Harrison Project

MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#1
#1
Hello everyone, I just dragged my old mini bike out of my uncles garage after 20 years and plan on restoring it and bringing it up to my cabin in northern Michigan for my nephew to learn to ride on. Actually to be honest, my nephew lives over a 1000 miles away from our cabin and only comes up twice a year so I will probably ride it more than he will :scooter: I just learned from a post I made in the "What is it" section that my bike is a Harrison Wildcat. Once I pulled the bike out and got it in my garage, I drained the old gas and changed the oil. After a few sprays of starter fluid the bike started right up and idled fine. Once I got on it to ride around my yard, the bike would stall once I got it moving. It would start right back up after it stalled but every time I gave it gas and started moving it would stall again. After a few starts and stalls, I let it sit for a bit then tried starting it again but couldn't get it to start anymore. The next day I decided it was probably a gummed up carb so I removed it, took it apart, and completely cleaned it with carb cleaner then blew it out with my air compressor. Still no luck. The spark plug still gets spark, the carb is clean and sounds like it is sucking air and I am spraying starter fluid straight down the carb so fuel shouldn't be the issue. I'm really not sure why it would start one day but not start the next. It only has 50psi of compression so I am worried that might be an issue. I need to have this bike done by the beginning of July because that is when my nephew is coming back up to our cabin, so I am contemplating just buying a new engine and spending my time fixing other issues like breaks, lights, drive chain and cleaning up the frame. I really want this bike to be nice for him (and me :cool:) so does anyone have any ideas on a good replacement motor? By my measurement I have about 13" of height in the frame for the motor and I am not apposed to doing a remote gas tank in front of the seat if it won't fit with the engine. I would love to keep the original engine but im afraid of spending too much time working on the engine and not getting the rest of the bike done in time. Any suggestions on a replacement engine or maybe even the issues that I am having with the original engine?

Harrison_Minibike.jpg
 
mrpat

mrpat

#2
#2
If it were me, this is what I would do.

1. Remove the copper engine and put it on the work bench.
2. Temporarily replace engine with a hundred dollar Harbor Freight engine. They are very reliable out of the box. Starts on first or second pull.
3. Rebuild the copper Briggs engine over the winter.

The little fuel pump on the carburetor might be the culprit. The diaphragm in it can get brittle with age where it's supposed to be flexible to pump the gas. It's cheap and easy to replace, but my disclaimer is "I am no expert"

Just my 2 cents.
 
MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#3
#3
mrpat said:
If it were me, this is what I would do.

1. Remove the copper engine and put it on the work bench.
2. Temporarily replace engine with a hundred dollar Harbor Freight engine. They are very reliable out of the box. Starts on first or second pull.
3. Rebuild the copper Briggs engine over the winter.

The little fuel pump on the carburetor might be the culprit. The diaphragm in it can get brittle with age where it's supposed to be flexible to pump the gas. It's cheap and easy to replace, but my disclaimer is "I am no expert"

Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
If I buy a harbor freight engine, how hard is it to get the proper clutch? Also, what about throttle controls? Will I need to do some custom work to get cable and clutch setup or are they pretty universal?
 
MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#5
#5
Last night I came home from work and decided to do a leak down test to see if compression went up after putting a little oil down the spark plug hole. Compression only came up around 5psi. I kinda expected a bit more than 5psi. I decided to try to start it again. After a little throttle adjustment, it started right up, idled and ran great. I spent the next half hour riding it around my backyard :scooter: I'm so happy that it is running with the original engine! Now I just need a new chain, cables, breaks, lights and a few other odds and ends but at least I have a running engine now! I can't wait to see my nephew ride the exact same mini bike that I rode when I was a kid. I'll post some pictures once it's all cleaned up.
 
MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#6
#6
Alright, I got it all stripped down last night so I can clean it up and replace some parts. I just ordered new hand grips, foot peg covers, throttle assembly and cable, break cable and drum break from OldMiniBikes Warehouse. I think I want to paint the fenders and clutch cover flat black and put newer Harley emblems on them. I want to stick with the Harley theme cause that's how it was when I was a kid. I plan on doing my best to clean all the chrome with neverdull and keep the frame the original chrome.
 
MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#8
#8
I want to replace the headlight and put a tail light on it. Anyone have any suggestions where I can get a headlight and tail light that are close to the originals?
 
MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#11
#11
So I haven't got very much further on my Harrison project due to other obligations. But I did get the frame cleaned up a bit, fenders and clutch cover painted and all of the replacement parts that I ordered came in. I didn't end up being able to make it out to the mini bike show last weekend because my dog just got out of the animal hospital for a pretty serious issue and my wife had the flu. So I am still trying to figure out a nice headlight and tail light for this project. I am hoping to get the bike put back together this week and I will post pics once it is. But for now, here is a pic of the painted fenders and clutch cover. I have a buddy that said he is going to paint an orange stripe down the middle of the fenders and one across the clutch cover but I haven't been able to get him out to do it so I might end up just sticking with the flat black and some Harley emblems. What do you guys think? IMG_20190512_131250.jpg
 
MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#12
#12
Alright folks, I am almost ready to give the Harrison to my nephew. I just need to wire the kill switch, put the matching grip on the throttle and get some Harley emblems. After I give it to him I plan on modifying the existing head light with a new fixture and finding a tail light but I have a few projects that I need to get done at my cabin before my family comes to stay for a week so the headlight and tail light will have to be completed at a later date. But here it is. The hanging wires are for the kill switch that I haven't finished yet. What do you guys think? Harrison1.jpg
 
MichMan84

MichMan84

New Member
#15
#15
The day is finally almost here. I managed to keep this bike a secret from my sister and brother in law because I learned early on that they were bad at keeping secrets from their kids. I am going to give a little back story on this bike so everyone understands my intentions. This bike was presumably purchased back when my Dad and uncles were young (early 70's) for them to ride up at our family cabin in northern Michigan. When I was young (still too young to ride) this bike was pulled out of one of the old barns while doing some spring cleaning and I fell in love. I couldn't touch the ground yet so they propped the bike up on a block and let me sit on it while they were cleaning the barn. A few years later one of my Uncles decided to get it running and give it to me as a gift. He used to sit on the back while I rode that thing all around the little backroads near our cabin. A year or two after that, my grandpa on the other side of the family decided to take it and fix it up a little more. He did the black seat, painted the fenders silver, made the clutch cover, and put the Harley stickers on it. I rode it for years after that. I ended up moving up to dirt bikes then eventually street bikes. My uncle who originally got it running for me was also into street bikes so we had a lot of fun in my adult years taking trips together and cruising the Florida causeways, we were very close. That uncle passed away fairly young in February 2018. Before he passed he told my nephew that there were two treasure maps hidden at our cabin. He had told me how he had plans to make treasure maps and take him on a treasure hunt during their next trip to Michigan (my nephew lives in D.C). Well since he died before getting a chance to take him on the treasure hunts, one of my other uncles and I decided that we should probably keep his promise to the kids, so last year we made one map of our back 40 and took the kids out and had them find some "treasure" that we buried out there. So according to what my late uncle said, there should be one more map! My nephew is currently at our cabin and I am heading up after work on July 3rd. I plan on getting there late Wednesday and taking the bike out to the woods and hiding it for him to find at the end of the last treasure map. My uncle gave me this mini bike when I was young so even though he passed and can't be here to see it, I think it is only fitting that the bike is at the end of my uncle's treasure map. Who knows maybe this will spark a serious interest in him like it did for me and one day we will end up riding up and down the coast of Florida together like my uncle and I did. Still some of the best memories I have.

Thanks for reading the whole story of this bike and why it means so much to me. Wish me luck, on July 4th I am going to try to push a family tradition on to the next generation!
 
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