Topic: my cb650 to bobber project..

[martino1972]

i got asked if i could rewrite or move my post to projects....
i'm really proud that Global Moderator SteveD CB500F  asked me to move it,calling it worthy of a place in projects...

so,here it goes.....:

2 weeks ago i was lucky enough to be able to trade an old honda quad for this 1980 cb650 costum...



after cleaning all the dust off,and removing the bug deflector,i took a good look at the bike..
i kept walking around it,thinking that it was a nice bike to see,but i wasnt "feeling" the looks of it...

after spending some time on the net,looking for different styles(thats how i ran into this site,and i never left yet, ) i kept coming back on the bobber style,it just jumped out to me,cafe racers very nice too,but bobber style won my heart..

meanwhile i did drive the bike around and ran into some carb problems...
after reading some posts here, decided for a carb dip in carb cleaner..
i own/operate a mechanic shop,so i had a 5 gallon pail sitting right there..


sorry,i never took pictures of the carbs being apart...

that solved all the trouble i was having...there are excellent posts about that here,just make sure you remove the idle jets aswell..

well,after driving it i came to the conclusion that the 4-2 exhaust didnt sound good for my taste,and i didnt like the looks of the trompets anyway,so they had to go..

i also own a 1973 cb750,its all in parts right now(read :for the last 9 years) and it had a 4-1 exhaust..

so i asked around here,and the answer was,it dont fit...

but im stoburn and tryed it any way..


found out that where the pipes meat the head,its different,so i cut them off,and i cut off the stock pipes..





lucky for me the stock pipes fitted perfectly into the 4-1..



after some swearing,bending,more swearing...etc. i got it to fit pretty good from the head down to where they come together as 1..

biggest problem i had was with the oil filter,i excually grinded some cooling fins of the oil filter housing to make it fit..


then i welded them together,first spot welded on the bike ,then full weld when off the bike..




pretty pleased with how it sits nicely tight under the bike


to get the mufler part to fit ,i didnt wanted to cut/grind on the mufler itself,its chrome..


so i cut off the collector and reangled it to fit better..


ok,that was done,but now it shows the ugly welding i did..
so i got some header wrap from my local automotive suplier and got to work..


the wrapping was 50' by 2",perfect for the job..

i started out by "dry" fitting the wrapping on the pipes,i didnt want to come up short at the end of the pipe..


i allowed for some extra wrap,dont cut it too short,it seems you always need more then you figured at first..
i made the wrapping wet before i wrapped it tightly arpund the pipes..


just a quick run thru some water is enough,it soaks it up like crazy..

took me around 2 hours to complete the job,but it turned out nice for a first timer,if i may say so..



here its hanging n the gutter to dry in the sun

while it was drying i got bored ,so i removed the front fender in order to paint it..
after reading some posts here,i found out thatthe best way to paint chrome is to ,scuff,prime and paint..

so,thats what i did..


here its all back together,the flat black front fender and the pipes..






maybe for how the rest of the bike is right now it might not be the nicest combo of things,but theres more to come,and then it will look great(in my opinion)

i was afraid of clearance to the ground,but turned out no problem at all,as i got left with 6.5 inches to the ground..


funny thing is,that i read that it will give problems with the centre stand,but for me it dont even come close to touching it,lucky i guess.....aldo the centre stand will be removed anyway,i dont use it,mand dont like the looks of it..


and yes,my tire has dry crackes on it,i orderd 2 new tires from ebay for a killer price..

next project will be
-i want to hammer out a single seat pan,never worked with metal shaping,looking forward to give it a try..
-rear shocks removal,to "drop" the bike and make it ridged...
-cut the tank lengtwise and make it sit smaller and higher on the bike...
-paint it all flat black..

when thats done,ill see what will be next,sure ill come up with more things to do.
i will keep this post up,with the progress of things..
im coloccting all sorts of things right now,like smaller signal lights etc.so that i can still ride my bike meanwhile..
till soon...

[MJL]

Looks like my 650.  I bought a set of mac 4-1, has the same muffler. Sounds okay, but after a few years I opened it up and messed with the baffles. Now I don't like it.

Anyway, I'll be watching this because I've thought of doing something similar to mine, just don't know how it'll turn out.

Looks like you're going to have to pull the exhaust to change the oil filter.

[martino1972]

*****Looks like you're going to have to pull the exhaust to change the oil filter******

yeah,i know... ,small sacrifices have to be made here and there for looks

but the exhaust comes of really easy,so i'm not to worried about that,i should pull up to "minute lube" or some place like that and tell em,ok,i got 5 minutes,new oil and filter please...

[rachet]

Looking good Martino!  I like your creativity!~  You used what you had and some imagination to build a functional part, and wrapping it was a great way to bring it all together. 

Keep it up!

Rachet~

[martino1972]

getting ready to hammer out a seat pan,any idea's what gauge steel to use?

[MJL]

Tractor seat

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_10551_10001_33754_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1

Scroll down about halfway

http://www.southernhorses.net/Suzuki.html

[martino1972]

i looked into that tractor seat deal and i have to say i like the idea..
i took a good look at my 25hp lawn tractor i got sitting here in parts,but that seat was too big for the job,and didnt want to cut,shape and all sorts of other things to get it too fit,too much work,its faster to hammer one out then i figured,but ill keep looking around for one,till i get impatients and start hammering..

meanwhile.....
found a new set of tires on ebay,120 bucks for the pair and 20 bucks shipping...
thats cheap and thats how i like it..

the front tire is a kenda kruz and the rear a kenda cruiser s/t....are they bad tires???



now changing them was a different story,after a while of swearing and sweating i came up with this idea to get em off the rim..



got to love a shop press, .....once i pressed them off the bead it was real easy to remove them..
stole some dishwash from the wife(seems halve the household products disapear into the shop since i got this bike)and soaped up the new tires...they went on like butter,very easy...

talking about household stuff for bikes.....
when i installed my fresly chopped,bent,welded exhaust onto the bike i ran into a exhaust leak at the head at #2...
what i did is i stole a roll of aluminum foil from the wife,and rolled up a strip of that like a tight rolled cigarette,shaped it round and put it in front of the original crush gasket in the head..
reinstalled the exhaust...and bingo....no more leaks,works perfect,you can't see it and its a free repair..
got around 450 km on it since and it still holds perfect...

[DarkRider]

Heh that header kinda looks like a Yoshi

[martino1972]

absolutly no clue on what brand the exhaust is,it was on my 1973 750 when i bought it 9 years ago...

cool,sitting here at 2 am thinking im the only one in canada still awake,

[DarkRider]

absolutly no clue on what brand the exhaust is,it was on my 1973 750 when i bought it 9 years ago...

cool,sitting here at 2 am thinking im the only one in canada still awake,

Nope lol

[MJL]

I wore out a pair of Kendas, only had one incident and I tend to ride hard.  I'm not sure what happened, I must have hit some sand or something in the road.

the other thing about the seat, I saw a magazine where a guy modified a scoop shovel for a seat.

[martino1972]

wel,i could'nt help myself...so i got going on the process again,its raining here,and slow with costumers,so i got going..

i was looking for a replacement for the rear shocks,i want it to be a hard tail,so i came up with this>>



you ARE the weakest link...

after welding the chain solid i fitted it on the bike>>




but i wasent happy with how it was sitting on there,and for a perfect height it had to go a little lower>>

so i took a good look at the bottum shock mount >>



and decided it had to go...



that made the chain fit perfectly in there..





after welding that all up solid,it was time to remove the rear end of the frame>>



now its starting to look like something,

i wanted the tank to sit a little higher on the bike,so i came up with this>>



an old bolt and some washers,and the stock tank rubbers fit perfectly on there..


right now im working on the solo seat and i watched enough american chopper to know you have to start out with a template of cardboard..



my neighbore has a saddle making business,so i went there and begg'd for some nice thick leather...



he gave me a nice piece of leather that i want to color darker with food dye orsomething,a foam pad and leather string to zipp it all up,best thing is,.....didnt cost a penny.. thanks neighbore,thanks..

ok,thats what im doing right now,ill keep you posted,till soon..

[martino1972]

and of cource i can't forget my little helper travis...



he loves to play with the horn button,so i always have to recharge the battery

[troppo]

Wht dont you get him his own set of bars, horn button and all, that way you could hook it up to a power supply that wouldnt need charging

[martino1972]

now theres a plan...

 i think ill do that,and while im at it,build him a little motorcycle around it..

[martino1972]

funny thing today,

went to the shoe repair man today,to get dye and wax stuff for my newly made seat pan..
walked in and the owner was wearing a sturgis t shirt,wallet on a chain etc..
we got to talking and it turned out he was a big honda fan....owns a 1980 750k and i think some more.
i never seen the guy before,but he already knew i had just bought a cb650..!!  word travels fast,

anyway,he invited me to the ponoka vintage honda rally july 25,26..
awesome,to have a vintage club nearby..

heres the link to the event>>

http://www.ponoka.org/municipal/ponoka/ponoka-website.nsf/0/F8281AF78D0A5BE88725714E006A480C?OpenDocument

[bzr]

Holy crap, that is RAD.

[martino1972]

rad?? what's that??(im a dutch imigrant living in canada,my english isnt perfect..)

[martino1972]

meanwhile,back in the shop...,i really got to get the bike done,every evening im in the shop till 2 am,my poor wife...

update:
i made a bracket to hold the licence plate....
that red light will be my rear light for now,im looking for a cool one..



this is the stock rear fender ,but i moved it up "abit" ..

at first i was gonne make some brackets to bolt it on,but i decided to just weld it permanent to the frame



meanwhile i made a seat pan,and covered it with foam and cut out the leather...



then it was drilling time...



after that i copy'd the holes onto the leather and punched holes in the leather...



from my local shoe repair guy i bought deglazer,dye and wax for the leather.
first i deglazed the leather(does something with the top layer of the leather to better accept the dye)and while it was still damp from the deglazer i dyed the leather a dark brown,took me a couple of times to get the right color i was after..

when the dye was dry i soaked the leather in cold water for 20 minutes and got to work "sewing" it all together..



that was a job and a halve,my fingers still hurt..



im very pleased with the result,not bad for a first timer..





then it was time to test fit it on the bike and check the final looks..









my wife loved it,thats always a plus..

now i have to prep the chains and whatever else i welded,cut,hammerd etc. on the tail end of the bike,and trow some paint on..

i know in order to paint it the right way ,i have to strip the bike down etc...but summers are short here,and i wanne go riding,so for now im just gonne paint the tail end of the frame,the side covers and the tank..

tank is prepped now for paint,im using rattle cans,same as i did with the front fender,flat black is real easy to paint..

tommorow ill be painting the tank,tail and side covers and ill keep you posted....

martino

[Hush]

OMG do you weld everything?
Once you have finished can I have the engine?
No way that is gonna be legal on any street in the world surely!
Glad you are having so much fun though.

[troppo]

OMG do you weld everything?
Once you have finished can I have the engine?
No way that is gonna be legal on any street in the world surely!
Glad you are having so much fun though.

Dont know about Canada hush, but in the U.S the vehicle laws are so much more lenient than the ones we have to work to.
Some of the things they can do would have the DOT guys doing cartwheels with joy for the tickets they could hand out.

[martino1972]

    you life in the wrong country hush.....
when i just got the bike i insured the bike over the phone,got it registerd the same day....
inspection?? where..?........did they have to see the bike. nope!!!! they said,have fun...
there are guys here that completly make the're own frame,front forks and what not,all they have to do is make sure it has a vin # somewhere from an exsisting bike,and they are DONE........
so,sorry,hush,but you cant have the engine,cause i will be driving happy over the canadian roads..

[DarkRider]

Holy crap..another canadian within striking distance...I knew you were in canada..didnt realise how close though.

[Hush]

Aw nuts, we just change the spark plugs an we gotta get re vinned!
No come on seriously you cannot weld up some chains, hack half the frame off and it's still all good!
What about insurance? everyone elses too as you slide sideways down the road with your chain-made rear shocks dragging on the road.
Surely some public spirited mountie type will chase you on his horse!
Are you the same guy who was going to weld his drive chain back together?
What on earth will the next owner say! "The PO had a brainstorm and chain-sawed the frame up"!

[troppo]

lol at chainsawed hush.
They can do damned near anything over there, just look at American Shopper oops Chopper lol or any of the various bike and car shows on the telly, we cant go over an inch oversize on tyres without DOT approval. Here in SA its easier than in the rest of Aus but still, try getting a roll-cage in an escort legally and the hoops you have to jump through, the tests you have to pay for are bloody ridiculous.