Chunky_t Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 I got my hands on a '74 FR50 for bugger all, but it wasn't running and looked like it had been neglected for some time by previous owners, it didn't run and none of the electrics worked. I later learnt it's a FR50K which was the very last of the '74s before they ceased production until 1981 (I think) but there isn't too much difference, just cosmetic stuff, like paint, the plastic piece that screws to the forks and the seat. that's all I've noticed that's different to a normal '74 FR50 so far. I don't have any photos of it together because I was far too keen to strip it down for paint/other mods. It was pretty rusty to begin with, nothing too major though just surface rust mostly. The front rim is pretty bad (that's the rear one) and has a sweet speed (rust) hole near the valve. she'll be right though. It also had a sick rattle can black paint job on the frame So first thing I got around to doing was painting it, but as it always goes I got too keen on sussing out some mods before I had finished painting it, so here it is post primer, and it looks shit. kinda looks like a slug in this photo I got my hands on some LTZ400 quad handle bar mounts and cut them up to fit in a narrower gap, and drilled out some existing holes to fit the 10mm bolts for the mounts, worked really well. Came out something like this; Ignore the bars, those are some random mock ups that were made out of a shitty warehouse broom handle. Also cut up the standard bar mount thing that houses the ignition and what not so it filled the gap between the head tube and the leg guard a bit and looks sort of tidier. Continued to mess around with bar mock ups; Thought these kinda looked silly, made it look sad or something so decided against making bars with that kind of downsweep. With the help of Mitch (Mitch.W on here I think) we got rowdy with the grinder and chopped the rear guard off and had a look to see what it would look like slammed. Definitely going to make it low (not this low though) in the future via some hard tail struts, kind of ghetto way to do it but it'll do the job. It then turned green.. This is pretty much as far as I have got with it so far, still needs a few things but I want to get it to run first, Needs headlight/tail light, throttle cable, and a seat and it's pretty much good to go. Here are some photos I took to see what I want it to look like when it's finished more or less. Probably going to paint the wheels black though. Still haven't made the hard tail struts so it's just sitting on the tyre here but you get the idea. Will keep posting updates as it progresses 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 So today we made some hard tail struts for this thing so it's sitting a lot lower and fashioned up a shitty foam seat and wrapped in it an old flannel shirt I had lying around. Looks a little bit better now. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.QCR Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Looks good dude ! My first seat on my F5 was also a flannel shirt covered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Yeah man flannel for more lumberjack points. Probably going to get a better seat in the future, buy some decent foam and get the bread knife onto it. Should work a treat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Polished up the front brake drum, I'm painting the rest of the wheel black so this sucker will pop They looked about as shit as this before. And I found an old brake lever of an abd bmx I might use for a front brake lever, perfect size. and a better look at the bar arrangement ft. ghetto ass speedo, oh and odd grips, lol. Do I run a mirror? thoughts on this? I thought it looks a bit goofy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKD Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 run it under the bars rather than over if it misses the legshield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 Can't do that, since the bar set up I made for it is quite a lot lower than the standard one there is minimal clearance for anything, if I run the lever pointing downwards too far that hits too. If I really want a mirror might get a bar end mirror for it. Probably the best bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODB Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Agreed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share Posted June 13, 2015 Reviving this post, the 50 has been at a bit of a stand still but I got my hands on this... It's a Suzi FR80, not sure what year, it has no baffle in the exhaust so it's louder than a drunk 18 year old girl. goes well too. minimal things done to it so far, I put the 2.5" rear tyre onto the front and had another 2.5" lying around so I biffed that on the back. Has a sweet sui shifter and my make shift flannel seat that was on the 50. keeping it mellow so far. I'm pretty stoked with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 So I couldn't help myself and got into doing some mods. Chucked a new smaller tail light on and put the forks off the 50 on it cause my mate stacked it into a van and bent the ones on it. massive fail but shit happens. here's the result of the modifying shenanigans Shit quality iphone photo's cause that's all I have to take some snaps with lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 Okay so this thing is running like shit, running is pushing the boat out a bit even, it'll fire up, I'll be able to give it some revs but it won't idle nicely. It'll die after a few seconds and backfire, or sit at a very low boggy idle and won't respond to opening the throttle. It will just stay at it's boggy idle situation. If anyone can shine some light on this it would be greatly appreciated. These old two bangers seem to be pretty tempremental.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKD Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 sounds rich. both idle and running jet circuit? and yeah they are fairly temperamental, my FR50's the same I'd start with pulling off the carbs and thoroughly cleaning the crap outa them. what colour are the plugs at the moment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 Yeah I think it's rich, the plug is black, and after cleaning it and kicking it over a bit it comes up wet, which isn't good. Would a good carb clean help it out? was fine before I had to take the throttle slide out to change a cable, I suppose some renegade dirt could have ended up in there somewhere. Keen to get it mint again so I can danger ride it and terrorize the public with some two stroke scream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKD Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 yeah its worth cleaning all the jets etc, float needle, CRC/carb clean all holes everywhere. They're small carbs so easy to take off and take to bits. Stick a wire brush bristle down all the little holes in the jets to get crap out. mine is a pain in the ass to get the air intake hose off the carb, but need to get to the intake/ air mix holes that way. wet plug is ok after a few kicks, black plug after running/idling not so much - clean the plug hardout too and set the right gap (0.7mm from memory??) Light coffee/chocolate after full WOT engine kill should be perfect (turn off ur keys going flat out - not on a stand) lol. nice essay of a post...woops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 How did you get that rubber boot off the carb? I had trouble with that on my 50 too, just ended up not being able to get it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKD Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 heat it up a little with a heat gun around the neck at the carb if its super stuck, otherwise gently lever it off with flathead screwdriver while trying not to break the carby haha. move around it like prying open a paint can? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky_t Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 Damn, don't have a heat gun. Any alternative? Might try the paint can prying type method first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKD Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 you can still clean most of the rest of the carb without bothering to take off the intake hose though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve74 Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I have a couple of fr80s i plan to restore one day, I learned to ride on one 25 years ago and rode it to school for 2 years, I've been looking for my original one for years, your one didn't used to sport 55HRM as a plate by any chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKD Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 what was that smaller tail light off? I've been debating what to use on mine. really want one of the stormtrooper lens 33 ford ones but they're quite pricey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.