Thursday, October 1, 2009

How to Get your CB200 Running

What you need to do to get your Honda CB200 Running
  1. Clean the Carbs - fully disassemble and clean everything with carburetor cleaner. Take out all the brass parts (jets, float valve, etc.) clean or replace everything.
    • I used a welders "Tip Cleaner" set. Find a welding supply store in your area and ask for a torch tip drill set. You'll get about fifteen drill bits housed in a pin vise from .0625 (1/16th) down to super small for about seven or eight bucks and they are very high quality. This will allow you to clean every passage in the carb.
    • Soak the stripped down carbs overnight in a carb cleaning solution. Berryman / 1 gal. B-9 carburetor and parts cleaner with basket is $20 at AutoZone. Warning it will eat all rubber.
    • Reassemble the carbs with a pair of Quality Keyster carb repair/rebuild kit made in Japan $22 each from Out West Motorcycles.

  2. Drain Gas tank - clean and refill
    • Remove your tank... close the petcock, pull the fuel lines, open the seat, pull back the harness at the rear of the tank, lift and slide the tank back. (No tools.)
    • Empty the contents into a container. This will be varnished gas and rust.
    • Remove the petcock from the bottom of the tank. the 75 uses a Phillips-head screw.
    • Fill the tank with water and empty multiple times. This will float out the big loose stuff.
    • Reinstall the petcock.
    • Pour a pint of liquid degreaser full strength and a couple 8" lengths of medium size linked chain into the tank and slosh vigorously with all the openings capped off. (There are people who will put screws/nuts/bolts in the tank, other people report losing/not recovering all the bolts. Use a couple of chains so can make sure you get them out when you are done.)
    • Add a 1/2 gallon of the hot water to the degreaser still in the tank and slosh it around again for a few minutes.
    • Empty the tank, remove the chains.
    • If you still have rust, fill the tank with Vinegar, let it sit overnight and then empty. Do this several times until the vinegar coming out is clear.
    • Finally pour about a tablespoon of hand dishwashing liquid and about a gallon of very hot water into the tank and slosh thoroughly. Dry the tank.
    • Remove the petcock, disassemble and clean thoroughly.
    • Kreem the tank
    • Reinstall petcock, fill with new fuel.
    • Replace fuel lines with inline fuel filters.
  3. Change the oil. Your CB200 uses 3.6 pints (1.75 Quarts) of 10W-40. There's a large nut at the bottom of the motor. Remove that with a 19mm socket to drain the oil. There is no oil "filter" as it is equipped with a centrifugal oil filter in the motor.
  4. New battery - The bike came stock with the YuasaMBW3-12C. Get the Yuasa YB9-B from your local dealer, its about $30. They will fill it with acid and do the first charge on it for you. Don't think you need a new battery? Here's some good advice. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Motorcycle-Repair-837/1975-Honda-CB200-Electrical-1.htm
  5. New plugs - While your at the dealer pick up a new set of spark plugs. NGK D-8ES-L. If your motor has been sitting a long time while you have the plugs out you can spray a little penetrating oil inside chamber & rotate engine without the plugs in. Let this sit for 24 hours before firing the bike up.
  6. Check the tires and pressure. Old cracked tires on motorcycles spell potential disaster, one of the first things you'll want to do is to replace the tires. Use 80/100H-18 in the front and 90/90H-18 in the rear. At the very least check the tire pressure in the old tires 26 PSI in the front 28 PSI in the rear.
  7. Lube the chain. If you need to clean the chain stay away from WD-40, remove it and soak it in Kerosene. Lube the chain with a good quality chain lube and you'll be good to go!

9 comments:

  1. I'm happy to have found this! Just picked up a 75 CT200 this week. I know nothing mechanical, but the price was right to give it a try. A couple of days tinkering, and I was able to take it round the block this afternoon. My first bike, and first try at tinkering. I'm a kid in a candy store right now!

    I wanted to see if I could get it running before spending much, so have gone quick and dirty so far...

    Poured out old, orange, rusty gas. Washed tank 3x with Super Clean. Washed/Rinsed maybe dozen times with water until it ran clear. Sloshed around rubbing alcohol and let it dry out. It's already got latex inside it, but obviously is coming loose to be so rusty. Now that it is running, I plan to try and find the POR-15 and clean it up good. For now, I added inline paper fuel filters. Got clear lines, but they pinch off easily, so routed them around the outside of the L carb.

    The petcock was badly clogged, but a 1/16" 3-inch drill bit seemed to clean it out well. O-Rings replaced the seal between petcock and tank, and OEM filter. However, the gasket on the valve lever was damaged, and leaked gas all over. For now I've taken the lever out and screwed a patch of inner-tube rubber. So, no off or reserve at the moment. Any tips on finding or making a new one?

    Mine's silver. Side covers are cracked in pieces. Speedometer don't work. 3 of the 4 signal lights come one, but none flash. Head lamp works, but mising set scrwes so floats around. I get nothing out of the starter when I press the button, but the lights go out when I do. Clutch is pretty tight. Breaks need more stopping power. It won't idle (yet), and I'm nervous about breaking into the carbs.

    Anyway, thanks for the info. I think it's gonna be very valuable to me.

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  2. I have a Honda Cb 200 and i have not been able to balance both the carburetors and may be because of that fuel effiency is also not good . So please can u help me with this ? i have already replaced the old ring piston with a new one too .. and my spark plugs also gets black pretty soon and some time they even go shot so please help me with these problems !!! - sanjeet

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  3. I'm doing a full rebuild of an old cl200 scrambler that had been rusting in a barn for who knows how long, so a little more intensive than this, but the info you have here has already helped me out immensely. thanks a ton!

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  4. Fantastic piece. I'm planning to start my own CB200 soon, and am glad that i found your blog.

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  5. Hi I have rebuilt my both the carbs with the rebuit kit too but i have not been able to get any good results please help me with these ...

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  6. have anyone thought of replacing one big carb intead of using one carb in honda cb200 like in cm 200 ?have anyone tried that ?

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  7. Really Helpful Blog. I see a question was asked above about how to balance the twin Carbs. Did you happen to write anything on this please?

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  8. Hello,

    I am in the middle of rebuilding the carbs for my '75 CB200 and I cannot tell where the very small black o ring in the kit belongs. As far as I can tell, the bike didn't have these when I acquired it. Hoping for some insight. Great post, thank you!

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    Replies
    1. The small black o rings go with the drain plugs at the bottom of the fuel bowl.

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