Topic: 1971 CB500K Project:

[Old75_ratafe]

Yea I'm about to do that and the molassis trick on my spare tank I think.  I have a can (non spray) laying around.

[Greggo]

Yea I'm about to do that and the molassis trick on my spare tank I think.  I have a can (non spray) laying around.

Never heard of the molasses trick, sounds interesting.  The TalStrip worked pretty good, considering the coat of red appeared to be house paint (thick as hell).

[Old75_ratafe]

Yea I'm about to do that and the molassis trick on my spare tank I think.  I have a can (non spray) laying around.

Never heard of the molasses trick, sounds interesting.  The TalStrip worked pretty good, considering the coat of red appeared to be house paint (thick as hell).

For the inside.  There's a few threads on it around somewhere. Basically soak the inside of the tank in a mixture of it and water for a day or two and the rust goes bye bye.  Then u use a little 2 stroke or deisel in it to coat and keep it from flash rusting.

[Greggo]

Yea I'm about to do that and the molassis trick on my spare tank I think.  I have a can (non spray) laying around.

Never heard of the molasses trick, sounds interesting.  The TalStrip worked pretty good, considering the coat of red appeared to be house paint (thick as hell).

For the inside.  There's a few threads on it around somewhere. Basically soak the inside of the tank in a mixture of it and water for a day or two and the rust goes bye bye.  Then u use a little 2 stroke or deisel in it to coat and keep it from flash rusting.

I'll have to look into that before I Red Kote the inside.  I've been looking for a good way to clean the inside without sticking a thousand loose screws in there.  Thanks!

[Old75_ratafe]

No problem I know one guy on here used some rocks in his to break it up a bit

[Greggo]

More bits bought: '72 CB500 engine, running (I'm told); Dent-free tank with petcock for $20.



It's a little bit rusty



The engine is clean.  It's only missing the starter, and the sprocket cover.  It even has a chrome, finned points cover, which I'll probably put on the runner for now.




The engine should clean up real nice when I rebuild it.  Then, I think I'll paint it black.

[Greggo]

This is how she runs ~375 miles after her first tune up in years.  Most of my riding has been stop and go as I cross The City on my way to work, so I decided to take her down to Pacifica for a good hard run.  Two firsts:  I rode more than 20 miles, and I hit 7K rpm   .  I headed South with the intention of getting some Gorilla BBQ, but I was having too much fun to stop, so I headed back up the hill (which was even more fun).

I bought a brand new Dyna S from another member this morning, and it should arrive shortly.  I'll be picking up the 5 ohm coils, and some new wires as well.

[Greggo]

Dyna S showed up, gonna have to enlist some help installing that sucker as I've never set timing before, and I don't want to make my engine go !boom!   Anybody in the SF Bay Area wanna help?  A case of beer on me! 



She's almost ready for the first service by my hands, so I stocked up on some parts from Charlie's, who also had the not-so-common D8HA plugs for my CA95.



I took a good look at the $80 motor I bought and found a few things I didn't like: The plugs incorrect and heavily fouled, and it has a 16 tooth front sprocket.  I'll take her apart at the shop with my dad, so cleaning up the internals is no big deal, but I'm hoping that lower gearing doesn't mean it'll need lots of head work.  Some smart old timer on here said somewhere that lower gearing makes you grin more on the throttle but frown at tune up time.  The sprocket is real chewed up too.


How do I remove that clip from the sprocket?


Lost some skin getting the #1 plug loose  Guess that means it was a good day in the shop.

[Greggo]

Had a minor tip over on the right side     Stretched my clutch cable out of adjustment and broke the end off my brake lever.  But, that was it really.  I guess I should be happy.

All Balls going in this weekend, hopefully the Dyna S too!  Oh yeah, and I got a fix it ticket for my headlight switch.  It works, and I showed him that, but it takes some fiddling.  So, I gladly accepted a fix it ticket in instead of the $500 in moving violations he pulled me over for.  I think the contacts just need to be cleaned, but the clock is ticking...tick tick.

Wanted to go on the 49 Mile Drive with the Yerba Buena Club, but have to work...   

[Greggo]

Dyna S and tapered All Balls are installed. 

Idle is smoother, acceleration is smoother.   

Turn in feel has vastly improved. 

Very happy to live in a place where I can ride year round.

[Greggo]

I had to take care of that fix it ticket for the headlight switch, so here's what I have on there now, I don't know what bike it's from.  My old starter button was on its last sliver of plastic life.


This one works like a charm now, and I got a national park motorcycle cop to sign off on it.  He even took care of turning the paperwork in for me, nice guy.

Here's the Dyna S in its new home.  It's much cleaner looking in there than the points.



I need to move it on that fugly ass tank.  The other good tank I have (that was red) is ready for some paint, I just don't have the funds yet.  I got the 50' of black exhaust wrap.  I need to pick up some silicone spray and gloves for the job.  

I want to build a new wiring harness, but I've never undertaken a task like that before.  Where should I start??  What should I buy?

[tango911]

ive been happy with my dyna S as well.  just ordered new coil and wires to go with it. 

[Greggo]

ive been happy with my dyna S as well.  just ordered new coil and wires to go with it. 

How did the Dyna affect your cold starts?  I heard it would help out with that 'coldblooded' attitude, but it seems to have made it a little bit worse.

[Stev-o]

I like the Dyna S too, cold starts aren't the best, but my carbs aren't sorted 100%.

I need to do the Allballz, how much of a job is it?

[Greggo]

I like the Dyna S too, cold starts aren't the best, but my carbs aren't sorted 100%.

I need to do the Allballz, how much of a job is it?

The steering bearings can be a PITA, depending on your tinkering skills.  You'll need a lift, or a jack of some sort to lift the <EDIT> front wheel <EDIT> off the ground.  Basically the whole front end needs to be taken apart.  It's made a huge difference in small ways though.  I used to feel nervous making some tight slow turns because my handles wanted to flop over.  Now it feels like a new bike when I ride around in the city.

[Greggo]

Wrapped the exhaust today.  This was a grueling three hour task that required every inch of the fifty feet I bought.  If I could go back to the beginning, I would have worn arm length gloves and a poncho.  My arms were itching all over for hours.  Anyway, this also gave me an opportunity to put on my nicer exhaust collars.  The trick with this header was to remove the #2 collar to get the pipes to fit through the frame.  The collars wouldn't fit over the wrap and the zip tie.




I'll post a pic of it on the bike tomorrow.  I have to get some cutters for those zip ties; maybe some better zip ties while I'm at it.  I also need to spray it.  I bought some Ace Silicone Lubricant.

[Stev-o]

Three hours? Did you have trouble getting the header off??

[Greggo]

Three hours? Did you have trouble getting the header off??

No, getting them off was easy.  But, getting them back on with limited collar mobility due to the wrap was a bit*h.  It wasn't quite three hours, but close.  In the end, I wasn't that happy with the way it turned out, so I took it off...I spent a few hours working next to the bike drinking beer on a nice day, so I can't really call that a waste of time  

The nicer collars make a huge difference.  



Picked up some Sea Foam.  I've heard nothing but good things about it, so I threw some in the tank, and a splash in the oil too.  I finally picked up some Uni oil for my filter so I could swap that in.  Decent stock coils are on their way, which I'm hoping will help my charging system keep up with the Dyna S.

Edit:

I hooked up my multimeter after a good charge.  The battery would only hover around 14.1 after a few hours on the trickle, so I unhooked it and moved on to the rpm testing.

My results about twenty minutes after the charge.

Resting, bike off:  13.7

Ignition on, engine off, light on:  13.0 and falling a tenth every three to five seconds.

Bike running at 3K rpm, lights on:  13.9

Bike running at 2k rpm, lights on:  13.7

Idling at 1k rpm, lights on:  13.0 and falling quickly (no doubt due to my dyna).

[Greggo]

WOW    A Uni filter and some Sea Foam and it's like I'm riding a new bike!  She fired right up in fifty degree weather with little choke    I can hear a little more valve noise than before, so I'm thinking I need to retighten one of the exhaust clamps.

How much do you guys usually use per tank?  And, is it something added to every tank?

[Kong]

I suppose there are lots of ways to use SeaFoam, but I've only used it for corrective measures and never for long periods.  So its not an everyday additive from my point of view.  I have put it into gas tanks at a ratio of about 4:1 gas to SF, I have used it to decarb 2-stroke engines (the first use I ever knew of for the stuff) where you basically spray it into the intake until it kills the engine, let it set for a half hour, then restart the engine - you would not believe the crap that will blow out the exhaust.

Anyway, I use it as a special purpose cleaner, not an everyday fuel amendment.

[Greggo]

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this thread, but that's mostly because she's been treating me very well.  I spruced her up a bit with a nice cherry red tank from forum member Tango911, and some shiny bits here and there.  I also picked up one of the MotoGPwerks pipes for later down the line.  I wanted to mock it up to get an idea of how it would look, and if I'd be able to keep my center stand.  Well, after mocking it up I stripped the threads inside the head for the #4 exhaust stud...And that leads me to where I am now..rebuilding a spare head to replace a 95% perfect one  My neighbor may be able to help me re tap the hole, or insert a helicoil, so all may not be lost.  Nevertheless, I'll be rebuilding this spare 550 motor for either this bike, or another frame I'm getting in trade for a fender.

Here's how she looks right now




Here's where I started, sorry for the crappy iphone pictures.  I refuse to touch my DSLR with greasy hands.





There was definitely scoring on the rockers, the cam bearings seem okay though...I'll take good pics with the DSLR for the next post.



When I was cranking the motor on the stator side, the insides of the #2 spark plugs popped out.  I think I can use the diode to coax it out later on after a thorough soaking.  



At this point I had to stop because the head bolts are pretty crusty, and I didn't want to have a go until they soaked overnight.  

I loosened the cam chain tensioner mount bolt at the top of the head like the manual says, but it doesn't seem to mention the adjuster bolt.  Can I loosen the lock nut and let the adjuster nut go counterclockwise to release that pressure?

More to come tomorrow after I have a crack at those bolts.

[Greggo]

Got the head off today after a week of soaking, tapping, heating, and more soaking.  I broke one of my ratchet adapters too, but it was a cheapy one anyway. 

I don't think I'll be winning any 'swamp thing' awards or anything, and most of you know what this sh1t looks like, but you probably wouldn't read this without pictures. 




And here's what's left of that spark plug...I haven't given it a go yet, it's soaking.



The rocker cover has the shaft wear on the #1 cylinder side, so it's trash.  My ebay cover is en route.  I've decided to just rebuild this entire motor, albeit slowly.

[Old75_ratafe]

Have fun looking forward to the carnage! 

[Stev-o]

Swamp thing! Funny...

[Greggo]

This motor has been a beast to open up. It's fought me every inch of the way   Two of the pistons (3n4) are stuck real good, so they're soaking for a bit.  I only had seafoam on hand today, I'll pick up the atf/acetone as I know it's the best for the job.

Donated a few bucks to the forum...I'm truly giving my two cents with each post