Barn Find!
- Thread starter notcory
- Start date
Worth holding onto and giving it a good cleaning and once over if minibikes are your thing, it would make one hell of a rider. That or sell it if you're not into the hobby. These are sought after butonly ever worth what a man can get for one or get one for really there is and we hope never will be any set value on any minibikes because then the deals disappear. Reason I say this is inevitably many new members want to know what their new find is worth many who are not minibike enthusiasts just happen upon one, the "barn find" buzzword or words steer my mind towards thinking a you're a man might be looking to sell and if you are we have a great classifieds section. Price it too high and you'll be like a lot of those ebay moon rock salesmen who are destine to keep their bikes, seen the same Fox Campus there for years now a guy could buy a good pickup for what they are asking.
And yes the parts are high but only because people covet Bonanza bikes and they drive up prices and it sucks for the common man who wants that missing clutch cover or gas tank for his because he bought the bike twice money wise now if he even finds one.
And yes the parts are high but only because people covet Bonanza bikes and they drive up prices and it sucks for the common man who wants that missing clutch cover or gas tank for his because he bought the bike twice money wise now if he even finds one.
Tecumseh engines like that Used a champion J8 in that era. usually cant find them numbered that way anymore but there are plenty on the cross reference list from various manufacturers. In later years Tecumseh sold/used the champion RJ17LM for them as well. Gap is .030
The business card sized tag on the shroud will have the engine numbers to use for finding parts, while Tecumseh is out of business, there are still parts available and supplier have specific parts lists/breakdowns online and easy to search. You just need to use the H50 65**** numbers to find engine parts. the serial numbers will just be the date of production.
I didn't paint the tag on this H50 engine when I did it so its pretty easy to spot below the throttle linkages, yours will be in the same location. Good luck and Nice find!!!
The business card sized tag on the shroud will have the engine numbers to use for finding parts, while Tecumseh is out of business, there are still parts available and supplier have specific parts lists/breakdowns online and easy to search. You just need to use the H50 65**** numbers to find engine parts. the serial numbers will just be the date of production.
I didn't paint the tag on this H50 engine when I did it so its pretty easy to spot below the throttle linkages, yours will be in the same location. Good luck and Nice find!!!
Sage advice. Even if I did sell, I wouldn't know what to do with the extra money -- buy more bikes? I've got a number of motorcycles, this just being my first mini bike. To honor the seller, I'd like to fulfill my claims of taking it cross-country, let it loose on the sand dunes and salt flats. I suppose after that trip I can decide if it would be better in someone else's hands.
Glad you found a plug, Out of all the Tec signs I have/had that ones my Favorite and actually from the "mini bike" craze era...although I wish I could have found the rack it came from though, can see one here in the background in this mini bike/kart shop from around 1969/70:
Looks like your going to need some inner springs for the front forks but other than that your off to a great start, looks like a lot will clean up on that bike with some elbow grease. That spotting on the left side of the tank reminds me of poor repair that was on a bike I had bought a few years back. I wasn't so lucky, that bike was missing the correct H50, pipe, chainguard, and kickstand. It did come with a real mini bike tecumseh HS40 from 1970, but it was from another brand bike. So at least I had something to trade off for some of the right parts I needed for it:
Looks like your going to need some inner springs for the front forks but other than that your off to a great start, looks like a lot will clean up on that bike with some elbow grease. That spotting on the left side of the tank reminds me of poor repair that was on a bike I had bought a few years back. I wasn't so lucky, that bike was missing the correct H50, pipe, chainguard, and kickstand. It did come with a real mini bike tecumseh HS40 from 1970, but it was from another brand bike. So at least I had something to trade off for some of the right parts I needed for it:
Glad you found a plug, Out of all the Tec signs I have/had that ones my Favorite and actually from the "mini bike" craze era...although I wish I could have found the rack it came from though, can see one here in the background in this mini bike/kart shop from around 1969/70:
Looks like your going to need some inner springs for the front forks but other than that your off to a great start, looks like a lot will clean up on that bike with some elbow grease. That spotting on the left side of the tank reminds me of poor repair that was on a bike I had bought a few years back. I wasn't so lucky, that bike was missing the correct H50, pipe, chainguard, and kickstand. It did come with a real mini bike tecumseh HS40 from 1970, but it was from another brand bike. So at least I had something to trade off for some of the right parts I needed for it:
Looks like your going to need some inner springs for the front forks but other than that your off to a great start, looks like a lot will clean up on that bike with some elbow grease. That spotting on the left side of the tank reminds me of poor repair that was on a bike I had bought a few years back. I wasn't so lucky, that bike was missing the correct H50, pipe, chainguard, and kickstand. It did come with a real mini bike tecumseh HS40 from 1970, but it was from another brand bike. So at least I had something to trade off for some of the right parts I needed for it:
