Topic: What did you do to your bike today ?

[Greggo]

Had fun on the 500, then bought a perfect looking CB350 gearbox for the 500 for, ahem $19 shipped on ebay...because knowledge is power!

Greggo, What does this mod do?

Not a mod, more like a replacement.  CB350 Twin gearboxes of the right years had the same drum/forks as the 500/4.  The 500 likes to beat up the middle shift fork, which are NLA, and uber expensive if you can find NOS, so finding the right 350 twin box is a dirt cheap solution.

[Tews19]

Greggo, Are you an engineer or mechanic? You know a lot of Shi!t and always seem to get the great finds... How do you know all this? I thought you were a young'n

[Greggo]

98% of my knowledge of SOHC4's has come from this site.  I just like to read a lot of threads, and research before I ask questions.  You'd be surprised how much info is on here...I wish I could cache the entire site.

Oh, and I'm not much younger than you buddy

[LesterPiglet]

Put my bike through it's MOT. (yearly roadworthy examination) First time ever.  I'm on the road again.

[dave500]

those twin 350s only the middle fork and drum is the same,i think also three gears on the counter shaft and various washers and clips,absolutely worth buying for cheap!

[70CB750]

Put my bike through it's MOT. First time ever.  I'm on the road again.

Laying a siege to a castle? Oh wait thats moat. Never mind

[Jerry E.]

Disassembled/cleaned my crank and rods, and figured out what main/rod bearings to order, after finally finding the "hidden" crank lettering/numbers. They look like a 8yr. old engraved them on, but legible. Barely.

[bjbuchanan]

Re-cleaned my carbs after I sucked some funky stuff up from my tank after my inline filter separated from its housing. Took an opportunity to shim up my needle jet and replace that pressed in needle jet thingy in the carb throat

Also got a nice order in from DCC. supermoto bars, grips, levers, couple other bits

Not looking forward to drilling and running the wires thru them tho but we will see

[Trounce]

  painted and reassembled my motor......

[Trevor from Warragul]

I made a longer clutch adjuster for my 350/4.  For some reason in recent years the clutch cables I have ordered are all too long.  I made an adjuster out of an old steel caphead bolt, but thought it was time to make a prettier (and longer) one.  I bought a 40mm aluminium M8 caphead bolt from Pro-Bolt, drilled through the centre with a 4.5mm drill, drilled out the head with an 8mm drill, and cut a slot with my Dremel.  It looks good & works well



Trevor

[Terry in Australia]

I'm slowly falling in love with "Gumtree". If you're not sure what Gumtree is, it's like Craigslist. I was browsing Gumtree on Tuesday, and spotted a 1981 Honda CX500 "Custom" for 700 bucks. I liked the fact that it was original, so I rang the seller.

Bruce told em that he bought it from the original owner in 1990, and commuted on it until he fell off in 1998, and injured his knee. He told me that once his knee had healed, he discovered that he'd lost his nerve, so parked it in his garage for another 14 years. He didn't sell it just in case he one day got his nerve back, but he and his wife have sold their house and are moving shortly, so the bike had to go.

I told him I'd buy it "sight unseen", and I drove over to his place today to collect it. I wasn't disappointed, the bike is 95% original, and apart from a little accident damage from Bruce's mishap, and the crappy Jap chrome lifting from the fenders etc, it's pretty good. When I loaded it onto the trailer I hired, (I really have to get myself a trailer, I'm sick of paying 52 bucks every time I need to drag an old bike home) it had a thick layer of dust all over it, so I took it to the carwash and blasted the crud off.

When I got it home, I inflated the tires, checked the oil and coolant level, (both OK) dumped the smelly 14 year old gas outta the tank and carbs, pulled the battery out (I think it's buggered but I hate throwing things out so I topped it up, added some battery conditioner and hooked up my "reconditioning" charger in the hope that it will return from the dead) and bought a new battery anyway, which is on one of the other chargers, then hooked up my jump start pack, checked that all the electrics still worked, (which they did, remarkably) then hit the starter button.

It runs! Amazingly after 14 years asleep, it started right up, idles smooth and quiet, with no engine rattles, and no leaks. It's breaking down at higher RPM though, and feels like the right carb is starving for gas, so I'll check the fuel lines tomorrow, as I think the hose routing is all wrong, but of course it could be a number of things, so if it's not the fuel hoses I'll work thru the "Usual Suspects" tomorrow. The brake master cylinder is clagged, so for the time being I swapped it out with spare a CB750F2 MC I had laying around, and replaced the smashed rear blinker with one from Cliff's F2 "HTR" project "leftovers". (thanks mate!) Here are some pics. Cheers, Terry.

[dave500]

yeah ive only just discovered "gumtree"nice one.

[maduncle]

Nice one Terry.

A CX500 is on my shopping list too, but I am sticking to my promise to finish the CB450 before I get another project.

Gee - and I was going to call by your place this afternoon too, on my way back from a day out riding up through Whittlesea, Kinglake West, Flowerdale, Strath Creek, Seymour, Broadford, Lancefield, Romsey, Wallan, back to Whittlesea and home.

And if you buy a bike trailer, I will rent it off you for $52 every time I need one!

[MoMo]

Terry,  I use a Silverwing as my daily rider. Mine sat longer than yours but did not start right up-the carbs were buggered.  Pull the carbs and clean out the midrange-about an hour job for a highly skilled motorcycle tech like you are ...Larry

[Retro Rocket]

nice score Terry, i knew you had room for another one, there was a small gap in the garage in the last pic you posted...

[Greggo]

Terry, you're needing a 750 in there

[fire113]

...did a new break switch @ my K2 but I found out that it wasn't the switch! it was a broken wire  changed the break fluid and fixed the broken wire.
Cleaned the K1 and did a 150km ride 

[strynboen]

got the 500 t running...

start af honda 500 twin....dårlig lyd..desvære

need a carb cyncro..and cam chain adjusting...but are alive...

[Tews19]

Had a set or 4-4 341's dropped off today! In decent shape , no holes...... Pipes came with a 74 750 with them.. Good thing it has a 4-1 mac on it so the 341's are going on my Gold K1....

Also chnaged out the front sprocket on the Gold K1, put a new chain on and of course while cleaning the tank I knocked it over and added a dent......

[750resurrection]

 Changed the 6 year old Sprectre 20W-50 honda oil and filter of the 750. Used F&F Rotella 15W-40 because that's all I could find.

[DJ_AX]

Read The section on carburetors in HondaMan's book.
And now I understand. Great stuff.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, you're needing a 750 in there

Ha ha, it's a bit hard to see, but just over the seat of the BMW you can see the headlight of my K1 mate. As Cliff mentioned in another thread, there's probably enough bits in my garage to build a couple more, but I've decided that rather than having a garage full of 750's I want to try a few different bikes that I was interested in, "back in the day".

I'd ridden a CX500 "Shadow" once or twice in the last 20 years, and really enjoyed it, but I rode a "Custom" like mine a few years before that, and didn't like that it was too low geared, or revved too hard, or both. Looking at the pic below, I think I understand why, that 16 inch back wheel with it's skinny arse tire with about a foot of air under the seat must gear it down considerably, and I'll bet that Honda didn't bother changing the final drive ratio's to make up for the skateboard wheel on the back. It definitely needs new tires, so I'll either install a taller rear tire to gear it up some, or see if a CX500 Shadow 18" rear wheel will fit.

Larry, you're probably spot on, I'll drop the fuel bowls and clean out the main jets and see if that doesn't clear the problem. The manifold rubbers are cracked and will need replacement, so rather than pull the carbs and risk breaking the rubbers, I'll just drop the fuel bowls for the time being. I've got to be careful though, as soon as I step out of the house, the wife will be on to me about the lawn, so I may as well get it done first, so I can turn her volume down............ Cheers, Terry.

     

[MoMo]

Terry, you do not need to separate the carbs from the manifold to remove them. Loosen the front and rear clamps, remove the bolts that hold the manifold to the head, remove choke and throttle cables and the carbs will come off. Enjoy the ride...Larry

[750K]

Fired up the xr250 put some stabilizer in the tank and let it warm up, pulled all my and the old lady's bikes out of the garage and gave the place a thorough cleaning. Nice to be able to see the top of the work bench for a change. Didn't do much else, got some stuff to do on the kz soon.

[Terry in Australia]

Well I spent the best part of my Sunday mowing and weed wacking, but finally it was all done, and I was able to play with my CX500. All I actually did was install the new battery, hit the button, and baroomba! It fired right up.

I rode it up and down my driveway and around my backyard until I got bored with it, but it's running better than it was yesterday, so I mightn't need to strip and clean the carbs after all.

I think the exhaust is leaking around the "crossover" section underneath, so I'll check that out next weekend. I've joined the CX-GL Owners Club so I can find out how to fix that. I like learning from other folks experience! Cheers, Terry.