The Hodaka Club Forum

I like the Indian.----------------Clarence

I got the Indian from my brother’s friend’s dad. They got it from a neighbor and ran the heck out of it until something broke then parked it out back for years. I hauled it away for them last summer for no charge. Everything was froze up including the wheels. Surprisingly the tank is in excellent condition, no dents, pristine inside and only light surface rust on the outside. I put up on the shelf, as you can see in the photo, as shop art.
I am hauling it, minus the motor, to Hodaka Days to deliver it to Earl from Arizona. I’ll miss it. Great conversation piece.

That cylinder can still be saved. After you take the head off, the cylinder studs can be removed using what I call a stud remover (see photo). After that the cases can be slowly and carefully split, releasing the crank and cylinder as one. The bearings will be what holds the cases together at this point. Just heat the bearing boss and it will come apart. Then you can use a hydraulic press to press the piston out of the cylinder. Just make sure you have the cylinder well supported. I've done this many times on Ace 90/100 engines. The worst took over 2 tons to press out a piston. It popped with a bang that had us both take cover, but after that initial break free, it slid out effortlessly.

Obviously, the crank will need to be rebuilt and the cylinder will need a bore, but pressing it like this will not damage them further as long as you support the cylinder base properly. Considering the cost of a SR cylinder, it would be well worth the effort to save this one.

$0.02

Roger

Wiseco used to make pistons at .60 and .80 over for the Super Rat. Sometimes they come up on ebay. At one time Strictly Hodaka had a run of pistons made in all sizes up to .80 over, but I believe the larger sizes all sold out.

Update on the P motor with the Rat top end. Took the cylinder over to my buddies at the Local Yamaha shop. We took a hone to the cylinder and it cleaned up nicely. Checked the cylinder and the bore size, taper and out of round is well within tolerances. The piston has some rough areas and the ring gap is way big. The piston to cylinder clearance is .007 which is about double what it should be.
So I’m thinking a new .040 over piston kit and I’m good to go? What do you think?
The bottom end needs gone through, I’ll have Ron Liddle do that for me.
Been hunting for some of the hard to find parts. Success with the air box and seat pan. Apparently air boots are non existent, new or used. This will be a critical piece. Probably a couple of months though before I’ll need it.
Bob

The only way to know is measure the new piston and compare it to what the cylinder measures.

So it sounds like without a bore putting a new piston in is not a good idea?
I’m trying to figure out how to get this bike going but it is becoming very frustrating. If I can find a part the cost is 3 to 5 times that of say the Wombat. Some parts like a cylinder or a air boot it doesn’t matter how much you are willing to spend there are none to buy.

I had a piston ceramic coated by a Swain Tech Coatings to bring it back to an acceptable tolerance. They can add up to .004 to the skirt. I can not say how it has held up because I haven,t had that bike apart to check. It does have about ten motos on it and five practice sessions and still runs great.
I think it,s about 26 bucks to do the skirt and more to do the top for heat protection.

Tether, consider contacting Hodaka Dave Rozier. I converted a Combat Wombat for reed induction and this moved the carburetor back so I could no longer use the stock air box. I was running the bike on a crappy little Uni pod (they work well when enclosed in a still air box and horribly when they are just flapping in the breeze in case you were thinking of using one as an alternative). He fabricated an air boot out of an old snow machine part that allows use of the stock air box and it works perfectly. I'm sure he could do the same for you and his rates are beyond reasonable. Check it out.

Thanks Matt. I will definitely check that out. I do not like the idea of running a pod filter, especially after hunting down a nice original air box.
Bob

The Super Rat air box so iconic it would be a shame to leave it in the shed. When I think of Hodaka, the first image I come up with is the Super Rat air box - its just that cool.

I just checked the Hodaka-Parts site and they had the air cleaner joints listed for the Super Rat. It's not listed under the air filter tab, but if you go into the Hodaka Schematics section and look under the Model 93 Super Rats it has it listed.

Item #933605.

Yes the air boots is listed but if you pick on add to cart it comes up as not available.

I contacted Hodaka Dave about the air boot. He does not have anything that will work for me. Any more ideas? I’ll keep searching.
Picked up a pipe on EBay, it arrived yesterday. It is solid no holes or dents. It should clean up nice. Got the frame painted, New tires mounted and busy cleaning and painting small parts. I should have a roller in a couple days.

I will take a look into my part stash.

Well I expected to have a roller now. I would have but I wasn’t happy with the tires I picked, they were just too big and didn’t look right.
This is where I’m at tonight. Since Rat fenders seem to be nonexistent I used a 94 Wombat rear fender. Cut about 6” off the back, about 1” above the tail light mounts. Drilled new mounting holes. The Wombat mounting holes will end up being the rear number bracket mounts. This fender was damaged on the end anyway so I didn’t mind hacking on it.
Ordered $770 of stuff from Hodaka Parts.com yesterday which should be most everything I need to finish this project except the elusive air boot, still searching and trying to come up with an alternative.

Quite the transformation in a short time,nice work ! What tires did you get that are too big ? Just asking so I know what not to order for my Ace.

Had to edit after looking at the pics again to comment on your shop,very nice.

Shinko 546 100/100 rear $69
Shinko 546 80/100 front $57
Unfortunately I mounted them up so no returning them now.
Tough to find the right tire for this bike.

Thank you.

I’ve had good success finding proper tire sizes at bikebandit.com. Haven’t bought knobbies yet, but greasy dual purpose Shinko tires! So you’re saying the 80/100 & 100/100 didn’t work for the Rat? Too wide? Just curious..... Victor

The 80/100 front was fine. The 100/100 rear was too wide and tall. Almost no clearance at the swingarm. I’m not sure the chain would clear. No way the chain guard would fit, although I didn’t try it because I have been unable to find a chain guard. I should have took a picture when I had it on.
I have found that not all tires are equal even when the stated size is the same.

Air boot solved temporarily anyway. I had and extra Wombat 94 boot and another unidentifed boot. Cut the end from the unknown boot, which is the correct size for the carburetor. Heated it up and stretched it over the Wombat boot. It is a very tight fit and will not leak. This should get me by until the correct boot becomes available.

Nice job modifying them. Looks custom made too! Victor

Thrownchain suggested using an Ace chain guard to make one for the Rat since no Rat guards are available. Took his advice. Just a little more sanding and it’s ready for paint.
Before and after:

The Rat runs!
Bought the rebuilt Ace motor from Thrownchain and put the NOS Rat top end on it and rebuilt the Rat carburetor I had. Started second kick. Ran it just long enough to heat up nicely. Another heat cycle and it should be ready to go.
Waiting on the seat foam and the gas tank to finish the project. Tank will be here Tuesday. I ordered the seat foam a week ago and hope it gets here soon.