These are some of the idaes that I have had over the last yr to fix some probs on the pilot. I hope that they will help someone or at least offer options.

I put a 3" tube on the airbox instead of 2 smaller tubes. I could do this easier than making a double prefilter bracket without needing to weild . The 3" elbow was screwed and glued to a piece of the origional elbow bracket and smoothed out with silicone. The end product of the elbow was then line-x for increased strength and because I was already doing some other things it did not cost me anything. I incerted a 3" tube into the airbox lid as well. I machined a ring out of some scrap T6 7075 aluminum that I had and bolted it onto the rear down tube . It holds the flexable tube between the prefilter and the airbox. During this same time I fixed the roof that was damaged by the previous owner throwing things on it for storage. I filled in gouges with CA glue and sanded the whole thing fairly smooth. Then I threw the roof in with the other parts and had it line-x as well. The line-x looked a lot better than I expected and added a lot of strength to the pieces. Then I polished the lense cover on the brake light and the reflecters using Meguires heavy-cut cleaner. Make sure you use a foam pad when using this product. It will also work good for the headlights lenses on your car when they get scratched up or hazey. Below are some pics.

I ended up using an ATV racing hood on the front. I got it used and had it powdercoated with the front down tubes that were also severly scratched up by the previous owner throwing wheels and such on them for storage. I did not like the rivets holding on the mounting brackets so I bolted them on using large washers in the back for strength. This way it is less likely to pull through and split the plastic. I would have made my own for sure if I still had my sight but I do like the ease of removing it with the three twist lock style bolts. The powder coating color we used was Cardnial RD-03. It is a very close match to the oem color.

I had an extra mod quad antena mount that I wanted to use for the flag mount on the Pilot. I modified it because I felt that it was not deep enough. I took a 3" 1/2x13T grade 8 bolt and drilled a 5/16" hole all the way through on the lathe. Just before I cut the head off I put threadlocker on the top of the threads and put a nut on it tightened all the way to the shoulder of the bolt leaving 3/4" of threads left to screw into the mount. This is so the nut will be on the bolt permanently. After cutting off the head and some of the shoulder I threaded the end of the leftover shoulder 1/2x20T for about 1/4". I drilled a 1/4" hole through a 1/2x20 acorn nut and screwed on the acorn nut to the newly threaded bolt end with some threadlocker. Now the 5/16 antena pole fits deeper into the mount and is secure even in high winds or even if the knob is not tighted properly. Also if it ever brakes off leaving a small piece in the mount you have a 1/4" hole at the bottom to push out the piece and the 1/4 hole is smaller than the pole so that it cannot slide all the way through. It sounda like a lot of work but I like doing things like this so it is just fun for me.

After I rebuilt the top end I replaced hoses all over the pilot. I did not like that the balencer breather hose came out and just bent down a very short way. I made a longer hose for this and looped it around a few times to keep more contaminants out then I secured it with zip ties.

Looks real nice - the only thing I do not like is drilling ahole in the down tube. Looks like a small diameter hole - so I bet its not a problem. Things look nice and clean. How about a couple shot of the 3: mod in the lid.

I forgot to mention that a 3/8 sleeve was tig weilded into the tube before the 7mmx1.0 bolt was run through it. This was before the tube was powder coated.

Below are some pics of the airbox lid as requested.

Next we had custom seatbelts made by Simson Racing so that they would adjust enough to fit my daughter and I riding together as well as her riding all alone. The seatbelts were very resonable. They only cost $78 including shipping to my house and it only took one week to have them custom made. I purposely had them made too long because I wanted to made sure that they were long enough. Then I just cut off what I did not need and melted the end. I wanted to make them quick release to make it easier to clean the pilot without having to get the belts wet every time. We purchased a quick release kit from Summit Racing for about $20 for a set of 4. The eyebolts were the exact same thread and the bungs in the pilot but they are too long. I hacked off what I did not need.

Nice work there M A S. I also noticed some bling lug nut looking nuts. DId they work well. I also like her name plate.

edited:
I would also ask or at least bring to your attention. Please revome the zip tie from the vac/pressure port line and install a propper clamp. I can not make what type of line it is so be sure it will not collasp under repeated vac pulses. This could casue the carb to go lean via impropper bowl fuel levle and puling the choke to richen up a lean condition would not help due the the carb bowles levle and just make it worse via more air thru the bypass.

The name plate was made for her by her Grandpa out of 3/16" 321 stainless on his waterjet. Then it was highly polished by me (of course).

The lug nuts are .020" larger at the flange so they do give good load share on the base of the cylinder. They do help keep the studs from corroding. I have used ones like these for years on other vehicles and had absolutely no problems.

I finally got a pic of the really cool Speedchaser reservoir covers that he made for the Pilot. Hail to the machinist god. Another really great thing that Speed made for us. Thank you again Speed my daughter loves these.

These are pic's of the magnetic drain plug for the pilot trans that I just made. I did this on my original 1990 pilot years ago with great success and I just decided to make one for this pilot. It is made from a rare earth magnet that is triple nickel coated glued into a drilled out factory OEM bolt using a retaining compound. I was told that it was not good to use JB weld on this type of magnet because the field would cause the JB Weld to travel do to the metallic particles that it contains. These magnets are very strong as you can see from the pic's. There is still plenty of room in the casting for the particles to be able to travel to the magnet.

Reconditioning the cage nets. I came up with this idea because you cant buy replacements anymore.
Instructions
1. I removed the nets from the metal frame.
2. I had the metal frame powder coated black.
3. I washed the nets using laundry detergent and Biz in the sink in warm to hot water.
4. I rinsed them thoroughly.
5. I filled the sink halfway up and added 1/2 cup of white vinegar to remove any residue.
6. I redyed the net using iDye Poly Black Dye with color intensifier. (RIT Dye will not work)
7. I boiled the net for 2 hrs instead of the 1 1/2 recommended because the black is harder to dye.
8. I added water to the pan as the level dropped and stirred often.
9. Warning! The dye rises up in the steam and can coat the area surrounding the pan as well as the fan screen. It also has a very unpleasant smell. I would recommend that this be done outside on a single burner camping stove in an old pan that you will not use again.
10. The extra dye residue is very hard to wash out. It took at least 12 times for me washing it out with laundry detergent before the water was clear.
11. After all this the net did not shrink but the knots loosened up so I took my time to pull them tight evenly before I slid them back onto the frame.
12. The knots are not as tight as they were originally so the net seems a little tighter on the frame. If you wax the frame it helps it slide on easier.
13. I bolted it back onto the pilot.
This is not an easy task but it really looks nice if you are trying to restore a Pilot.

Back in the day when I had my first Pilot I made a magnetic balancer drain plug. Hoser expressed some concern about the interference with the magneto. I made a new one for the Pilot now and have tested it for the last few months on mine and another 2 pilots without any issues with the ignition or charging system. I used the same size magnet that I used on the trans drain plug but I inserted it deeper so that is does not protrude at all. two of the pilots run AMSOL and they came out clean. The other pilot was running Valvoline 10/30 and had some silt size particles stuck to it. So I feel it is doing its job. Unfortunately my moron friend deleted the pics from the oil change on his phone. This is a pic of an unused one that I will be listing for sale. Again like the others that I have made I used a factory drain bolt and OEM crush washer not a cheap bolt from the hardware store and a custom made rare earth magnet that is triple nickel coated. I also use a special retaining compound that handles 500 degrees so that the magnet is permanently part of the bolt.