Topic: Cb500 Street "Race" bike refresh

[754]

 Canyou find the number on the lock, keys are plentiful online and should ship relatively cheap.

[Korven]

Been working on the brakes the past weeks. had some problems with the brakes not retracting to the adjusted 0.15mm (creditcard) play. Brakes also being very spongy despite getting alot of brakefluid through. I reassemblied the brake calipers  (i didnt put any grease on the seal, just some brake fluid last time) This time with the proper two types of grease. Still have the same problems. i cleaned out the groves with a brassbrush and installed new seals. pistons went in fine and easy with just one finger. maybe the spongyness is the cause of it not retracting. I replaced the MC with a used one instead of the i repaired (read that most repairs fail) Still spongy. Then the banjo at the top started leaking from dissasembling it too many times. good thing i bought one extra washer.

Gonna try the lever half way to the bar over night and see if that works out. even had to make a "hipster selfdead, gmofree, enviromental yadayada" CUSTOM handlebar from a broom. I think its best to have the top banjo lower than the resovoar while sitting over night so all the air can escape out. Just turning to the left wasnt enough with the small steering angle the handlebars provide. and now it hit me, wonder if i could just have put it on the sidestand instead of the main one. BAH.

[SF]

I always sand flat & anneal my used washers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Korven]

Have problems getting my brakes properly adjusted. Alot of spongy feeling in the handle even though I changed it for another. Alot of flexing in one of the caliper and. If I adjust it to 0 play the feeling is good and hard but then it's very hard to rotate the wheel. It's the right hand side, looks like some of the flex is up and down. Heard that the arms can be worn out. I'm positive I ain't got any air left in the system.

Gonna get some new pads and we'll see what happens

[Korven]

Got help from my brother to solve the brakes. The forks wasnt properly seated towards the wheel and causing the flexing. Its still a bit swampy but it brakes really good. Took it out for a first ride and i got too say. Wow this 500 got alot of punch now. Below 4000 its runs pretty tired but just above that mark it start to pull stronger. at 6000-6500 it just wants you to give it all. I wont go there yet before breaking it in. 50km Trip today and did an oilchange, just wanna make sure i get all the rebuild gunk out. First time ive seen clean oil come out of a vehicle, Feelt almost ashamed to pour it into the recycle can. unfourtunaly i got some small brake fluid splash on my fork legs, what a shame after all the work one put in on those. hopefully it was just some left in the bleeder. the paint around that area is beginning to lift. removed that paint around the bleeder so i can see if it leaks from there. Just gotta solve that Mirror mount now before May 4th before going on a longer trip then. Helped my brother pick up a sandcast engine block number 5020 and the guy also had a nc30 that im thinking of buying. He is moving to a bigger garage next weekend so i need to buy it before that else he is keeping it. It wasnt sold here in sweden so you dont see them around that much. How many bikes can one get?

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

NC30s are pretty rare, even here in the US.

[Korven]

The Nc30 came home with me today. The carbs were leaking so i got a 1/6th discount from the price that we agreed upon. Back to my 500. Seems like my bleeder nipple is leaking. im 100% sure its a new one from DS from last year. Do these fail to seem from time to time or is the problem most likely in the caliper?

[Korven]

Met the previous owner last night swinging by after work. He had this Yoshimura catalog for me, this is where he bought some of the stuff to the mc. The cam was listed aswell as the fork legs and dual discs. Cam was listed as the Stage 3 cam. There were some info about checking clearances and timing of the cam, but nothing with the timing though. There were also a fixed breaker point. The old man still insisted on that it should be running on a fixed 50, something that im not advised to do here on the forum. Do you think yoshimura would have an archive of stuff like this, doesnt hurt to check? You could buy a 750 yoshi engine delivering 200% power for a mere 27000$. Werent a complete 750 somewhere around 15k new? I also bought his old leather set, the inside is covered in nylon so im guessing severe burns if it goes through the leather. It does need to stick with the motorcycle though since most of the milage so far has been with it.

[754]

 Don't forget in racing,  they run mostly wide open throttle, and don't care about idle.. so long as they can start it.
 Probably the reason for fixed advance.
Thanks for posting the fork legs in the catalog.

Edit to fix spelling   of fork legs.
 Does it show the Checkered Flag C shaped mount for second caliper for the 750 ?

[Korven]

Edit:

[Korven]

Trying out some mirror designs for longer trips and for easy removal. It won't be the best looking out there, but atleast it's easy to mount.

[Korven]

So far ive run 300Km since restoring the engine. Its great fun to ride. Ive found a few flaws that need to be adressed. It seems to be running too Rich. i cant remember if it ahd 110 or even 120 mains. Exaust is real sooty and black. I cant drop idle below 2000rpm when its hot, not sure if that could have anything to do with that. I have new intake rubbers and they are fully seated. It doesnt like choke too much when i start it.

Its seems to be leaking fluid from the resovoir. i have a paper wrapped around while riding and it seems to be a few drops on it after riding. changed the rubber and even the whole cap. maybe i need to turn it more upwards but for that i need to build a new meterbracket to align them more upwards. It makes sense anyways, its more oriented towards the riding position that way.

I need to make a new Steering stop. maybe drill and tap a screw so it can be set. Turning Left while running slow results in the brake lever hitting the fairing. you all know what happens when you hit the front brake at low speeds with the wheel turned. I havent found out yet and i hope i wont either.

When do you guys think i should change the filter and oil next time? I will pull the pan the next time aswell and filter the oil.

[Korven]

Made a bracket in aluminium for the meters since I have no tools for bending the steel one. It was pretty tough just bending this one. It needs some black coating and some machined stainless screws. Meters should be more aligned towards the rider now whilst allowing slightly more turn radius.


Picture not showing somehow?

Bike now has 400km on it and I've been peaking it at 7,5-8k a few times. It really sounds terrific at those rpms (need to get a video of this) I need to keep the rpms down until it properly run In though. Lots of shifting action going on while riding now to get the bike run in all rpms.

So far I haven't had any major issues. A few drips from the oil cooler adapter. I need to reseal the connections that is pretty old when I'd drop the pan, no biggie. Other than that engine is tight.  Going on a crosscountry trip (Sweden is not that big) the 4th May so I need to address it before that.

[Korven]

Update: Been pretty busy with my new Nc30, its always exciting with new bikes. After getting the carbs, fork seals and Fueltank sorted it now runs so i can move back to the 500. Been putting about 800km on the meter so getting ready for an  oil change just to flush it out. Im gonna drop the pan and check for anything suspicious aswell. So far the only oil leakage from the engine is from the oil filter adaper and from one of the tappet adjuster caps. (that i presume i just didnt torque enough) Other than that the bike runs great.

I also need to helicoil one of the exhaust studs, When i torqued them down to specified value it began to strip. Knowing that i would check the oil pan later on i skipped this. Are there any concerns with helicoiling close to the hotter side of the engine?

Im considering going for a slighly lighter fork oil. it today has a 30W that might be good on stock bikes with saggy springs. Other than these changes, there are nothing major.

Bike was at an exhibition alongside some other Cb750. It got its fair share of attention but the sandcast bikes No 23/43 (red) and 4000-something (blue) in the background tent got the most of it. There was a pretty cool Cbx on display aswell. I also got in contact with a guy having another vfr400 (nc24) in my neighbourhood.

[Korven]

While taking a 250km cruise the other day the exhaust stud i was gonna helicoil gave up completly, fortunetly i was almost home at the time and it held the rest of the way although real loud.
the bike is getting 1000km service this weekend amongst some other changes. Saw some picks of some "real" rickman bikes and i think the exhaust is also might be a rickman aswell as the front fender. Not sure if Rickman or MM were first but they look real close but makes sense to get the fender once you get the fairing. What do you think about this?

How long does it take for the piston rings to finally set and get a accurate compression reading? It was 160-170-165-170 Warm before i tore it apart. I Had 145-150 on the 1 and 4 cylinders on Cold engine.

[flatlander]

I also need to helicoil one of the exhaust studs, When i torqued them down to specified value it began to strip. Knowing that i would check the oil pan later on i skipped this. Are there any concerns with helicoiling close to the hotter side of the engine?

no that's fine, if have helicoils on a few of those studs myself and they are holding up.

Im considering going for a slighly lighter fork oil. it today has a 30W that might be good on stock bikes with saggy springs. Other than these changes, there are nothing major.

30w sounds very heavy. you could try 10w for starters, then see if you prefer a bit heavier due to the fairing.

[Korven]

Been enyojing this bike for the summer! Its such a blast, fun to ride! even found a matching vintage leather set with yellow stripes, There are a few modifications that have come to mind, Been keeping myself tearing away from the bike such that it is driveable for the rest of the summer. authum doesnt sound as bad in my ears as it usually does.

* Running a bit lean, bit popping on decel and sparks looking a bit white. (the air mixture screws on the carbs were about 4 turns out, adjusted it to the standard 1-1/8 today and well see how it goes from there)

* light oil seep from the cylinder, seems to be coming from the studs. hopefully just the pucks not seating properly.




As i am in a search for a good rear fender for my restoration project i have been looking into getting a new one for this bike for a swap. the rear end in the yoshimura catalogue seems pretty neat, might try to fabricate something like it. My goal is to keep in the age it came from. in sweden you need to have 17cm between the turn indicators to have it legal (motorcycles 1975 and after) in the video below we are having a garage party, you just gotta show of your bike even though it might not be the best. #hashtag japanese bosozuko or whatever they are called hehe.