Ugliest and cheapest motorcycle I could find

Going to go pick this up tomorrow. It's a 1982 Honda magna 750. Its got a clean title and last ran "2 years ago". 

Plan is to see if I can get it running then I'll work on cosmetics. My guess is he took off the carbs because of the bad diaphragm and just never did them. 

This is what $100 is going to get me. Picking it up tomorrow. 

He has the carbs and some other parts that go with it. Sent me pics of the title and the vin and all looks good and ran the vin and its clear.  

Also going to try and pick up this headlight for it on my way back from picking up the bike.  

He only gave you $100 to haul it away? 

5 cans of flat black Krylon can hide a lot of sins.

If I can get it running without dumping a ton of money into it. It's going be a flat tracker/ street fighterish style bike when it's done

Meth is one hell of a drug.

Apparently the old magna v4s have a top end oiling issue. There are googlable mods to remedy it though. So you know.

There's one for sale near me, but I have an 81 gl1100, 79 cx500 and 01 KLR in purgatory right now.

I can't help it. That is awesome in a way.

Well here we go.  

Sprayed the cylinders with pb. Spun over good,  oil looks good.  

No spark, cdi boxes are missing. Thought they were in the spare parts but nope.  So that's a bummer. Going check compression tomorrow and see where it's at before I buy some.  

Call him back and ask if he has the ignition modules somewhere.

Dr. Hess said:

Call him back and ask if he has the ignition modules somewhere.

Tried, he doesn't. The parts were scattered in a trailer and I think some things disappeared. Wasn't exactly a high class neighborhood. 

But did a compression test,  150psi on all 4. So going order up some cdi boxes from v4power

You enjoy a challenge, don't you?  

Can I just say, new on this forum and rewarded with this awesome thread? 

Yeah, I've had a few bikes over the years. And it seems whether I buy a $500, 1500, or 2500 they all usually need the same thing. Tires, fork seals, carbs cleaned (if not efi) chain and sprockets. 

So this time I figured I'd just start with the cheapest base. Shooting for 1k budget on it. That all really depends on if the motor and trans are good. 

I got the carbs soaking in pine sol right now. If it wasn't for one missing diaphragm I'd be able to put then together this coming week. But I'm talking to a guy on the v4 forum about getting some parts I'm missing that will make it so I can start it and see what's good or not good. 

Glutton, meet punishment.

I look at that starting point and all I can think is that it's optimistic to think that benign neglect in the form of just not doing anything to the carbs is the extent of it. I see a fair amount of evidence that bad decisions were made and acted upon.

EDIT: Oops, I meant to include the observation that I hope that I'm wrong to the greatest possible extent, and I hope you have fun with the project either way!

I usually luck on on these things. But not always. We will find out. The motor has good compression and sounds good turning over. 

Got the carbs soaking.  

Actually not that dirty. Soaking in pine sol.  

No key for the tank. But was able to open it with screw driver. Not as bad as I thought it would be inside. 

Put the forks back to the right height. Mocked up another headlight bucket I had and put some mockup dirtbike bars on.  Seat to tank needs some transitioning but I like the overall look.  

That gas tank is in serious need of some Rustoleum.

Dr. Hess said:

That gas tank is in serious need of some Rustoleum.

It will get base/clear before I'm done. Just ordered up some paint chips from summit 

That's the nice thing with bikes. A qt will paint the tank and fenders easily. 

Went through the carbs tonight. 

Really weren't that dirty. I'm still short a diaphragm but I'm going toss them on anyways once the new carb to head boots come in. 

What did you soak the carbs in?

stroker said:

What did you soak the carbs in?

Pine-sol (see his post above.)

I know Pinesol is held in high regard for cleaning carbs and your results look good but I haven’t had luck with it.  Is your’s diluted?  I soaked a Motorcraft 2 barrel in it (straight) for a couple of days because I forgot about it.  It ate a lot of the plating off and pretty much ruined it.

In reply to A 401 CJ :

Honestly I left these in for longer than I meant to. Idk 4 days or so, didnt hurt them at all. 

I have ruined a ATV carb by forgetting about it in a vinegar bath. Never had an issue with brand name pine-sol undulated though. 

Got the China carb diaphragm. Looks like its going work.