Topic: CB500 Project, Leslie. Runs, rides. Fun Fun Fun

[Mo]

Mounted the tire on the rear wheel today!!

I followed direction carefully, but I never heard the bead pop. It this normal for tubed tires?

[rb550four]

Be sure that when you mount that wheel on your machine that you spin the tire a shade away from a fixed object just to be sure that the tire is on straight. I had one come back from the shop once  , balanced, and there was a 10 inch stretch where the tire was off to one side of the rim by a full 1/2".
  Not good in corners I would guess, caught it before I rode it.
Doesn't hurt to check.

[Mo]

Okay. So I have the tire on the bike now and am hopefully going to try to get it started. I'm still chasing electric issues down. As of now, I've made sure that everything is connected properly according to the diagram. The oil light, the flasher light and the high beam light all work properly on the indicator panel.

For the life of me though, I can not figure out why the neutral light still isn't going on. The light is fresh, and the starter wont go on at the switch. Switch has continuity. (I assume the electric bike will not start unless the bike is in neutral).

The neutral light is still off. I am pretty certain at the point the bike is actually indeed in neutral. I shifted all the way down and then up and counted at  5 gears. Then I shifted all the way down again followed by a half shift. The bike rolls freely in this position with little effort.

Thoughts?

I checked the switch at the case and there is no continuity (or voltage) to the switch.

[Mo]

Okay so I now know that the holder for the neutral switch is bad. I was able to get the light to flick on an off by jiggling it. Neutral light holder isn't working, nbd. I don't think this is a hugely important thing (just gotta be sure I'm in neutral when starting).

I still have no idea what the deal with the starter is. Working on it.

[Mo]

There's a reason I didn't want to be an electric engineer...

So I ripped the switch apart, and cleaned the contacts for the starter, made sure they touched and dabbed a little dielectric grease on em. ANNNDDD nothing.

Its weird. I get voltage from the female connector in the headlight bucket, the cable has continuity inside the bars. Bike is in neutral, kill switch is set to "on". Starter motor moves when I bridge the solenoid, etc etc...

What the hell is going on here?

[Mo]

The past few posts sound like the rantings of a madman in hind sight. Regardless, she breathes!!!! (Video to follow shortly)

She didn't stay alive, but I'm sure that because the idle needs to be adjusted. She sounds strong and like she wants to live.

WHOOOHHHH!!!!


On another note, I was trying to reattach the rear brake lever to the cam actuator (the things that spreads the brakes against the wheel) but it seems I have stripped it too far. Any ideas on what to do here? I already tried prying the lever open to get some more room for it to slide on but that doesnt seem to have worked...

[Mo]

CB500 Comes to Life

[wowbagger]

Congrats, there's no better feeling then hearing it roar to life that first time.

[Mo]

So after yesterday's success, I decided to tackle why the fuel wasn't getting through. Peacock was normal, so I moved to the carbs. I unmounted them as low and behold, the slow jets had clogged up since I last cleaned them over the fall. No Problem. Cleaned up easy enough.

I remounted the carbs, stock airbox and filter. My baby girl fired up like a dream.

So I have a question for ya'll. The bike starts right away, no problem. It's idle begins at around 2k rpm, and then slowly balloons indefinitely. Get's loud not having a muffler, so I normally cut the power at around 4k rpm (it wants to go higher).

I'm running the stock jets, stock airbox, etc etc.

Some info that might help:

1. All 4 cylinders are running (warmth at the headers)
2. Some white smoke coming out of the exhaust, but nothing I'd call excessive (top end was rebuild so I'd guess this is because the rings are reseating).
3. I redid the ignition timing recently, but I could do it again if my symptoms indicate I did a crappy job.

Is this possible a valve timing issue?

Oh and here's another video for you lovely people!! You can hear it start to go crazy in the video. Bike starts around 26 sec.

CB500 walking on its own

[rb550four]

 Congrats.Sync carbs and adjust idle. Your motor is telling you that it is able to run even if your timing is off a bit that's good,double check your spark timing with a test light to be sure it is correct on both sets of points, while you're in there, twist the spark advance to be sure that it operates freely and is not rusted together. It's also telling you that the carbs are not adjusted properly and a sync may be in order, adjust  your air  and idle  when you sync. there is information on this site if you want to take a crack at it or take it to a shop.Coming along,you have identified and solved one problem at a time, good. Let there be no question of correct spark timing first ,then address the carbs . You can't do it by ear, you'll need gauges and read up on technique .

[SohRon]

 +1 ^^ Also, get rid of the Peacock; they don't really fit all that well, and it's likely some loose feathers are clogging the lines! 

[Mo]

Got bored and decided to paint my ugly as hell side mirrors. Since I was too cheap to replace them, and I had some left over wheel paint, I figured why the hell not? Anyway, since I'm away from the garage, I had no choice but to take a break for the engine/carbs.









They were rusted so badly, that no amount of hand sanding in a reasonable time would get them completely smooth, but the black really does wonders to mask the ugliness.

A member here sold me this gorgeous CB500 tank, rust free and no dents. This will be my canvas for the paint scheme I'm going to be shooting in the next few weeks. I'm thinking of going sterling grey, maybe a white stripe! it tough to make a decision...



Color I'm going for.

[Mo]

+1 ^^ Also, get rid of the Peacock; they don't really fit all that well, and it's likely some loose feathers are clogging the lines! 

BAHAHAHAHA I was so confused until I realized my typo.

[Mo]

More wheel paint - Front Wheel Edition

I bought a new front wheel. The spokes on the front wheel were questionable at best. I got a good deal on a whole assembly, and since I was painting anyway, didn't care about new spokes, etc. Plus, now I have a front wheel assembly that I can take apart and powder coat in the future (when I more monies).

Taped off, degreased, degreased, rinsed and the degreased and rinsed again. I used 00 Steel wool to scratch up the chrome.





My make shift paint booth.



And my final product!



I made some rookie mistakes when I painted the rear wheel, so I was sure to learn from my errors. Front wheel came out phenomenal. In time, I'll source new rims for powdercoat and SS spokes (because I like the black and chrome look) but for now, these will look good. And it was cheap

[Mo]

Some new parts came in today! Camshaft sprocket bolts, battery strap, tank rubber, Points Cover Gasket, and a new starter button and spring!

WHOOHHH!!!!

Anyway, I just moved into a new Apartment, so my things have been a little scattered. I'm hoping to finish unpacking tonight, and make it out to the garage on the weekend.

[Mo]

Man, so after a busy weekend, and that awful run in with the police, I was able to do something....

Here's the bike in her new home:



I got around to the sprocket bolts that were bad, and noticed that the sprocket itself had been chipped in some places, so I am sourcing a new one at the moment. Hopefully by the end of the month, I'll have the motor back to being functional.

Go to do something actually fun & productive and mounted my new muffler:







I didn't even realize that I had the bolts oriented that way, so when I get a chance I'll turn them around.

Installed my replacement Master Cylinder, Fresh SS brake Lines and New Caliper Brake Pipe:





Went to bleed the brakes and completely wrecked my bleeder screw, despite every effort at avoiding so using PB and my trusty heat gun. Sourcing a new caliper. I have a spare one lying around so I'll try to see if I can free that bleeder first. Just sheared right off...





Anyway I wanna bleed the system before mounting my new wheels so as to not get fluid all over the fresh wheel paint.

Plans for the near future:

1. Finish my paint job (spent the past 2 Fridays/Saturdays prepping and hope to shoot this coming weekend) Pics to come later once I'm satisfied with the job.

2. Settle the issues with the front brake / wheel.

3. Replace the rear cam for the rear brake since I foolishly stripped that too (90% of my time on this bike has been spent dealing with stripped screws, bolts, etc.)

4. Perform all timing (valve, ignition) and set floats / carb bench sync.

5. Chance fork oil (I'm going to do a rebuild of the front end next winter).

6. Fix the blinkers (cops broke one, and they don't flash despite lighting up).

7. Double check all my work / torque values.

8. RIDE!


What a list... 

[flybox1]

nice work so far, dont slow down 
check this...
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=104370.0

[Vinhead1957]

Bummer on the bleeder. If you can get it off the fork it might be better worked on the bench with a vice with no fluid or seal in it. I had to heat my spare up with a mapp torch cherry before it finally budged. Took a couple threads with it.

[Mo]

Grease Gunned a Stuck Piston today! This method was messy as hell, but worked like a dream!



Cleaned up the caliper, and painted it after disassembled.



Some pitting on the piston. I think it's mild, but should do the trick with the new seal I ordered.

[Vinhead1957]

I used JB weld in the pits and I'm not leaking but if it does a new piston will be on tap

[RAFster122s]

You did remove the broken bleeder, right?

[Mo]

I actually had a spare caliper lying around with the stuck piston, so I just went that route. The bleeder was free. I also picked up a used one just in case! So now I have 3 calipers, and 3 pistons.

[Mo]

I also have a new speed bleeder in on the way! 

[Mo]

Saturday was an awesome days for the mail! Three more of my anticipated items arrived!

Clear coat has arrived. Painting my tank has been a 4 week process now, but I'm getting ready to show it off soon!



New speed bleeder and bleeder bag for the brakes!





My "new" cam chain sprocket, courtesy of Bill Benton here!



My "new" black shocks. I'm running out of money real quick on this build, so until I have some cash lying around for some hagons, these'll do just fine.



Being in grad school can be quite the trouble. I now have a huge pile of parts lying in my bedroom, with no time to actually install them!!

[Mo]

Fresh Paint Edition

I spent the past months worth of weekends painting my tank and side covers. My GF was non too pleased with the time it took, but meh it was worth it.

Started with stripping the old paint. I used citristrip. Smelled great, wasn't harsh and it did the job wonderfully.





Beer Stop



Once the tank was stripped, I hit it with some self etching primer to prevent it from rusting and then started to even out some area with bondo. There weren't any major depressions, so it didn't take too much to get it smooth.



Needed a decent place to paint....I figured hey, why not my bath tub? Bad idea. Paint apparently floats in the air  Who knew? My floor was a black mess after the painting. Worth it.



Hit it with some sandable primer.



One that was done and smooth I sanded down with 600 grit wet and added a portion of black paint for the stripe.



Taped off the stripe, and hit with primer. #$%* went wrong. Don't know why this happened, but I sanded it down and corrected the effected areas.



After the sanding and the coat of silver





The tape I used wasn't as good as I would have liked and some silver leaked over onto the black stripe, so I sanded away with 1000 grit wet, and then repainted the black area to correct.

Did some work to the side covers in between: filling in some chips, cracks etc.



Took the emblems apart and painted them to match the tank.





Bought some appliance touch up paint to restore the tank emblems. Came out really nice.



Then after a week I clear coated: Spraymax 2k is amazing.







After a week, I cut and buffed (by hand....my arms are still sore). I reattached everything and got some fresh chrome strip for the tank: Here are the fruits of my labors.









Total cost:

$15 - 3x Rustoleum Sandable Primer
$18 - 3x Rustoleum Professional Silver
$6   - 1x Rustoleum Professional Black
$5   - 1x Rustoleum Self Etching Primer
$4   - 1x Bondo
$20 - Sandpaper (Assorted, 180, 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 grits)
$15 - Meguir's Ultimate Compound & Meguire' ScratchX
$30 - Spraymax 2K shipped
$10 - Chrome Stripping
$7   - Appliance Touch up paint - Krylon

Total: $140 but probably closer to $150 since I most likely forgot something.

Not bad for the results, and I couldn't be more pleased. Beats the hell out of the $600 dollar quotes I was getting around here for a single color....