1984 Honda ATC 200M Starter Noise, and stuck crankcase cover

[drdavidovich]

I just bought a very neglected '84 200M, I finally the repaired the wiring harness, and cleaned out the carb, oil change, cleaned out the fuel tank which had alot of rust in it, and attempted to fire it up for the first time yesterday. The starter spun, but it sounded like it would only turn over the engine occasionally. There was a very distinct metal cracking, banging sound as the starter spun. Almost sounded like when a spoon or fork gets down into the garbage disposal, that spinning intermittent metallic cracking/banging sound like something was bouncing around. The engine did start and seemed to run well, but produced a TON of smoke which seemed white to white gray, and got worse as the engine warmed, I let it run for about 3-4 minutes.

I also wanted to clean the oil rotor but can't pull the right crankcase cover off. It may have never been off. I'm sure the gasket is just like glue. I tried tapping it quite forcefully with a rubber mallet, no help.

Any ideas on this starter noise?
Or how to get this crankcase cover off?
I'm thinking new rings as far as the smoke problem, do you guys agree.
Any ideas for getting some of the rust out of the fuel tank?

Thanks Greg