SlikWillie's Build Thread

[SlikWillie]

Hello everybody!!
This will be my build thread for my 1982 Honda 185S. I plan to do a little bit of restoring to this trike with period-correct parts and just enjoy owning it. I picked it up for $400 from an older fella just south of Seattle. I'm excited to play with this thing, both building it and riding it. It hasn't been started or ridden since 2004. The PO bought it for his son in the mid-1990s and stopped riding it once he got his driver's license. Not sure who did the suspension modifications, but it seems to be done right. I plan to post as many pics as I remember to take. I hope that you guys (and gals) enjoy following.

This is the way I picked it up.


The first thing I did was order some tires. The old ones were so dry-rotted that holding air was no longer possible. I picked these tires because I will mostly be riding on hard surfaces.


The only major issue is the rusted gas tank that leaks fuel faster than I can put it in. JB Weld to the rescue until I can find a replacement tank in good condition. The holes are on both sides and on the bottom of both sides. Apparently, this is common with these old steel tanks. First, I tried Marine JB Weld. This stuff came with some lessons that had to be learned. I read that it would hold gas with no issues. Well, it didn't. This is where the lesson comes in. The ethanol in the gas these days will eat through the Marine JBW. I put a lot of effort into this stuff and really ticked me off when it didn't work. I ordered some JBW TankWeld from Amazon and applied that after scraping off the Marine stuff. It looks like crap, but it will do for now.




BTW, is there a better way to post pics on this forum?

[SlikWillie]

I still have a pin-hole leak under the gas tank frame mount on the back. At this point, I am thinking about cutting out all of the bad metal and welding in new metal. I get to put my metal fabricating skills to the test, again. I don't mind this kind of work because I get to use my imagination. Sad that I wasted about $25 on the JB Weld, but that's ok.

After painfully removing those old tires, I sanded and cleaned the wheels and then painted them before the new tires went on. I tried to find a close match to the original Honda gray. Colors look different in the store than they do on the thing you are painting. The color I got is a little lighter than what I was looking for. Oh well! After seeing a guy on YouTube with white wheels, kinda wish I did do white, it looked good. Mounting the new tires was a huge PITA. I have mounted truck tires in my garage more times than I can count. I have that done to an art. These 8-inch wheels really made me work for it. The front was easy because it was split. The rears were tough because the two halves were welded together (that's probably normal). But, I got them on. Below is what they did look like. I'll get a good "after" pic soon.

[SlikWillie]

Here are some pics of my rear suspension and exhaust. More to come!

[ATC King]

You got a heck of a deal. Right time, right place.

I was thinking Iowa, because of Des Moines, not realizing there was another city with that name.

[3wheelin Eddy]

That rear suspension is really cool, I also love that your doing a build with period correct parts.

the gas tank rusting on the bottom corners is really common because any water that gets in the tank runs down there and rusts through.

nice work so far.

[SlikWillie]

Is there a trick to making the pictures bigger? I have a '78 F150 that I post pics of all the time in another forum and the pics are nice and big. Is it just this forum?

[HondaRidr]

That is a rad trike! The JB Tank weld has worked good for me and I recently have had good success with Seal-all as well.

[SlikWillie]

Here is a pic of one of the wheels after I painted them and mounted the tires. I really wish that I had gone with white. Oh well!


The handlebars were already powder coated, but rust had made its way through under the grips, and there was other nicks that were rusting too. I took the them off and sanded down the rusty areas and scuffed the powder coating. I then sprayed them with rust converter, then primer, then two coats of black enamel. My new grips, levers, and front brake cable came in just in time to reinstall everything. But first, call me crazy, I cleaned and polished the aluminum triple-trees. I had to rig up the headlight mount a little weirdly, and I will post a pic of that later. It's a little difficult to find a proper mount for this front-end.


The rear suspension has made finding a new rear foot brake cable impossible to find. When I got the machine, the cable was broken in two pieces, The stock cable is 27 inches long. I needed a cable that was 33-35 inches long. I have called three companies asking for help and they all tell me the same thing, that they have nothing even remotely close that I could use or modify. So, I ordered a new front cable, which is 39 inches long, and modified the old one to work on the foot brake. JB Weld, a bench grinder, a new foot lever spring, and some ingenuity and I have a working foot brake.

[big specht]

Caswell is a really good tank sealer I’ve used it to seal some really bad tanks.

[SlikWillie]

I bought some sheet metal to cut out the rust spots and weld in some fresh metal. If I still have leaks, then I will use the Caswell stuff. I will post some pics later of how that is going. I've done this type of metal work in the past, so I'm not too worried about it. Thanks for the replies too. This is the type of forum that I like to be involved with.

[SlikWillie]

Well, I started working on the tank by removing all of the JB Weld that I put on. My wife and a neighbor found out I was busy, so they both started bothering me. After that, I got down to it. I realized that I was low on cut-off wheels for my Dremel so I only got one hole cut out on the side. I want to use the Dremel so that I have better control of my cutting. Rather than using my angle grinder or saw. So, here are some pics until I can make it back in town to get some more cut-off wheels and some other stuff as well for this project.

What I started with.


Cut out 7/8 inch by 5 3/4 inch hole. There is a lot of rust inside there.


This is the bottom. Lots of pinholes.

[3wheelin Eddy]

The Dremel was a great idea. its not clumsy and it has great control like you said. great job doing the right thing and not just leaving JB weld on there

If your looking for Decals I recomend Blue Line Graphics I got a set for my 185s and there great.

[SlikWillie]

Thanks for the info on the stickers, Eddy. If I do a good enough weld job, I will repaint the tank properly and apply some new stickers. It would be cool to get this trike looking like new again, but one thing at a time. All this week is kids' tennis and softball. Softball I really enjoy, but tennis is just painful to sit through. It's okay though. At least they are all active. I got a pack of 60 new cut-off disks today, so when the time comes, I'll get back at it.

[SlikWillie]

It has been about a week since I last posted. Kids, work, and college have been taking up all of my time. But today, I locked myself in the garage with the music blaring while I tackled my gas tank.
When I was young, I remember my dad saying, "If you have to grind down your welds to make them look pretty, you are a grinder, not a welder." Those words have stuck with me for 30+ years now and I am proud to say that I am the best damn grinder west of the Mississippi. Don't be judging my welds, boys. I'm doing the best that I can here.

This is what I am working with, as posted before.


Look at the rust inside. No bueno!


After scrubbing with a wire brush and a scribe on the inside, I patched it up with fresh metal. I did this to both sides, I just forgot to take more pics. Btw, I am using a Hobart Handler 135, voltage set at 1, and wire feed set at about 15. Then, I use my hand grinder with a 120 grit paddle disc to smooth it out. I'll paint it when it's all done.


Time to start with the underbelly. This side had a little hidden hole under the rear tank mount. I had to cut the mount off and cut a little off the mount base as pictured.


The hidden hole.


I cut out the bad and started welding in some fresh metal where the hidden hole was.


All new metal. This area was so thin from the rusty inside that it was easy to blow through with the welder. I had to be quicker with the spot welding, not giving enough time to push the wire through. Finished with this side.


On to the other side. I only got the top part done cause I was grilling dinner and had to stop for the day. The area around the petcock is probably going to be the hardest. We'll see the next time I have a few hours to spend in the garage.

[Footy]

Looks good. I am impressed.
I would have given up and bought a plastic tank but nothing looks as good as the original.