Topic: advantage/disadvantage of stripping a bike down to the frame

[gregwaits]

Little by little I am taking this CB500K2 apart in process of rebuilding it.

I have the following things removed:

both wheels
all electrics including wire harness
battery box
fenders
seat
tank
side covers
handlebars
all lights and signals

I am considering removing the engine, but I am not sure if I should. I do want to repaint the frame, but I can probably mask off the engine well enough to do a decent job. Is it worth the hassle of taking the engine out? While I can lift it out and then onto the floor by myself, I don't relish doing so.

I don't think it will need a rebuild. The compression seems good, and the oil is clean. I figure that if I do decide to take it off the frame it will be easier to clean it up.

Any input from those who have travelled this road before?

One other question. reinstalling the wire harness and hooking everything up is something that I fear will be over my head. What do shops usually charge to route wire harnesses and hook it all back up? I do have the wiring diagram in the back of the owners manual, but not being an electrician it might as well be written in Russian!

[doug_id]

I just finished stripping everything off my 550.  I am pretty green in terms of my mechanical experience.  I wasn't planning on doing that originally but I found the more I took the bike the more I took off the bike      I am glad I decided to do it.   I am going to go ahead and polish and repaint the engine and probably powder coat the frame.   Same as you the wiring in the headlight worries me the most.  But the wires are all color coded so I think if I take my time it should be doable.  I also took a ton of digital pics as I went along so I can refer back to those when putting it all back together.

[heffay]

here's what i'd recommend...

1) try to keep the time the engine is out of the frame to a minimum that way it stays fresh
2) label everything!  keep things in sets rather than individually wrapped
3) take pictures during disassembly while the part is still in your hand before you've changed its position.  to be able to refer to that later is a lifesaver sometimes (or a bike saver  )

[mwohlenhaus]

a bit of advise from a former wiring hater.  try your damndest to look at each individual component you are wiring, if you look at the whole picture it gets real scary real quick.  also label all matching connections.  wrap duct tape around the wires and use a magic marker to write on the tag and start with A going down the alphabet.  mark each side of the connection with the same letter, or number. 

[RRRToolSolutions]

Greg, the advice I have would have been different before the internet. Take that engine out, give it a good cleaning, and paint your frame. My first resto was a "patch" job and I could always see the missing areas not cleaned or painted. I assume you're doing this for you and not mere transportation. Make the project fun, and study, read, - you'll learn more about the bike once you've spent time with it and the pride in doing it all never goes away. Seriously, it's easier to do it now than at any other time you'll own it.

Now for that internet comment - you've got a good group of guys here that are more than helpful and are always willing to take photos, add links, send scans, and just walk you through it. I've found this site to be the most friendly and helpful of any I visit. I have yet to see one sentence of criticism come from the 3,500 or so on here.

Do it, we'll help you bring it back together and most here work cheap...

Regards,
Gordon

[seaweb11]

Photos/photos/photos and ditto on all the above advice.

Been there twice now. Intimidating at 1st., but it will go back together.
Pull the motor and give er a good clean / paint. You might even get motivated to learn the fine art of aluminum polishing

Wiring will put itself back together as long as you took a few photos of the main junctions. One wire at a time., clean all wires and connectors while your at it.

On putting it all back together when you are ready. Little steps, little projects.
My theory on these rebuilds is to walk into the shop and put something back on each day. Even if its just turning a bolt or cleaning a turn signal lens. I assure you that if  you do this...come spring you will walk in and there will be nothing left to do than fill the tank and turn the key. Some days you get in the groove and work through lunch and dinner, some days you are so pissed you don't want to look at it. BUT DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY. 

P.S. If something has you stumped, leave it till later, do something you can do. I've found that by the time I get back to what had me confused,  a week later it all makes more sense.

Have fun. Nothing like knowing how it all works

[Jeff]

I have yet to see one sentence of criticism come from the 3,500 or so on here.

Where have you been the last month?

[brimar6]

Greg,

   Just go ahead and jump in, do it and get it done! You will not regret it. Besides what better way to become one with your bike. An if something has trouble later on you'll have half an idea of how to fix it and you can come here to get the other half. So you see it's all a plus++

[angeldeville]

yeah what these guys said... popping the engine out is easier than some of the things you have already done....

[Andrew Foss]

my only advise is never to leave a bolt untorqued thinking you will come back to it another day. even if you think you will have it off again, tighten it up just in case. once that engine is running again and your bike is all clean, you wont be thinking "did i..." you will be excited to ride. that being said, just take your time, these arent bad machines to dissassemble/reassemble (i had the engine out of my 750 in about an hour, once i fixed the sparkplug hole it only took about two to re install). also if you are going to paint the engine, i would consider getting a hex bolt kit for it (just search ebay) and install the nice stainless allen heads after you paint over the phillips...
-andrew

[jevfro]

Working on a similar project...  I plan on stripping it all down.  Engine needs to come out to fix smoke coming from #3cyl anyway. Probably won't start till 2007 sometime.

I'm fairly confident when it comes to anything mechanical, however, I still will be figuring it out for the first time. and plan on following the kind advice given here.  Hopefully people like you and me can document our success and failure so others may also learn by it.

Hope to see some before and after photos!

[pae]

I'm doing my rebuild - just started, see sig for full story.... I'm using plenty of photo's. Make sure you label both ends of the cables whenever you pull a connector, make notes - it should all make sense. Take off bits as sub-assemblies, bag them up and then turn your attention to them when you've got time and a clear workspace to strip them and lay everything out. That way the details of how the carbs and linkages fit together (for instance) don't get lost in the general 'pulling the bike apart' stuff

I'm sure that when it comes back together there'll be one or two bits I can't quite make-out, no matter how certain I've got it documented today, but as others have said this is by a long way the best community for help, advise and encouragement.

Do it all, you'll regret it if you don't pull the engine out. Good luck and keep us posted,

regards, Phil

[Bodain]

You can actually clean and polish the engine quit well with the engine in the frame. You can do even better with it out of the frame. <Grin> Both my 550 and 750. I left the engine in the frame and sprayed the entire frame around them.

The electrics on these bikes is fairly simple. I too was reluctant to pull the wiring harness. It's really no big deal.
The bundle of wires in the headlight is all color coded.  I just started pulling. Anything that wasn't a color match I made a note for later.

You really should be hesistant about doing anything on these bikes. If you never do it. You never have experience.
Jump right in. It's a good time and pretty soon you will be providing the answers.