I completed the tear-down of the 1965 Honda Benly Touring today, reducing the motorcycle to a rusty steel frame. I power washed all the body parts, eating away at the decades-old mud and crud under the fenders and inside the frame cavity. I was pleased to find the wiring harness to be mostly complete, minus the two wires that fell victim to mouse teeth. I’ll repair and re-solder those connections later.
The speedometer appeared to be in pretty rough shape. There was lots of aluminum oxide corrosion on the face plate, so I feared that I’d need to get a reproduction plate decal. I disassembled the speedometer and found the worm drive mechanism to be frozen. Perhaps that’s why the original speedometer cable was broken, and it certainly would have broke any new cable. After some lubrication, I was able to get the gears to move freely. Fortunately, the paint on the face plate was not pitted, and the corrosion cleaned off rather easily. Over the decades, the speedometer needle had faded to a pale orange, so I used a red Sharpie Paint Marker to give the needle back its color. I’m pleased with the results.
The project will slow down a bit now as I turn my attention to rebuilding the engine and transmission. Over the Winter months, I’ll gather a few parts each week until I have what I need. In the Spring, the frame and most black parts will be sand blasted, primed and painted.
Below is the ancient selenium rectifier. Since selenium degrades over time, I always replace these with new silicon rectifiers for an efficiency boost and added reliability.
The project table is fully loaded, and all small parts are labelled in zip-lock bags.
Speedometer before cleaning and lubrication
The worm drive was frozen until I cleaned and lubricated the mechanism.
Aluminum oxide accumulation on the face plate.
A Sharpie Oil-based Paint marker restores the red color to the needle.
Not perfect, but much nicer now, and the mechanism works.
