2006 Honda CRF100F Refresh

[JWC86]

I have been on the hunt for a project bike for months but haven't been able to get to any deals before someone else gets to it first. I prefer to buy something like this non-running for a steep discount. Yesterday the stars aligned and I find myself the owner of this 2006 Honda CRF100F.

Bought it from the original owner(kinda, his dad bought it for him when he was a kid). He has out grown it years ago and was keeping it around for some if his cousins to ride but they have out grown it years ago.

It has been sitting for 3-4 years with most likely ethanol fuel in it so I'm expecting that is the non-running issue, he said it ran when parked and seems like a honest guy. The bike appears to be 100% stock and un-molested.

Previous owner is not mechanically inclined and says he hasn't really done anything other than change the oil every couple years when he was using it and that's it. Doesn't appear to have been used all that much for a 18 year old bike, the front tire appears stock and he says he replaced the rear tire once which is in need of replacement again. I asked if he ever cleaned the air filter and he just stared at me blankly so that might be interesting.

Front brake doesn't work but I think it just needs adjusting.

Overall looks like a pretty solid bike for its age and should be a much easier refresh than my last one (see here if interested PW80 Refresh)

I haven't had a chance to give it a good going over but here is a starter list:
First clean carb and get it running
Clean everything really well, paint where needed
New rear tire and tube, new tube in the front tire
New chain & sprockets
Lube steering head bearings
Lube swingarm bearings
Lube suspension pivots/bearings
Address air filter
Clean fuel petcock
Address front brake
Inspect fork seals
New spark plug
Lube cables
Whatever else comes up...

 

[Ausfahrt]

Looks like a great find. Keep us posted with more pics when you get it running.

 

[jeepman3071]

Nice bike!

 

[joekingcorvette]

Very nice! Put a little Rustoleum paint on that exhaust pipe and muffler. I love those Honda's.

 

[JWC86]

Very nice! Put a little Rustoleum paint on that exhaust pipe and muffler. I love those Honda's.

Thats the plan, after they are cleaned up.

I will most likely end up tearing this thing completely apart and painting the frame, swingarm, forks, bars, etc.

 

[Bonz]

The carb is going to be what it is. Ethanol vs regular fuel has little bearing on what you will find inside. Carbs and fuel systems have been gunking up since the IC engine was invented, LONG before ethanol.

 

[JWC86]

The carb is going to be what it is. Ethanol vs regular fuel has little bearing on what you will find inside. Carbs and fuel systems have been gunking up since the IC engine was invented, LONG before ethanol.

I agree that non-ethanol gas will gum up but in my experience its quicker and worse with ethanol.

 

[Bonz]

You mentioned it is a non-running issue and pointed at ethanol fuel. 3-4 years sitting will need the same work on the carb. Ethanol isn't the reason its not running, that's all I'm saying.

 

[JWC86]

You mentioned it is a non-running issue and pointed at ethanol fuel. 3-4 years sitting will need the same work on the carb. Ethanol isn't the reason its not running, that's all I'm saying.

I hear ya and I agree.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Air cooled Hondas are nearly indestructible. I bet it just needs a carb cleaning.

 

[daves87rs]

Nice!

 

[Bonz]

Agree, that thing should be a simple one and done on the carb, change the oil and ride ride ride.

 

[JWC86]

Had some time to work on the bike yesterday.
Wanted to just get it cleaned up first, I'd much rather work on a clean bike. It probably hasn't had a detailed clean since new so it took lots of elbow grease, spent 2 hrs on it, still not as clean as I would like it but good enough until it gets disassembled more.

Previous owner said he has never taken the seat off or anything so kinda neat getting to be the first guy to tear into this thing in 18 years.

The original owner also said he hasn't touched the air filter since new so I expected this to be really bad, wouldn't have been surprised if it was disintegrating after 18 years but surprising it wasn't even very dirty. It wasn't dried out and it's in great condition.

I cleaned the filter and since the inside of the airbox was quite dirty I removed it and cleaned it out good. Oiled the filter and ready for another 18 years of service

The carb

Inside was what I expected
The black stuff looks liquid in the pics but it was pretty much solid.

 

[JWC86]

Both needle and main jet plugged, I got the main jet cleared but the pilot jet is solid, can't get anything through it. I ordered a new one.

I left it in the ultra sonic cleaner for the rest of the day with a couple scrubs/scraping to help it along.

Notice on the bottom of the main jet tube where it's been eating at the aluminum.

Waiting on a gasket kit and pilot jet to put it back together, wont see it until next week.

I wanted to paint the heat shield, had some VHT header paint so I tried that.

It's a little flatter than I would like so I gave it a top coat of VHT frame and chassis paint, its a semi-gloss paint that I've had great results with durability, not sure if it will hold up to the heat, I wouldn't use it on the actually exhaust pipe but hopefully it is on for this.

The cables are in good condition, I removed the brake, clutch and throttle cable and lubed them.
While I had the throttle housing apart I threw it in the ultrasonic cleaner as it was pretty gummy inside.

Thats where were at right now,
Current to do list:
Check compression
Rinse out gas tank, inspect/clean petcock
Remove front wheel and figure out why front brakes don't work
Inspect front wheel bearings, remove forks and check on fork seals
Replace front tube
Remove triples and grease steering head bearings
Remove rear wheel, check wheel bearings, remove swingarm and linkages to clean and lube
Replace rear tire
Remove exhaust, remove broken bolt, clean and paint
Assemble carb, replace hoses
Get running and change oil

 

[JWC86]

The front exhaust heat shield bolt was broken off in the bung.

I figured I would just skip messing around with drilling it out and using a extractor and just use the welder at a shop I have access to since I was planning to take it there to sandblast it anyways.

I welded on a chunk of angle iron to the 1/8" of bolt sticking out.

This resulted in the bolt breaking off flush with the bung...

So at this point I decided to just move forward and sand blast the pipe and deal with it at home where I have more tools.
I drilled a hole and attempted with a strait flute easy out but was getting to the point I was worried I was going to break the easy out so I tried a spiral style extractor.
This is how that went:

From here I just drilled the whole thing out just undersized and picked away what was left of the bolt and ran a tap through for good measure.

With that done I moved on to paint.

The kickstand and rear brake return spring got a coat of the same semi-gloss black I used on the heat shield, turned out pretty good I think.

 

[JWC86]

This morning I had a chance to finish the tear down, really wanted to get this out of the way so I know what parts I need so I can get them on the way.

 

[JWC86]

Honda uses plastic bushings for the linkages on these bikes, they are known to wear out quick, a couple of mine already had significant play in them. The aftermarket has a retrofit kit to convert them to needle bearings.

As I start going through all the sub-assembly and parts I will clean up the rusty/rough looking hardware as needed. This time I'm tried out just putting evaporust right into the ultrasonic cleaner. Seems to work well.

Here is a before of the linkage bolts:

After about 30-40min in evaporust/ultrasonic cleaner:

Then I hit them with a wire wheel on the bench grinder, it shines them right up.
(Forgot to take a picture)

Thats all for now, I have some paint on the way that is suppose to be a exact colour match to the frame. The frame itself isn't too bad, just needs some touch ups. The swingarm and linkages will get sand blasted and fully painted.

I'll report back when I have some more progress.

 

[JWC86]

Sand blasted the frame, swingarm and a few more components, then paint.

Now starting re-assembly, not going to note every detail I did but basccially going through everything, cleaning, bolts wire wheeled, etc.

Frame and wiring harness installed:

I cleaned the wiring harness and then went over it with vinyl restore:

Next I installed triple clamps, the bearings looked decent, I cleaned and greased them well but when I tightened them down they felt very notchy so they will have to get replaced. Ordered a kit with tapered roller bearings.

 

[JWC86]

The swingarm bearing kit came in. This kit replaces the OEM plastic bushing with a double set of needle bearings on each side. A nice upgrade.

That's where I'm at currently. Waiting on a linkage bearing kit, steering stem bearing kit, tire and a bunch of OEM parts including a carb gasket kit I need so I can actually (hopefully) get it running. I do have some other bits I can poke away at while I'm waiting however, the forks need to be re-sealed for example.

 

[Bonz]

Nice work, following your progress so keep the pics coming!