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Author Topic: 73 CB 500 K2 restoration  (Read 810 times)

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Offline FourFazer

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73 CB 500 K2 restoration
« on: April 29, 2020, 12:51:15 PM »
Hello

Starting a restoration project on my 73 CB 500 K2.
It has been serving me well for 12 years and now it's time for it to have some work done. Last summer it began to jump 3rd gear and a few electrical issues surfaced as well.

Pulled the engine off the bike and had the frame and rear swingarm painted. I then started to work my way to the gearbox and found the shifter forks to be in pretty bad shape. After searching my usual sources I still haven't found any shifter forks... It seems like they are quite hard to find these days. Can anyone help me finding new ones? Or maybe only the middle one. Thats bent and really badly worn.

I have been thinking about swapping the 500 engine for a 550 which seems to be a more reliable gearbox. I would like to restore the old engine but if I'm unable to find parts or the price of the restoration becomes higher than a 550 engine its an easy decision.

Finally I would like to hear if there's any recommendations on electronic ignitions. I am changing the old one now that the bike is torn apart anyway.

Looking forward to hear from you guys.
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Offline roach374

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Re: 73 CB 500 K2 restoration
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2020, 08:53:32 PM »
Well, for the ignition, I've had good luck with the Dyna S (DS1-2). I also swapped out my coils, plugs and cables all at the same time, and it worked great. You *will* need to make a non-reversible modification to the advancer (pulling out a little alignment pin to fit the Dyna S advancer thingy over top), but other than that it was a piece of cake to set up, setting static timing is the same process. Did it in an hour or two.
 
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Offline Little_Phil

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Re: 73 CB 500 K2 restoration
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2020, 03:18:03 AM »
Shifter forks are hard to come by. Central fork is 24212-286-030 and is CB350 part common with 350 twins of that era. Some of the gears are also common.
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Offline FourFazer

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Re: 73 CB 500 K2 restoration
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2020, 10:51:04 AM »
Thank you very much for the advise. I was thinking about getting the Dyna ignition so I'll probably go ahead with that part.
The shifter forks is a different matter. Even the 350 central fork is difficult to find. I heard that some guys refurbish the forks. Do you know who to contact with this?
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