Topic: IrishGuy's Cafe Project Has Begun... [Updated and frustrated!]

[Irishguy]

Well...  I drove up to Huntsville today and picked up the new project bike.  Here is a link:

http://huntsville.craigslist.org/mcy/416791862.html

The bike fires right up and runs pretty good.  After some negotiation I left with the bike on the trailer, and my wallet only $400 lighter.  I will have more pictures as I start to work on things.  Even though I'm pretty mechanically inclined and am pretty handy with a wrench, I am still a newcomer to the Honda fours.  So I will be depending heavily on you guys and the archives of this group to help me out.

I gave the bike a good once over and there are several things that are a plus on a $400 bike:

1.  It starts and runs good.
2.  The rims can be polished up and will look nice.
3.  The exhaust is in excellent condition and appears to be a decent aftermarket 4 into 2 system.
4.  The tires only have a few hundred miles on them and are like new.
5.  It has the sissy bar and luggage rack that I can maybe sell for a little bit of money.
6.  It comes with 2 carb rebuild kits, new fork seals, new oil filter, original mirrors, original horn, and the original manual.
7.  All electrical and gauges work correctly.

A few things I noticed that will need to be addressed soon:

1.  One of the carbs appears to be leaking through a vent tube when the fuel petcock is left on.  The P.O. said that he rebuilt the carbs, so do you guys think I need to go back through them again.
2.  The ignition switch is kind of temperamental and is mounted up by the gauges.  I may need to rewire this.
3.  The side cases are some cheap ass aftermarket stuff and already starting to crack where they bolt on.
4.  The gas tank has a horrible paint job on it and is missing the badges and is a little rusty on the inside.

Anyway...  That's about all I can think of right now. 

Since it is running, I will probably start by checking the compression, and making sure the brakes and other safety stuff is up to par.  Next I will start to mock up stuff like the seat and so forth and see just how I want everything to come together.  Once everything is the way I like it, then everything will be dismantled and either ground, smoothed, cleaned, polished, and/or painted and then re-assembled into my own little custom cafe racer.

Stay tuned...

Regards,

Irish Guy

[Jay B]

The bike has been deleted from the link by the seller, so I couldn't see a pic, or even what model it is. For $400 though, I think you got a really good deal for a bike with all of the pro's you mentioned. You may have to pull the carbs again though. Try this first- Drain that carb completely, then with the plug still out turn on the petcock and run some gas through. If there is just a bit of gunk between the needle and seat, sometimes this will flush it out. Otherwise you may need to use one of your free carb kits and replace the needle and seat. Since you will have the carbs off, just as well go through and recheck for cleanliness. As far as the switch, these will fail once in a while. Unless you find a bad connection somewhere, replacement would be best. Look in Tricks and Tips for gas tank cleaning. I use "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner but there's lots of stuff that will work.

[cb650 bobber]

i thought if you left the petcock on fuel does leak out of that normally.....Mine does...so if it isnt suppose to I would like to know how to fix.

[Irishguy]

The bike has been deleted from the link by the seller, so I couldn't see a pic, or even what model it is. For $400 though, I think you got a really good deal for a bike with all of the pro's you mentioned. You may have to pull the carbs again though. Try this first- Drain that carb completely, then with the plug still out turn on the petcock and run some gas through. If there is just a bit of gunk between the needle and seat, sometimes this will flush it out. Otherwise you may need to use one of your free carb kits and replace the needle and seat. Since you will have the carbs off, just as well go through and recheck for cleanliness. As far as the switch, these will fail once in a while. Unless you find a bad connection somewhere, replacement would be best. Look in Tricks and Tips for gas tank cleaning. I use "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner but there's lots of stuff that will work.

Thanks for the reply.  The bike is a 1973 CB500.  I will take the official before pictures this afternoon when I get home.

The inside of the tank really does not look all that bad.  No major rust, more like rust "bloom" would be the way I would describe it.  I thought about using some kind of cleaner.  So...  this toilet bowl cleaner cleans the rust? 

[WJL75]

It can, so can muriatic acid and molasses (slower but safer).  There are many posts on this topic.  Search for "tank rust" and you'll find pleanty on the subject.

[Jay B]

i thought if you left the petcock on fuel does leak out of that normally.....Mine does...so if it isnt suppose to I would like to know how to fix.

No, if the float needles are sealing like they should you shouldn't have any dripping from overflows. If they don't drip while riding it's no big deal. Always a good idea to turn off the petcock in any case. To fix, the carbs have to come off and have the needles and seats cleaned/rebuilt depending on their condition.

If you just have some flash rust in the tank that's probably not a big deal either. I like the toilet bowl cleaner to clean them up, only about $2 at any grocery store. Dump a bottle in and leave it for 45 minutes or so. I slosh the tank around every few minutes to keep the inside covered with the stuff. Rinse a couple of times with water, then gas. If you aren't going to remount it right away coat the inside of the tank with 2 stroke oil to prevent flash rust, which will occur right away. But like WJL75 said, there are many ways to clean tanks.

[dusterdude]

make sure the overflow tube is not cracked

[Jay B]

make sure the overflow tube is not cracked

Good point. Happened to my son's KZ750. That had enough room in the carb to slip a peice of 1/8" clear fuel line over it to fix.

[Irishguy]

Ok guys...  Here are the requisite "Bring her home" pictures.  These are before any clean up or anything.  The first thing I did after these pictures were taken was to clean her thoroughly with some Dawn dish washing detergent and degrease her.  I also took of that horrible luggage rack off the back.

Once I got up close and personal I realized even though one of the previous owners had decided to paint the turn signals, the front of the gauges, the head light bezel and the head light mount it actually served to protect the chrome finish underneath.  SO several parts that I thought I would need to buy, I now only need to get the paint off the chrome.  The chrome underneath is in excellent condition.

Any ideas as to the easiest way to remove the paint without damaging the chrome underneath?

Anyway...  I know everyone like pictures...

[jtb]

Hope the PO didn't sand that chrome.

[Irishguy]

Hope the PO didn't sand that chrome.

Weird thing is...  I don't think he did.  When you see something like someone painting the headlight bezel and the turn signals Krylon Red...  You kind of wonder what twisted thought process went on in their heads.  "Hey...  I think I'll paint the turn signals red!  Yeah... that'll look good."  Sheeze...

[Jay B]

Wow, that bike looks really clean and straight from the pics. I'd say you got a heckuva deal for $400.

[KB02]

That does look nice....
  ...but, please... whatever you do...

...Get that RED OFF of the bezel and blinkers...

Find a way, man, whatever you do... 

[dusterdude]

use paint thinner,it wont hurt chrome.

[paxtonpony]

What, what a find!  Grats!!!!!  If anything, you could always paint the signals black if the chrome underneath is junk.  Not a permenant somultion but it will keep people from staring at your turn signals instead of your bike. 

[Irishguy]

Wow, that bike looks really clean and straight from the pics. I'd say you got a heckuva deal for $400.

Yeah...  I started having buyer's remorse at first, but the more I clean and get into the little details on the bike the happier I get with my purchase.

I am leaning more towards a low budget refurbishment than a complete frame off, complete rework, because most of the bike is in such good shape.

I think I am going to go through the standard stuff this weekend, oil change, check the spark plugs, points gap, timing, cam tensioner, adjustment, brakes, etc...  All of the maintenance issues that the owner's manual covers... and then see how it runs.

[mikedialect]

for $400 bucks- you cant beat that.

[malcolmgb]

$400  what a bargain 
over here in the UK you would be lucky to get a box of rusty bits for that kind of money!
Me?  I would go with your refurb plans, ride it see what you have, then take it from there.
Have fun.

[Irishguy]

Here are some updated pictures...

[Irishguy]

As you can see in the pictures it is cleaning up nicely.  I can't stand to work on a nasty greasy bike, so after I took off the tank, seat, turn signals, rear fender, headlight, etc...  I had another go at her with a strong mixture of Dawn dish washing liquid.  It took several tries on the chain, sprocket, and rear wheel, but they all came pretty clean.  The chain is in really good shape and I an going to re-lube it with some good Belray that I have.

It is a pain to get all that rat's nest of wiring out of the head light bucket, but I managed.  Actually the wiring looks pretty simple.

After I got everything removed and cleaned, I was wondering about the spokes.  This was an area that was concerning me, because I didn't want to have to remove the spokes and repaint and then respoke, or live with rusty, ugly spokes either.  So I decided out of curiosity to have a go at them with some 0000 steel wool and chrome polish.  Well... after a little elbow grease, one of them came perfectly clean.  I quickly realized that this was going to take forever and my fingers were going to give out.  I started thinking and decided to use some fine grit Scotch Brite pads with plenty of the chrome polish.  I cut the pads into 1" strips and used it like you would use a rag buffing your shoes, in a sawing motion.  As you can see in the pictures it worked perfectly and I was finished in about 30 minutes.  I wish I had taken before pictures of that rear wheel.

I sort of went hog wild on eBay on Saturday night and ordered a complete, fiberglass, cafe seat, a set of 4 turn signals, and drag bars.  I had previously ordered fork gaiters.

Sunday I removed the front wheel, front brakes, and front forks.  Tonight I disassembled and cleaned the front forks.  I am waiting on my for gaiters to reassemble the front end.  I shimmed the front springs and I will be using Amsoil 10 weight fork oil.

Anyway...  That's the update for now.

[Roach Carver]

"After I got everything removed and cleaned, I was wondering about the spokes.  This was an area that was concerning me, because I didn't want to have to remove the spokes and repaint and then respoke, or live with rusty, ugly spokes either.  So I decided out of curiosity to have a go at them with some 0000 steel wool and chrome polish.  Well... after a little elbow grease, one of them came perfectly clean.  I quickly realized that this was going to take forever and my fingers were going to give out.  I started thinking and decided to use some fine grit Scotch Brite pads with plenty of the chrome polish.  I cut the pads into 1" strips and used it like you would use a rag buffing your shoes, in a sawing motion.  As you can see in the pictures it worked perfectly and I was finished in about 30 minutes."



dont want to rain on the parade, but those spokes are going to re-rust in a very short time. the factory spokes were zinc coated to prevent corrosion so if they were very rusty, it was probably already gone. If it was not totally gone, it is now leaving you with bare metal. Probably need to look for a way to coat or paint them to prevent the flash rusting. 

[Irishguy]

dont want to rain on the parade, but those spokes are going to re-rust in a very short time. the factory spokes were zinc coated to prevent corrosion so if they were very rusty, it was probably already gone. If it was not totally gone, it is now leaving you with bare metal. Probably need to look for a way to coat or paint them to prevent the flash rusting. 

You are not raining on my parade.  I appreciate your comments.  For what it is worth, I know the difference between bare metal, zinc, anodized, galvanized, chrome, etc...  I am in the steel business.

Actually...  The rear wheel spokes are in fact chrome.  I know this for sure.  I'm wondering if this is the stock wheel.  Other pictures of CB500's I have see have a taller, narrower rear wheel and no chrome spokes.  The front wheel, however has a chrome wheel with zinc spokes. The front spokes are nice and no rust so I didn't polish them at all.  I may go over them with just some wax or polish and a rag.

[Roach Carver]

if its a 16" then it is not stock (I think )

[Irishguy]

I'm sure most of you probably already know to do something like this, but in order to get the old fork seal out I ended up placing the fork tubes [Seal ends down] in my kitchen sink and running vey hot water over them.  I ran the water over them for several minutes until the other end began to get very warm, then took a screw driver the the old seals came out, albeit with still a fair amount of effort on my part.

I used a similar method to insert the new seals.  I couldn't find anything to use to tap the new seals in until I got the idea to use the old seals to press the new one in with.

Those seals are a pretty cool bit of engineering.  Once you study the design of the seals you see how they use hydraulic pressure to make the seals seat even tighter the higher the internal pressure becomes.

One of the next things that I am going to be working on is a storage box under the seat between the battery and the electrical panel, where I assume the original air box went.  There is a fairly large area there and it would make a nice additional, lockable, storage compartment.

I also plan to strip the paint from the tank and start doing the body work on it.  I also plan to strip the silver paint off the headlight bracket and see what the chrome looks like underneath.

[dustyc]

Something like this?  It works great.