Topic: UK 500 four cafe racer build

[the technological J]

i bought a 750 an ride from home with open pipes fifteen minutes down the road i couldnt take it i bought some ear plugs and 20 minutes down the road that exaust might as well been a screw driver in my ear that was the longest trip i have yet to take on a bike

[Ewan 500K1]

Wheels look awesome. Congrats on doing it all yourself. I paid a guy to lace mine. I like the hubs I also did the two tone black / polished. Those pipes must be loud as hell, are they staying? Also, is it ok to run open pipes on these engines? I wouldn't mind having some pipes like that.

its ok if you can jet them correctly and dont value your hearing

lol I ride a Buell on the interstate everyday, and play the drums, my hearing has never been better! I usually wear ear plugs when I ride anyway.

The pipes are staying !, they've been with bike at least 15 years now. Yeah they're bloody loud (no baffles) ..fuel consuption is a bit on the heavy side too.  The most I've done with them on is about 400 miles in one go and must say I was getting a bit fed up with the racket by the end of that ride.  Carbs are rejetted to 110's , although I think they could do with going up to 115/120 as it still seems to run a bit lean. Got the pipes rechromed a couple of years ago, but they're blistering again near the head. Plan on getting some stainless copies made up next time around. The pipes aren't legal I dont think and I put a Motad on it when its going down for its UK MOT (mandatory road worthiness check that needs renewed once a year). Anyway, never been stopped by the polis yet. I just love mixing it with the plastic crap superbikes on a 20 mile stretch of twisty road near us with the straight throughs on.... can always get them on the corners although they get me on the straights.   The 20 miles stretch has just enough bends for me to come out in front (usually) just before a village with a great pub and a fine pint of beer.

On the wheel, it took me three goes to get the front one laced up right ... and could never have done it without this and the UK forum. By time I did the back wheel it seemed pretty stright forward, couple of hours or so start to finish and I'm sure it could get down to an hour easy with a bit more practice. No fancy tools needed, just a £6 spoke wrench and a cheap dial guage. I'd encourage anyone to have a bash at it themselves before turning to a wheel builder.

[Ewan 500K1]

Drilled the two brake discs (rotors) today:

Here's what I needed to do it:

1. Roll of wall lining paper (£2.99) for drawing templates on (one tempate need for left hand disc and one for the right hand side one)
2. Prototractor (99p) , compass (99p), 12 inch rule & pencil for drawing out the templates
3. bit of parcel tape to stick the templates on the reverse side of the discs.
4. Centre punch to mark the discs for drilling before removing the temapltes
5. On single 8mm 5% cobalt drill for all 144 holes. (£4.85). One 12.4mm countersink bit (£9.99)
6. Bottle of cutting fluid (£8.99)
7. 2nd hand pillar drill picked up for £30 at a car boot sale

What I did:

1. put the lining paper over the disc and used a pencil to mark the circumference
2. found the centre of the circle on the paper using the compass.
3. marked out 24 sudivisions of the circle
4. Used the compass to scribe arcs and circles on the template to get the hole positions
5. Stuck the template on the reverse side of the disc using parcel tape
6. Used a centre punch to mark the positions of the holes through the paper onto the disc
7. Took the templates off the discs
7. Used a single 8mm 5% cobalt drill to drill all 144 holes in both discs. Pillar drill set at lowest speed (540rpm) and used plenty cutting fluid, making a single pass for each hole using even and constant pressure (ie no reversing back out part way through)... if its going right you get lovely spirals of swarf coming of, as in pic below
8. Gave each hole a light countersink on each side.
9. Job done.

(later on ...see my seperate thread at http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=125869.0 for the agonies I'm going through with setting up my Dual Discs)

[Greggo]

You must also use the corresponding spacer that goes with that brake plate to get your chain alignmemt in order.  I've got that set up on my 500/4. 

To clarify:  If you're using the later model hub, you must use the later model spacer and brake plate, and vise versa.

As far as I can see from http://www.motogrid.com/pages/oemparts?aribrand=HOM#/s/HOM//42311-323-040/1   the spacer is common to both early and later hub types.  Part number  42311-323-040  fits all these models:
CB500 -1000001,
CB500K1 -2000001 ,
CB500K2 -2100001,
CB550 -1000001,
CB550K  (76) -1230001,
CB550K -2000007 TO 2015308,
CB550K A (78) -2100001 TO 2122082,
CB550K1 -1200001

although, yes the brake plates differ with the later ones being of slightly larger diameter.

There are two spacers   Honda changed the brake plates and hubs, and you have to use the correct combo to get your chain alignment straight.

[Ewan 500K1]

ha ha greggo ... I'll be darned ,,, flippin two spacers ... aye so there is . I should stop posting my idiotic nonsense on here. Had a look again, the spacer on the sprocket side (423-323-040_ is constant on all models.. but the one on the brake hub side changes from 42313-323-010 on earlier models to 42313-404-000 on later models. 

[Greggo]

Hey, no worries!  It'll save you some frustration if you happened to put the wrong combo on.  Those wheels look great.

Cheers!

[Ewan 500K1]

ooooh, I'm so pleased with my drilled dual discs, sniny new front wheel, shorty mudguard and new headlamp bucket 

(later on ...see my seperate thread at http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=125869.0 for the agonies I'm going through with setting up my Dual Discs)

[Ewan 500K1]

Bit the bullet last night ... chopped the rear end of the frame and cut off the side panel and battery tray mountings fro the frame mid section.....it's no return now.  Now need to weld the hoop on, make a flat plate to go on top of the hoop and cut out the rear section of the seat base to make space for the battery and electrics under the seat hump.   

[Ewan 500K1]

This will be a year round road going bike, so I need a rear mudguard to stop all the road crap from firing strtaight at my air intake. Bought a 6 inch steel universal job  to cut and fit .... dont like it now, it's tooo wide and ugly. See photo 1, the blue cloth covers the part I had intended to chop off. Second photo shows and alternative solution using the chrome part of the stock rear mudguard. This would need a bit of cutting & modification too. Its not much prettier that the 6 inch steel job (photo 2). Plan C is to buy a 5 inch universal stainless mudguard and cut it.  (laterz .. went with plan C in the end)

[Ewan 500K1]

I need a rear light.  Originally I was going to build one into the back of the seat unit.  Now I quite fancy putting a LED combination rear light/brake light/ indicator strip onto the rear of the hoop under the seat. So I'm now looking  looking for a flexible LED combo strip ... anyone got any info on UK suppliers ? , preferbaly a plug and play unit that is 12v ready and dosent need any additional electrical fittings.   OR .... plan C is to cut out a section of the hoop, fit lights inside the hoop and then find some sort of sultion to make a lens to replace the cut out section of the hoop... probably a bit ambitious for me, but if anyone has ideas on how that could be acheived, I'd be keen to hear.  Photo of rear end and side view of the bike as it is this morning attached

[the technological J]

whatever you get make sure its made for it... i drilled a pattern of holes in an old fender and slipped little leds in it and it  looked awesome at night but it was invisible during the day(i thought it was broke but as soon as i shaded it you could see the red)

[Ewan 500K1]

took the head off to polish it and noticed one of the bolts was snapped, sheared off flush at barrell surface , so barrells had to come off to to weld a nut to the broken bolt , so good time to paint the engine . Broke a bloody piston ring reassembling the engine = £80 for 4 new ring sets, new gastket set = £40 = £120 for the sake of a broken bloody bolt (dont tell the wife) Engine all polished and painted and now back in the bike ready to start a complete rewire job. Its 40 years to the day come Jan 1st next year since the bike was registered, so thats become the target date for completion of the cafe racer conversion / restoration. Still to do : rewire, powder coat frame, refine dual disc set up, find some rear sets, rechrome the cut doen front and rear mudguards. Got the engine back in the frame today and put togeather a mock up of the end result. Keeping the old tank the way it is for a bit of patina

[Bankerdanny]

I would just use the stock fender as it is already sized to fit. You can rotate it forward until you are happy with the amount showing then drill for new mounting holes.

[Ewan 500K1]

I need a rear light.  Originally I was going to build one into the back of the seat unit.  Now I quite fancy putting a LED combination rear light/brake light/ indicator strip onto the rear of the hoop under the seat. So I'm now looking  looking for a flexible LED combo strip ... anyone got any info on UK suppliers ? , preferably a plug and play unit that is 12v ready and dosent need any additional electrical fittings.   OR .... plan C is to cut out a section of the hoop, fit lights inside the hoop and then find some sort of sultion to make a lens to replace the cut out section of the hoop... probably a bit ambitious for me, but if anyone has ideas on how that could be acheived, I'd be keen to hear.  Photo of rear end and side view of the bike as it is this morning attached

ended up getting a z-flex led strip from radiantz along with wee bit that allows it to act as a combined tail / stop light

[Ewan 500K1]

hoop and plate welded on rear end

[Ewan 500K1]

new rubber, Avon Roadriers 120/90 / 18 rear 100/90 / 19 front. Shame the boys in the shop put the front one on the wrong way round 

next .. back to the tyre shop then ... the scary wiring loom renewal

[Ewan 500K1]

although what I really really wante was something like these .. but no one seems to make the right combo of front and rear with whitewalls

[Ewan 500K1]

next up, a new wiring loom :


Wiring Loom Renewal Resources:


500 four Wiring Diagrams;

http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/wiring500.html
http://kojaycat.co.uk/epages/950000457.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950000457/Categories/Motorcycle_Wiring_Diagrams (this ones well worth the £15 it costs)
Clymer one, see picture below

Generic Wiring Diagrams

http://www.hondachopper.com/garage/simple_wiring_diagram/simple_wiring_diagram.html
http://www.ripper1.com/tech/wiring/wiring2.jpg
http://www.ripper1.com/tech/wiring/wiring1.jpg

How To Guides and Technical Stuff etc

http://www.sohc.co.uk/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5432.0;attach=4217;image
Nice simple one on how to use tools and fix connectors etc
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssues/podolefsky/electric_motorcycle_howto_wiring.html
The John Partridge one at:
http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-technical-talk/229345-idiots-guide-to-making-your-own-motorcycle-wiring-harness.html
Honda Motorcycle Electrics Manual:
http://minus.com/lbtlR5awJwSHPy

In General ~ but not always !

A RED wire is permanently live (+ve), ie 'hot wired' to the battery.
A BLACK wire is switched live, ie only +ve when you turn the ignition on.
A GREEN wire is permanently grounded (-ve). Ie at all times connected to the -ve terminal of the battery, via the frame.
A LIGHT GREEN wire is switched earth, ie only connected to the frame when you press the horn button.

[Ewan 500K1]

old loom a bit knackered and burnt at the edges;

[Ewan 500K1]

tools:

crimper £9 from VWP
Wire stripper / crimper £8 from Aldi 

[Ewan 500K1]

stripping wire

[Ewan 500K1]

crimping

[Ewan 500K1]

crimped

[Ewan 500K1]

+ heat shrink sleeve

[Ewan 500K1]

+ plastic cover ... should be pretty secure now