85 Honda FL350R Build For My Daughter
 

Hey guys I thought you all might like to see my newest addition to the fleet. Two years ago I tried to buy this thing from my neighbor but they refused to sell it to me, so I just kind of forgot about it. Well 2 weeks ago I went out riding & when I got home I saw them out in the front yard, so I went over and asked about it again, well.. 500 bucks later it was sitting in my garage. :)

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM4523.jpg

It hasn't ran since 2005 and unfortunately it was left sitting outside uncovered, but it is a really nice complete machine. The engine was locked up and I figured they just melted a piston in it but it was a little worse once I got it apart. It was still on it's stock 78.5mm bore and had a piston skirt break which got lodged between the crank and the cases and broke both cases.:( Luckily I have a spare set of cases so I have that covered. My original plans were to sell off my other 350 and all my 350 parts and try and get another Pilot, but my daughter really likes the 350's so I have since decided to just restore this one for her and pass her Yerf Dog down to my 6 year old. We are a family of 4 and now have 4 buggys so we can all ride together when we go out.

Rather than post a bunch of pictures I started making Youtube video's of the progress. I would love to have this thing done by Christmas, but because of parts availability it might be spring.

Part 1




Part 2

Nice, you need to do a time-lapse video with the blur of hands and bodies all over everything. )) Fleetline Aero coupe-- about a '48?? looks really sweet with the torque thrusts on it. Not something (vintage and brand/style) I see much of on the east coast.

Thanks I may try that with the video once I have it completed.

Thank you, actually my Coupe is a 47, but good eye. :)

Wow how they grow!(your daughter) and we can't tell what type of business you're in!!
As ususal it's looking AWESOME.Great job!

Thank you Metal,
You are so right, they sure grow up fast. :crying:

A little progress...

Looking AWESOME-Dad's gonna want to keep this one for himself!!!

You may be right. :D

Small update on my daughters Ody. Things have been pretty slow lately with the cold weather, and I am now mostly just waiting on parts. I sent the cylinder off to a guy in the Chicago area to be bored, but unfortunately he wont be able to get to it until sometime after the first of the year. I am now only short the balancer bearings and 1 crank seal and I should have everything to at least assemble the bottom end. All the chassis is assembled with the exception of the cage. The brakes are all complete and bled. These are truly amazing machines, but unfortunately finding parts can be a real challenge at times. Stinking Honda is discontinuing parts at an alarming rate and the vultures on Feebay are taking full advantage of that. :mad:
The gas tank is one big rust ball so I will need to do something with it soon. I have seen videos where people have done (sp) electrolyses to remove the rust and then followed up with a liner. I may go this route on it, as I prefer to stick with the factory tank.

Anyhow, I had a someone asking for an update so here is part 4..

Incredible job:biggthumpup:

I'll look up the name of it for you, but there is a liquid rust remover that's fairly new to the market (3-4 years) that is environmentally friendly and works as good as or better than phosphoric acid. You could circulate it through the tank with an old fuel pump and have it clean in about two days time. follow that up with an automotive tank sealer (if even necessary) and you're good to go.

Thanks guys.

Yes if you can remember the name of the rust remover, please let me know. This tank is pretty rusty, but from what I have seen it should hopefully clean up.
Thanks again,
Nick

Here you go ... http://www.safestrustremover.com/
A buddy of mine used this on his 72 T/A and was very impressed with the results, had the information buried in a 50+ page thread about the restoration ...

Thank you for the link on the rust remover. I think I remember reading about that stuff a few years ago, but unfortunately the older the get the worse my memory is. :lol: I may order a gallon and give it a try, Thanks again.

I thought I might try some Muriatic Acid to try and clean up the rust in the tank. I bought 2 gallons from Home Depot and the other day and gave it a try. It seemed to remove a small bit of the rust but didn't really even put a dent into it. :( OK plan B, back to the electrolysis idea. I didnt really know what to expect but I figured i had nothing to loose so I bent a piece of 3/8 all thread and stuck it into the tank and filled it full of water and a half box of baking soda and hooked it to my battery charger. After about 5 minutes I shut it off and pulled the all thread out for a quick peak. I have to say I am amazed at the progress so far, The all thread already has a small amount of rust build up and the water/baking soda solution was already starting to look rust colored.

After about 2 hours, you could start to see where the all thread was already starting too show signs of being eaten away and the water/baking soda solution was just flat nasty looking. I am going to let it run all night and I will check it again tomorrow afternoon. I may change the water/baking soda solution and let it go another day or two if need be.

I wish I had taken a few pictures before I started, but this tank was pretty bad. I was pretty disappointed with the Acid, but hopefully this will provide better results. I will let you all know how it turns out, if this really does work you can clean a rusty tank for about 3 bucks worth of baking soda. :)

Good info: Bummer with muraitic acid is that it's only effective on organic material, not oxidation. I'd definitely be interested if your baking soda does the trick.

I honestly thought the Muraitic Acid would have yielded better results, but live & learn I guess. :lol:


here are the videos i found on youtube that gave me the idea on the electrolysis. It looked like he had some pretty good results doing it so I have my fingers crossed..

I've used POR15 at work many times for restoration projects. Never used POR15 inside a tank, but it seals rust better than anything I've used. It leaves a powder coat baked finish over really nasty metal-and a hard finish. When you brush it on it comes out like a sprayed finish (self-leveling)- It's expensive but a perfect solution for extremely rusty,pitted,ugly metal that needs to look new when finished and sand blasting isn't practical (like inside an open place of business) or for those "tight-can't-reach areas".

For rust, you want phosphoric acid instead of muriatic. just keep it out of your eyes! I've used a lot of POR-15, they have a specific tank sealer that I used on my bird's tank back in '99. not a single issue with it. I started with POR when it first hit the market and did a lot of tech articles and gave them a lot of feedback from those. With POR, read and follow the directions to the nth degree. It gets a lot of negative rep from those who don't and watch it peel off their work in big sheets. The subframe, suspension, entire underbody and interior of the bird were done in POR silver and black. (back in 99, and again holding up very well) to save $s you can substitute ospho or any other brand for POR-s metal etch, it's all just phosphoric acid.

Thanks for the info guys, I have used POR15 before and I agree it is a great product. I don't know that I will use it in the tank but I will worry about that a little later.. As for the electrolysis, I am flat amazed at the results so far. I went out there a couple of hours ago and changed the Baking soda/ water solution and rinsed out the tank for a quick look at the progress. I would honestly say a solid 60% of the rust is gone. My sacrificial piece of all thread was caked in rust and about twice the diameter when I pulled it out. After I cleaned it off and I'll bet 1/3 of the steel is gone after only 20 hours of the process. I went ahead and filled it back up for another round of the electrolysis and I think I will let it go another 24 hours and check it again. So far I couldn't be happier with the results and would recommend this cheep and simple process to all.

Thought you all might like to see the results of my little electrolysis experiment. :) I really wish I would have taken a before picture of the inside of the tank but take my word for it, it was very rusty. :(

These were all taken today after 3 days of electrolysis.

The first pic is what it looked like all hooked up right before I disconnected everything at the end of the process.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4688.jpg

in the second pic you can see a lot of build up on the sacrificial piece of steel but keep in mind i removed and cleaned off all the crust once each day before continuing the process.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4689.jpg

in this pic you can see how much of the all thread that has been eaten way during the process. It is about half the size it was at the start of the process.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4690.jpg

MMMMM Rust....

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4691.jpg

after a quick rinse with the garden hose, looks like new.. well maybe not new but defiantly useable. :hooaray:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4692.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4694.jpg

And here are a few of the Ody as it sits now, I found the crank seal I needed on egay so I have that on it's way. Slowly but surely she's coming together.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4696.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4699.jpg

Nice job on both the tank and buggy. Great info.

Thank you

Looks like you're creating a museum piece! My brother would dig on this thing, he's got several of the 250s.

Thank you for the kind words, but no, just trying to build her a nice solid safe buggy she can go out & run the p*ss out of. :D

A little progress.. I got lucky a picked a up a nice clean Ody seat today from a friend of mine for 75 bucks. I repaired a broken set of rear fenders and bolted them on, as well as assembled the bottom end. I am hoping the cylinder will be here sometime next week, so I can wrap up the engine. I still need a couple hundred dollars worth or little things and then this thing should be a done deal. :D My daughter is sure anxious to start riding it, & I am kind of excited for her as well. :)


http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4726.jpg
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http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4717.jpg
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How did you repair the fenders? Exactly how many test drives before your daughter get's to try it out?!!!!

The left side rear I was able to just plastic weld it from the bottom side. The right side I plastic welded it and then pop riveted some sheet metal under it for strength, that fender was pretty brittle.:( Then I just hit them both with a quick shot of rattle can White to make them look a little better. How long they will last is up in air, but until I can find a better set they will just have to do.

I know that it is a little late but when I have to reuse a rusty gas tank, especially when it is on a motorcycle or of a small enough size that it will fit in the bath, I always get up with my local radiator shop and get them to dip it in the same stuff that they dip and soak radiators in. I leave it for a day or two and when I come back and get it I just rinse, dry, and put to work.

shootispd27 - that's another great solution!

rarerat - I couldn't see a repair is why I asked - also I figured they were UV brittle and if you knew some new method for repairing that, as thermowelding doesn't work on brittle plastic for any length of time. Great job!!

Thanks guys,
Here is part 5, as soon as the cylinder shows up it should be a running buggy inside of a few hours. :)

Beautiful work on the Ody. The results on the fuel tank were amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you AceFab.

This was this last nights little project. :)

Earlier this year I built a Dual inlet Pre Filter for my Pilot and have been just thrilled with the performance increase and the fact I no longer have to clean the main filter after each ride now. :biggthumpup:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM4421.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM4435.jpg

So since I am basically at a stand still right now until I get the cylinder back, I got a little creative and built a dual inlet Pre Filter set up for her Odyssey also. It was a little easier on my Pilot because there is a bit more room to work with, but if I move the fuel pump back just a couple of inches this should work well.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4737.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4739.jpg
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http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4745.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4751.jpg


I robbed my filters off the Pilot for a quick test fit, I need to order a set for the Ody next week.


http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4750.jpg

I still need to shorten the hoses a bit but this should give you guys a basic idea of what the set up will look like.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4747.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4749.jpg

nicely done and excellent attention to detail ... Ahem, on that note, might i point out the automotive neglect going on in the background??? Am there, doing that ... need a volunteer to work on my 2nd bent gen header/exhaust--i'm having to much fun with the buggy.

NICE!!! you have more $ in 2 aircleaners than my whole buggy!!!!

Thanks guys.

X-bird,
What do you mean neglect?? It's only flat on the bottom. :laughing: But in all seriousness, you are right. I got hooked on these buggys just over 2 years ago, and have neglected all my cars ever since. I am 45 years old, but you would think I was 14 when I get around these buggys because they are all I want to play with in my off time. I am starting to think I need professional help. :lol:


Metal,
See there, now you are making me feel bad. :laughing: I have always considered myself too be fairly resourceful, but when it comes too building a real work of art out of a pile of scrap, you my friend are the king. :hail: Seriously, my hat is off to you, the buggys you have put together from basically nothing are second to none. Amazing work!!

I'd consider you "very" resourceful as these parts aren't easy to find. Your work shows your talent, patience & dedication to your work and to your family :biggthumpup:-The fact that you're restoring this for your daughter put's you on the "Best dad ever" list-
By the way-you should feel bad- I went to the parts store the other day looking for some gloss red paint, when I asked the individual at the counter what happened to all of it- he told me some guy in NM bought it :D

Same age, same addiction and problems ... lol .... I'll come work on your tires if you tackle my exhaust and don't forget my leaky head core plug ... )))

Metal,
LOL.. I'm sorry I guess I should have at the very least.. left you one can of the Red. :laughing: Thank you for the kind words, These buggys are a great way to spend quality time with the whole family.


X-Bird,
deal!! :lol:


I wanted to add an aftermarket clutch to this buggy so she can launch a little harder out of the hole. I had been watching Feebay for some time and had hoped to find a Powerbloc similar to what I added to my Pilot but could find one or anything at a reasonable price. :( A little while back I found this Quick Shift clutch on Feebay for a whooping 29 bucks. I had never heard of them and what I could find out was they were out of business years ago, so parts would be near impossible to find for it. I figured at that price it was worth the risk so I bought it. It came from New York, & when it showed up you could tell it had been sitting for quite a while by all the grime, rust and spider webs. I took this crappy pics and then tossed it under the bench. Today I dug it out and pulled it apart to clean it up and look for damage. Too my surprise it was in really good condition and thankfully wasn't missing any parts, it just had a broken roll pin on one of the sliders. A quick trip to Home depot and a a dollar later i replaced all three of the roll pins, cleaned, painted, lubed and assembled the clutch. I am running out of things to do here.. come on UPS... where is my cylinder. :lol:

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/HPIM4675.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0107021552.jpg

I'm full of envy right now. This fl350 is turning out awesome. I'm hoping to pick up a fl250 here in the next month or so. If I could afford it I'd be going after the fl350. I hope your daughter appreciates this :d

Thank you for the kind words. I do really believe my daughter appreciates all the work that has been put into this thing. She has helped me off & on through out the build, and if nothing else it has been a great way to spend a little quality father daughter time with her.

Good luck with your FL250, they are awesome little buggys. I had two of them back in the early 80's and always had a blast. My only real complaint would be, with out rear suspension they tend to beat you up pretty good. Still if I had the chance to pick up another 250 Ody at a reasonable price today I would in a NY second. :lol:

Update..

I heard from the gentleman doing my cylinder and he said it was shipped out the end of last week so I am guessing any day now I should have it back. :hooaray:

Buster Brown dropped of the cylinder yesterday. :hooaray: I went out this afternoon and bolted the top end on, leak tested it, and all looks good, it held a solid 6.5 lbs for 30 minutes so I would say she's sealed up. :biggthumpup: I am tied up most of the day tomorrow but I would like to start setting the engine in tomorrow evening and hopefully start with the heat cycles on Sunday. The only thing I am really short as of now is a fuel filter. Stinking Honda discontinued them as well so I will see if I can find something close to use until I can track down a NOS original.

My daughter is pretty excited about finally getting to ride it, & I guess I am excited for her also. :) She told me tonight to be sure and not fire it up with out her. I also want to give a big Thank you to Hoser from Pilotodyssey.com for doing the machine work on my cylinder, the work he did looks awesome & with my little 100 pound daughter in this thing, it ought to flat scream!! :lol:

More to come soon...

:hooaray::hooaray::hooaray::hooaray::rofl:

It is ALIVE!! :D

I had one of these when they were new, Bought it off the showroom floor and it was not as nice as what you have done here ! Sweet Ride !

I can't wait to see her face driving it!!! I'm ooooh so curious about how that clutch performs too. Just amazing work- you've set the standard for a restoration.

I can see it now ....
"dang, my oddy only scored 99.99999875 at the Bloomington NHORS show! I told them i didn't want triple-plating on the lug nuts ..."

Roflmao

Thank you all for the kind words guys.

x-bird, :laughing: that was great!!

So far we have ran about a gallon and a half of gas though it and I am still only using 1/4 throttle but the I really like the clutch. It has a much higher engagement rpm than the stock clutch on my other 350 so I think once we can just pin the throttle it should hit pretty hard. :biggthumpup:

I spent a few hours on it this afternoon, & once she got out of school we took both 350s out for about 45 minutes, she was all smiles..


http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...21624_0001.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...21621_0001.jpg

That's what it's all about- Her name on the controls is a nice touch!

Awesome. I wish I had the know how to do something like that.

Thank you Tosser..

Today my wife, daughters & I all went riding. We loaded up the Yerf, my daughters Ody & my Pilot and headed out to the Puerco for the afternoon.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM4808.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM4809.jpg

My wife started out on my Pilot and Sarah on her newly rebuilt Ody and I rode with my 6 year old in the Yerf. While taking a break & a guy in a 800 Razor stopped by asking all about the Pilot. My wife was still in it and he wanted to know what it ran like? Well my wife was not about to follow him so she and I swapped. The guy on the Razor was telling me he had just put a new exhaust and done some intake work and was bragging about how much better it ran now. So he & I lined up at the bottom of a hill and we were going to drag race up the hill. Right before we were ready to take off I waved my daughter over to line up her Ody with us and just told her to be careful. Well off all three of us went wide open up the hill. I give you all one guess who won the race?? Yep, that's right, My daughter waxed both of our @sses up the hill with her Odyssey. I was so proud of her, but I just had to laugh. The guy in the Razor started saying he was at a weight disadvantage because his razor weighed close to 1000 lbs and our machines only weighed just over 600 lbs, but no mention of the fact he had 800cc vs her 350cc engine. :lol: The next thing I know he's gone and nowhere to be found. :laughing: I truly wish we would have filmed the race up the hill, but it all happened so fast we never had a chance too dig out the camera.

We continued to ride and then my wife tried to film my daughter & I drag racing up the hill. That stinking Odyssey runs STRONG!!



It was a good day, the whole family had a blast & My daughter just loves the Odyssey!!
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM4803.jpg

PRICELESS!!!!!!!!! Now that's "Family" entertainment:biggthumpup:
Wish I could be a fly on the wall @ school when she tells her friends about the events of her weekend- You think the guy with the Razor told his buddies he got spanked by a girl or he gave his version?
When I'm horsing around on my Harley with my friends it always becomes a weight issue on why I walked away from them!!!

The whole thing was so darn funny, we are all still laughing about it. He was truly mad he got beat, and the sad thing is he was my age or maybe even had a year or two on me. I am guessing he is new to buggys and probably just dropped 15k on his razor because someone told him they were the cats meow. :laughing:

That'a a hoot! That guys gonna go back to the salesmen that fed him the line and whin like crazy. " I got shut down by a girl in a honda!" A perfect example of money trying to buy ego and feeling the agony of defeat! I love hearing stuff like this!
I'll bet she's pumped. she's got a taste of victory! There will be no catching her now.
Tell her the forum is cheering::hooaray::hooaray::hooaray::hooaray:

Great story to go with some great rides

Thanks guys

If the Yerf followed you guys (from a distance to avoid breathing dust, of course), you could have put the nail in the coffin when you told him you have less invested in the entire Yerf than his exhaust work.

It's been awhile since I have been on the board but in May I bought a nice used suspension seat for my daughters Ody and installed it. Personally I like the look of the stock seat better but she really likes the new seat, & so guess in the end that is all that matters. :)

Original seat..
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/100_0187.jpg


Suspension seat..
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/100_0189.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/100_0191.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/100_0228.jpg

I'm with your daughter!!! that seat looks really comfortable.

Thanks, it is really comfortable compared to the stock seat, but you sit up a bit higher in it. Its also a tad wider & I had to space the shifter over. He bought new for his Triple E and paid something like 800 bucks for the seat & instillation from a place in Phoenix called Desert Dog or something like that, & only ran it the one season. I feel like I got a great deal on it, I gave 100 bucks for it and he was kind enough too hand deliver it to me when he came last May to the Desert race here.

A+ on that addition! Being locked in and tight in the seat is a direct tie-in to feel and confidence. For $100 that one's a home run.

Thank you sir

Hey there Rarerat...I read this story on the other forum, enjoyed it a second time here... It's always worth it to see a kids grin when we put a project together and then go out and have family fun with them...:cheers:

Thank you sir

Rarerat,

I'm new to buggies with my first but I read the whole story just now and it's really fantastic what you accomplished. The best part was that is was for your daughter. Not enough people out there that would do that anymore.

You've got me convinced to rebuild the engine on my boys crossfire and maybe make is a bit hotter in the process.

Thanks for the great story and the effort in posting it all so we could enjoy.

Thank you for the kind words & good luck with your son's Crossfire. IMHO, these things are time well spent with the whole family & the smiles are worth any & all the effort.

As we fathers know, it is all about the chidren right!? heheheheh

Yes sir..

kids bahhhhhhhhhhhhhh humberg they hog seat time lol

This thread is really inspiring me to dig my 350r motor outta the Rubbermaid tub. And get it rolling again. Thanks rarerat!

These things look great and the sand running looks like great fun.
How are they in trails and muddy wet conditions? I dont go looking for mud bogs but sometimes no way around it.

lol..:D

Good luck on the rebuild, spring is around the corner. Gotta "get er done"!! lol..

They do really well even on tight trails because you can easily slide the rear end around with the throttle. We dont get rain often, but I've had my first Ody in the mud a few times and it did really well, but like anything good tires make a big difference.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM3771.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...R/HPIM3774.jpg
IMO these are about the best bang for the buck out there, but then again I am bias. :o:laughing:

Looks like more fun.
you even blew the bead on the tire..

Around here they bring big bucks but if I sell the two built Kawasaki X-2's i have and save the rest up I can get one next year. I see the Pilot's for 5k and up

What are pitfalls to look out for and any parts i should be on the lookout for that will soon be unavailable?

I rolled it in the bottom of the canyon hitting some deep whoops to fast and it knocked the tire off the bead. :banghead: I had to ride it back out with the tire like that.

Honesty, if the Odysseys are too expensive, I would just wait & get a Pilot. There is no comparison between the two, the Pilot just does everything better. The prices have really fallen since I bought mine and I have seen a few pilot under 4k. Shop around and be willing to travel and you can get a deal.

Either way, you will get a great machine.

That is the biggest issue with owning these machines, parts can be a PITA to find at times. They are making a lot more repo parts for the Odyssey than the Pilot right now. Good OEM Bearings & seals are hard to come by. There are some after market seals out there but they are not near as good as OEM. Like any other buggy just look it over real good, gotta remember these are well over 20 years old.

Ebay is a good place to find parts but be prepared to get shafted on the prices. I have a spare Pilot engine and Ody engine to keep our buggys going but if I find myself in a situation where I cant find parts, I will be doing sled engine swaps.

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/rvs/3633935178.html

If I only I had the dough....

That is a nice clean looking Pilot but there are much better deals out there.

tank clean out
 

very nice build , clean work , years ago I had a brand new Oddessy , they didn't work well around here , we have too much water and it slips , still wish I wouldn't have sold it ----------------what setting did you use for the battery charger to do the tank clean out , I got a Honda 300 tank I would like to try it out on , my charge does 2 , 4 , 10 , and engine start , I am thinking the lowest setting ??????

Thank you, yes just the low setting on the battery charger will work fine. I let this one run for 3 full days and it worked well.