Author Topic: Logan's Reward - CB500 and CB550 Cafe Projects (Read 79546 times)

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #325 on:** April 03, 2016, 06:05:13 PM »

Quote from: Stev-o on April 03, 2016, 01:25:04 PM

Great update! What happened to the stator cover?

It got scratched up during the many times of taking the left side rear cover off the bike and putting it back on many many times. Remember the actual clutch is on the right side but the clutch cable goes through the left side of the engine on the 500's.
It's that whole clutch mechanism that's kicking my buttocks because I can't seem to get it adjusted just right.

It could be due to using the superbike bars instead of the stock bars, so the clutch cable is a bit too long. I considered shortening one of the cables and brazing the little end back on but was trying to avoid that if I didn't have to. If I can't resolve the issue otherwise, I may end up doing that though.

Regarding the stator cover though, I will cover the other parts of the bike and respray that piece to touch up the paint on it once I get the clutch issues worked out.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #326 on:** April 04, 2016, 07:31:54 PM »

Got the first 2 coats of paint on the bobbed front fender tonight. One more coat to go and then it should be time to apply the clear to this one.
Tank still needs more sanding and priming even after 3 more rounds glazing and sanding the offending spots today. If all goes to plan, that should be ready for the first coats of paint tomorrow as well.

AintNoEasyWay · « **Reply #327 on:** April 05, 2016, 08:25:53 AM »

Great to see you're still at it, Ron! Did you ever make it up to East TN last fall?

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #328 on:** April 05, 2016, 08:38:43 AM »

Quote from: AintNoEasyWay on April 05, 2016, 08:25:53 AM

Great to see you're still at it, Ron! Did you ever make it up to East TN last fall?

I didn't, Nate. Stella wasn't re-charging the battery and I eventually traced it back to the alternator/stator so I replaced that over the winter. I did some other work on her recently as well, to reroute the wiring from the PAMCO through the proper route instead of it being routed in front of the engine. I had to do that because it had touched the engine at one point and the heat had slightly melted one of the wire shields.

I'm hoping to finish up this side work in the next 2 weeks so that I actually have some time to ride but I'm also planning to use that money I've made from this side project to buy myself a BMW R1200 GS for a touring bike.

AintNoEasyWay · « **Reply #329 on:** April 06, 2016, 09:02:50 AM »

Quote from: Restoration Fan on April 05, 2016, 08:38:43 AM

Quote from: AintNoEasyWay on April 05, 2016, 08:25:53 AM
Great to see you're still at it, Ron! Did you ever make it up to East TN last fall?
I didn't, Nate. Stella wasn't re-charging the battery and I eventually traced it back to the alternator/stator so I replaced that over the winter. I did some other work on her recently as well, to reroute the wiring from the PAMCO through the proper route instead of it being routed in front of the engine. I had to do that because it had touched the engine at one point and the heat had slightly melted one of the wire shields.

I'm hoping to finish up this side work in the next 2 weeks so that I actually have some time to ride but I'm also planning to use that money I've made from this side project to buy myself a BMW R1200 GS for a touring bike.

Interesting. Glad to hear you got her sorted. I may be trying to track down similar issues soon.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #330 on:** April 20, 2016, 07:24:54 PM »

Still tied up with work day & night but I finally took some time this afternoon to do some work on the bike.
I have a new clutch lifter rod on order from eBay to replace this one in the 500 that was cracked. That left side cover is only temporarily on until I get that to insert it.

In the meantime, I went ahead and played with installing the rearsets. The left one was a plug-and-play....but I'm going to change the angle upwards a bit before it goes on for good. (It has to be removed anyway to finish up the clutch lifter rod work.)

But I ended up using the stock brake rod and doing some bending it to make it work with the rear brakes. I still have to put a spring on there to make it return the pedal up and I also need to figure out how I want to mount the rear brake light switch to make it work with the rear sets. But the rear brakes are now working with the rear set.

And finally, a shot of the bike up on my homemade bike stand...which still needs a bit of work. But I moved the workroom from one side of the basement to this room. It's on the other side of the house and won't be directly underneath the master bedroom to annoy the wife with smells...and I do get the view from the bay window out onto the golf course.

Edited:
Oh and yes...I know the back wheel adjusters aren't on correctly. That will get cleaned up when the wheel goes back on permanently.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #331 on:** April 21, 2016, 04:16:51 AM »

Quote from: calj737 on April 21, 2016, 02:34:01 AM

You might also want to change the angle of the toe peg to be more parallel to the ground. It will be more "natural" of the ankle angle, and less likely to hang your/Logan's foot on the pavement should you run over something. Some rear sets have indexing pins to allow the rotation of the peg without altering the actuator rod angle. If that makes sense?

It does and these do have that. We actually adjusted them before without sitting on the bike since it was up on the work bench but it's not difficult to adjust them.

mystic_1 · « **Reply #332 on:** April 21, 2016, 04:58:34 AM »

I'm concerned about those bends in the rear brake rod, under pressure the rod will now want to flex, and under extreme braking it may bend rather than transferring force to the brake.

mystic_1

madmtnmotors · « **Reply #333 on:** April 21, 2016, 05:12:35 AM »

Quote from: mystic_1 on April 21, 2016, 04:58:34 AM

I'm concerned about those bends in the rear brake rod, under pressure the rod will now want to flex, and under extreme braking it may bend rather than transferring force to the brake.

The bends in the rod are bad. What's worse is the fact that the rear brake rod is backwards. The rear brake rod is in compression (push) as currently routed. The rear brake rod needs to be in tension (pull) when activated. The actuator rod bracket at the brake lever should be on top (similar to the stock configuration), i.e. rotated 180 degrees.

madmtnmotors · « **Reply #334 on:** April 21, 2016, 05:16:02 AM »

Looks to me at this point that you might consider putting the stock brake pedal pivot and linkage back in place, then linking your rearset to the stock brake pedal pivot.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #335 on:** April 21, 2016, 12:11:49 PM »

Good catch, Wilbur. I do indeed have it backwards. Thank you.

The arm is configurable on the rearset so I can remove it from the bike, remove the circlip, put the arm up on top (and adjust the angle of the toe piece as well) and then put it back on the bike.

mystic_1 · « **Reply #336 on:** April 21, 2016, 04:12:56 PM »

One tip that applies to both sides is to try to match the angles on the actuator arms on either side of your linkage rod.

In other words, strive more for this:

|______|

Than this:

\______|

or this:

\______/

mystic_1

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #337 on:** April 21, 2016, 06:46:47 PM »

But the last one looks like a touchdown. Who doesn't like a touchdown?

RAFster122s · « **Reply #338 on:** May 30, 2016, 08:35:44 PM »

Any work lately to report?
David

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #339 on:** May 30, 2016, 08:58:18 PM »

I just started back working on it today, as a matter of fact. I bought a new Motion Pro throttle body and mounted that, along with re-mounting the mirrors. I also went to Bill Benton's and got the proper chain adjusters and key inserts for the bike.

Those, the front brake calipers, the front fender and the throttle cables will all go on tomorrow. Assuming all of that goes without a snag, I expect to try & crank it either Wednesday or Thursday.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #340 on:** June 08, 2016, 02:34:27 PM »

Well, where's the Weekly update???
(Busting your chops...)

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #341 on:** June 08, 2016, 08:42:47 PM »

Ah. Give him til Thursday - see above.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #342 on:** June 08, 2016, 09:40:17 PM »

Quote from: calj737 on June 08, 2016, 08:57:46 PM

Quote from: CB750 Cafe Racer Fan on June 08, 2016, 08:42:47 PM
Ah. Give him til Thursday - see above.
He posted "Wednesday or Thursday" on May 30!!! Pete's Sake, its June 8 already!!!! He's probably loitering over at Bill's with googly eyes at the preparations for the Race weekend. Gonna have to change his avatar to "Voyeur"

Damn! Didn't catch the posting date. I guess Ron is due.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #343 on:** June 09, 2016, 04:40:52 AM »

LOL. Yesterday was my wife's 50th birthday so the boys and I had been kind of busy. She decided to invite family up for the weekend and "honey do" projects have been consuming all of us this past week.

Logan and I did manage to get the new throttle cables sorted out yesterday and got the carburetor spring installed to make it snap back into position. Rear sets have been removed for now and the original footpegs and controls are on, mounted and working.

Projects around the house and guests this weekend will likely invade on my time to finish up the wiring but I intend to try and sneak in some time either late at night or early morning. Because I really want to have it ridable by Thursday of next week. Logan takes his MSF class on Tuesday and Wednesday. He can run by the DMV and pick up his license on Thursday and I want this bike ready so that the 2 of us can go for a ride...him on the 500 and me on Stella.

(He's also going to take a ride on Stella at my insistence...just so he can appreciate the fun I've been having all this time...from all of the hard work he put in with me.)

Either way though, the bike is ready to try being cranked. I have only bench synched the carbs and haven't even tried to set the timing yet but I never removed the points plate from this engine so I'm hoping the timing is still set from when it last ran. We shall see. But I thought it would be cool to let my 2 brothers-in-law who are coming up to visit this weekend be here when I do the first startup for the bike.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #344 on:** June 09, 2016, 04:58:56 AM »

Quote from: calj737 on June 09, 2016, 04:49:32 AM

Quote from: Restoration Fan on June 09, 2016, 04:40:52 AM
Yesterday was my beautiful young wife's30th birthday so the boys and I had been kind of busy.
FTFY. Man, you live dangerously

LOL, good point. Truth be told, she seemed to enjoy that one more (& worry less about it) than when she turned 40...err.. 20...oh you know what I mean. It's all good though.

We repainted the dining room, the connecting wall into the living room and she had started painting in the kitchen while Logan & I replaced the chandelier in the dining room with a new one and also installed a light in the kitchen to replace the one she took down a few months ago because she "just didn't like the way it looked". Anyway, since we spent so much time on her birthday yesterday I ended up doing some work from about 7 until almost midnight last night. When I came upstairs, there was still about 2/3 of the kitchen needing paint and most of it was the 'cutting in' work around the ceiling that I'm fairly proficient at and she is not. So I went ahead and painted everything in the kitchen and got it finished so that it would be one less thing for her to worry about today.

She just got up a few minutes ago to get coffee and was pleasantly surprised by me having stayed up late to do that for her. So I figure I'm pretty much golden for a few days anyway...at least until I find something else to screw up.

Stev-o · « **Reply #345 on:** June 09, 2016, 03:58:57 PM »

50 is the new 40!

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #346 on:** June 15, 2016, 05:50:16 AM »

I really do not like redoing things...which anyone who followed the Stella thread must find hilarious, since we ended up doing everything on that bike 2 or 3 separate times.
Anyway, the carbs are back off the 500 because I apparently left off a piece when I put the carbs back together. Specifically, the piece that goes between carbs 2 and 3 for the carburetor return spring to hook underneath.

The carb spring wasn't really working and so I went and pulled the set of carbs that are being held for the 550 and looked at those. I then realized that it was no wonder the spring wasn't working, since I had it hooked underneath the wrong thing. (I thought it seemed awfully sketchy and didn't really seem to be making the spring stretch very much). So anyway, I have to find that piece and put it on the carbs today, then remount the carbs and hook the throttle cables back up again.

In the meantime, I plan to use the time while they're off the bike to more easily finish up the wiring today and get all of the wires into the black weather shield.

Front wheel still needs to be taken off and get the brakes mounted but I did finish clear coating the front fender and everything is ready to go there. Baby steps but I definitely think I will get this thing cranked this week. Not in time for Logan to ride it tomorrow but maybe he'll be more motivated to help me finish it up when he gets home after completing his MSF class today.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #347 on:** July 10, 2016, 03:56:35 PM »

One last circuit to wire on the 500 now and I hope to finish that tomorrow after work.

And I have determined that my welding desire and theoretical 'knowledge' far outpaces my technique & skill. Still have some fill in welds to do but at least it's holding together like I want it. It might be the single ugliest example of welding ever performed...but it's better than my first try yesterday.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #348 on:** July 10, 2016, 06:32:17 PM »

That's a great tip. I still have to go back and finish welding the spots in between and then I'm going to do the grinding to make it look better. They just need to be smooth at the end because I'm going to paint the seat pan the same color as the tank and fender.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #349 on:** July 10, 2016, 06:45:14 PM »

I have an Eastwood 135 MIG welder. Since this is literally the 2nd thing I have ever welded (other than my practice, test pieces), I freely admit to knowing little about what I'm doing. But I chose the Eastwood over the same sized Hobart and Lincoln because positive customer reviews, but primarily because of the infinite gauge dial on the Eastwood. The Hobart and Lincolns each had an A, B, C, D, E setting so it didn't allow for as fine of granularity of voltage on the thinner pieces like I'm using.

The seat pan bottom is made of 16 gauge sheet metal and the rear cowl is 22 gauge. So I'm starting on the heavier gauge and trying to ease the puddle onto the 22 gauge without blowing it out as I'm making the tack.

Because of the 2 differing metal thicknesses, I went with the settings slightly below the recommended setting for the 16 gauge, using the .25 wire with C25 gas that I'm using. I found out that wasn't strong enough and ended up bumping it up to the recommended setting for the 16 gauge. That seemed to work well. But I had heated up the metal and made enough splatter mess that I put it down for a bit to let the metal cool. I plan to pick it up at that point tomorrow.

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Author Topic: Logan's Reward - CB500 and CB550 Cafe Projects (Read 79546 times)