1952 Honda Dream E restoration project

[smithenhiven]

Made a little progress today.

Got it up on my newly made work bench.





Took off the feet controls:



Discovered that one of the previous owners was a handy man, the bracket for the foot pegs and brake pedal was cracked, looked like someone attempted to fix it with a weld but that must not of worked either, so they made up a little bracket with bolts welded on, that went through the inside frame of the bike, and through the holes of the foot control bracket effectively keeping everything in place while the crack remained.






VIN tag, and a close up of the frame number. Tag says "712", and the Frame says D2 52 - 712. I'm taking a guess that the "D" stands or Dream, the 2 makes it a "2'E'" (second version of the "E-Type", this one has rear suspension), 52 obviously the year, and 712 the production number?:





Rear wheel off, this is about where I left off for the night. I currently don't have the means to take the rear shocks off, it looks like I'll need a small shock compressor or something. And to take the front forks off, I'll need a special tool for the main steering stem triple tree bolt (I guess some kind of grove nut wrench):

[alan curtis]

jason, here a pic of the spare pedals and gear lever , clutch arm has tip broken off. alan

http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn20 ... ts3003.jpg

[smithenhiven]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the pic.

I could certainly use one of the kick-start arms. I'm not sure which one is "correct" for my bike, from other pics I see online, it looks like the one on the left next to the clutch arm is what I need. I was able to find a second hand clutch arm, it too has some damage to the tip, but it's not broken off completely, so thank you for checking, but I will not need that.

Please let me know what you need for the kicker arm, and maybe we can work out some sort of trade for my extra rear light retaining "ring".

Thanks again,
Jason.

[tomriker]

hey jason, looks like you're finding quiet a few parts, that's good to hear. I'm chris by the way (the guy you got the bike from) in your email you were talking about how my grandpa "fixed" it, nice to see what you were talking about now. did you ever decide if it had a seat on the back or a luggage rack? only reason i ask is because of the foot pegs on the back. or were they for the driver to put his feet back/up? ill keep following your progress on here. look forward to seeing it come back to life. glad you're enjoying it so far too. if im ever in your neck of the woods i'll have to give you a call and stop by and see it :) unless you trade it off for something bigger/better/rarer. :)

[Paul Strassmaier]

Hi there Alan,

Troyce and I talked Greg Clauss into reproducing the E tail light lens, and a friend of mine is looking into reproducing the tail light bezel for me. Do you have any idea where a "dream" printed 4e toolbox cover could be found? I also need an amp gauge, and many other small parts. I am coming up dry everywhere I look! Thanks, Paul

[alan curtis]

Hi there Alan,

Troyce and I talked Greg Clauss into reproducing the E tail light lens, and a friend of mine is looking into reproducing the tail light bezel for me. Do you have any idea where a "dream" printed 4e toolbox cover could be found? I also need an amp gauge, and many other small parts. I am coming up dry everywhere I look! Thanks, Paul

hi paul, do you know a chap called drazen, he has a lot of early honda's, he just finished a 52 model, i know he has a 4e, his email is.
drazen@honda.hr, alan.

[smithenhiven]

hey jason, looks like you're finding quiet a few parts, that's good to hear. I'm chris by the way (the guy you got the bike from) in your email you were talking about how my grandpa "fixed" it, nice to see what you were talking about now. did you ever decide if it had a seat on the back or a luggage rack? only reason i ask is because of the foot pegs on the back. or were they for the driver to put his feet back/up? ill keep following your progress on here. look forward to seeing it come back to life. glad you're enjoying it so far too. if im ever in your neck of the woods i'll have to give you a call and stop by and see it :) unless you trade it off for something bigger/better/rarer. :)

Hey Chris, good to hear from you.

I'm not 100% sure if this bike had a rear seat or not, I "think" it did, given the rear foot pegs, and I have seen other pics online of similar bikes with the seat pad on the rear rack (but then again, I've seen them with out the pads, so I'm not sure).

Yes, if you are ever near Pittsburgh PA, please let me know, I'll be glad to show you the bike (can't say if it'll be any farther along than it is now, I can tell this is going to be a LONG TERM project, as parts are extremely hard to come by). But I'll probably be keeping this a while, I've wanted a Dream E type for many years, and now that I have one I don't think I'll ever let it go, it's my pride and joy.

Regards,
Jason.