1985 Spree after 9 years of it sitting. What can I expect?

g_off_g · Post by **g_off_g** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:51 pm

For starters I am feeling really excited to be getting my old Spree back! It had stopped running and then I moved to a different city but it will finally be making its way back to me.

So after looking through the wiki it sounds like i may have some work to do on it for sure but i am curious if anyone on here has a good idea about what i should be expecting once i have it all opened up. will i have to replace a lot of rubber parts that maybe have dried out? what kind of cost should i expect? or do you guys think it has been sitting to long and it is a lost cause (which i'm sure and i'm hoping is not the case)?

also i am really not mechanically savy for the most part so if it gets to be much would it better to take it somewhere or should i be able to figure it out with the repair manuals?

Thanks in advance for helping out this new member and for maybe getting my old spree back to life!

patthesoundguy · Post by **patthesoundguy** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:17 pm

Not a lost cause, you can get it running B-) start from the top and work your way down. So start at the tank, drain it and pull the petcock and clean the screen on it. Clean all of the fuel lines. Replacing the vacum line and the fuel line with yellow tygon line might be a really good idea. Pull the carb and clean it, make sure the little hole in the float bowl is clear that feeds the bystarter. Draining the oil tank and cleaning the screen in it and filling with fresh 2stroke oil would be a good plan. Clean the battery connections and the ground connection on the frame from the battery. A new battery will be needed I'm sure, can't a she a 9 year old battery wanting to work at all. Pull the regulator and clean its connection to the frame. Make sure the air box lid has a gasket and the lid will snug down. Make sure the air hose to the carb from the air box is in good shape no cracks. Replace the air filter with a new one, to old one will likely be rotten.

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g_off_g · Post by **g_off_g** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:41 pm

thanks for the reply! im really looking forward to working on it. would i be looking at a multiple days of working on that? one thing that i remember happening when it died was waiting at a stoplight and when i went to accelerate it just died and wouldn't start and lost tension on the throttle handle... so i think i need to replace that as well... difficult to do?

deuce217 · Post by **deuce217** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 2:27 pm

Throttle issue= easy fix.

The rest of those items Pat listed should not take more than a few hours as long as you only make one trip to get your supplies needed i.e. 2 stroke oil, hoses (if needed), some carb cleaner, a new spark plug (for sure), unleaded gasoline, check the air filter to see if you need it. You are under 20.00 + air filter.

Look the manual up on this site if you dont have one. You can look on the bottom right of this page and scroll through the" jump to" list fo it under honda service and owners manuals.

newfiebullet · Post by **newfiebullet** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:03 pm

I bought a 84 spree a couple of years ago it was laid up for ten years clean tank new oil,plug,battery,carb no problem so far

: ImageUploadedByTapatalk1373493777.228272.jpg (185.52 KiB) Viewed 6852 times

good luck with yours

patthesoundguy · Post by **patthesoundguy** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:43 pm

Another thing to do to spree that's been sitting is change the final drive gear oil. Always a good thing to do

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g_off_g · Post by **g_off_g** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:55 pm

@newfiebullet: well that is giving me some hope for it thanks!

@patthesoundguy: changing the drive gear oil? would that be within the engine itself or more around the rear wheel assembly?

deuce217 · Post by **deuce217** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:12 pm

g_off_g wrote:@newfiebullet: well that is giving me some hope for it thanks!

@patthesoundguy: changing the drive gear oil? would that be within the engine itself or more around the rear wheel assembly?

It is on the back "drivers side" of the bike. The same side as your carb. There is only a one plug which is located toward the bottom of the gear case. Check the manual for a picture. You can use 10w30 standard motor oil in the case, I highly recommend using a large syringe or turkey baster(this will * your significant other off so if you use this item, hide it in your shop where she cannot find it and lie to her when she asks next thanksgiving if you have seen it) to put the oil back in the case.

g_off_g · Post by **g_off_g** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:22 pm

deuce217 wrote: I highly recommend using a large syringe or turkey baster(this will * your significant other off so if you use this item, hide it in your shop where she cannot find it and lie to her when she asks next thanksgiving if you have seen it) to put the oil back in the case.

haha luckily [or maybe not so luckily i dunno] there is no significant other for me to make upset so turkey baster it is.

patthesoundguy · Post by **patthesoundguy** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 12:13 am

Easy way to drain the gear case is take a 1 litre oil bottle cur the side out of it to make a drain pan, put the scooter wheels on a couple pieces of wood or something to raise it up then just tip the scooter to drain. I use an empty Lucas oil additive bottle to squirt the oil in. Turkey baster is a good idea. I just leave my Lucas bottle with oil in it on the shelf so its ready to go for the next oil change

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g_off_g · Post by **g_off_g** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 1:04 pm

UPDATE! so my dad threw a new battery in it for me and checked a few things before bringing it down. it sounds like the electricals all work and thought that he did feel some tension on the throttle so that might not be an issue. what he did say is that it seemed as though the starter just didn't want to catch. is this a common issue? granted it did have old gas and oil and all that which i know will need to get changed out of course but now how bad are starters to play around with?

patthesoundguy · Post by **patthesoundguy** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 3:07 pm

The starter gear that engages on the drive pulley just needs servicing. Not a hard thing to do. You need to pull the side cover off of the motor that houses the belt it comes off with the cover. A perfect time to inspect the belt and or replace it.

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g_off_g · Post by **g_off_g** » Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:15 pm

Well the spree arrived yesterday and then the breakdown started. took off panels and cleaned it up took off the carb to clean that and what i found was that at some point either the bolt was not all the way in or something and it must have been shaken loose. it only had one bolt holding the carb and the gasket onto the spree. found a bolt roughly the same size and am using that (will that be an issue if it is not the bolt that comes for the carb?)

the next thing is how the starter sounds. it whirs a lot with quite a bit of clicking noises as well (i can try to upload a video later). so i am thinking either new one of those or trying to take it apart and try to get a better idea of what is happening.

and then this

oil coming out of where the muffler gets connected :/ how bad is that? what does it mean?

being that i have never done work on things like this before i really appreciate this website and all the people on it! it has already been an immense help

patthesoundguy · Post by **patthesoundguy** » Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:49 pm

As long as the new carb bolt is the same metric thread and fits on there no problems, just whatever you do don't over torque the carb bolts

the threads in the carb strip really easy. As for the starter you prob just need to pulls the side cover off the motor and the Bendix gear that engages the pully to start it will need some clean up and some love. The oil coming from the exhaust port could be a couple things. It may have been someone smart putting oil in the cylinder for storage. It could also be a crankcase full of oil from a leaky oil pump or just sitting for that long. Once you get all the other stuff done and you go to start it you'll know more if it starts or not

pull the plug out and crank it a bunch with the exhaust off and blow any oil out of the cylinder as to not foul the new plug before the first start up. Way to go getting at it and tearing into it, you are gonna learn lots and have the satisfaction of having done it yourself

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g_off_g · Post by **g_off_g** » Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:54 pm

if the carb threads do strip a little bit will that be fine? because i did see what looked like a tiny little keyring looking piece that was below it when i was working on it

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