Have had this in boxes in my shed for a while now. The bike itself cost me $1, i later picked up 2 complete engines and alot of spares for not much more.
Less the engine and indicator lenses the bike was pretty much complete.
Bike is a Honda C95 (160 Dream or thereabouts) 1958-1967
Engine is from a Honda CL175 (twin carbs and more aggressive cams than other 175 engines), I will be tuning this engine as i go.
Honda's C95 was introduced in 1958 and enjoyed a production run lasting until 1967. It was powered by an inclined twin cylinder, overhead camshaft engine with bore and stroke of 49x61mm, displacing 154.6cc. Revving to 9,500rpm it developed 13.5bhp, leaving most of its European competitors in the shade.
CL175
Power: 19.00 HP (13.9 kW)) @ 9500 RPM
Max RPM: 10500
Have been wanting to build a bike for a while now. I have just finished rebuilding and customising a 1951 morris minor and have a couple of two stroke bicycle projects under my belt.
Here is the pile of parts (the flat head engine is a spare for the morrie)
and here is my initial mock up with a CL175 engine
Interestingly if you were to make up a top engine mount, use a single carb head and take a slight shaving off near the right hand foot pedal you could get away with this conversion very easily.
However the easy way doesn't let me play with all my powertools/toys
Fast forward about 6 months and i made a start.
The little back shed at our new flat wasn't being used for anything, so now its my bike shed (this also gives me more room in the car shed for any work needed on the morrie)
The first step was to sort through the boxes of spare parts and organise what i could (not shown is a few parts bins and shelves with all the parts laid out as best i could)
The next step was to strip this horrible blue paint, the darker is the original. Half has been sanded off and left to rust and was generally plain nasty to look at.
Looking much better already. Note the previous repair (im assuming, it seems far too rough for factory even tho it is the same on both sides) to the tank. I really like the look of braising and darkened spot welds against the bare metal. Also see how much of the frame is interfering with the carb. I did toy with flipping the head on the engine, but didn't like the idea of fuel mix issues at speed.
Carbs cleaned and rebuilt
The extent of cutting each side. Needs a little more to fit the ram tubes I'm planning on building.
Not shown (in any of these pics as i constantly have the engine in and out) is the top engine mount adaptor i have made.
So clearly i have weakened the frame by removing alot of the original steel right.
Well that's no problem.
Call it a cowl i guess, fits behind the carbs on each side, another plate going in the middle.
Frame should regain its strength and then-some.
I hope to get the engine fitment all sorted this weekend. I currently have a rebuilt topend sitting on my desk waiting to be mated to a rebuilt bottom end.
Clearly there is alot more work to do in every aspect of the build, so strap yourself on and enjoy the ride.
