So, I never thought I'd be one of those guys with a rebuild thread, but here I am. Not that this is against my will, but rather I never thought I'd ever have the drive to totally tear down and rebuild a motorcycle with my lack of money and small skill set.
First, a brief history of my relationship with my 1971 Honda CB500.
I'm a 23 year old, recent graduate of San Jose State's Aviation Department. Last May, a friend of mine bought an old, incredibly beat up Kawasaki Ninja off of Craigslist for $400. Figuring I could do him one better, I started cruising the 'list. I've ridden dirtbikes since I was in the third grade, but never had a street bike. I have always loved the looks of the early Japanese motorcyles, and Brit bikes. If it doesn't have a flat seat, I'm not interested. A few months later, I became the proud owner of a tired, but running, 1971 CB500, for $300. To make the deal even sweeter, the bike was currently registered, saving me the several hundred dollars in back fees my friend spent on his Ninja. The previous owner said that it leaked a ton of oil, and that the oil sending unit threads were stripped, but was in ok shape other than that.
Here's the day I picked it up:
First quick ride around the block (Didn't have a motorcycle helmet, so I had to sport a hockey helmet):
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After going on several rides that ended with me pushing the motorcycle for many blocks, I started lurking in these forums for advice. Luckily, I decided to listen to TwoTired when he said to perform the basic 2,000 mile maintenance. An oil change, cleaning out the gas tank vent hole, valve/point adjustment, idle screw adjustment, and carb cleaning later, it was like i was riding a completely different bike. However, the better the bike ran, the more oil it blew out the #1 cylinder oil passage. It got to the point where a 30 minute jaunt on the freeway left my left boot so soaked in oil that I could hardly keep it from sliding out from under me when stopped. Luckily, this coincided with the rainy season, so I knew what I had to do. . .
Tear it apart!
Originally, I was just planning on rebuilding the top end, but as I graduated college, and got a job that paid way more than the $9/hr I had been making, I changed my battle plan from "Do it as cheaply as possible," to "Do it the RIGHT way, as cheaply as possible." So we begin.
Notice the incorrect side cover:
Rusty headers:
Excellent paint on the gas tank:
Bad ass butterfly lady sticker, that the PO had painted over. (She was my nymph of traffic protection!)
Yes, that exhaust is rusted completely in half:
No right side cover:
Rusty Triple Tree:
More of the awesome paint:
Exhaust:
After removing the oil pan. . .
"No sludge, awesome! Wait, is that a screwdriver bit in there?!!! AND a drillbit? WTF?!!"
Sans Engine:
Stripping the frame at work:
The tank sans paint:
Bondo time:
Before/After red scotchbrite:
My excellent workspace: Door on sawhorses for a bench, laptop to reference shop manual.
My friend who's an aircraft mechanic lending a hand:
One burned valve, and plenty of carbon buildup:
Tons of carbon buildup, but the cylinders, pistons, and rings are in great shape. No marks other than the crosshatch pattern from being honed!
So that pretty much sums up the last two months of start and stop progress. The immediate future is to go get the frame/swingarm powdercoated black, and get that valve repaired. After that, I'll start cleaning/polishing ad reassembling. My goal is to keep the motorcycle as stock as possible, although I'm going to have to make some concessions in the exhaust/paint department.
