Here's another Honda Dream I picked up in 2019. I originally got it for the gas tank for another parts Dream I had, thinking I was going to use it for that bike, but the more I opened her up, the more I wanted to save it! Note how pretty the oil filter opening is... 

I don't have a picture of it, but maybe you can see the gas tank on the bike. It was a rare no-seam Early model gas tank, those go for big bucks today, but I bought the whole thing off a guy on Craigslist for $100. 

Yeah, it looks pretty gross, and I was just going to get the tank off it and save the rest for parts, but then I took off the side cover:

It was pristine!! And Boy if there's ever anything that gets me going and fingering my wallet, it's an old bike with a clean bill of health! I couldn't believe it - the PO had said it had been left outside under a leaky shed roof, and the outward appearance did bear that out, but Man..! She was squeaky clean inside! 

Ehhh - the other side, not so much....

And check out the electrics! it was to swoon! Sure a little time-worn, but still in great-ish shape...

Check out that old rectifier with the yellow and red wires coming off of it - they don't make 'em like that anymore! (I replaced it with a more modern, smaller Radio Shack rectifier when Radio Shack was still around... I miss 'ol Radio Shack...). 

So I set about doing my thing, saving what I could. I got it apart, and found some nastiness in the front fender, which was a big Uh-Oh...

The forks are a big support for this bike, and that metal had become paper thin. I didn't relish the thought of riding down the road and suddenly doing an endo, so I had to replace the front fork assembly - but this was when the world was young and parts were plentiful and, more importantly, affordable.

The headlight bucket was munched. There's supposed to be lower support in there, but that was gone, so I had to adjust and adapt when I put it back on after I got it all cleaned up. Those mounting holes were rather thinned out too...

The wiring was iffy, but it still worked. I was happy to see that. I hate wiring. Okay, well maybe not 'hate' it...but it can be difficult to get along with. I firmly believe that wiring knows when you don't know what you're doing.

...and the switch still worked too! 

So I did what I could, fixing this, polishing that - I even learned a little about brazing and filled in the holes that were on the front fender!  Filled 'em in with solder and then sanded them smooth, it came out great.

Here she is on the Slab in the Lab...

And the stator and rotor came out pretty well too!

"Oooo - Ahhhh..."

So, skipping ahead through the process, this is what I finally wound up with: