Author Topic: 500/550/650's that followed me home (Read 110688 times)

RAFster122s · « **Reply #650 on:** February 07, 2017, 11:44:18 PM »

Yeah, I understand RB.
Cali will be really nice being there even if you don't have a lot of time to enjoy the weather in the day. Even at night it will be nicer and good to be able to be in t-shirts or short sleeves.
Getting older we grow less flexible and injuries tend to increase because of lack of flexibility or strains after early to mid 40s.
The ability to shrug off the weather or injuries and aches tends to be less than when we were young men. You might not complain about it but you with time will come to realize it to be true no matter how much time you spend in "da Nile" area.

That's life on not getting shop...having the desire to get there is needed. You got that.

Have fun in Cali.

rb550four · « **Reply #651 on:** August 27, 2018, 07:12:47 PM »

Did the job in California then went back to NY, can't say that I know why. This past winter weather was a bummer But I was lucky enough to find a guy with a rusty cm 400 who wanted to "bring it back"...needed allot of parts and time... Was lucky enough to be able to buff the original tank paint back to almost like new everything else was blasted clean and repainted or new... That bike turned out better than I hoped it would . It helped that I had a decent budget to work with. Went through the rest of it, it was allot quicker than I expected and handled very well. Everyone was happy. I ordered extra pet cocks for the cm 400 because they were a perfect replacement for some petcocks on a couple of the 550s.
The cm 400 adventure got me back in the shop. Started to play with some of my machines that would look better if I switched some parts from a different machine , and so there was allot of parts changing going on, and now I'm a bit happier with the collection .
Blew a head gasket on my favorite 500. But , as luck would have it, there were 2 rebuilt 550 engines in a shelf, so it was getting an upgrade I thought....naaa. Took it all apart, sanded down the frenched frame , fenders and anything else that was looking tired. base coat /clear coat everything ( The same color sunrise orange it was before ) that wasn't polished aluminum. I like it better now. will go through the 500 engine soon an fill in that void on the shelf .
Pics ? Yeah I wish I knew how to do it with no photo bucket. I have a flip phone in case I get in a jam somewhere , but it doesn't take pictures...I do have a digital camera . Oh , my kids are coming this weekend perhaps one of them will tutor the old man. Okay I'll send pics after I get some learnin from them.
Went to look at a 500 last night, it was covered in pigeon crap , in pieces for 25 years in a barn. He also had a 160 dream , that looked like parts to me ( if anyone needs a dream parts bike let me know, it's available). The 500 got on the truck and followed me home. It turns freely for a change! I was happy with the purchase, wife, not so much. Let the games begin.I was having a rough spell for a while, things are better and it feels good to be back.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #652 on:** August 27, 2018, 08:18:22 PM »

Glad you are back RB! I am happy to see you back here and it is good to hear you are doing better. Did you finish putting the 2nd level
on the garage?

Photo bucket has a hack workaround for Chrome and Mozilla if I recall correctly is the 2nd browser. It tricks Photo_ucket into thinking it is not a public request but private.
Imgrl flicker and few other alternatives.

David

rb550four · « **Reply #653 on:** August 28, 2018, 01:03:47 PM »

The second level on that old barn? Yes , I topped it off with a steel roof this time. the entire 2nd floor is now dedicated to my wife's storage, those yellow and black bins from Costco ...5 high for 45 feet on one side and she's starting to fill up the 45 feet on the other side. I won't say a word about it as I tend to hoard certain things myself.
I think it was last fall, this older man that I know in town has been telling me about his Honda 750 and silverwing for years. maybe 5 years ago he thought that I should be the owner of the silverwing and was hot for me to purchase it for some reason. I told him that I didn't even have to see it to say NO, always thought they were about the ugliest engine configuration anyone could ever build and there was no way it could make it into my garage, so he should put it on Craigs List, he did,took him 2 years to sell it. 2 years ago he decided that I should be the next owner of his 750. It was a 2001, told him it's too new for me ,not interested. Every time I saw this man he would ask me to buy this bike....told him I didn't need to see this one either. One day he's telling me about his new electric log splitter that he bought ,splits logs in seconds, go through a cord in an hour. Okay old man , this I have to see. so I went to his house he shows me how it works. That was the fastest splitter that I'd ever seen, heck, I could watch that thing in action all day! Then this 2001 750 entered the conversation. Alright, I'm here ,it's here ,show me this bike. Well first of all he never washed it , looked like it was in a barn for a few years. Does it run? he says NO, he called a local shop to fix it, they sent a trailer to pick it up and brought it back with a brand new $450 back tire on it and it still didn't run. "So did you want me to work on it ",I asked ." No, I want you to buy it, you'll love it!" Yeah but I didn't want it I said. The old guy said " you'll want it at $500, and give it a good home".....I got the trailer and brought it to the shop .
New battery , oil change, carbs rebuilt and a massive clean up (no new paint) buffed out the paint and chrome and there was allot chrome hiding under the filth.... Boy did that machine clean up well. Runs so smoothly, predictable handling, the aftermarket seat is so comfy, kept the windscreen on( I'm getting to like that), leather saddlebags, and the widest set of handlebars Ive ever seen. Turn the key, hit the starter and it just goes and it's just a pleasure to ride. I've done allot of riding this year , and take it out whenever I can , only missed 23 decent riding days this year. That old guy was right about that 750! could never be convinced me about that silverwing, but I really have enjoyed this machine and thank him whenever I see him or his wife in town. It's nice to have a dependable machine that you enjoy riding, easy parts availability, and don't feel that you have to collect them too , for a change.

Gurp · « **Reply #654 on:** August 28, 2018, 08:52:25 PM »

Great to see you back RB. You should do a STF project. Your garage has quite the stash!

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #655 on:** August 28, 2018, 10:36:50 PM »

Quote from: rb550four on August 28, 2018, 01:03:47 PM

The second level on that old barn? Yes , I topped it off with a steel roof this time. the entire 2nd floor is now dedicated to my wife's storage, those yellow and black bins from Costco ...5 high for 45 feet on one side and she's starting to fill up the 45 feet on the other side. I won't say a word about it as I tend to hoard certain things myself.
I think it was last fall, this older man that I know in town has been telling me about his Honda 750 and silverwing for years. maybe 5 years ago he thought that I should be the owner of the silverwing and was hot for me to purchase it for some reason. I told him that I didn't even have to see it to say NO, always thought they were about the ugliest engine configuration anyone could ever build and there was no way it could make it into my garage, so he should put it on Craigs List, he did,took him 2 years to sell it. 2 years ago he decided that I should be the next owner of his 750. It was a 2001, told him it's too new for me ,not interested. Every time I saw this man he would ask me to buy this bike....told him I didn't need to see this one either. One day he's telling me about his new electric log splitter that he bought ,splits logs in seconds, go through a cord in an hour. Okay old man , this I have to see. so I went to his house he shows me how it works. That was the fastest splitter that I'd ever seen, heck, I could watch that thing in action all day! Then this 2001 750 entered the conversation. Alright, I'm here ,it's here ,show me this bike. Well first of all he never washed it , looked like it was in a barn for a few years. Does it run? he says NO, he called a local shop to fix it, they sent a trailer to pick it up and brought it back with a brand new $450 back tire on it and it still didn't run. "So did you want me to work on it ",I asked ." No, I want you to buy it, you'll love it!" Yeah but I didn't want it I said. The old guy said " you'll want it at $500, and give it a good home".....I got the trailer and brought it to the shop .
New battery , oil change, carbs rebuilt and a massive clean up (no new paint) buffed out the paint and chrome and there was allot chrome hiding under the filth.... Boy did that machine clean up well. Runs so smoothly, predictable handling, the aftermarket seat is so comfy, kept the windscreen on( I'm getting to like that), leather saddlebags, and the widest set of handlebars Ive ever seen. Turn the key, hit the starter and it just goes and it's just a pleasure to ride. I've done allot of riding this year , and take it out whenever I can , only missed 23 decent riding days this year. That old guy was right about that 750! could never be convinced me about that silverwing, but I really have enjoyed this machine and thank him whenever I see him or his wife in town. It's nice to have a dependable machine that you enjoy riding, easy parts availability, and don't feel that you have to collect them too , for a change.

I'm still gasping over the $450 rear tire!

rb550four · « **Reply #656 on:** August 30, 2018, 03:44:49 PM »

Yeah, it's a nice wide tire and all, but I thought $450 was a bit steep, even with a trailer both ways.
I hope that I don't have to buy a tire like that, holy cow, have to sell the bike to afford the tire...you don't suppose that old man thought that very thing when he sold it to me?

rb550four · « **Reply #657 on:** September 02, 2018, 07:26:59 AM »

My last sweep the floor bike was this camo bike.... I used allot of the parts that were sound but wouldn't clean up well. Not wild about flat black so camo seemed to be an acceptable option.

rb550four · « **Reply #658 on:** September 02, 2018, 07:37:35 AM »

Not like most of the others aren't of the STF variety. This 550 got a 500 engine and some Kawi mixed in with it.

rb550four · « **Reply #659 on:** September 02, 2018, 07:49:49 AM »

Oh ,, my kids came home and gave me some learnin , so now I can post pics without photo bucket...we ended up going through google photos, not that hard ...even for an older guy like me....just have to get in practice so's I don"t forget how it's done.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #660 on:** September 02, 2018, 03:44:36 PM »

Quote from: rb550four on September 02, 2018, 07:37:35 AM

Not like most of the others aren't of the STF variety. This 550 got a 500 engine and some Kawi mixed in with it.

Cool tank. The angle of the rear sets are a little extreme.

rb550four · « **Reply #661 on:** September 03, 2018, 03:14:16 PM »

I'm afraid it's more than a little extreme ,it's downright uncomfortable and pegs stick out too far. I should have bought some rear sets years ago, but I lost interest and was off to the next one. Rear sets are going on the next wish list, after the next 500 project.... this 500 is just too ugly and sad to look at in it's present condition and it's disturbing to the rest of them.
Haven't decided what to do with this new project, this is a not a high miler engine and it has always been free (unusual right?), my fave 500 engine with the blown head gasket is an easy fix and could go right in it after repair( just got gaskets for it), or there is my last rebuilt 550 engine on shelf that could use a home. what to do? It would be an easier decision if there was a clear vision of what this one wants to look like when finished...right now , it's just ugly.

rb550four · « **Reply #662 on:** September 04, 2018, 06:45:15 PM »

Couldn't stand that dirty / rusty machine , even in the farthest corner of the shop. I always know that it's there...waiting.
It's chrome surfaces were rusty enough that I didn't want to reintroduce water to it before removing the rust that was already on it so hitting the local carwash was out of the question. A bag of Dollarstore washclothes, Fantastic to remove oils. Aluminum oxide remover and a neutralizing polish ( from a body shop supply outlet) applied to 000 steel wool for removing rust from chrome. Paper towels and Clorox wipes to remove pigeon crap. Mothers polish and WD 40 for cleaning up everything else. 3hrs later the rims fenders and other easy to get to chrome is clean enough to buff (doesn't look bad right now but always looks better after a buffing). The rest is spray and wipe paper towels for 1st wipe, wash clothes to get the film off. Then, it'll be time to tear it down and deal with individual pieces without getting filthy.
I like to wash every piece in mineral spirits to get any oil residue,wax, or grease off them. Then prep the frame parts for paint. After that is painted and drying , it's fork time.. again, each part gets a mineral spirits wash, buff, seals, oil and a new pair of dust boots and it's almost ready to start reassembly. Got some allballs roller bearings on the shelf for the neck. Mineral spirit the wheel hubs and install new wheel bearings and rear brake shoes ,and it's almost roller time.
Some guys like to lay the engine on the floor and fit the frame onto it, then balance it all on a lift and start the assembly process. I like to not balance a wheel-less frame on a lift , but have a roller ready to accept the engine in an upright position. I may be older, but I can still lift a 500 engine into a frame easy enough
Still haven't decided on which 500 engine yet. Think we'll try the fave 500 engine first, I know the lower end and tranny is good. Don't know if it'll be any more involved than a head gasket and fresh paint, we'll see...yeah, I 'll go that route first. Sounds like a plan.

Sdsbassist · « **Reply #663 on:** September 04, 2018, 09:03:09 PM »

PICS

Quote from: rb550four on September 04, 2018, 06:45:15 PM

Couldn't stand that dirty / rusty machine , even in the farthest corner of the shop. I always know that it's there...waiting.
It's chrome surfaces were rusty enough that I didn't want to reintroduce water to it before removing the rust that was already on it so hitting the local carwash was out of the question. A bag of Dollarstore washclothes, Fantastic to remove oils. Aluminum oxide remover and a neutralizing polish ( from a body shop supply outlet) applied to 000 steel wool for removing rust from chrome. Paper towels and Clorox wipes to remove pigeon crap. Mothers polish and WD 40 for cleaning up everything else. 3hrs later the rims fenders and other easy to get to chrome is clean enough to buff (doesn't look bad right now but always looks better after a buffing). The rest is spray and wipe paper towels for 1st wipe, wash clothes to get the film off. Then, it'll be time to tear it down and deal with individual pieces without getting filthy.
I like to wash every piece in mineral spirits to get any oil residue,wax, or grease off them. Then prep the frame parts for paint. After that is painted and drying , it's fork time.. again, each part gets a mineral spirits wash, buff, seals, oil and a new pair of dust boots and it's almost ready to start reassembly. Got some allballs roller bearings on the shelf for the neck. Mineral spirit the wheel hubs and install new wheel bearings and rear brake shoes ,and it's almost roller time.
Some guys like to lay the engine on the floor and fit the frame onto it, then balance it all on a lift and start the assembly process. I like to not balance a wheel-less frame on a lift , but have a roller ready to accept the engine in an upright position. I may be older, but I can still lift a 500 engine into a frame easy enough
Still haven't decided on which 500 engine yet. Think we'll try the fave 500 engine first, I know the lower end and tranny is good. Don't know if it'll be any more involved than a head gasket and fresh paint, we'll see...yeah, I 'll go that route first. Sounds like a plan.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #664 on:** September 04, 2018, 11:29:48 PM »

Great news RB, keeping you off the streets again for a fortnight or two...

Seriously, it is good to hear of your progress...imagine it will look very nice in no time.

rb550four · « **Reply #665 on:** September 05, 2018, 02:55:35 PM »

David, it does feel great to be in the shop again.

Pics....Yes there are pics, I've been backfilling some of the recent picture free posts now that I know how to do it.

rb550four · « **Reply #666 on:** September 08, 2018, 06:29:43 PM »

So today I got back to that little red 500. It came with no drivers pegs, it had some kind of funky footboards... had a pair so they are changed out. carbs are cleaned up and all passages are open, set the float height and put them back in.
This is the most complete 500 I have come in contact with yet,I've seen some extra parts that I wasn't really sure what they went to, never saw them before. Most of that machine is pretty clean now and looks more like a survivor than a pigeon dropped barn find.
I was interested to find out why the former owner stopped riding this machine ,the son of the owner said it was a starter button issue . So I pulled the plugs....ugggh. That had to have been some of the trouble...changed them out and put on new caps. was gonna change the oil and filter but it looks like the last owner was craze with the oil change and had that filter bolt wittle'd down to an 8mm or less, so that will be some fun for next time. Clutch not working well , will have to check the rod,ball and all that stuff first to see if the trouble is on that side of the case. If it's not that side the clutch will be inspected next , Cleaned up some connectors under the sidecovers while I was there, it's the pin type plug connectors, only ran into one of those before...still have most of that one ,just in case.
I was thinking of the easy way, just swap engines but, it looks like I'll fire this one up and see what it does first. Plans always a changing. There was GOOO in the tank and the carbs , it was last filled in 87, Shook out the flakey stuff and dropped a gallon of mineral spirits in the tank to dilute the gooo and bring it back to a liquid form that can be more easily and thoroughly cleaned out....got it sloshing around in the back of my pick up for a couple days till it pours freely. good news, this tank doen't leak. I had 2 tanks turn to swisscheese this year including that kawi tank on the 500. I really liked that tank.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #667 on:** September 08, 2018, 09:01:07 PM »

Por15 can seal some swiss cheese on tanks effectively, Caswell does a nice job too.

Sent you a pm about a seat, you get it?

rb550four · « **Reply #668 on:** September 09, 2018, 02:28:22 PM »

David,
Didn't receive the PM, can you resend?
I did the POR after cleaning the scale from the inside of the tank with a couple lbs. of bolts and other hardware on a 550 tank a few years back, Thought I got it all out. Last month it looked a bit bumpy and felt like a cucumber. so I sanded the paint off to see if the light coat of filler had failed...oh my hundreds of pinholes.Everywhere! So I started to solder these tiny holes....ran out of solder about 3/4 through. I had to ask myself if this is really worth it? Then thought , what a waste it would be if it failed after paint and I may have had another chance at a better tank, and paint that instead.So I posted in "wanted" that I'm looking for tanks and seats. I've never had enough decent seats. That green Kawi tank on a 500 always felt a little thin to me. I was checking all the tanks, saw some rust bubbles in the paint and I poked my finger through the top of the tank. I'm hoping that this doesn't become an epidemic around here.
The little red 500 has had 1 gallon of mineral spirits in the tank since last night. dumped it out today. This tank seems to be puking large chunks of varnish out of the filler hole when I turned it over , so I refilled it with fresh mineral spirits...tomorrow it'll get dumped out and get laquer thinner, nothing can survive that.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #669 on:** September 09, 2018, 03:57:05 PM »

Acetone will strip many of the lightweight tank liners, won't really touch Caswells. (might soften it if left in a long time but won't strip it very quick if at all...)
That really sucks on the tank issues.
I have a nice CX tank the PO put a liner in and was a huge chunk in the top, didn't realize how much until it was failing and I dumped 4.5gal of acetone in it to strip the liner. It popped the seal on the petcock cover I was using and I lost the Acetone, rookie mistake. But, it had enough time in the tank to free what feels like a pound of liner in a mold of the top rear of the tank...bouncing around in the tank now. That really ticked me off.
Going to have to figure out a secure way to pull the liner out without sacrificing a petcock or losing that much acetone again. It is pretty expensive and I think the drug makers use it in one of their drug processing methods...

Hopefully you will want to give a home to this cb500 seat. It is an orphan here.

Glad the varnish is coming out...might be an OK tank after all.
Good tanks are starting to get harder to come by I think.

bryanj · « **Reply #670 on:** September 10, 2018, 04:54:57 AM »

If it has pin connectors it must be an real early 500K0, any chance of PM me the vin and engine numbers plus the date on the vin plate to put into my data file I use to date UK bikes that don't come with vin plates. You are welcome to a copy of the list if you want.
Thanks
bryan

rb550four · « **Reply #671 on:** September 10, 2018, 08:39:58 AM »

Bryanj, you must have the earliest 500 here.
I'll take a look at some numbers, I'm know that I have another engine that came with pins( That I've changed out to the blade version years ago) in a 500 somewheres around here that may or may not have been rebuilt yet. I'll check in the not rebuilt shelves first and see if there are any low numbers hanging around.
I'm not hip to the data bank idea yet. Is this information on all early 500 s so there is a record of current owners and location to get a count on survivors like Royal Enfield does? I've heard that group is tight and knows the location of all but 700 of those machines and pool resources to produce runs of parts that no longer exist.
Okay, I checked the not rebuilt yet shelves , the lowest numbers there are 1oo6941 and 1075700, the rest are 210's. I'll need to go to a different location to check the rebuilt 500s, I may do that later on today. Any of that at all interesting so far?

bryanj · « **Reply #672 on:** September 10, 2018, 09:40:27 AM »

I don't keep a track of owners, just vin and engine against build date. Only the US had Vin tags from day 1 and here in the UK we get a free road tax depending on age so I use the data to tell people if it is worth trying for as our government, as most, does not give away anything automatically.

The 6941 could be interesting as if you look at the top crank case front below the base gasket the very early ones are taller and this is rather like a 500 version of "sandcast" on the 750---not worth a vast premium yet but possibly later.

If you PM me your email I will copy you the list so you can see what I have and that it is not dubious for example 6941 should have built April 1971

Cheers

Bryan

PS I brought mine into the UK from Illinois years ago but minus engine

rb550four · « **Reply #673 on:** September 10, 2018, 04:02:11 PM »

Bryan, 1010651,1014217 are the lowest other 500 engine numbers I have on the rebuilds. I don't know if we have government free bee in the US like you have there, if they did New York state would find a way to tax it anyways, only after the insurance companies got whatever they wanted. It's like having three guys around you ...all with their hand in your pockets. Good thing Levi s come with 4 pockets, must be the extra one is for the Vaseline.

rb550four · « **Reply #674 on:** September 10, 2018, 04:12:51 PM »

Got to spend some time on the clutch on the lil red 500. Opened up the left case, inspected , cleaned , greased adjusted , and polished while I was there. The rod was fine , there were no cracks on the threaded lever, and the ball bearing was there but the cable felt frayed inside, so I used the cable that I recently removed from the fave 500 when it went 550. Now the clutch seems to operate correctly. Guess its "change the oil" time next.

News:

Author Topic: 500/550/650's that followed me home (Read 110688 times)