Z50R project

I bought this 1996 Z50R awhile ago for my son, and we're finally getting it fixed. It'll make a fun play bike for him, and give him an opportunity to gain some mechanical skills also. In today's world every other person can fix a computer, but not so many could fix a tractor or even a washing machine. This bike will be perfect for him to learn the basics with, and I've always wanted to mess around with a small Honda myself.


The engine ran good, and the bike wasn't in too bad of shape. The biggest issue was a broken rear hub. The plan is to make it safe and look decent, but keep it basically stock and just fix what needs fixing.


The first thing was to tear it down, inspect everything, and make a parts list.


Here is the broken rear hub. The rim is also bent.


I got an older 4 bolt style hub and rear wheel on ebay for $9. The 4 bolt wheels are supposed to be stronger that the later 3 bolt style.


The 4 bolt wheels also have a larger rear brake. I'm not sure if this is much of a benefit, but probably doesn't hurt.


I'd thought of just doing a good cleaning of the parts and over-coating some paint, but figured it wouldn't take any longer to just sand blast them. If I just over-coated I would have kept the same colors, but this way I can change the colors. Here the parts are prepped for blasting.


Nice and clean and ready for paint. I had enough left over paint from other projects that I didn't need to buy any.


First I put a coat of Dupli-Color self-etching primer on everything but the exhaust.


The rims, handlebars, fork bridge, lower chain guard, and footpegs got painted with VHT 'cast aluminum' caliper paint.


For the fork uppers I used VHT 'gold flake' engine paint.


The exhaust got VHT flat black header paint, and Dupli-Color gloss black engine paint on the heat shields.


The frame and most of the other related parts got Dupli-Color gloss black.


For the tank I used Dupli-Color gloss white. The tank had some dents, but I figure it's just going to get more, so I didn't do any body work on it. It'll be finished off with some older style Honda winged logo stickers.