Author Topic: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.  (Read 9283 times)

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Offline wjustinleigh

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It Lives!
« Reply #25 on: July 28, 2013, 12:14:17 AM »
One year after picking up the non-running 'parts' bike it's the first to hit the road.  Fired up the engine w/ the rebuilt head today.  It's loud - sounds more like a two stroke dirt bike than a cb500 but it ran strong.  Tons of white smoke at first but that finally burned off after one trip around the block.  It's having some throttle issues - there's an odd delay between more throttle and it revving up, it's inconsistent too.  Will have to work that out.  Also, the clutch is incredibly stiff.  Has a new clutch line but you almost need two hands to work it.  That'll have to be figured out too.  The neutral light is still unresponsive and the oil light won't turn off even though I know it's full of oil and lots of stuff left to paint and shine.

But for now, I will bask in the beautiful sound of a running engine.  Having never gone beyond general maintenance before this, I didn't know if I'd make it this far.

71 cb500
72 cb500
07 Bandit 1250

Offline Bankerdanny

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #26 on: July 29, 2013, 07:37:15 AM »
The oil light measures pressure not oil level. You need to determine if there is a problem with the sensor or the connection to find out if you have a sensor issue or a no oil pressure issue. You need to do this before you mess with anything else since no oil pressure = paperweight engine very quickly.

Once you have that solved try synching the carbs to deal with the hesitation.
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Offline Bankerdanny

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #27 on: July 29, 2013, 07:38:20 AM »
You can test the oil pressure by hooking up a mechanical gauge at the sensor location.
"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that you never know if they're true" - Abraham Lincoln

Current: '76 CB750F. Previous:  '75 CB550F, 2007 Yamaha Vino 125 Scooter, '75 Harley FXE Superglide, '77 GL1000, '77 CB550k, '68 Suzuki K10 80, '68 Yamaha YR2, '69 BMW R69S, '71 Honda SL175, '02 Royal Enfield Bullet 500, '89 Yamaha FJ1200

Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #28 on: July 30, 2013, 10:50:56 PM »
Thanks for the advice, luckily, it was just a cut wire to the oil pressure sensor.  The cover had cut it off, spliced a on there and the light went out.  The throttle issue appears to be because the right two cylinders aren't firing.  They have spark so I'm thinking it must be a carb or fuel line issue.

The neutral light appears to be another issue, the ground wire is good, so I'm thinking it's something in the switch so I'm planning to live without it for a while.
71 cb500
72 cb500
07 Bandit 1250

Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #29 on: July 31, 2013, 08:55:07 PM »
Figured out the dead cylinder issue - kinked gas line.  Now onto syncing the carbs.
71 cb500
72 cb500
07 Bandit 1250

Offline DustyRags

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #30 on: July 31, 2013, 09:26:41 PM »
Well that was easy!

Syncing's tedious, but not hard.
1976 CB550K- sold
2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 500- sold
2000 CB750 Nighthawk - sold
1975 XL350 - crashed
2004 Suzuki Vstrom 650 - sold

Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #31 on: March 02, 2014, 11:26:28 PM »
This project started as a rebuild of a 71 cb500, and I picked up a 72 cb500 parts bike, that I then decided to take to the frame and rebuild too.  I've been riding it for the last six months or so and it's great with a couple issues below I'd love any thoughts on.

- Lack of power at low RPMs.  It's almost like I'm starting in second, I have to wind it up pretty good to get going but it has lots of power from 4K and up.
- Odd feel/slipping clutch.  When shifting from a gear like 2-3rd or higher if I give it plenty of throttle before the clutch has fully engaged, the clutch will slip even with the clutch lever fully released.  If I ease up then throttle up it will be fully engaged and will take as much throttle as I want.

It has no problem with speed, it will walk up to 100 pretty easily.  The clutch plates looked OK to me when I put them together but I don't know much about clutch plates.  I'm thinking the two issues are related and either the clutch is toast, I didn't adjust the springs correctly, or something else.

On to the 71...
I've been collecting parts for this one which I'm planning to do right (previous rebuild was a quick one reusing ugly bolts and such).  Before the rebuild it sat under my parent's deck for 10 years, before that it started and idled fine but blew tons of smoke and lacked compression.  I had thought the rings were toast and the first thing I did in the rebuild was to pull the head and have it rebuilt at Autosport in Seattle.  Inspecting the pistons, the rings look fine (to me), I had expected to see something terrible.  The tops of the pistons have tons of gunk.  Scraping it off maybe 1/8" of dried black reside.

The other issue is the starter.  It had always needed to be kick-started because the electric start would just make a terrible clanking sound and do nothing.  I had hoped to get this rebuild done without splitting the cases due to my lack of experience doing so, but in inspecting the gear that the starter engages it is missing a lot of teeth (in photo).

So a few things:
- Would appreciate any thoughts of things I should think about/inspect given the bike's previous performance
- Any advice on splitting the cases and replacing the gear that's broken
- Since I have this clutch fully disassembled now, any recommendations on upgrades (springs, plates, etc).

Thanks for reading and all the advice so far.  Wouldn't have the 72 on the road without the help.
71 cb500
72 cb500
07 Bandit 1250

Offline rb550four

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #32 on: March 04, 2014, 09:46:08 AM »
Looks like you'll be splitting the lower cases as the broken gear is mounted to the uppermost lower case. It'll give you time to check around for the broken parts and any damage that may have been caused by it.It'll also give you a chance to clean any rust from the gears, check the action on the kickstart, check the shifting forks for wear , check all roller bearings and needle bearings at the end of the primary and other shafts, not to mention the overall condition of the primary drive chain and crank bearings. This is something you want to do once in this motor,so take your time and make it worthwhile. Don't forget the complete gasket set, shifter and kickstart seals too. If the two crank seals are bad and needs replace , the 550 at honda says NA but the 650 were the same and still available last year. Don't forget to blow out all of the oil passages both ways incase there is some pieces lodged in it. My thought is that a thorough clean up and inspection is in order just to be sure pieces won't damage anything else. Last thing since the top end is off.do you remember the condition of the camchain as you took it off? was it stretched? If so , now would be the best time to change that out too.
  Clutch.... clean it up good, take any rust off the metal plates, soak new clutch plates in engine oil overnight before assembly, new springs wouldn't hurt either. then you know what you have.
   Oh, before I forget , handling gears, for the first time, roll the entire shaft up and out,hold the entire shaft with one hand on each end, like a corn cob ,so it doesn't spin out of your hand and end up all over the floor. Sounds stupid right but, you'll be glad you did. That's it for my thoughts. Have fun.
« Last Edit: March 04, 2014, 09:48:48 AM by rb550four »
A few Honda 500's, a few Honda 550's, a few Honda 650's, '72 cb 450, a couple 500/550/650 hybrids, and 2001 750. 
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Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #33 on: March 05, 2014, 01:03:39 AM »
Thanks for the advice, started the split tonight.  As you guessed, the teeth were scattered in the pan.  I'll post back on how I do with my corn cob!
71 cb500
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07 Bandit 1250

Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #34 on: March 10, 2014, 01:42:17 AM »
Got through the starter gear issue, thanks to the advice in the forum.  Cases are now split, have to figure out pulling the primary shaft then it will be on to cleaning up and reassembling.  Kind of odd - three pistons were marked 323 - 1, but one was 323 - 2.  As I understand it they should all be the same part.
71 cb500
72 cb500
07 Bandit 1250

Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #35 on: January 27, 2015, 03:15:45 PM »
After a long break got back to the project.  Since the last post I've finished splitting the cases, had the engine cases powder coated and begun putting it back together.  Have the engine in the frame, ready to start moving onto electrical.
71 cb500
72 cb500
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Offline Restoration Fan

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #36 on: January 27, 2015, 06:00:27 PM »
The engine looks great and I really like the look of the parts bike.
Ron

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Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #37 on: February 06, 2015, 12:56:40 AM »
Got some new parts in, showing a little progress.  New fork tubes look great, no need to hide them anymore.
71 cb500
72 cb500
07 Bandit 1250

Offline calj737

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #38 on: February 06, 2015, 06:05:14 AM »
Love that paint scheme!
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Offline thirsty 1

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #39 on: February 07, 2015, 07:18:42 PM »
Hey where did you get the head work done at? Hill Head Works over in Ballard? I'm just curious is all.
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Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #40 on: February 07, 2015, 08:51:26 PM »
Autosport in ballard, they did two for me and which look good from what I can tell.  Always willing to spend time to tell you whatever you want to know.
71 cb500
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Offline thirsty 1

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #41 on: February 07, 2015, 10:33:18 PM »
Huh. Cool. I'll have to stop in and check out their shop. thanks.
73' CL125, 75' CB400F, 16' KTM 1190R, 05' KTM 525EXC

75' CB400F  -  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=127295.0

My 79 CB750F for fun   ----   http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=19923.0

Offline wjustinleigh

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Re: 1971 CB500 Project in Seattle. No skills, but lots of wrenches.
« Reply #42 on: February 18, 2015, 11:19:49 PM »
Working on the wiring now, one of the least favorite parts for the partially colorblind.  Used a set of rear signal mounts from a cb450 - worked pretty nice.  Also used short signal stems on the front to tone down the signal centered design of these bikes.
71 cb500
72 cb500
07 Bandit 1250