This Old Single Cylinder JAWA Motor Gets a New Shot at Life, Shines Like New

The Czech marque sold many units across the Soviet Union, and many of those ended up abandoned or destroyed after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. While performance was modest for the time, but sufficient, old bikes were quickly ditched by those who could afford to go West and get a newer model, with more power and a Japanese heart.

Even though old JAWA bikes were not the most powerful or most beautiful in their class, some still love them as they are. This can be the case with the folks over at Rescue Story, a YouTube channel that focuses on restoring what many consider to be pieces of junk. The people behind the channel have an entirely distinct perspective.

As you will see in the videos below, it takes a lot of work to clean, dismantle, and restore an abandoned motorcycle engine to its former glory. Mind you, this is not a tutorial per se, but rather just a recap of how they did it. Experts in restoration and repairs might not be happy with everything that has been done in the process, but that's that.

The air-cooled single-cylinder unit was not the most advanced of its kind, but it still helped turn many pedestrians into riders a few decades ago. From that perspective, this model is historically significant, if you ask us, even if its value is not something to write home about.

Now, the video below is just the first step of the restoration process, as the team has dismantled the bike and its engine, and has proceeded to clean the motor and make it shine again.

The people behind the channel, who preferred to let their actions speak for themselves instead of presenting each step, have cleaned and rebuilt the motor, and they have already done the same with the carburetor. Next on their list is restoring the fuel tank, which is rusty, and then they will probably move on to the frame.

Restoring an old motorcycle is not as difficult as with a car, because there are fewer components, but things get complicated if it was abandoned in a forest, as was the case with this example.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where your vehicle no longer fits your needs, please do not abandon it in nature, just sell it to someone else for a low price or take it to a center where it will be recycled.