In this section you will find restorations, anecdotes, vehicles that have gone through Undergrounshop, I hope you like it:
Post 1-5-2019
Second post and first of the year! First of all, we wish you a happy new year 2019.
I had a small problem with the battery of my motocompo, it was completely downloaded and after a lot of thinking and looking at websites, talking in forums, groups etc, I decided to make an invention for my little problem.
The idea was simple, I can not buy the original battery of the motorcycle, then … I restore it? Yes, but I did not have a 6V charger, nor distilled water … so I thought, how can I get a 6v battery … that’s it!.
Indeed, I would use standard AA type rechargeable batteries, the original battery is from 2Ah to 6V, if I use 5 1.2v batteries of 2.4Ah I will add a total of 6v to 2.4Ah.
Well now the theory is clear, let’s see how I can do it … we’ll start with a support for the 5 batteries, but the first problem that only had one of 6 spaces, then I soldered a cable to follow the circle and get a series of 5 batteries as shown in the photos.
Once checked its operation with the voltmeter, I opted not to touch the aesthetics of the bike, as original as possible, then, I used the bike’s own battery, I made a cut with the Dremel and began to empty the entire interior to make room for the new “battery”.
Having the necessary space, I see that it is even big, I add a foam so that it does not have vibrations or suffer movements that could damage the stability of the tension of the set of batteries. I make the inner welds of the two poles to take advantage of the cables from the outside of the battery.
Once the polarity and tension have been checked, I face the two parts of the battery with the help of a rubber band, which is very discreet. Once, I install it on the bike and I finish it! Now when I have a loss of charge, I will only have to remove the battery holder to charge the batteries in a household socket. :).
Post 1-11-2018
EI start my first post in the blog of Undergroundshop with the step by step account of and the processes followed for the restoration of the small Honda Motocompo 1983.
The adventure began in September 2014, when I saw it for the first time in a national sale website (Spain), I knew it would have to be mine, the first problem was that it was in the Balearic Islands, specifically in Mallorca.
Contact a logistics company and the buyer, to reach an agreement, once made the income without seeing the moped and giving a vote of confidence with the buyer and the logistics company came to the center and how to take it home ? then on the transportation site that was designed, behind in the trunk of my Honda 😉
Once at home, I calmly began to observe it with depth, I saw that it was much worse than I imagined … a lot of oxidation, plates in very poor condition, painted with exterior paint, a lamp switch to light the motorcycle , with acid in the battery, a disaster we are going …
The first, as any restoration is to remove all parts 100% available to see how they are and can act correctly, cleaning, repairing or replacing an original spare part. The plates and wheels are dismantled, with the surprise that very little is saved.
The idea of this Motocompo was to leave it as if it left the factory, with all the original components. I found a lot of problems to locate spare parts, on eBay there is very little and very expensive, locate a page that acts as an intermediary between a user Yahoo auctions jap, being able to bid for articles on the web, without being a user and without the language conversions “Shopping Mall Japan” of course this has a cost and quite high. There are 4 steps to pay: 1.The replacement itself 2. The cost of the page for the management 3.The shipment to the house 4. The customs of the country.
I dismantled the chassis to clean up all the oxidation parts I had, the deposit was also in very bad condition. To remove the rusted parts I went to a company specialized in sandblasting treatments “Pinturas Granollers” where I proved the great fame they have in leaving impeccable all kinds of pieces. The sand cleaning treatment rejuvenates the metal parts but it has a drawback, it is somewhat aggressive, in the case of the gas tank it is punctured and once assembled I saw the loss of liquid, applied a cold welding so that it did not have fuel losses and until today’s date.
In parallel, check the engine, change the transmission oil and began to disassemble to be able to clean exhaustively, my surprise was when I arrived at the alternator (rotor) where the motorcycle’s electricity is generated to be able to work properly, the photographs speak for themselves alone … once the parts have been cleaned and checked, paint them with special paint for engines / high temperatures.
Take the opportunity to repair and adjust the front suspension of the Motocompo, to a specialist in suspensions “Suspensiones Lesans” where it was adjusted with a thickness so that it was harder, since over the years it had lost hardness, it was cleaned with depth and a lubrication was carried out, once at home I painted it with specific paint for high temperatures, this is the result.
Once the engine was restored, I started to assemble all the parts to the motorcycle’s chassis, I had to adapt it to the start of the motorcycle, since I had a lamp switch instead of the original keys, the gas tank had a loss and I adjusted several times the address, in short, I attached all the components 2 times, test / failure.
At this point, with the bike running, you would have to wash your face, this involved repairing a badge, taking out all the blue paint and choosing a color, the color was the same as my Honda Logo Y-56 car. The painting work was very precise and rigorous with the details, repairing the slightest damage, I recommend you “Victor M Sanchez“.
After the painting works I made the stickers to the specialist “vinylcut rotulación” they are experts in taking care of even the smallest detail, leaving the vehicles as if they left the factory today, highly recommended.
Finally after almost 1 year and a half, the Honda Motocompo is finished as I wanted, completely of origin and yellow, and now what? because it was legalized to circulate, which is very expensive in Spain, but possible.To thank “Reinvac” and Carles Noguera Fernandez for his patience, hours of dedication and effort to carry out step by step all the necessary procedures to make this goal possible.
To legalize this moped there is only one possibility, to do it as a historical vehicle, going through many procedures, industry, laboratory, ITV, engineering, DGT, classic car club, and a long etc. to come and go, but at last, after another year of documentation and waiting, the day came when I go to DGT and they give me the papers certifying that I can drive with my Motocompo, the only one in Spain with documentation. It is cataloged from the year 1983 since it was the last year of manufacture and it could not be shown if it was from ’81 or ’82, as a curious fact. This moped can not travel at night as it does not have road lights (long) and of course, it will not, since Honda did not design this bike with those lights. I leave some pictures of the current state.
Once restored there were small details, at the end of 2017 I was able to locate the OEM screws of the exhaust bracket to the engine, where one of them had it so rusty that it did not tighten well and oil escaped, leaving a stain on the floor every time after to use the motorcycle.
And finally, I missed a detail that came out orifinally with the bike that did not have it, and is … a safety python! It is a steel cable that hides in the chassis with the side cover, I got the replacement on the page zenmarket.jp and with the help of @nudo93 See the result 🙂
I hope you liked this post, I have more pictures and technical details that I think would be too heavy, I will continue with other Undergroundshop projects!