Mr. M's Honda Ruckus cont.

Back at Mr. M's Honda Ruckus, the next step is pulling the fuel tank for draining and digging down to the carb for a cleaning and service.  All in all this tear apart has gone quite. well.

One of the previous owners added some netting to act as a package tray. Kinda looks cool but the unkempt zipties are a sure hand slicer.  I rather like to trim them back smooth, it give a cleaner finish and less likely to jab you.

Tiny clicker type fuel pump. This might be a point of headaches.  If it still works, we'll be in good shape.

Found the carb, looks to be an easy removal. the intake tube, air box feed, two coolant lines, fuel line, throttle cable and two electrical connections; an electric choke and a TPS. 

On the bench and under the light, its looking as if someone has already been here before. The float bowl screws~ are. Ok, let the fun begin...

All came out with modest work. One of the best things to do before trying to muscle them out is to take a round punch and flatten up the proud metal. Its much like peening over a rivet head, except in this case your pushing the raised edges back in. At that point you can hammer on the top of a philips head screwdriver both to shock the threads and reform it at the same time.

OK, this is NOT going work, a mangled main jet.  The good thing is that jet looks to be clear. Not sure I'm gonna monkey around with this; do not want to break the jet body or tabs. Bummer  to find this, but nice that its not broken completely off.

Currently as it sits. Mr. M is weighing in all the possiblities that the Ruckus has to offer. I rather like the option of different ways one could create seat/storage frames.  Maybe even extra tools or batteries for a winch or spot lights. What a great base for projects! Love it, might need to get one as well!

Mr M's Honda Ruckus

Well it looks as Mr. M in Cali has gone and purchased a 2004 Honda Ruckus from Facebook Market Place.  A good find as the Ruckus carries a cult following. I've rather liked its styling and look forward getting to know another Honda product.  The  yellow and black sets off very nicely in a sort of industrial way. Good show Mr. M!

It looks to be a solid decent machine and he got it for a reasonable price too.  We'll give it a go though, fix any issues as they come along. At this point the its been sitting for a few years after the keys went walkabout. Most likely being a Honda the only thing keeping this from going down the road is the fuel system so we'll dig into that first. As we go along I'll update pictures an process

Mr.M has a few ideas as to what he'd like this to be so we'll begin with a strip down, light cleaning and general repair. First off is removing the battery cover and getting a good look see at the lock system for key code numbers. After which the disassembly of the whole machine for some light cleaning, within reason. Mr. M is considering a repaint or a possible powder coating of different parts maybe even a different set of wheels to add some "pop.

After a bit of fiddling about we were able to get the gas cap open. Not horrible but also not really great. As expected, the fuel had turned and a touch of water was on the bottom of the tank. the cap looks to be crusty but maybe it'll clean up well enough.

 With the disassembly under way, the next step was to pull the headlight unit off.  the blinker wires look confusing not that they are, so a picture will be worth a thousand words.  Only three bolts hold the whole unit onto the front of the machine, easy peasy and its off in seconds.

more to follow...