Topic: 72 CB500 Restomod - *Update* Sold!

[Scramps]

RE: the exhaust, it was probably a pretty valuable item when it was new. It seems to be hard-chromed, and it’s double-walled. It has a good amount of heft to it compared to the junk I had before, also. If I can get it done for a reasonable amount of money, I might have it blasted and coated in a nice silvery gray color.

[calj737]

Expect to pay above $200 for that. Personally, I’d ditch it and save your money for a Hindle from Ripple stock racers. It’s Canadian dollars, so the exchange rate is very much in your favor. Their systems are made from stainless 321 so they’re much lighter and won’t rust. Well worth the $.

[Scramps]

Getting closer to having the wiring done. It’s becoming more difficult to plan for future disassembly. Largely because it’s so cold that I can’t concentrate.

It will be functional, and it will be more aesthetically pleasing than my old setup, but it will probably require some cutting to remove if the need arises.

Also, my tiny gauge LED bulbs came in today



They’re much brighter than the incandescents, which will be beneficial for the speedometer especially. It was kind of dim and not super visible at night.

[Scramps]

Personally, I’d ditch it and save your money for a Hindle from Ripple stock racers.

I looked it up, and it's a nice looking system, but I don't think it would do much for me in my quest for quietness.

In other news, my wiring has reached critical botch status. I made some connections that seemed like they would work, but they become very taught when the handlebars are turned. I'm going to have to back up and re-evaluate some stuff. I know this must be thrilling reading, lol.

My welder arrived the other day. I took it to work and started using it on some scrap stock that we had laying around. I can make a decent looking bead with it, but I'm still trying to get a handle on actually welding pieces together which is of course the entire purpose of welding.

[RAFster122s]

scramps,

what chipset does your tiny lightbulbs use and are they identical size-wise? Where did you buy them? Ebay?

Are they white or other color? Imagine white or amber from the looks...but they could be blue or red for that matter...or even green.

David

[Scramps]

As for the chipset, I’m not sure. They’re a direct replacement for the #74 bulbs that were in the gauges. I got them from the illustrious superbrightleds.com, and they were the “cool white” variety if I remember correctly. You can see in the picture that they’re almost identical in terms of size, and they seem to work pretty well

[Scramps]

got the bike to start and run for a few moments tonight, the exhaust sounds pretty good. Much quieter.

[Scramps]

Last post about the wiring, it’s done.



It’s not pretty but it works and it doesn’t get caught on anything.



Crucially, the only items that will be in the headlight bucket will be the headlamp itself, and the turn signals.

[calj737]

Wiring looks very nice. It looks like your throttle cables are unkind down the right side of the steering neck? Should run down the left side and under the backbone. 

[Scramps]

Wiring looks very nice. It looks like your throttle cables are unkind down the right side of the steering neck? Should run down the left side and under the backbone. 

Thank you, Cal. I appreciate the compliment.

And yes, my unkind throttle cables aren’t routed correctly at the moment, I had them hooked up that way temporarily to get some throttle control while I was trying to crank up the engine a few days ago.

[Scramps]

I went by the body shop yesterday for an unrelated matter, and the gentleman who’s going to be doing the painting said he expects to be able to get my tank and everything in next week.

I’m getting through my winter projects much too quickly, it’s gonna be a long wait for springtime

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I’m getting through my winter projects much too quickly, it’s gonna be a long wait for springtime

Good problems.

[Scramps]

You’re right, I shouldn’t complain. That would be an open invitation for actual problems

[Scramps]

Got my grommets in the tabs with the gauges and they’re as safe from vibration as I can make them with what I have at my disposal.

Whee!

[RAFster122s]

Just don't overly compress them and a spot of thread lock on the nuts works...

David

[Scramps]

I've got a flat washer, lock washer, and a little dab of blue loctite on each one. I think it's gonna be okay.

Fashioned myself a little temporary fuel supply and did some more tuning this morning. I don't think that my DIY carb synchronizing tool is super reliable, since it probably isn't making a perfect seal, but all 4 carbs are peaking at ~15 in/Hg at idle with the bike warmed up. Borrowed my friend's timing light again and adjusted the ignition plate back to the correct position. It had moved when I replaced the screws.

I'm having a hard time getting it to start and idle. It's definitely made worse by the cold, but it's always been a little difficult to fire up and I've always had to mess with the idle screw to keep it running. To recap:
- Valve timing is set to shop manual specs
- Pamco ignition kit installed (new coils, new wires, new plugs, new caps) and set with timing light
- Carburetors have stock jetting (genuine keihin parts, no aftermarket jets), everything has been thoroughly cleaned, multiple times.
- Stock airbox installed with new air filter.

The only item that I have any concern about is my floats, which are set to keep everything slightly lower than the tops of the bowls, but they will leak from the overflow tubes if I leave the fuel valve open while the bike is parked (Yes, it's the dreaded fuel leak that I've seen on the forums several times before) I suspected that it was #3 that was doing this, so I replaced that float needle, cleaned the port, and set that float to the same height as the rest, but it still happens.

What do you reckon?

[RAFster122s]

I hate to recommend it but did the seat and the float needle get replaced or just float needle?  I am thinking a good exam of #3 seat is in order and that requires a good strong light, magnifying glass and the carbs to be on the bench. Might be able to check it out with one of the endoscopes you attach to a cell phone camera.

I would suspect the #3 float bowl overflow tube has a leak or crack.

Back to baking a cheesecake for class party tonight...

[calj737]

Scramps - vacuum synch your carbs with the idle set about 2,000, not at normal idle. You’ll get a better result that way.

You want your idle to be around 1,200 once the bike is warmed up. Don’t fret if you need choke to crank that baby up, it’s what it’s there for. Once you have everything adjusted and synched, if idle is still rough, add some choke. Does that make a beneficial difference? If so, you may need to remove the air screws and make sure those passages are fully cleared out. I just went through the same darn thing after meticulously cleaning the carbs, jets, and tubes. Made all the difference-

[RAFster122s]

Cal, was it on the 500 or 550 you had to go through again? I like to use a bit of Seafoam in every tank...it seems to help lessen fiddling with the carbs on the CX and I don't know yet on the cb as the cam cover problem stopped me from pursuing getting it going as it had too much wear in the cover. Wondering what kind of motorcycle art to make from the old one...

Has your son continued to be too tied up with school and life to do anything more on that design and build?

Are you getting hit with a lot of rain like Philly area and N and NE are this weekend? Temps are nice here but roads are still salty from last weekend's foot of snow we saw.
How much snow the Richmond area see?

Scramps, hope Cal's advice helps you get it sorted to run better. Something is different on #3 it sounds like. See if the float is moving freely too. I have experienced a float bowl gasket that was not factory fowling the float's free movement with the bowl on. You should be able to easily see if that is happening when you examine the bowl gasket.
There are a lot of variables possible for a carb to not act like its mates. Bench sync and vac sync as Cal recommends. I would not play with the idle screws if I could help it. You end up introducing constant change when you do.  If choke is not helping you have jetting issues for normal operation.

I keep learning or try to...

[Scramps]

Luckily, ~2000 rpm was where the bike wanted to idle while I was syncing, so that's nice.

If my overflow tube is cracked, is it possible to repair or will I just have to get a new bowl?

I guess I'm expecting too much of my bike when I'm trying to start it cold. It sounds like I just need to be more patient with it.

As for the weather here, I'm not sure how it looked in Richmond, but here in Radford we had about 16" and drifts that were well over 2' in some spots. It's almost gone now, though.

[RAFster122s]

If you can get them clean you can solder them. Torch works well as long as you don't roast the carb bowl melting the alloy they used. Flux helps...not acid core flux or solder though. Plastic float isn't leaking, right? That can really throw wrenches into the works.  But clear tube test when running with long tube tied off to higher point can allow you to see the level when that carb is being a pain.
As long as the overflow line doesn't pop off its nipple or your drain screw clear tube/ line pop out of the drain port it is OK for testing purposes. You can route your overflow lines into a clear coke bottle zip tied in place with clear lines on overflow so you know the offending carb and can see the volume.

Ever try rapping the fuel bowl with a screwdriver handle to see if the float is sticking or needle is hanging up when it is puking fuel out the overflow?


Very little left here now, it was brutally heavy snow here...very wet. Weatherman reported our foot of snow was equivalent to 1.5" of rain.


If it is a cracked overflow and cannot be repaired talk to member harisuluv, he does carb work on our vintage carbs and has lots of spare parts usually.  He is a great guy and at one point he was doing caliper bleeder repairs too.

[Scramps]

Haven't taken the time to really dig into these tests yet. I did the clear tube test a while back, #3 was not filling up, but the new float needle seemed to take care of that, although I don't remember how I came to that conclusion.

I need to check some of the other things that you mentioned. I like the idea with the bottle on the overflow tube, I don't know why I didn't think of that before. I was assuming it was #3 because it was wet, but I never actually verified anything.

I really don't like handling gasoline, but it's part of the job I reckon.

[RAFster122s]

Haven't taken the time to really dig into these tests yet. I did the clear tube test a while back, #3 was not filling up, but the new float needle seemed to take care of that, although I don't remember how I came to that conclusion.

I need to check some of the other things that you mentioned. I like the idea with the bottle on the overflow tube, I don't know why I didn't think of that before. I was assuming it was #3 because it was wet, but I never actually verified anything.

I really don't like handling gasoline, but it's part of the job I reckon.

Not as much fun as handling dynamite but it is more explosive than dynamite today...more energy in gas.
Wear nitrile gloves, they will protect your skin from smelling like gas for a day or more...


A bit of colored tape near the end of the tube can give you visual on what is what or stripe them with a sharpie...that will last until they are immersed in the gas.


David

[calj737]

Luckily, ~2000 rpm was where the bike wanted to idle while I was syncing, so that's nice.

If my overflow tube is cracked, is it possible to repair or will I just have to get a new bowl?

I guess I'm expecting too much of my bike when I'm trying to start it cold. It sounds like I just need to be more patient with it.

As for the weather here, I'm not sure how it looked in Richmond, but here in Radford we had about 16" and drifts that were well over 2' in some spots. It's almost gone now, though.

It can be repaired. We got +12” and all but gone now, thankfully.

[Scramps]

I have identified the perpetrator, it was #1 the whole time! *GASP*

Anyway, it's weird; turn the fuel valve on, wait about 10 minutes (which seems waaaay longer than it should take to fill the bowl, but moving on) it dumps out about 1/2 ounce of fuel, give or take, then it just stops.

I only got to observe it once, then I had to leave, so I turned off the fuel valve.

My inclination here would be a sticky float, so I'm gonna try and fix it in situ if possible