Topic: CB500 cafe build- rust to ride

[tennesseebreeze]

Yeah, good to be back Valhad. Thanks for your words of encouragement.
The caliper is pretty crusty- mostly rust from the old piston.But with some careful cleaning and polishing I think it will be functional again. I didn't do any damage to it while wrestling with the pad and the piston. The new piston and seal are on their way. I'm upgrading the piston to solid stainless, instead of the chromed original.

I have the master cylinder rebuilt- it was almost as nasty as the caliper. New brake lines ought to complete it.

[rb550four]

I just caught up with this thread. You seem to be doing well . I was reading the part about no responses because everyone was busy thumping the steampunk build, funny  but true ,22 pages of it and he had the interest to keep posting and now we are seeing some of his vision.... Your build , you didn't seem lost. didn't seem like you needed as much direction as other guys. , maybe that's why there wasn't so much input , you didn't appear clueless....that's a good thing.
   I too shoot my frames with Rustoleum too ,not the rattle can . Just a mix of that and mineral spirits and spray it , I used to put in hardener but stopped using it because a few good coats without it seems to be as good as a few good coats with it. So to me ,it didn't make any sense  to  add even more chemicals.
  Interesting  idea setting the brake piston on fire, I haven't done that before. I use a grease gun , block the line  use a grease fitting , a few pumps and it pops right out.... I do the same thing on seized engines. Looks like you're rolling right along. It's only been a year.

[tennesseebreeze]

Welcome to my thread rb. And thanks for the atta boy. Setting fire to the piston was really just out of psychotic frustration. The grease gun is an excellent idea though.

After repainting the frame I got most of the bike back together this weekend. It's a lot easier the second time around. I'm hoping in a couple weeks I'll get to hear what this little beast sounds like. I have a task ahead of me trying to get all the wiring straightened out. I have to finish rebuilding the brake caliper, get some new brake lines, battery and chain and I should have a complete bike.

One thing that makes me a bit nervous though is the cam chain tensioner- it was pretty worn out and had some cracks in the slider. I gave it a pass because I didn't want to spend the money. Another potential problem is when I took the oil pan off early on, there were a couple gear teeth in the bottom. I turned and turned the motor and never found a broken gear, so I don't know what that's about. The clutch plates, too are something I figure I'll have to at least clean before it runs smoothly.

[tennesseebreeze]

Still slowly forging ahead with this build. I've been a bit distracted by another purchase that needed less work- a 1979 CB750F. A beast of a bike that I've been having a blast riding. Anyway, on the 500 I had a bit of a time rebuilding the front brake system. The master cylinder rebuild went pretty smoothly, but I had to do the caliper twice as I had damaged the seal while putting in the piston. Long story short- the rebuild was a success, although I don't know how it will perform while riding.

I'm working on the electrical and even with the color coded wires, it's still a bit of a mind bender. Maybe I should work on it sober.  I got this cool dead stock vintage Tokyo battery on ebay and filled it with acid. It seems to hold a charge fine. I mostly bought it because of the price, but it does have the advantage of looking all cool and hipster too.

What has really slowed me down though is the fuel tank. It was very rusty inside and I did probably 3 or 4 cleanings with "the Works" toilet bowl cleaner. It worked excellently, although flash rusting was an issue. I used bolts and nuts to agitate it inside and with the gas cap closed it would build up pressure in the tank. This made it easy to spot the pin holes in the lower corner because liquid would squirt out. I got a guy at work here who is proficient at cold MIG welding to spot the holes, but as the metal had worn so thin from rust, we were just chasing leaks up the tank. I decided to use tank liner. I used two coats of Redkote and I think it will do the job. I also took a lot of time filling holes and popping dents out of the tank. I fixed cracks in the side covers and had them primed for painting. Here's an image of that primer color. I actually really like it on the bike.

[MJL]

That's the current state of the bike? The motorcycle gods will surely have mercy on you.

Ok I skipped from page one to page four, just trying to keep motivated on my 500, and see what others are doing with theirs.

[tennesseebreeze]

Several things have slowed down my bike build. I've been in the process of moving and making some life changes. I bought a 750 and have been working on that too. This weekend I took the 500 out of the shed for the first time since assembling it, loaded it a truck and moved it to my new home. I was struck at how far it had come. It inspired me to get it running before winter. Here's a picture of it. Tank and covers are primed but not painted. I'm just going to ride it like that for a while. When I get it running, of course.

[tennesseebreeze]

Here's a shot of all my children in one place.