Author Topic: 1980 CB650C - Tank and seat time! (Read 13509 times)

nitroeagle · « **Reply #25 on:** December 31, 2012, 04:38:47 PM »

Just so you don't get screwed up on the signals, the stock ones ground through the "stalks" they mount on, using the grounded nuts inside the headlight. The new lights you got may need a new ground wire run. Don't ask how I know.

2 weeks of checking why my signals wouldn't work & I had worn contacts in the switch, a bad flasher, & bad ground on the signals.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #26 on:** January 04, 2013, 08:46:41 PM »

Quote from: steved650 on December 31, 2012, 05:46:25 AM

Hey if your new minis are LED you'll have to the change the flasher unit to an electronic one....originals are mechanical and work off current. Its looking good.

Thanks! No LEDs here, so I'm all good.

Quote from: nitroeagle on December 31, 2012, 04:38:47 PM

Just so you don't get screwed up on the signals, the stock ones ground through the "stalks" they mount on, using the grounded nuts inside the headlight. The new lights you got may need a new ground wire run. Don't ask how I know. 2 weeks of checking why my signals wouldn't work & I had worn contacts in the switch, a bad flasher, & bad ground on the signals.

Yeah I plan on sort of grounding them "to themselves". Seemed to work fine the other night since the lower triple tree clamp is grounded.

No real progress over the last few days, new years happened, I was hung over for a couple days, and today and tomorrow will be spent in the shop at school working on the Formula SAE car (doing some fun things to a Triumph 675cc).

My tail light did come in today, and I'm hoping to finish up my new turn signal mounts on Sunday, and possibly get my buddy with the tubing bender to give me and hand making a rear frame loop. I feel like I'm just as busy during break as I am during the semester. This stuff's a lot more fun though!

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #27 on:** January 06, 2013, 06:49:08 PM »

Had an hour or two in the garage today, and just about finished up one of my turn signal mounts. I love stupid little projects like this, it's like meditation.

This was the first bracket I made. Worked fine, but frankly it looked like sh*t.

I was looking at some bikes that Cafe Racer Dreams has done, and they used a bracket sort of like this.

Better, but I didn't like how "sucked in" the signals looked, and it still looked sloppy from behind.

There was almost exactly 3/8" of threads sticking out, so I decided to space the signals out that far. Now, what to use? Washers? Too sloppy. Weld some washers together and grind them down smooth? Hell no. Hey, that piece that the stock signals mounts on looks about the right diameter...

So I decided to cut that up and just tack weld that onto the current bracket. Still needs to be cleaned up a bit and painted, but I like it. Definitely much cleaner than any of the previous versions, especially from behind.

And the $20 tail light from Amazon.

Leaving on a 3 day ski trip at 6am tomorrow, but when I get back things should start moving quicker.

rb550four · « **Reply #28 on:** January 06, 2013, 08:20:45 PM »

Would those blinkers be strong enough to replace your headlight bucket mounting bolts? They'd be very visible, and you already have to get in there to wire them in. May not be your taste, just though I'd throw it out there.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #29 on:** January 08, 2013, 04:28:48 AM »

Quote from: rb550four on January 06, 2013, 08:20:45 PM

Would those blinkers be strong enough to replace your headlight bucket mounting bolts? They'd be very visible, and you already have to get in there to wire them in. May not be your taste, just though I'd throw it out there.

The blinker housing is plastic, so I'm not sure I'd trust it to hold, and I'm also not a fan of that look. I like the current placement a lot, and making brackets is fun haha.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #30 on:** January 10, 2013, 12:29:35 PM »

Went through and tested everything in the charging system according to the manual today.

Everything on the R/R checks out (the range was 5-40 ohms for green-yellow and red/white-yellow connections, and all tested out to ~20 ohms).

The stator tested well also (I believe it's supposed to be .41-.51 ohms, and it was right around .5).

After cleaning off the rotor, the resistance between the two rings was 2 ohms, obviously not within the 4-6 ohm range.

With the bike running, the voltage across the battery is ~11.5 volts regardless of RPM.

So it looks like the rotor is in fact the culprit. Anybody have a good source for a rotor? Are the ebay repros any good, or a waste of money?

curemode2002 · « **Reply #31 on:** January 10, 2013, 03:40:36 PM »

Check out these guys they do great work and have some good feedback here on the forum http://tpe-usa.com/

But I can confirm that Rotor is shot at least yours measures low cold mine was a PITA cause it would read 5 ohms cold but drop to nothing when at operating temps.

Also if you can find a spare they are nice to have around, don't forget to check your brushes too. When mine was going out it fried a brush so when you depressed it a little and checked the resistance it went super high (100+ ohms).

trueblue · « **Reply #32 on:** January 10, 2013, 07:57:23 PM »

The other thing when the rotor gets down to around 2 ohm it tends to fry the transistors in the R/R unit. The Diode test will be fine but it won't work.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #33 on:** January 13, 2013, 10:53:32 PM »

Thanks for the info guys! I'll be deciding exactly what route I'm going to go with the rotor tomorrow, but today was more fun with metal.

Paid a visit to my friend who has a tubing bender, acetylene torch, and extra 1" tubing, and bent up a rear frame loop.

Then I came back home, and welded in a free scrap of flat stock.

And cut off the factory cross piece.

Then I cut off the ends of the frame, and tacked on the loop. Holy BALLS that looks stupid.

Really not happy with how high I made that up-sweep. Easy enough to fix, just have to get access to an acetylene torch again which won't be difficult. I'm going to pick up some aluminum tomorrow to start the seat pan, hopefully the seat will be mostly finished by the time next weekend is over.

rb550four · « **Reply #34 on:** January 14, 2013, 06:29:38 AM »

That up sweep will give you a place to hang the taillight under it.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #35 on:** January 14, 2013, 08:03:28 AM »

It fits in there perfectly too, I just really hate how it looks from the side, and it doesn't go at all with what I was planning for the seat.

trueblue · « **Reply #36 on:** January 14, 2013, 04:37:57 PM »

Remember to give yourself enough room for your rear suspension to bottom out and then a bit.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #37 on:** February 04, 2013, 12:17:39 PM »

Small update, got my rebuilt rotor back from Tim Parrott, looks great and measures within spec. Bike still doesn't charge though, so it looks like the R/R was fried when the rotor went. More investigating to follow.

I also got rid of about half the upsweep on the rear frame loop, I'll try to get pictures some time this week when I'm not in work or class.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #38 on:** February 25, 2013, 06:40:50 AM »

So the bike sort of fell to the wayside between classes, work, the race car at school, and doing photo work for people, but I found a used R/R on eBay with a free return shipping guarantee for $30, I figure that should get the bike on the road until I'm working more and can afford to do it right.

I'm hoping to get a chance to do some welding on the frame and work on the seat pan next weekend once exams are done.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #39 on:** February 27, 2013, 01:36:55 PM »

Well the last couple days have sucked (found out that my dog has heart and lung cancer and will need to be put down by Friday if he makes it that long, and I'm stuck up at school), but the one piece of good news is that the new to me R/R came in today, and after hooking it up real quick it does in fact work.

This weekend I'll be wiring up all of the turn signals and the tail light, and coming up with a temporary seat just to get the bike on the road.

trueblue · « **Reply #40 on:** February 28, 2013, 12:12:24 AM »

Sweet, glad you got it sorted

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #41 on:** March 01, 2013, 04:07:25 PM »

Seems to be charging well, went for a ~5 mile ride with a piece of cardboard as a seat today. Not comfortable.

Going to pull the carbs to soak them in an inch or so of carb dip as someone suggested earlier in this thread, and wire up the turn signals/tail light this weekend.

Couple of quick photos.

1980 CB650 - iPhone Photo by Dan Valanzola, on Flickr

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #42 on:** March 04, 2013, 10:20:55 PM »

So you've got some beer, and need a temporary seat for your motorcycle. What do you do?

First, look in the basement for some things that might be useful. These could include some foam, plywood, possibly even an ugly old plaid shirt. If there's more beer, grab that too.

Then, trace some stuff, cut some stuff, drill some stuff, drink some stuff, and see how it fits.

Looks great.

Now you need some cushion.

That'll work.

Next, cut up that ugly old shirt, break out the staple gun, and go to town.

Wow that's horrible. Perfect!

Now that that's over with, I did actually do some work on the bike over the last couple of days. I pulled the carbs off, pulled the jets, floats, pilot screws, etc. and soaked the whole rack in about an inch of carb dip, which may or may not have done anything, it still bogs a bit below 3500 rpm. At least I didn't make it worse!

I also made up a license plate/tail light bracket (Yeah all the bolts look like dookie, it'll be more refined once I pull it off to paint it).

I also took the bike for a short ride and took some better pictures of it. This was before the horrific plaid seat happened.

1980 Honda CB650 by Dan Valanzola, on Flickr

1980 Honda CB650 by Dan Valanzola, on Flickr

Going to take it on the first real ride tomorrow, about a 25 mile ride up to school on some awesome back roads. I'm excited to say the least!

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #43 on:** March 10, 2013, 10:38:00 AM »

I was helping a friend make a license plate bracket for his car tonight, and did a bit of mocking up on the bike. Here is how the rear frame loop looks currently.

And here's a quick photoshop of what I'm thinking for a seat.

Pretty sure I'm going to get rid of a little more upsweep, I don't really want the seat that thick.

Any input?

scunny · « **Reply #44 on:** March 11, 2013, 12:09:45 AM »

that upsweep is growing on me. didn't like it when first sighted. choices are hard, go with what you like.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #45 on:** March 11, 2013, 04:54:17 AM »

Quote from: scunny on March 11, 2013, 12:09:45 AM

that upsweep is growing on me. didn't like it when first sighted. choices are hard, go with what you like.

Yeah I think the plan now is that I'll weld it in, probably this week, and then ride down to my buddy's house with the torch and bend it down another 1"-2".

curemode2002 · « **Reply #46 on:** March 11, 2013, 08:59:28 AM »

If it were me I would put just a little ridge there where the frame makes the first step up.
I am always pulling hard off the line on my 650 and I would slide back on the seat.

DV2000NJ · « **Reply #47 on:** March 22, 2013, 11:08:53 AM »

#$%*.

#$%*ing mother#$%*ing stupid goddamn piece of #$%*ing #$%*.

I decided to do the right thing today, and adjust the valves and cam chain tension. Adjusting the valves went smoothly. Adjusting the cam chain tensioner, have the torque wrench set to 9 ft-lbs (manual says 7-10 ft-lbs). Guess what happens? The #$%*ing bolt for the cam chain tensioner shears off. With less than 9 ft-lbs of torque.

Guess who gets to pull the head off his #$%*ing CB650? MEEEEEE!

I #$%*ing hate everything right now.

curemode2002 · « **Reply #48 on:** March 22, 2013, 11:21:15 AM »

That does suck I feel you there the first time I was reassembling mine I broke a head bolt because I tried to reuse the old 30+ year old bolts.

bjbuchanan · « **Reply #49 on:** March 22, 2013, 07:07:14 PM »

He^^ is right. They are like 12.99 from the parts store, gotta run a dedicated ground for em but they work great

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Author Topic: 1980 CB650C - Tank and seat time! (Read 13509 times)