Topic: Frosty's First Cafe

[FrostyB]

Took a while attempting to turn her over hooked up to the truck battery. I just think the old battery didn’t have the cranking amps to turn her over after sitting.

Though she’s running it still doesn’t explain how that at times when attempting to crank the entire panel will go out and I have to switch her off and back on. One of those gremlins.

Video of her running found here.
https://www.facebook.com/FrostyAdventures/

Next steps:

- Braking system reinstalled on the front and cleaned up
- Rear oiled and cleaned up.
- Tires
-throttle line needs to be lubed. Not returning well.



New battery and air pods on the way. Thinking I’ll fabricate my own seat. I know some furniture guys that would be able to help out.


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[dave500]

pull apart and clean every single connector in the loom!

[FrostyB]

Dave,

Purchased some contact cleaner and will be tearing apart the loom and refreshing the wrap down the line. Just a matter of wanting to figure out what the actual layout of everything will be.

Will be listing purchased bits and costs/links to everything soon.

Also, will put the first round of stock pieces up for sale in the coming weeks.


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[FrostyB]

So, yesterday had a bit of fun  working as it had rained and the temps dropped. Was going to fit the new pod filters to see how it ran with them. Hooked up the jumper cables to the ladies little jellybean car to double check she still turned over. Went back to the old issue of a single click and no full turn over.

Assumptions:
1. the lower cca’s on her car battery versus my truck meant that it didn’t have the juice to turn over against whatever resistance it was facing be it starter or engine.

2. If that’s the case, no way the new motorcycle battery will turn her over.

3. Since the starter +wire is getting hot on crank attempts, there is likely a starter issue.

So I dropped the starter out and cleaned her up a bit. She was filthy. Did what I could and figured I’d order a rebuild kit but knew it was enough for now. Slapped her back in and was still getting the single click until something popped. No dash lights or anything. Totally new issue then. Checked the fuses and all were well. Then I grabbed the CDI as the pop had come from that direction, and water just poured out. Great.

Ordered a new CDI which aren’t easy to find. The only aftermarket one I saw that specifically stated it fit shipped from the Netherlands and is like US equivalent 400$. So no thanks on that. Ordered a used OE on eBay.

If anyone knows of any solid aftermarket that don’t cost a mountain of gold please let me know!


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[FrostyB]

Ok. So long delay here. I had the battery on order and spent two weeks doing army stuff.

Battery + new spark plugs and she turned over like a champ. Have some tires coming in tomorrow so I can get it off blocks in my parking lot and stop looking like trailer park trash.

Over the next few days I plan to work a current tally of all expenses thus far. I’ve bought some stuff I turned out not to need surprise ! But I won’t be including that or any new non-this-bike-specific tools except as a footnote.

Next up in no particular order:
Lower forks - 1inch? I’ve read several things but have no definitive answers on spare fork travel. If anyone has input it would be much appreciated.

Cut the frame and figure out what seat/tail hoop I want. Looking at prefabbed hoops with integrated signals so the seat may need to be based off that -custom or pre-made.

Figure out what headlight/gauge I want. With this will come fabricating some bits for the front. May relocate fuses and whatnot at a later time but for now I’m just getting her together.

Only thing really slowing me down is $$, but I’ve started to use my GI bill so I’ve got a bit of extra income towards the end of this month (even if I’m going to be spending time in class). Brewing beer doesn’t pay what you’d think for a 14–20 hour day.


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[FrostyB]

So I’ve got the new tires on her and she’s purring like a kitten. I decided to try to throw it into gear on the stand to see if we had power to the rear wheel.

Bad news. We don’t. So the gear indicator is displaying changes in gear and the lever feels like it is engaging.

My thoughts something to do with the slave or the clutch pack. But I’m not sure how to troubleshoot each of them.

Any links or pointers to a helpful video would be great.

Edit to add:
The clutch lever feels outrageously stiff. And pulling it in or not makes no difference in being able to change gears. So something is stuck.

Also pic with the dog and I getting that work in.


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[dave500]

have you bled the clutch hydraulic system fluid?try just pulling up on the gear lever whilst on the centre stand with the engine running,just bang it in,heave up on it,you should get the rear wheel spinning even if the clutch wont release.

[FrostyB]

Dave,

The issue is as far as I can tell I AM shifting gears. I get a fairly solid click from the shift pedal, gear indicator changes. The whole thing. When I’ve had to bleed before it was because the clutch wouldn’t disengage. I believe I misspoke earlier and said it was always engaged. Correction - it always feels disengaged, hence the free shifting and no power to the rear.


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[dave500]

ok so slipping no drive?

[FrostyB]

Exactly


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[dave500]

pull the clutch cover off.

[FrostyB]

So,

Problem narrowed down.

The pressure plate on the clutch (6) was not tightened down well enough. It seems the previous owner for some reason stopped about when tightening the bolts would start spinning the rear wheel if on the center stand. The last plate had freeplay constantly. I’m going to attempt to upload a quick video to show you guys. Keep in mind this is while the bike is in first.

Well I figured I’d get the plates aligned and crank down on the bolts.  Bad idea.

I believe due to the issue mentioned above that the clutch itself when pulled had no movement separating the plates or more specifically retracting when let go (hence no friction) the rod is somehow frozen. I disassembled the slave cylinder the other day and there were some worn gaskets that arrive tomorrow for replacement, but I saw no obvious reason it would be frozen.

So as I tightened down, that rod wasn’t pushed and stayed in the position as if the clutch lever were fully depressed and viola - heads broken straight off the bolt (15). I’m hoping I don’t have to take off the center clutch (3) because there’s an awkwardly large nut holding basket. I’ve got to try to pull those threads out and of course I don’t have the means to do so.

Regardless, fairly certain the slave is the culprit and I can tear that down and go from there.


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[FrostyB]

Ok folks so general idea of what she’ll look like. Going to add clip-ons, wrap the pipes and put a matte exhaust on. Some tabs will be removed, frame cut, and battery hidden as well as general cleanup of wiring. seat will form a line with the tank, and the tail may get slightly longer shocks. Let me know what you think.





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[dave500]

id dump that gas can all over it and burn it now?

[RAFster122s]

There is no teaching taste and style...

Will you be satisfied with a bike that looks so much like other cookie cutter cafe bikes?

You will have a lot of frame modifications needed to make that seat work with your bike as the frame simply will not support that style seat unless you plan on keeping it above the existing tank's bottom.  Frame changes have to be as strong as the previous frame and lowering the rear of the bike and seat is going to make interference possible if not likely for the rear tire and your new frame and seat.

You may wish to photograph your bike from the side without the tank and seat, etc and then with scale pics of your tank and seat see if you can work with the stock frame to achieve what you want or design a seat that uses the existing frame design but gives you the design aesthetics you want.  Then you have to ask yourself if you can learn the needed skills or pay to have the needed changes done.

David

[FrostyB]

Perhaps there is no teaching style and taste. That’s why I’m glad I’m doing this to my taste and not someone else’s. While there are some additional things I’d love to do money does not always permit. Overall I enjoy a simple elegance to that of one that is overdone. 

As for frame modifications, the frame itself is a tad to long to achieve the lines I want, hence the modification. The original tank is more of a cruiser style which clashes with my goal. The seat itself is the general shape and style but isn’t wide enough nor deep enough to fit as I’d like.

As for completing the project or having someone be paid to do it, I’ve done everything to this point myself with the help of folks here and the wonderful resource called YouTube. I will have to have someone extract a couple of bolts that broke off as I seem unable to do that myself (even with left handed drill bits and extraction tools).

I do plan to alter the frame myself to the extent I can, but the integrity of the frame is more important that my desire to be self sufficient. Should it call for it, I will week the help of an experienced professional.

This is my first project of what I plan to be a series of them. Some perhaps may wander a bit further away towards more exotic parts. But what is the spirit of a cafe racer if not a garage project of collected bits and pieces put together by the owner to cut weight and streamline a previously hulking beast of a bike?


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[rb550four]

 Would it be easier for you to make a fiberglass seat pan to get the line you want ,then ask your upholstery friends to help you make a pad and cover material. That may be easier than cutting up the frame and trying to fit a universal type seat to that. This was the craze here a few years back (I never did it) , it involved fitting florist foam to the frame and then shaving the foam to a design of your liking...as I recall . just another option.
  Just a question about that clutch issue...have you removed the rod#9 to see if it has broken, the cb500 had rod issues where it would break into 2 pieces and not operate properly. Another Q: Isn't this a shaft drive? have you checked the u joints to see if they are connected( or serviceable)? perhaps it is going into gear but the power isn't getting to the wheel because of a broken shaft  or u joint...just a thought.

[FrostyB]

Would it be easier for you to make a fiberglass seat pan to get the line you want ,then ask your upholstery friends to help you make a pad and cover material. That may be easier than cutting up the frame and trying to fit a universal type seat to that. This was the craze here a few years back (I never did it) , it involved fitting florist foam to the frame and then shaving the foam to a design of your liking...as I recall . just another option.
  Just a question about that clutch issue...have you removed the rod#9 to see if it has broken, the cb500 had rod issues where it would break into 2 pieces and not operate properly. Another Q: Isn't this a shaft drive? have you checked the u joints to see if they are connected( or serviceable)? perhaps it is going into gear but the power isn't getting to the wheel because of a broken shaft  or u joint...just a thought.

I do very much like the florist foam idea. Strangely, I was a delivery driver for a florist back just before I joined the army and honestly? I loved it. A bunch of doting old ladies and just driving around listening to tunes making people happy.

Anywho - I’ll give that a shot. My main issue with leaving the frame as is is that there’s about 3/4 inches that stick out a bit further on the rear subframe that I don’t like with what I have planned. But, the florist foam may actually help a ton in making that final determination.

As for the issue - it has been solved. The previous guy assembled the slave incorrectly and it would not compress. That led to the rod constantly pushing the clutch basket out and keeping the friction plates apart. Issue solved. Only issue now is the two bolts that broke off of the three that secure the slave to the lower crankcase are toast. The threads are gone and I managed to slide off the broken bolt and snag a bit of the case. I was a bit over zealous and went ahead and tried to remove it without some sort of sleeve to guide the drill bit.

Removing and replacing that requires dripping a few more bits than I’d like - but I’ve moved into the new place for the most part and have a bit of time. Also it may give me enough reason to just drop the engine and go for gold and paint the frame. We shall see.

Honestly - thanks for some genuine feedback/recommendations. I’ve never quite gotten the point of critiquing the style of something someone is trying to do - different strokes for different folks.


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