Green 1975 Road Toad Ready!!!

[viclioce]

Well I’ve fiddled and faddled and worked on just about everything I could!

Finished re-terminating the connectors on the wire harness.
Put the spacer back in the rear wheel where it belonged.
Chain issues worked out and chain properly tensioned. (Pic taken before chain adjusted).
Replaced the brake rod instead of trying to weld another tab on. All brake switches & Springs connected.
Put new tube in the front tire & remounted front wheel.
22 ounces of tranny oil in the tranny.
New lamp in headlight.

All she needs is to come off the rack, add fuel, bleed the fuel system and kick her over, tomorrow! Victor

[viclioce]

I called my grandson, Mateo & told him his Toad only needs fuel and a few kicks! He was excited! I hope to get him riding it, and then get this one over to MVD & get it titled & licensed, now that I know the procedure! He finished drivers ed training and turned 16 on the 8th of September. So when he rides well enough he can get his MC license! Time for a few trips to the track and out to the Rio Grande River Canyon!!! Victor

[TheBevman]

Looks great! You're a great, grandfather that's for sure. Mateo is surely gonna get a lot of attention cruising that gem around and getting it dirty.

A word of warning on the Motorcycle license, some states want you on a 250cc + motorcycle for the physical/ operational exam otherwise you won't get the full motorcycle endorsement. I know the CA DMV is religious about it, they even verify the CC displacement on the cylinder of the engine before they let you begin.

[viclioce]

NM, thankfully, only separates it as 50cc or less no license needed. 100 cc or more, same license. I have a Suzuki VS 700 that goes to his older brother, then he will probably move up to my VL1500 when I can’t ride it any more. And the younger 2 can fight over the VS700!

It goes like this. Diego, who turns 18 next week, got the Wombat 125. Mateo gets the Green Road Toad & Andres, who’s 13, gets the Ace B+. The Red Toad went to their cousin, Jonah, who’s my youngest brother in law’s only son.

I still plan to rebuild the Model 03 motor I have in a case. When that’s done, I’ll put it in Diego’s Model 03 roller. Then I can move the Model 94 bottom end with the 95 top end from his bike to another roller. But that’s if I can still ride after all this damn arthritis! My luck, I’ll get them all finished and won’t be able to dirt ride any more other than maybe dirt back roads. We’ll see....... Victor

[givergas]

im in the same boat victor, but yesterday i rode my ace to school as my grandson had a after school thing and being in the 4th grade thought id ride along with him on his bicycle, make sure he got home and every kid that heard or saw me stopped and waved it was great felt like i was a one parade ,be brave....albert

[viclioce]

Well, she wasn’t ready. Once again, and because I don’t have micro-measuring tools (going on my buy list now!), the Green Toad wouldn’t start because it was only putting out about 90 psi on the compression test. I was told the cylinder was a .020 over bore & ready for a piston.

What I actually got was a cylinder which was too wide at both the top, & especially the bottom, for a .020 over piston & rings. So $125 down the drain for a .020 RT Art piston plus a bit more for a set of rings to fit.

So I sent the cylinder & piston to Terry. He had Hodaka Dave do a fresh .030 bore and put together a rebuild kit for a Rat piston and assembly. It is ready to be shipped back. So soon I should be hearing the ring-a-ding-ding of another Road Toad shortly after it arrives! I also have a propane heater to use in the garage now!

So keep those fingers crossed for me! And Terry even threw in some petcock gaskets for me, which I wanted to buy! So that will stop the fuel drips from the Green Toad petcock! Victor

[SuperRat01]

Victor, that Toad looks great! I want to restore mine like that but my granddaughter won't quit riding it long enough for me to work on it. Linc

[viclioce]

Thanks Linc! Hopefully the cylinder and piston assembly will arrive beginning of the week. Then it’s “Getterdun” time! I hate it when folks on eBay lie to you, or, at least don’t know what they really have. I was luckier with the Red Toad. The cylinder was exactly as described! I got a .020 piston from Rich and Bruce found me a set of .020 rings & everything went together perfectly. Lesson learned. Unless it’s acquired from someone on the forum, never trust what sellers say about used parts. Victor

[viclioce]

The parts arrived from Terry while I was gone to Deadwood SD. We have been taking down the Christmas tree today. I may get to it tomorrow.

It’s possible that we may have a school snow day tomorrow. We went out to dinner & it started snowing big time just as we were leaving. Already a 1/2” accumulation over the black ice already on the road. If it keeps up, no class or at least a delay tomorrow. Victor

[thrownchain]

We need at least 6" before they even consider slowing down the school. Takes a lot to close it here.

[viclioce]

We had a 2 hour delay. School started at 10:30 instead of 8:30. Classes got cut by about 14 minutes each to adjust for the time loss. And DAMN it’s cold out & dark before I get home. Sunset today was at 5:17 here! Victor

[thrownchain]

4:46 here.

[viclioce]

Well, got the piston on, cylinder on, head torqued down, oil drained, broken clutch cover swapped out, replacement cover on, motor back in frame, tank & seat on, exhaust on..... Then it got dark!

Tomorrow just a few things to do if it’s not too cold or snowing. Remount left footpeg, install exhaust springs, install air filter boot, remount chain, fill crankcase with oil, buy new 91 octane non-ethanol fuel, and try kicking her over! Fingers crossed I that I hear this motor go ring-a-ning-a-ning tomorrow!!!

Oh yeah, I replaced the petcock gaskets as well. This was all that was left of them. No wonder she was leaking fuel!!! Victor

[viclioce]

We put her the rest of the way back together last night. Ran out of daylight again. I need to do a quick check of the point gap and check spark. New oil in her & a brand new spark plug. It snowed again today! Victor

[viclioce]

Well, I got slowed down again. Ended up in Urgent Care yesterday, for what appears to be a bladder infection! I was in so much pain I couldn’t believe that’s what it was. Like my bladder was stuck in a constant spasm.

Dr. gave me an Rx for some anti-biotics and I used my marijuana lotion to relieve the spasm! I was amazed at how well it worked. Have to credit my wife for the idea to use the lotion, but I was finally able to sleep after being awake from the pain since 3:45 am.

Hopefully, I will have a “running report” in the next few days...... Victor

[viclioce]

Hi! Back at it again. After reassembly I’m finding that I’m not getting spark. I’m wondering how to tell IF the coil needs to be rebuilt?

I pulled the spark pkug, turned on the key, and disconnected the kill switch to take it out of the situation. Regapped the points, even changing out the screw which holds the points in place with a new screw & lock washer & set the gap at .013.

When we kick the bike we do not get the faintest spark on when plug with it pulled & grounded against the head fins. So I’m at least suspect it may be the plug wire on the coil.

The plug wire is not stiff and/or brittle. But I can’t say whether or not it’s loosened up where it is soldered.

So, I’m going to see if I have a different coil to test with. If I get spark, then I guess I’ll know I need to do the SoCalHodaka coil repair.

Stay tuned! Victor

[thrownchain]

Clean all the ground connections.

[ossa95d]

Dan is right. The frame grounds to the engine through the motor mounts and the coil grounds to the frame through its mounting point. If the frame has been painted, the paint needs to be removed from these locations to get a consistent ground. You can run a wire from the coil mount to the engine to complete the ground circuit.

[Bullfrog]

When removing variables while searching for spark, removing the half century old main switch from the circuit is also a good idea.
Ed

[Bullfrog]

PS: The blue wire and the black wire leading to the high tension coil are all that is needed to "power" and "ground" the ignition system. Although I will admit that I too like to provide for positive "ground" connection to the frame and engine (in addition to the standard blue wire). Just 'cuz.
Ed

[viclioce]

Yeah. I think I’ll disconnect the switch while I test. I’ll have to pull the seat & tank anyway, so that will be a simple thing. Victor

[viclioce]

Boy these short Winter days are killing me! I managed to get the seat, tank & coil off the RT yesterday & ran out of daylight.
Ski teaching today and then on to church. So I’ll try to do the testing tomorrow while I have daylight! I have the current coil unbolted but not unplugged. I unplugged the ignition switch and will test the current coil for spark. If still none, I have a second coil ready to test with!

One way or another, this bike WILL (I hope) start this week. Victor

[viclioce]

OK. I just tested now. Results, with ignition disconnected shows no spark with either coil. So, does this mean it may be my exciting coil on the stator? Is there a way to test?

I guess I should also test my capacitor, be a non-working capacitor would also mean no spark. I have one or 2 spare capacitors. I’ll try changing out for a known good. Thought this one was good. Any other ideas??? Victor

[viclioce]

Spark. No spark. Checking condenser, it’s new. Haven’t changed out yet. Wires connected to condenser are as follows, 2 black, 1 red (brown?) from exciter, 1 blue from points. Yes? No?

You can see the stator. I don’t believe there is any solder making contact with the metal exterior of the condenser. It also appears the nut on the points, holding the blue wire to points, may be making contact with one of the ends of the upper right lighting coil. Could this cause a short circuit? I don’t really know, but I could pull and reverse but and bolt to create space. See pic of the nut to which I’m referring. Victor

[viclioce]

When mounting the stator back on the motor, it appears the red wire was not adequately attached to the condenser. There was premix on it & it came loose. Going to try resoldering and test again.

Fingers crossed!!! Victor