I’ve had some progress since the last post. I purchased steel for the frame and had it sent over from Honolulu. It was twice the cost of purchasing the steel on the mainland but half the cost of the local provider.

Harbor Freight had a small Argon bottle for my MIG welder so I’ve purchased that. Unfortunately, when it arrived, I was told by the local welding gas supplier that they wouldn’t exchange it for a full bottle since it didn’t have a Argon sticker on it. Fabulous. I’ll have to purchase a new one, at local prices at that.

I’ll use the MIG welder to make an English Wheel for practice and to give me another way to make the fenders and radiator cover. Harbor Freight supplied the lower anvils and a Ford bearing will become the upper bearing. A wrecked Honda CBR600 will donate it’s rear fork for the English Wheel frame. It won’t be a very big English Wheel, but it will work for my needs.

I’ve found a New Old Stock Honda engine on Ebay. Its a CX500, smaller than the CX650 engine I have, but I wanted to have a spare engine on hand since they are not easy to come by here. It’s due in by ship, at a significant cost later this week. I’ll keep it as a spare, since the CX650 engine is 30% larger. Maybe it will be the seed for a second build if my first, $25 engine runs like a champ.

Now I’m prepping the donor Datsun 620 frame for primer and a rebuild of the front end. I have a lot of brake issue to deal with. Drums or discs?

An order of steel has arrived from Honolulu.

New Old Stock Honda CX500 Engine