looks like rats, but i think if i refresh all off it and give the points a go over i should get a good spark.

Ive got the carb soaking now, its really weird design compared to others ive seen, will show pics when its done.
THis is the wiring diagram im trying to work off.

bikes of this style has been what im into, basically just all stripped back small cc 4 stroke singles, love them.

Awesome to see another XL175. I have one I use as my daily and I love it.

That cylinder to the right of battery tray is your turn signal flasher relay. It looks like this?:


These aren't the fastest bikes, but they're super fun. They do well in the dirt, mud and the street. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

deviant said:

Awesome to see another XL175. I have one I use as my daily and I love it.

That cylinder to the right of battery tray is your turn signal flasher relay. It looks like this?:

These aren't the fastest bikes, but they're super fun. They do well in the dirt, mud and the street. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

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haha maybe once upon a time it looked like that, but yes looks like you could be right!
I followed your build alll the way through lots of good info, especially the kicker shaft, ill have to do that at some point. mines got a hilarious bolt drilled THROUGH the shaft to make the snap end work, it works, but definatley a bandaid fix.

yeah i got my XR400R registered for the road for hooning, but i wanted a little cruiser there neat

Looks like a good start mate. I am sure once it is running you will be able to take it out with the DTT Aus Ace crew.

Good place to start. My Xl250 never needed a battery so I doubt the 175 would
Deviant is the man to talk to about the 175. His is excellent.

it terms of starting it without a battery, do i need to pin those wires off to close the circuit?
im hoping someone out there has an idea of bare bones wiring required to get a spark?
electricals are not my strong point

That's going to be a nice build,subscribed. 8)

From what I understand with the '76s, you run the black/white wire from the stator to the coil and points. Then a wire from the stop switch to that same wire. The stop switch grounds out when in the off position.

deviant said:

From what I understand with the '76s, you run the black/white wire from the stator to the coil and points. Then a wire from the stop switch to that same wire. The stop switch grounds out when in the off position.

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Great cheers ill you know how i go.
carbs back together, valves have been adjusted. so hopefully once i get it running i can pull it apart and start modding this thing

So deviant, (or all others who are cluey with electrical bugs)
i did as you said running the bare minimum wiring and didnt get spark
but did start getting a REALLY good zap every so often.
Im used to with old bikes getting a weak spark and needing to tune things up, but not no spark and a zap.
Going to get a new points and condenser kit.
but any ideas?

The info I gave you was what guys gave me when I was looking at the possibility of running without a battery on mine. There always seems to be debate on whether it can actually be done. Honda converted to an AC system in 76, but with lighting still DC. So it should work if we can it set up right. You may have to run through the reg/rec and/or a capacitor.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this!

Brodie said:

I am sure once it is running you will be able to take it out with the DTT Aus Ace crew.

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The Sydney 'Ace' crew would be delighted if you would join us on our rides; what part of Sydney do you hale from?

Crazy

stroker crazy said:

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this!

The Sydney 'Ace' crew would be delighted if you would join us on our rides; what part of Sydney do you hale from?

Crazy

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From annandale! hopefully ill get it on the road, but as im sure you can vouch for sydney right now isnt bike wrenching friendly if you dont have a inclosed garage or you are a fish.

ripped the RHS side cover off after notice it was weeping oil, note this was just out of curiosity ill be pulling the engine down the line to do a proper freshen up. it dropped what appeared to be all of the oil out the side, atleast 1.5ltr, is this normal on the models, or do i have a seal or bearing failure?

Atleast its all shiny inside, and no metal shards appears to be in the oil.

on another not removed the muffler, the point at which it joins the header was rusted out.

also the airbox, will consider it going back on down the line, but need it out to clean rust and perished old air filter


Also grabbed a flick of the valves and points which i cleaned noticing the contacts were oily.



Still no spark, consistent zap at the plug cap though. installing a battery eliminator 2200uF capacitator and a new plug cap hoping this gets it firing

if it was me I'd put a fresh new pr. of ND points and a new condenser in it.

grcamna5 said:

if it was me I'd put a fresh new pr. of ND points and a new condenser in it.

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yeah theres a good denso kit with a new set of points and condensor it it, how ever its
designed to mate up to a denso coil by the look of it. My coil and condenser sit as one unit,
i dont know how id go about joining the two formally, not just splicing it.
otherwise its $120 for a NOS coil/condensor combo

Yep. The coil/condensor situation on these is a tough one. I've been able to find coils that work, but not condensers. It think this is a part where we have to suck it up and fork out the hefty price. I'm running a used but good coil and condenser on mine. If the coil meters out good, I'm not going to worry about whether it's old. New points are easy and cheap, so those always stay fresh.

a condensor for an xr75 will work fine no reason to mount it to the coil.just mount it up there where it dont get rubbed or vibrated on