[Blue Fox]

A couple of answers for you. It shouldn't hurt the bike to run it with a dead battery. The stator supplies the ignition current, and a different section of the stator provides the charging current. I would leave the old one in and jump from another battery. It doesn't make any difference if it is a car battery or bike battery. 12 volts is 12 volts.



Failed stators do occur and are a bit of a pain to remedy as the engine needs to come out. Engine removal is a couple hour project the first time and then rear case removal and parts replacement is another couple of hours. A lot of us do a "triple bypass" when we have the engine out and apart. (Stator change out, waterpump seal, and cam chain replacement) Doing all of these on your bike will cost approx $350.00 in parts and gaskets. And about 8 hours in dedicated time. Maybe more the first time or two.



The water pump seal, aka, mechanical seal, can be replaced without engine removal. Alternative seal (Davy, Yamaha) cost about @25.oo and can be replaced in a couple of hours. A brown stain and coolant leaking onto the engine below the left carb is the clue to a bad seal. Sometimes these re-seal themselves after a few miles, but not always.



The CDI is what takes the electrical energy from the stator and then provides a electrical pulse to the coils at the proper time for the spark plug to fire. They do go out, or get weak. New ones are not available, used ones on the "bay" are about $100.00. There is a work-around product called ignitech that replaces the CDI box and draws current from the battery for it's power. It seems to work well and if your stator is still providing a charging current, you may not have to change the stator out.



I would use the above information to adjust the buying offer to the seller. A average condition 79 CX is probably worth $1000.00 - $1300.00 if you know the stator, water pump and cam chain are good. Then down from there, depending on what is wrong. I have purchased several over the last couple of years from $100 - $300, depending on what was wrong. Prices seem to have increased in the last year or so tho. You may have to search for decent restorable $200 bike. Personally, I would shy away from bikes that have been bobbed, cafed, chopped or stretched. To much opportunity for unsafe modifications and creation of run ability issues that are difficult to solve.

 

[Blue Fox]

Just take a set of jumper cables and a can of starting fluid along. Jump from your vehicle (most say not running), after a shot of starting fluid down the air intake. Check for proper oil level before doing this. You should get a couple of seconds of running even without fuel in the tank. Enough to tell if the engine is free and the ignition works anyhow. Don't overdue the starting fluid, and I would also crank the engine until the oil light goes out before I flipped on the kill switch.

 

[Blue Fox]

Here is what I would do. I would send him a e-mail with the following information:



Items and cost to restore bike to current safety standards.



1. New front tire $80.00 cost plus $35.00 for mounting and balancing. ------------------------------------------------$115.00.

2. New stem bearings $45.00 plus 5 hours of time @20.00 per hour -----------------------------------------------------$135.00

3. New mufflers/collector box (Honda brand) $400.00 plus 4 hours labor -----------------------------------------------$480.00

4. Complete carb cleaning by Larry. (including UPS) -----------------------------------------------------------------$275.00

5. New seat cover or repair of original ------------------------------------------------------------------------------$150.00

6. Rear shocks (?) maybe, maybe not ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------$100.00

7. Clean up supplies $25.00 plus minimum of 20 hours @ $20.00 per hour ---------------------------------------------$420.00



Minimum total cost to restore -------$1675.00



Considering that this bike would be worth a maximum of $1500.00 when completed, I will concede the labor cost and use only the hard cost of replacement parts. This would be $925.00 for the parts. Let's say that you will easily find another $75 of needed parts and call it $1000 total parts. Subtract $1000 from the $1500 max value when done and my offer is $500.00 for the bike in current condition.



I would probably even offer him less, maybe $400.00 just to test the waters. And don't be afraid to leave an offer on the table for a couple of days. Often times you will get an acceptance of your offer. And don't let him know that "you want it so bad"