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Author Topic: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State  (Read 12499 times)

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Offline Shifter19

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1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« on: October 13, 2013, 06:47:19 AM »
Hi guys, a couple of years ago I found a 1971 CB500 for sale in a little bitty town near Angola Prison in Louisiana. I brought it back home to central Mississippi and started working on it. It was in pretty bad shape when I found it. It would actually crank and idle - a little - but that's it! She wouldn't move otherwise. I think it had been laying in the mud!
Well, with a LOT of help from this forum, I've finally gotten something I can ride and be proud of. I tried to document most of the work in photos, wish I had taken more. So I thought I would share what I have and answer questions about what I did with the group. Here's my first batch of photos.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2013, 06:51:46 AM »
Here's a couple more shots of it.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2013, 06:54:55 AM »
A couple more
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2013, 02:59:04 PM »
Got the engine out of the frame and started tearing it down. The first thing I notice is a broken valve guide. So once I got a new guide and valve, I took it to an automotive machine shop. Then I pulled the cylinder off the base and see where an oil ring has bent over the edge of the piston and has scored the cylinder pretty badly. So I found some first over pistons and rings, then off to the machine shop with the cylinder.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2013, 03:02:28 PM »
I changed out the grease fitting on the clutch cover to something that worked with my grease gun!
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2013, 03:04:46 PM »
Started cleaning years of grease and dirt off the motor to get it ready for paint.
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Offline MoMo

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2013, 05:21:36 PM »
To say the least, you picked a challenge.  Does the machine shop know motorcycles? I ask because they will need to know how to cut the new seat after installing the guide...Larry
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2013, 04:35:20 AM »
I think this guy knows his stuff. I wondered how he could do one so small...but then he said small four cylinder cars with four valves per cylinder were even smaller! However he couldn't bore my cylinders because he didn't have one that small. He's bored 750's but not 500's. He was hesitant to buy the equipment because he doesn't do that much motorcycle work, mostly race cars. Didn't feel he could recover his cost. So the cylinders went to a aftermarket parts/repair shop for boring.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2013, 02:28:01 PM »
Got the side covers polished, engine painted, and starting the reassembly.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2013, 02:30:58 PM »
A couple more engine shots during reassembly.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2013, 02:42:14 PM »
Here's a couple of close ups of my fabricated clutch push rod. Couldn't find a push rod for less than $50 at the time, so I ordered a piece of 8mm chrome vanadium drill rod stock and made my own. This is some hard stuff, probably overkill, but it works great! Then there's the oil pressure sending switch. Honda wanted thirty something dollars for one and I found one at Auto Zone for a Honda car - same part number - for less than half of that! Had to shave off a few threads on the top screw to fit in the cover, but that was it.
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Offline MoMo

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2013, 04:06:00 PM »
Like your resourcefulness(frugality :D)...Larry
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #12 on: October 24, 2013, 03:40:49 PM »
I took a bunch of pictures of the seat making process. Don't know why I took so few of the engine building. But here's what I have of my first and only attempt at fiberglassing. I give most of the credit to my success to the videos posted on DCC's website! Here I've stripped off the old fabric and foam, sanded and wire brushed the metal, and painted on some rust killer.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #13 on: October 24, 2013, 03:43:08 PM »
Here I have bolted on a metal plate to make a flat surface for the seat.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #14 on: October 24, 2013, 03:45:27 PM »
Started applying the floral foam.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #15 on: October 24, 2013, 03:47:49 PM »
Then started the shaping process.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #16 on: October 24, 2013, 03:50:19 PM »
A little more shaping.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #17 on: October 24, 2013, 03:53:03 PM »
Final check on the bike, then the masking tape and a heavy coat of paste wax before the fiberglass.
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Offline Tews19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #18 on: October 24, 2013, 07:38:21 PM »
Nice work on the seat and engine!
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1969 Honda CB750... Basket case
1970 Honda CB750 survivor.

Offline SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #19 on: October 24, 2013, 11:05:33 PM »
Quote from: Tews19 on October 24, 2013, 07:38:21 PM
Nice work on the seat and engine!

I'll second that.
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1975 CB550K1 "Blue" Stockish Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=135005.0)
1975 CB550F1 frame/CB650 engine hybrid "The Hot Mess" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150220.0.html)
2008 Triumph Thruxton (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,190956.0.html)
2014 MV Agusta Brutale Dragster 800
2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,186861.0.html)

"There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them — but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one.... Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba." Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature, Cycle World, March 1995.  (http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1995/3/1/song-of-the-sausage-creature)

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2005 RVT1000RR RC51-SP2 "El Diablo" - Sold
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #20 on: October 27, 2013, 04:18:04 PM »
Now the fiberglass work begins.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #21 on: October 27, 2013, 04:20:27 PM »
More fiberglass pics.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #22 on: October 27, 2013, 04:25:22 PM »
All dry and ready to come off of the form. Some of the tape and stuff stuck to the fiberglass and had to removed.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #23 on: October 27, 2013, 04:28:05 PM »
Now it's time for the sanding and smoothing with bondo and glaze.
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Offline Shifter19

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Re: 1971 CB500 build from the Magnolia State
« Reply #24 on: October 28, 2013, 04:18:00 PM »
After getting my seat somewhat ready, I started stripping the frame. Took lots of pictures in case things didn't go like I wanted, I'd have something to reference back to.
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