Case Reed 125 Hodaka Project

[thirdstone]

I have this Bills Pipe for a Kawasaki KX125 mid eighties. I tried it one on the bike . It was woeful down low but once it came on the pipe it was insane , I was just waiting for the crank to say enough is enough. I’m trying to mod the pipe for a workable low end , there is enough top end that detuning that end would be okay. I’ve redesigned the header to make it 40 mm longer. The process might be interesting to some out there. I have a software program called cone layout. I print one to paper and then transfer onto stiffer paper . Once the cones are in place the metal cone are rolled and tacked into place. That’s still to come.
If the pipe works then I’ll get the rest of the pipe made up but that’s just purely for cosmetic reasons.

[thirdstone]

Got my tank ready. Converted HondaCL 185 tank

Note Superman inspired Super Hodaka LOGO

[matt glascock]

Gorgeous Third. Could you post a picture of the bottom of the tank and offer a brief word on the tech if you happen across a free moment? I gave that exact model tank away a few years ago as I got it amidst a parts cache and didn't need it. I really dig the slim contour and, especially, the berry-friendly rear slope.

[thirdstone]

Matt it was more work than it was worth to be honest. In stock form The rear of the tunnel hits the frame before the tank is horizontal so it looks wrong with the rear jacked up. I had to cut out the rear of the tunnel and weld in a new part to get it to sit right. My welding is crap so after a lot of trying I gave up and gave it to a welder. By that point it’s no longer a cheap tank , in fact very expensive. But there you go .
I welded to the frame the tank mount locators and put a bit of rubber hose over them. That was easy. I also had to change the triple clamp stops a bit but again an easy job.

[matt glascock]

Hmm...I guess the twin to the one I gave away will stay in stock form. I use the little plastic Clarke peanut tanks on the race bikes but they don't look nearly as cool. What the hell? You ended up with a really cool tank. Nice work!

[thirdstone]

Hi folks
Very slow progress on this build. Due COVID not much riding going on for me. I ride in a different state to the one I live in an at the moment that state is in lock down. Zero COVID in that state so they don’t want any visitors at the moment.
I’ve been building a pipe for this build , it’s half way done . One thing I’ve been playing around with is an O ring sealed exhaust manifold. I have a 1990 Honda CR 125 manifold and I noticed that it is very close to fitting the Hodaka Reed valve 125 cylinders. The holes almost line up , the ID is larger by about 3mm so I have sleeved it to match up the cylinder port. Obviously to use this manifold you have to change the pipe but I’m making a new one so no big deal. The Stock Honda manifold is not O ring as such but a sealed sleeve. A carting shop called Fastech makes O ring versions and that is what I used.

[Dale]

Very nice work Kevin. I like how you think outside the box on these projects. Please keep us posted on your progress.

[Bullfrog]

Yup. Very interesting project! Thanks for taking the time to keep us posted.
Ed

[thirdstone]

Just took a COVID inspired redundancy due to not much international flying going on so a lot of time up my sleeves.
So what to do ?
Make a new seat that’s a bit higher, thinner,shorter and lighter.

[thirdstone]

Update

[matt glascock]

Ooh, now I'm really jealous. Do you think you could crank out three more of those pans for my race Hodies? The stock Hodaka seat is remarkably comfortable for sure. The problem is that I rarely actually sit on it and it is a bit wide. The main plus is it make for a nice ride back to the pits. Man, what a build. Thank you for the progress report.

[thirdstone]

Thanks Matt but this is a one off, besides the cost to do this stuff would put a stop to any thought of reproduction .
Example
The raw material is just $20
The gas to do the welding is $40
The time was two days in the shed and it’s not even covered . I’ve had a quote of Ozzie $350 to foam it up and cover it. It’s ridiculous I know but it’s a Labor of love .

[matt glascock]

The metal work you did would be the big ticket item here. My welding skills are limited to highly sophisticated applications such as patching pipes and - well - thats about it. I couldn't even begin fabricating a seat like that. If there was a way to get that seat pan here, the little mom and pop upholstery job shop here could finish that seat for about $100 US (~$170 AU). I get the labor of love aspect. Hey, you're going to race that bike. It has to be perfect, right?

[thirdstone]

I had a change of heart with the air box . The plastic one was good , nice and light and would have done a good job but I thought I could make a box . I’m at a bit of a standstill with the air entry , not sure what to do. I’m playing around with a splash shield on top of the box where , potentially the air entry hole will be.

[Bullfrog]

The new air box is looking pretty slick! But yeah, some sort of splash protection is required for the inlet area. It is pretty easy (usually) to protect the airbox from grunge being flung off the rear tire - but splash from the front and sides can trickier to control without choking down the air supply. You'll come up with a nifty solution I'm sure.

Ed

[thirdstone]

I parked the thoughts of airbox inlet for a moment. I spent all day getting this bad big back in use.

[Bullfrog]

While I have no direct experience with velocity stacks (and you probably do), it seems like a bit shorter and with a bit more flare would be good . . . and would provide a bit more internal volume and clearance from the element on the engine side of the element. Hmmm, how ARE you going to do the air cleaner element? Decisions. Decisions. (fun stuff)

[thirdstone]

Hi Ed I don’t have much experience with them either. This is the one Mikuni sell for this Carby . In fact they sell two , a short one and a longer one, this is the short one. The working theory for length is resonance but this being a Reed valve engine resonance is interrupted by the reeds, I do this is just to aid airflow. In truth it will probably make zero difference but no harm in trying. The filter is a work in progress.

[dirty_rat]

Seems you could just use a Uni pod filter of the proper size to fit over the carb intake. They make them with openings up t 4", and it looks like you have plenty of room to fit one in there.

[thirdstone]

Yes you are dead right. One of the things I had to sort out was access to the carby flat bowl. Normally you can just loosen the fir and aft clamps and twist the carby around to get to the bowl nut. Because the case Reed requires the carby to mount very low it now sits between the rear engine mount so impossible to rotate the carby around. The and a very close airbox means I can’t compress the rear boot to slide the front of the carby out of the Reed block rubber. What I came up with was pretty simple and very similar to what I had before despite trying to improve on it. The rear of the carby is not attached to anything so I can loosen the front clamp and slide the carby attached to the air filter rearward and remove the carby pretty easily. I turned down the inlet of the carby a few mm and attached a long tune to extend it so the filter can clamp on.

[thirdstone]

Yes you are dead right. One of the things I had to sort out was access to the carby float bowl. Normally you can just loosen the fore and aft clamps and twist the carby around to get to the bowl nut. Because the case Reed requires the carby to mount very low it now sits between the rear engine mount so impossible to rotate the carby around. That and a very close airbox means I can’t compress the rear boot to slide the front of the carby out of the Reed block rubber. What I came up with was pretty simple and very similar to what I had before, despite trying to improve on it. The rear of the carby is not attached to anything so I can loosen the front clamp and slide the carby attached to the air filter rearward and remove the carby pretty easily. I turned down the inlet of the carby a few mm and attached a long tube to extend it so the filter can clamp on.I didn’t use the Venturi .

[Bullfrog]

I'd recommend the largest ID and OD "sock" you can find for easy breathing.

Ed

[thirdstone]

A bit of fabrication progress today . I cut the air entry hole, fitted some blind fasteners for the splash guard and welded on a number plate fixture. All that took way longer than explaining it . I thought long and hard about the air entry, I desperately wanted to use the hole in the frame bracing under the seat, that would have given me the perfect air capture point . Unfortunately that hole too small and I didn’t want to enlarge it and weaken the frame.

[thirdstone]

I got my pipe cones back , getting close now . This is a taped up fit out of the cone sections.

[matt glascock]

Whomever rolls your cones did a great job. Pretty impressive header. Looking forward to performance report.