Author Topic: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches. (Read 9282 times)

wjustinleigh · « **on:** August 03, 2012, 12:29:56 PM »

I've had this bike since '98 and it's sat in storage for the last 10 years. I have a cb750 for a daily rider and after looking through some of these projects decided it's time to try to dive in. I have no idea what I'm doing, so I look forward to input. I love the look of these bikes so I'm going to keep a stock look to it but with cafe elements. I decided to pick up a parts bike in the same year so if I really screw anything up I'll have plenty of spare parts.

Right now here are some questions I have from more experienced folks:
- The electrical system is a total zoo. Besides looking like spagetti, the wires are brittle and the connectors come off easily. I'd love to modernize this especially in the headlight jungle. Does anyone have experience with a good solution?
- The forks are a mess, it looks like one seal went bad and dumped fluid on the whole brake assembly. Any links to good fork rebuilding walk-throughs?
- The engine seems to be made of swiss cheese, with compression of 30 PSI. Before it sat it blew tons of smoke so we have some engine issues. Lots of gunk around the head, when I pulled one spark plug it was basically covered in goo. Couldn't even get the compression tester screwed in for all the gunk. I'm going to pull it all apart but any thoughts on what might be going on?

There will be more, but those seem like the biggies so far. Thanks for looking.
Justin

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #1 on:** August 03, 2012, 12:35:38 PM »

Here are some pre images, little dusty.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #2 on:** August 03, 2012, 12:36:21 PM »

Couldn't see the controls through all the dust and cobwebs.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #3 on:** August 03, 2012, 12:36:56 PM »

Have most of the easy stuff pulled off.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #4 on:** August 03, 2012, 12:40:59 PM »

Here's the parts bike that will donate it's soul to the project. Wonder twins powers, activate.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #5 on:** August 07, 2012, 01:07:26 AM »

The parts bike arrives and gets stripped down. The project seems to be exponentially expanding.

Mo · « **Reply #6 on:** August 09, 2012, 09:18:17 AM »

Looks cool man. I'm doing something similar with a CB500 so I'll be following this closely. If you have extra exhausts you're trying to get rid of i'll be glad to take em off your hands

harisuluv · « **Reply #7 on:** August 10, 2012, 06:56:25 AM »

That parts bike looks like someone loved it and put some time into it. Did it run? When I saw the "parts bike" I immediately thought "FLIP."

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #8 on:** August 10, 2012, 04:39:25 PM »

They did, but it had some issues. It had been sitting for a while and it didn't run, compression was OK but had an electrical problem. PO said last time it ran it only ran on two cylinders. The amount of oil on the head says to my untrained eye that something significant was going on there. The bones are good, I think my plan is to take what I want from it for the first, then if I have any energy left see about bringing that one back. If I'm feeling good about a pretty straight forward restore on the first maybe I'll try some of the crazier stuff I see in these forums.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #9 on:** August 13, 2012, 11:46:21 PM »

Got back to dissassembly today, something interesting. Even though the spark plug holes look exactly the same on the 71 cb500 and the 72 cb500, my spark plug puller fits into the 72 and not the 71. #2 and 3 holes are impossible to insert the puller on the 71, weird. Looks like I'll be getting another puller.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #10 on:** August 13, 2012, 11:50:36 PM »

Carbs out, dirty on the outside, look pretty good on the inside so far. Those fuel lines are deep in there, not easy to replace without taking them completely apart like my 750. Weird how different the carbs are for two bikes that look almost the same.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #11 on:** August 13, 2012, 11:54:50 PM »

Loving my new impact driver, I was concerned about getting those case screws out but after my new driver and dead blow hammer arrived from Amazon they are a piece of cake. I went around looking for screws to loosen. This project would have come to a grinding halt without those.

Ausmithe · « **Reply #12 on:** August 14, 2012, 05:53:37 AM »

I've got 2 CB500s. One is my daily rider and the other one I'm going to tear into and restore over this winter. I'm definitely following your progress. Keep up the pictures

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #13 on:** August 14, 2012, 08:29:10 AM »

Something I messed up - in trying to take off the tach cap (where the tach cable connects to the head) I crushed it. Not a good application of the impact driver. They appear to be hard to replace, the part number is 12451-323-000, if anyone on here has one to sell, I'm in the market.

luap · « **Reply #14 on:** August 14, 2012, 03:47:42 PM »

good project. Keep one as complete as possible so you have something to reference back to when putting it back together
fork seal video CB550 Fork Seals
sirius con inc carrys alot of new parts
pretty cool guy selling 500/550 piston rings on egay

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #15 on:** August 14, 2012, 06:29:52 PM »

Good video

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #16 on:** August 14, 2012, 11:43:57 PM »

Got the engine out today, that was a bear until I used some wood blocking that I used as levers to step on and pick up the engine so I just had to guide it out of the frame. Going to need to make a friend before I put it back in. I didn't realize how messy it would be - it's much easier to remove with the oil filter off, but no matter how much I drained it, every time I moved the engine it seemed to find more oil to drizzle on me and my workspace. There must be a better technique for that.

Looking forward to tearing into the head this weekend, saw lots of good posts on here about that. Ordered my carb kits so I should be able to get into that next week.

rb550four · « **Reply #17 on:** August 17, 2012, 12:27:14 PM »

Remove oil via drain plug, remove oil pan, remove oil filter, and leave it on the kickstand to empty the clutch case is about all you can do.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #18 on:** August 19, 2012, 11:00:42 PM »

Got the carbs rebuilt over the weekend, all cleaned up, new kits installed. They were ugly on the outside but the interior all looked good, no clogs. Probably could have replaced the fuel lines, cleaned them up and moved on but it was an interesting project. This week I should be able to finish getting the frame ready for the powder coat and pull apart the head.

Those old parts shine up nicely, I need to spend more time on my cleaning process. Any thoughts on cleaning processes that don't involve an industrial part washer would be appreciated.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #19 on:** September 01, 2012, 12:43:31 AM »

Got the engine pulled apart, now it's off to the shop for a valve job.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #20 on:** September 29, 2012, 01:22:56 AM »

First engine put back together, waiting on rebuilt head to come back from the shop. Frame coming back from the powder coater this week, should have the head back by the weekend so I should be able to get it back together next weekend and drop the tank and fenders off to be painted. Maybe even be able to ride it in a few weeks. Wrestled the engine out of the second bike, will get that frame back to the powder coater and start pulling apart the engine. You'd think pulling the engine would be easier the second time, but it was just as heavy as the first one.

754 · « **Reply #21 on:** September 29, 2012, 07:51:53 AM »

When pulling motor, pulll filter, drain what you can.. then stick cloth plugs in the holes to get the oil that will come out while moving engine..

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #22 on:** September 29, 2012, 09:52:18 AM »

Ah - you saw my mess. That's a good idea, I drained it, pulled the filter and tried to tilt it every direction I could to get the last bit out but as soon as I tipped it - puddle of 15 year old black sludge. Next time I'll do the cloth trick.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #23 on:** October 06, 2012, 12:47:29 AM »

Got the first frame back from the powdercoater (if you're in Seattle Rainier Powder Coating is great, nice job, great price) and installed new bearings (All Balls tapered bearings - went on perfectly). Got the head off the 71, will be sending that to the shop next week. Should get the first head back and be able to start reassembling the '72.

wjustinleigh · « **Reply #24 on:** June 12, 2013, 06:21:42 AM »

It's been a while since I posted an image, but the 'parts' bike is now almost ready to fire up. Engine is now back in the frame, countless rusted old bolts have been replaced, wiring harness has been rebuilt and installed, parts painted, etc. Waiting for the pipes and tank to come back from the powder coater then should be ready to see if this thing will start.

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Author Topic: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches. (Read 9282 times)