Topic: 1980 Honda CB650: The Cash Machine - Completion Approaches

[Kelly E]

Cool 


I'm trying the same get him into bikes so he won't have time or money for drugs.

[JimJamerino]

It's been a minute, but I thought I'd at least post the pretty pictures.

The headline is I was able to take it for a couple of shakedown runs!

I'll come back later, rearrange, and add some more detail about the shakedowns.

Nearing completion beauty shots.




This is what the Cash Machine looks like when it's out of gas on the side of the road.


Painted the rear fender and one of my spare headlight buckets, as well as the side covers and tank. It's just a rattle can hunter green. It was the closest I could get to a money color, but I like how it turned out.






These stickers are reflective. They're for safety.


The intake boots were rock hard and cracked. I found replacements on Amazon, of all places.


On, off, on, off... clean? Clean now? How about now?!


Next project: My wife's 1964 Honda Dream 305.


Progress was made.


A little Vaseline on the gaskets keeps them in place long enough to put things together. I picked this trick up here on the SOHC/4 forum, and it works on carb bowl gaskets, too.


This is why put in new crush gaskets every time you pull the exhaust.


I didn't know it when I took this pic, but at the moment there's a significant oil leak coming from somewhere in this region. I hope it's not the countershaft, because I'd have to pull the whole engine and split the cases to get to that one.


An interesting design choice by Honda. The CB650 Standard kickstand spring... peg... mount thingy is on the BACK of the frame plate. This kickstand is from a CB650 Custom; notice the hook for the kickstand spring is on the FRONT of the kickstand. I think I'm going to weld a small chain link to the back of the kickstand so I can have a side stand again. Relying on the center stand is not particularly fun.




I designed these Cash Machine logos with the help of ChatGPT, Canva, and Adobe Illustrator. The big ones are 6" tall and will go on the sides of the tank. My local library has a Makerspace with a vinyl printer, and they charge $7.25 per linear foot to print stickers.


ChatGPT-generated logo ideas


I ended up using this image, with a little doctoring, for printing.


My friend Caleb and I enjoy working on cars and motorcycles. We have a very exclusive custom vehicle company we call Rockin' Proper Customs. It's so exclusive that we are our only clients. I figured it was time we had a logo and merch. These are 2.5" stickers.

[JimJamerino]

OK, so a little more detail for those who don't mind reading.

The pics from 2024 (up to and including the one with the zip ties on the tire) are from our old house. We were going broke trying to keep too much house, so I wasn't getting very far with much of anything. Nonetheless, I was able to get the mechanical components put back together. All that was left was to handle the electrical components.

To get back within our means, we put the house up for sale and moved into a much smaller place that does not have a garage. I wanted a shop space of some kind, so I got an unheated, no power 10x20 storage unit. Not a perfect solution, but I call it my Storage Shop. After getting everything moved and situated, the house sat on the market for almost a year. Paying for two houses was kind of a step backwards in the whole "saving money" process, but I had pretty much everything I needed on hand to start sorting out the electrics. To distract from the headaches of being broke, I tinkered with the bike on occasion. Every step forward was met with half a step back, but even slow progress is still progress.

Over the course of July and August of 2025:

I get the headlight to work, but the tail light won't light up. Dirty connectors.

Get the tail light to work, but no brakes. Bad rear brake switch and a grounded out switch on the handlebar.

Get the brake light to work, but no turn signals. The tail light is LED, so maybe not enough resistance? I have an electronic flasher on hand now; I just haven't tried to work it out.

The marker lights used to work, but now they don't. I suspect a bad or missing ground on the fork. I'll sort this out later with the turn signals. I'll ride with hand signals for now.

The headlight quit working. Dirty starter switch got cleaned with contact cleaner; now it works again.

The tail light quit working. It's blowing fuses instantly. Turns out the connector I thought was a ground is actually hot and does not need to be plugged into a ground tab in the headlight bucket. My bad. Disconnect the connector and all is well. Perfect example of "If it used to work and now it doesn't, undo the last thing you did."

The headlight works, the tail light works, and the brake light lights up properly. Yay! Time to start it!

It only runs on 2 or 3 cylinders and pisses gas out of 2 carbs drains. Pull the carbs, clean, reinstall.

Still only running on 3 cylinder. I can pull the spark plug for #2 and nothing changes. Pull the carbs, clean again, this time paying special attention to #2.

Still runs on only 3 cylinders. Frustrated, walk away for a week or so. Let it sit in time out and think about what it did.

Got a storage unit closer to the new house. Recruit Caleb and Jason to help move. Start the bike to demonstrate the 3 cylinder problem. It sounds fine. Even warms up and responds to throttle. Whatever. Move everything to Storage Shop 2.0.

Get everything situated in Storage Shop 2.0. Start the bike; it runs fine, but there's a drop of fuel from the petcock when I turn it from "OFF" to "ON." A minor problem for Future Jim to handle.

Ride it around the storage unit complex. Get very excited, and go for a short shakedown run.

It rides straight, handles nice (a pleasant surprise since I raked the neck 5 degrees and extended the fork 3"). Brakes work, take it off choke as it warms up, fiddle with the idle so it doesn't die at stop lights. There's an occasional weird "thunk" noise that doesn't seem to correlate to bumps in the road, engine speed, vehicle speed, or anything else. It sounds like something hitting heavy sheet metal. Not a light tap, not a solid or ringing whack. When it "thunks," I can't feel a shock in the handlebars or when I touch the tank. Get nervous, take it back to the Storage Shop for analysis. The brake light is hanging by its wires. Surely that's the source!

Fix the brake light, notice the exhaust pipe bolts are loose. Tighten those, too. Go for another shakedown. The thunk remains. Get nervous, go back to the Storage Shop. Nothing obvious... but now there's an oil puddle coming from the front sprocket area. It's a fairly significant leak, even by Harley standards. Notice the sprung solo seat has a lot of play in the hinge and the bolt is loose. Replace the nut with a nylock nut and tighten it down good to tighten up tolerances.

Go for another shakedown. The thunk remains. About 3 miles from the storage shop, lose the back brake. Pull over immediately, discover the rear brake stay dragging on the ground. Baby the bike back to the Storage Shop and source another brake stay bolt from spare parts. Make damn sure the cotter pin is in place. Go for another shakedown run.

The "thunk" is gone! Feel like an idiot for not tightening the brake stay in the first place, head out to the back roads for a little longer ride. Pass a gas station, and suddenly lose power. Pull over, bike won't start. Flip the fuel petcock over to "RES" and wait. Bike still won't start. Call my dad, who lives just a couple blocks away, to bring me gas rather than push the bike a quarter mile back to the gas station. Get off the phone with Dad, and try to start the bike. It fires up immediately. Continue feeling like an idiot, and let Dad laugh at me for running out of gas. Go back to the gas station and fill up. Get back to the Storage Shop and put the bike away, making sure to turn the petcock off. Put kitty litter and cardboard under the bike to soak up the leaking oil.

Come back to the Storage Shop the next day with the intent of riding, get hit in the face with an overwhelming smell of gas. Look at the petcock and see that it is indeed "OFF," and then see it drip twice from the lever. Future Jim is now Now Jim, and is pretty annoyed with Past Jim. Drain the tank, install the spare, and discover the gasket on the spare is shot. Feel defeated and order a new petcock from Amazon. Wait 2 days, get the petcock in the mail, then immediately take it to the Storage Shop and discover that I ordered the wrong one and it doesn't fit. Return it and order a different one.

Go to the library and print Cash Machine decals. Be very impressed with the finished product. Decide to wait for the new petcock so the stickers can be placed with the tank on the bike.

The new petcock arrives literally as I write this sentence. It's dark and I don't have lights in the Storage Shop. Tomorrow I will try again! I'll take video and post glamour shots, and call it 98% finished. I'll investigate the oil leak soon and hope like hell it's just the shift shaft or oil pump. Otherwise, I may have a winter engine rebuild project.

On a side note, I have enough CB650 parts to make another whole bike, but the frame is untitled. In South Dakota, they're awful fussy about titles and I don't have a good solution. I plan to part it out. Anyone need some CB 650 parts?

[MauiK3]

Fun project! Have to just keep going.

[JimJamerino]

As the title says, it's been Gremlin Whack-a-Mole. One problem down, another pops up. Solve that one, the first one comes back with a twist.

So I got the replacement petcock from Amazon, and to my joy, it fit perfectly. With no fuel line hooked up, it clearly holds gas with the switch turned off, and feeds properly when turned on or to reserve. I go to attach it to the fuel line, and... the 1/4" fuel line I used with the stock petcock is waaaaaayyy too big. No chance I'm using a hose clamp to make up that much difference between the barb and the fuel line. My caliper says the barb is a shade over 5mm. Back to Amazon. Overnight some 5mm and some 5.5mm fuel line for like $10 each. I figured the stock fuel line is 5.5mm, but I don't know if this aftermarket petcock is smaller than stock.

It turned out the 5.5mm fit perfectly, on both the petcock and the carbs. Not a drop has leaked in 5 days, as far as I can tell. I sent back the 5mm. Yay Amazon returns! This brings us to last Sunday. I took it for a quick spin, about 3 miles. When I got back, I noticed that there was oil streaked on my rear tire. That's where I draw the line, so I pulled the sprocket cover to investigate. It didn't take long to find the culprit: The countershaft seal behind the sprocket was literally dripping. I don't have any pictures, but I found that a PO had used liquid gasket and that's where it was leaking. I drained the oil, then dug around, peeling off liquid gasket only to find that at some point, the OEM seal had been removed and replaced with a seal that had the correct ID for the countershaft, but left a good 1/8" gap all the way around. They had filled that gap with a LOT of liquid gasket.

Well... it hasn't leaked in the 5 years I've had this engine, so it ain't dumb if it works... right? I decided to replicate the band-aid, with a small modification. I stuffed some O-ring material between the seal and the case, thinking that might help prolong the repair and delay the need to split the cases. The liquid gasket I got takes 24 hours to fully cure, so I slathered some on, filling up the space left in front of the O-ring I had wedged inside.

Monday evening rolled around, and the liquid gasket had cured. I filled the bike up with oil, started it up (with the sprocket off) so I could see if there was a problem. Immediately there was a steady stream of oil from around the countershaft. It did not seem to be leaking around the liquid gasket band-aid. My guess is by stuffing an O-ring in the gap, I pushed the seal off-center and made a gap around the shaft. After a little research here on the forum, I decided to follow in IainC's footsteps and ordered a 36x56x8mm seal (which, again, amazingly, was on Amazon). I am waiting for that to show up in the mail at the moment. It should be here tomorrow, but probably will arrive after dark, so I'll have to wait to install it.

My indicator/gauge LED bulbs showed up today, too. I had already gotten the LED headlight with integrated turn signals and new headlight bucket brackets, but I figured I'd just work on the lights. I got the LED headlight installed with very little trouble. It was pretty much a direct fit, which was really nice. The light is clean and bright! I also managed to get the indicator lights and gauge lights replaced tonight before it got too dark. The LEDs are definitely much stronger light than the old bulbs of unknown age (I have no reason to believe they're not original OEMs). I did use LEDs that match the color of the indicator (i.e., blue LED for the high beam, green for neutral, etc.). The LED bulbs were a direct replacement and I had no issues with clearance.

Headlight with integrated turn signals. The stock signals and headlight ears will be removed before long for a much cleaner look.


LED low beam


LED high beam. The blue high beam indicator is pretty dim compared to the other two. With the stock bulb I could just barely see it, so it's still an improvement.


I used warm white LEDs for the gauges. The stock bulbs didn't light them up nearly as well as these LEDs. I'm very happy with this purchase. It's hard to see because of the reflection and it was still somewhat bright outside.


I also got my Cash Machine decals on the tank. I'm really happy with how they turned out.




The bandanna belonged to my late friend Hippy Dave. This way, he still gets to ride.


Next up: Try to band-aid the countershaft seal. Sort out the turn signals. Replace the headlight bucket and ears.

[JimJamerino]

The gremlins continue. The countershaft oil seal band-aid did not hold. I replaced it again today, using a different type of silicone sealer. We’ll see if this one holds.

When I opened the shop door this morning, I was met with the smell of gas again. It appears there is a fuel leak, a slow drip, coming from somewhere on the #2 carb. It drips off the accelerator pump, but I can’t tell if it’s coming from a crossover tube, the bowl, or the pump itself. I drained the bowls and made sure the petcock was off until I can explore further. I might just tear down and rebuild one of the other banks of carbs I have. I have 2 complete spare sets and probably the pieces for a 3rd, so if I’m going to do it, might as well just use a set that’s already off the bike.

I also got the kickstand back from Caleb. He put a heavy washer on the back so I could match up to the spring stud on the back of the kickstand mount. The spring catches on the kickstand bolt and I don’t see a workaround, so I’m just going to yank the exhaust and put a stud on the front of the mount.

One step forward, one step back, and two steps to the side.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JimJamerino]

Two steps forward, one step sideways, one and a half back... it's no longer Gremlin Whack-a-Mole, it's now the Gremlin Square Dance.

A second attempt at the countershaft seal band-aid resulted in another leak... slower, but still leaking. Like before, the silicone held, but the leak came from around the drive shaft itself. I ordered a new 34x56x10 and 34x57x10 seal from AVX Seals, thinking maybe the 57 would tap in tightly and not rely on the silicone like the 56 did. When I went to install it, I quickly discovered that I had ordered the wrong size. I needed 36 ID, not 34 ID. Come to find out, 36x57x10 is kind of an oddball size. The 36x56x8 or x10 is like $4 for 2 seals. The 36x57 is like $30 for one seal. So I ordered a 36x57x10 in the name of experimentation and 36x56x10 as a backup.

I also took a close look at the countershaft. There is some marring around the seal surface, so I'm wondering if all of this is a fool's errand anyways. I can't help but wonder, though, how did the crappy seal from the PO hold for 5 years without leaking?

On a positive note, I did fix the fuel leak. It was the accelerator pump. It took longer to pull and replace the carbs than it did to clean and replace the pump diaphragm, and it hasn't leaked a drop in days. I must be getting old, because I thought to myself, "I just replaced that!" and then realized I rebuilt this particular rack of carbs like 12 years ago and haven't really done anything since.

[JimJamerino]

This build is nearing its end. The bits and bobs are almost sorted, and I went for a 75-mile ride today, with minimal moments of panic.

Posing at Pactola Reservoir in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.


To catch up, after several attempts I was finally able to resolve the countershaft seal oil leak. The 36x57x10 popped right in. It was still loose and required liquid gasket to fill the gap. I wonder if a 36x58x10 would fit a little closer? There isn't much of a gap, but I definitely didn't have to drive the seal in like one would expect. This time I smeared some axle grease on the inside of the seal lip, and with over 100 miles on, I haven't seen another drip.

The accelerator pump also remains sealed and dry. It is incredibly satisfying to accurately diagnose a problem and repair it. As I've gotten older, I've gotten better about being OK with just fixing the problem, and not diving into the "as long as I'm in this far..." loop.

I did manage to fix the turn signals... mostly. I replaced the 2-prong flasher relay with a no-load grounded 2-pin flasher relay. After reading the reviews, it turns out there was nothing really wrong with the first relay. It just needed resistors, as many who have done LED conversions have noted. The no-load relay works fine, except I can't figure out why it turns on the opposing DRL angel eye in the integrated headlight. When I connect the DRL to one of the front marker light leads, it doesn't work correctly either. I suspect I can find a constant source of power independent of the turn signal circuit and connect the DRL to that and it'll solve the problem, or I might open up the headlight and see if I can disconnect the DRLs altogether.

I can't get Photobucket's video to embed, so here's a link to a video of the weird flasher issue.

I deleted the stock turn signals and wired in the integrated headlight/turn signals. The front end is a lot sleeker now.


I also ran into issues with the kickstand. Caleb's modifications didn't work because the spring caught on the bolt behind the kickstand mount. I needed a stud on the front of the kickstand mount like the CB650C frame had, so I lopped off the stud behind the mount, drilled a hole and tapped it for an m6 bolt.

Just give it a little tap. Tap, tap, taperoo...


With this bolt in place, the kickstand works... like, 80%. It's a little loose when down, and I don't love that it doesn't really positively snap in the upward position.


If you look carefully, you can see that I used a persuader to bend down the bumper stop on the exhaust pipes. Even with that kinked down, it's still not quite in a fully upright and seated position. It has stayed up so far, even going over bumps, but I'll feel better once I cut off the stopper and it tucks in between the pipes a little tighter.


Another issue with the kickstand is that, like other parts of my life, it's just not quite long enough. The bike leans at probably a good 30 degrees.


In the shop, with the vertical storage cabinet for reference.


A hunk of 2x4 laid flat seems to stand it up more comfortably. By this highly scientific assessment, the kickstand is about 1-1/2 inches short.


For now, I'll ride it as is, and just keep that block of 2x4 in my pocket between stops.

I still have some things to do and figure out. Mostly it's regular maintenance things

• Determine if it was actually my bike backfiring when I got back to town today.
• Sync the carbs. I have proper adapters and an old school mercury gauge, so this should be easy.
• Grease the swingarm.
• Sort out the turn signals for good.
• Put rubber under the highway peg mounts so they don't spin while riding.
• Adjust the cam chain and valves.

I want to thank everyone who has posted to this forum. It has been an invaluable source of information as I've worked on my Hondas. It has been a long haul; the original post for this thread was in 2010. 15 years is a long time to have a project thread going. 15 years is a long time to have any project going. None of us get through anything without a little help, and I am extremely grateful for those that have helped me along the way.

[BenelliSEI]

Congrats on your persistence and success!

[denward17]

Nice looking bike!  Congrats on the finish.

[MauiK3]

Looks like a lot of fun. Great bike.