Topic: CB500 cafe build- rust to ride

[tennesseebreeze]

You're doing great. You're moving so fast posting updates, not much for anyone to add. You don't seem stuck for advice, nor inspiration. Keep at it. When you get stuck or need some input, everyone will chime in.

Or, if you feel lonely, change the thread title to CB500: Rusty to Steamer and watch them all come running!!!,

Haha. I'm going to make a cb500-powered Zeppelin.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Better than Cleveland Steamer

[tennesseebreeze]

I received my engine bolt kit. I'm really happy with it. Allen head, hand polished stainless bolts from Stainless Cycles on Ebay. 23.00 with free shipping. The best part was they were all organized, so no guessing about where they go.

[tennesseebreeze]

Here are pictures of how I perforated the front brake rotor. I plotted out my pattern on a program with CAD attributes. It took about 30 minutes to  get what I wanted- a pattern that looked simple, not busy, but also took away a good amount of meat from the metal. I printed the pattern at full scale, cut it out carefully and used spray glue to tack it to the rotor. It took 3-4 hours to drill through all the holes, starting with a smaller bit, then stepping up to 3/16". What I learned - use plenty of oil, go slow (don't overheat the bit), and sharpen the bits when it starts to wail.

[tennesseebreeze]

Gotta love shiny hardware! Funny thing is, after all the restoration work, you'll not need to unscrew those pretty new bolts berry frequently 

If I'm lucky!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Also make sure each hole is countersunk to prevent any surface burrs that will catch on the pads.

Yes, chamfer the holes.  You do not want your pads going the way of a cheese grater.

[tennesseebreeze]

Also make sure each hole is countersunk to prevent any surface burrs that will catch on the pads.

Yes, chamfer the holes.  You do not want your pads going the way of a cheese grater.

I read a lot about it, with some saying to chamfer the holes, but others saying it wasn't as efficient at sloughing off water as holes with sharp sides. Either way, I'll be deburring it before I ride.

[tennesseebreeze]

Waiting on a friend to bend up this stabilizing bar. Once I get that welded in I'll be making tabs for the seat, a splash guard for the rear, and perhaps some custom side covers as mine are cracked in several places and don't exactly fit with the cafe seat I have on there. Looking for something a bit more minimal.

[tennesseebreeze]

That last picture shows a whole new front end I got sent from a member, along with two nice condition wheels. You can see how nice that perforated disc looks with the bike. As far as the tank, for now I'm keeping the paint. Eventually, I'd like to make knee dents and repaint it. I pulled a lot of the major dents out by putting hot melt glue on them, sticking the head of a claw hammer to it and pulling. Then you remove the paint by rolling it or adding a little solvent. Doesn't effect the paint and works pretty well.

[MoMo]

It's been a little bit since I posted to my project feed. I've gotten a good amount done the past couple weeks. I found a machine shop to recut my valves and valve seats. I'm very happy with how that turned out. The guy was a real old school machinist. For $40 he checked the head's flatness, cut the valve seats, cleaned and recut the valves, and even shortened the valve stem to compensate for it seating a little higher.

Holy valve job Batman,  for $40 someone did all that work? That is a fraction of the going machinist rate.  Keep on plugging, looks as though you're doing the old bike justice.   Oh yea, keep the patina...Larry

[tennesseebreeze]

Yeah, he honed the cylinders for $15. It's great. This is in Bristol, TN, near the Nascar Speedway. There are a lot of gearheads around here, and plenty of machine shops.

[tennesseebreeze]

It's been a long time since I last posted about my build, but I have been making steady progress. I managed to rebuild the top end of the motor with new rings, newly honed cylinders, and re-cut valves and seats. I have a few of the pictures here, but more are coming. I made my own ring compressors out of these nifty finger-cranked clamps and some galvanized sheet metal that I carefully shaped and filed the sharp edges off of. To compress the valve springs I used a big C-clamp and a piece of PVC pipe, cut to give me access to the end of the valve. I took my time, concentrated, and it worked like a charm. I also replaced all the gaskets and o-rings save for the head gasket, which is expensive. Mine looked good, so I reused it.

[tennesseebreeze]

Here is my solution to the valve installment.

[tennesseebreeze]

The frame is coming along as well. A welder friend bent up this pipe to conform perfectly to the custom seat. I've since welded it and the seat brackets, stripped the frame, and repainted it. I'll follow up with pictures of that process.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Well done.  Are you retaining the passenger mounts or cutting them off?

[tennesseebreeze]

If I'm not mistaken, the 4 into 4 pipes attach at the passenger mounts. At least for now I'm going to keep them. I wanted to do a four into one pipe, but the cost gives me pause.

[tennesseebreeze]

Welding and grinding.

[tennesseebreeze]

Making brackets for the custom seat. I think the seat pan was from a Yamaha.

[tennesseebreeze]

This weekend I got the swingarm rebuilt with new bronze bushings and some thick washers that I ground down to space out the gaps. The swingarm bolt and interior sleeve had seen better days, but I thought they should still work with  the improvements I made.

[tennesseebreeze]

I painted the frame with semi-gloss Rustoleum and it came out looking like factory, although I can't find the pictures of it. Ilet the coating cure for a week before attempting any work. Then I got the motor into the frame. I didn't have an assistant and really didn't want to scratch the paint on the frame, so I laid the motor on it's side and carefully lowered the frame over it. I used a come-along strap to be my third hand and aligned the frame and motor. I got the hanger bolts in then repositioned the come-along. Lifted it up and onto a block to hold it upright. Boom- no scratches.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Nice job!! Be thankful it was not as hefty as the 750 motor.

[tennesseebreeze]

Nice job!! Be thankful it was not as hefty as the 750 motor.

Yes. But it didn't go quite as smooth as I let on. When getting the motor off it's table, I thought I had secured the rope pretty good around it, but the motor flipped and nearly landed on my foot. No damage though. I live in the woods with no phone service- it could have been bad!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

You would have changed your handle to "Clubfoot"!

[rtbmrgl]

You would have changed your handle to "Clubfoot"!

Haha what a clown. 

tennesseebreeze glad didn't get injured

[tennesseebreeze]

It's been a while. My camera was being serviced so I haven't gotten as detailed pictures of my progress over the past couple months as I'd liked to. But here are some updates to my build. After getting the motor into the newly painted frame, things have been coming along at a good clip. I got an o-ring kit for the oil pump finally. All the o-rings for this bike were a piecemeal pursuit that was pretty frustrating. The oil pump o-rings came from seller "lonelystar" on Ebay. For most of the others I got a 500 piece metric set from Ebay for under 20 dollars. That covered me for stuff like the petcock and tappet covers and other little things. Finding anything metric, such as the dozens of rusty or stripped machine bolts and screws, is virtually impossible to find locally here, and has slowed my progress.

Once I had the bike upright I was able to tackle the electrical. I bought a wiring harness for the 500 from a member here which was in good shape, but the connectors for my electrical panel were of a different type- must have been a different year of manufacture. The panel had the 6.3mm tab type of terminals while the harness had the post type. I looked everywhere for the flat terminals these bikes used and could only find them for order from china with a month long wait to be shipped. Being the impatient soul I am, I removed the terminals from the original harness I had (which was cut to bits by PO) and soldered them to the new harness' wires. I also tested the rectifier and regulator and they seem viable.

I fitted the seat, electrical panel, battery box and the filter box. My carbs are complete and ready to go in. I'm going to make the vintage carb boots I have more pliable by boiling them with wintergreen oil before I do though. I also received bars, grips and mirrors so I can start on hooking the controls up (wires also cut by the PO). I'm going to run those wires through the cafe bars to hide them.

I think the next step will be to rebuild the front disc brake. There is little room for, because of the cafe bars, for the bolt to come out of the master cylinder. It looks like I may need a 45 degree banjo bolt. I'd like to use braided steel lines if possible. If anyone has a source for this stuff let me know. I want all the braking power I can get out of this old system. People around here refuse to use turn signals. Part of the lazy, friendly, take-life-as-it-comes attitude that comes with living in the south I guess. 

Anyway, here are some images: