Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

my grandpa had this old Honda scooter in his garage her never rode, he recently passed away and while the family was cleaning out the garage they rolled his forgotten machine to the dumpster and left it for dead, so i figured if nobody wanted it id play with it a little bit, looked at the odometer, read 550 miles. it was a 1986 Honda Aero50. this scooter had not been ran in over 10 years, tag expired in '97. i cleaned the carb, drained the gas and put everything back together, turned the key and kicked it over and it fired right up, as honda's usually do. i rode it all summer without so much as a tune up and it achieved 40 MPH and beat my friends 2005 Yamaha Razz 50 both off the line and top end, this thing is great.
recently on craigslist a local man was getting rid a simular honda but it was an 85 not an 86, so no kick start. it was also missing the left side plastics, the airbox and the compartment that houses the battery. also this bike has no keys, no title, no VIN plate and the ignition was bypassed after somebody attempted to drill it out, stolen??? i figured 100 bucks, sure why not. its a good parts bike. i put a battery in it and it turns over and runs, but not very well with a naked carb, so i need some ideas on making my own airbox, or if anybody was one, i would love to purchase it from them, also i would like the battery houses too anybody has one of those. so far i have only 100 bucks invested into these 2 scooters so i think im doing pretty good, any help or direction would be much appreciated

congrats on the bikes. you made out well. i just recently got a free 85 aero aswell

oh yeah pic's would be great if you got em

good investing! id love to find a parts scooter for 100!
replacing the airbox is a must if you dont want to fry the piston, but IF you can find a pod-style filter
small enough for the stock carb; go for it, just up-Jet the carb and u wont run lean.
I think you might be able to find stock airbox on ebay, usually theres a few aero50 parts there.
Im also UNSURE about this but I think there may be a few other small differences
between the two scooters other than the absence of a kickstart on the 85.

Greetings:

Welcome to the Forum.
The intake manifold on the '85 has only two bolts. It houses a slightly-larger twin-petal reed similar to the SB50's - it may be the same rounded reed. Your '86 has four bolts and uses a larger square two-petal reed valve. Both place the carb mouth very close to the shock absorber, so an angled tube is needed to clear the shock if you wish to mount a pod or K&N-style filter. Doing so requires an upjet to 88 - stock is #85. The stock airbox is pretty good - not as restrictive as that of the later SA50 Elite models.

If you remind me I'll check tonight if I still have the battery box assembly. Nice score on those Aeros!