Topic: Cafe Project, 1972 cb500-First Bike First Build!

[Dr. Honda]

Got this bike about a year ago for $150 off Craigslist.  As you can see it was pretty rough looking and didnt turn over.  I wanted to work on somthing bad so I bought it.  Hauled it 20 miles through mountain roads in the back of a mini van using some dinky rope to hold it up, it was scary.

ok, here's a start photo.  I'll start posting the build pics soon.

[Dr. Honda]

First thing I did was was stare at it a really long time, It was in such bad condition that I decided that it would not be a shame to rip it to pieces and modify it. 

First real thing I did was to start removing paint from the gas tank, rebuild the forks and take some stuff off: head light, bars, etc...  .

I made the rack to hold it up, worked good, you will see it being multi-purposed in the back later.

In the forks, I cleaned them out really good, replaced the seals and bought some NOS Honda Fork Gators. 

[fastbroshi]

Any idea as to why it wouldn't turn over?

[Dr. Honda]

A piston was stuck, I shot PB Blaster into each cylinder, let it sit for a while, stuck it in 5th gear then jerked it back and forth and it broke free and shot oil everywhere right out the sparkplug holes. It was great.

Any idea as to why it wouldn't turn over?

[Dr. Honda]

I'm going to try to catch up to where im at now, so heres the next thing i did. I think.

Pulled the motor out, went smooth until i was removing one of the threaded rods that mount the engine.  I was using a steel rod to knock it out, the rod slipped of the threaded engine mount rod and got jammed in there tight, it took hours to get it out, it was awful! So be carful with this if you are doing it soon, i will be carefull next time.

Heres the pictures.

[theofam]

Good progress so far.  I dig the homemade stand - cool idea!

[Dr. Honda]

I then rebuilt the carbs, used a motorcycle classics magazine, they had a write up on rebuilding them, I'm sure y'all already know this.  But it was a great help.  Soaked the carbs in cleaner for days, they were very clean inside.  Then upon dissembling them just when i thought i was a pro I broke one of the posts the bowl floats pivot on.  I almost passed out i was so mad, I end up JB welding them back together, we'll see how it goes.  It was a clean break, no metal stretching or deformities.

let me see whats next......

[Dr. Honda]

Next step, Frame.  I started cutting off all the tabs for mounting side covers and everything else that bolts on, Also cut off center stand hinges. Stand was missing and I dont want it anyway.  I have a plasma cutter so I zipped em right off and ground em smooth.  Then I shortened the rear of the frame, afterwards I wasnt sure how I liked it, you'll see what I did to solve that latter(it's what i'm currently doing, its gonna look great)  

PICS!

[Dr. Honda]

Frame shortening!

Well I just lopped it off with the plasma cutter, cut it off with a contour on the inside of the shock mounts.  

Then to clean it up I i cut two slits in each side and formed them together and welded the seams, ground it smooth.

I end up changing it later but wanted to show it, it could work, but the design i have as far as the seat and fender would look a little un-resolved like it is pictured.  But I liked doing it!

here ya go.  

[Dr. Honda]

Next I cleaned primed and painted.  This is the step where I really started to get the vision!  I mainly painted it to keep the bare metal from rusting, dint know what I'm going to do about frame paint/color later.   I also painted the shocks(which I hope to replace eventually) and continue to remove paint and Bondo from tank, i thought it was a perfect tank but found out it was a banged up tank with a great Bondo job!  Any suggestions on shocks, I'm not a millionaire if you assume it from my DR. prefix, I'm strictly pro-bono, so price matters.

pictures!!!!!!!!

[Stev-o]

Nice project, you've got some good skills.
Stayin' tuned...

[Dr. Honda]

about here is where i moved, so im in a new shop for now on.  Not as nice but i have it pretty much set up just for the motorcycle.

Ok, im about to bring everything up to date.  I've been doing some engine work, lapped the valves.  Bought a big c clamp and made a valve spring compressor for only $6.  Took an 1 inch pipe cut it to about 2 inches long and cut a window in it to remove the retainer clips for the valves.  That was pretty cool, got a set of valvel lapping tools from harbour frieghthttp://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-valve-lapper-tool-95121.html and the lapping paste and went at it.  All of them look decent except one of the valve seats, it is pitted.  I will post a pic if this soon to see what you guys think.  I also honed the cylinders, used a flex-hone tool. http://www.flexhone.com/.  I've been doing a lot of engine cleaning, using purple power, was worried it might react with the aluminum badly but it didnt.  Pulled the stator rotor(i think thats what its called) off and dropped it in evapo-rust, amazing stuff, to remove rust.  I ordered my piston rings they should come today or tommorow.

anouther mention of the Evapo-rust, check out what it did for my chain.  You can get it at harbour frieght, it's $20 a gallon. Non toxic, works becuse of it's ph level or somthing, its magic.  But be carefull what you clean parts with before you dip them in the stuff.  The ph level of the cleaner you use can mess the evapo-rust up if you dont rinse it right.  I ruined a gallon!

ok, picture time, its going to take a couple of posts to get the pictures all on here.

[Dr. Honda]

Now for the frame, I didn't end up liking the way it looked where i had shortened it so here's what I did, I sat there looking at it for a long time and decided to just cut off the stock upper rear shock mounts off and make new ones.  Then bend a hoop to connect the two sides of the frame at rear.  And I think I'm going to remove the brace between the back and the gas tank, I'm going to end up making a pan and battery box that goes under the entire seat so this will brace the frame even though I think its strong enough with out the brace with the hoop in the back.

I cut the mounts off with a plasma cutter, angle grinder and a screw driver to pry with, then ground it smooth and filed it, The frame is a little nicked up but i can fix it later before painting.

The shock mounts are made out of 3/8" steel, going to weld them on after I well posts on them.  I got some hardened 5/8" shoulder bolts as posts, will drill a hole through the new mounts and weld them on from the backside.  The bolts are two inches long, so I can adjust them to get the right spacing then cut them flush. 

Pictures!!!!!!!

[Dr. Honda]

Drilled the holes in my new shock mounts the other day, had to get a 5/8" drill bit. $18 for the bit, once they go over 1/2" the price spikes!

Well here's what it looks like.  I'm liking the look, simple and small.  Just need to make sure it's welded right or I could possibly meet my maker if things went wrong.

I used 3/8 mild steel for the mount and got 2" long shoulder bolts to mount the shock on.  Will cut them to length and weld them on last once the plates are welded on the frame.   

I am going to be making a underseat pan for the electrics and battery, When I do that I'm going to joint the two shock mounts with a bracket to reinforce them.  I'm also going to cut out the stock underseat brace off the frame, so this will basically be replacing it. 

This is a fun stage of the project, getting to make all the decisions that make the bike unique. 

Let me know what you think about the shape.

[Dr. Honda]

Well, disaster struck, or at least I discovered where it struck.  And I guess it's not even a disaster but certainly a bummer.  I finished rebuilding the top end of my motor and got it all back together.  Well I was going to degrease it to prime and paint when I discovered that one of the spark plug holes threads are stripped out.  Major blow to the motivation.  But I kept going.  I put the spark plugs in and cleaned, primed and painted the motor.  It looked great, but according to advice on this site I took the head off to have the problem fixed.  It was nice taking apart this time, everything is spotless and came apart nicely since I've already done it once.  It took hours to get it apart the first time, only about 15min this go.

Well, if anyone has advice on different methods to fix the threads let me know, I asked the question in one of the other forums but welcome any additional tips and tricks.  Let me know names of products and where to get supplies if ya know.

Dr. Honda

[Stev-o]

Bummer, but not the end of the world. Can you start threading the plug in or is it totally crossed threaded?

[Dr. Honda]

Bummer, but not the end of the world. Can you start threading the plug in or is it totally crossed threaded?

Its completely messed up.  It screws in and when it bottoms out it keeps turning.

[Stev-o]

If the plug keeps turning in the hole then you have stripped it. You will have to remove the head and have it drilled out and an insert put in it to repair it. Call your local auto machine shop, be sure to tell them it's aluminum.
It may be cheaper to replace the head?


Good luck.

[tango911]

keep going man, nice work.

[Dr. Honda]

If the plug keeps turning in the hole then you have stripped it. You will have to remove the head and have it drilled out and an insert put in it to repair it. Call your local auto machine shop, be sure to tell them it's aluminum.
It may be cheaper to replace the head?


Good luck.

Hey,

Just took another look at it with the head pulled.  The threads are only messed up halfway down.  So I ordered a tool called a back tap, it compresses smaller than the hole and threads, you place it into the hole and seat it into the good threads and expand it to fit then back it out and it fixes the threads.  I was glad to find out they were not bad all the way down.  Once inserted there will be enough room for it to bite on the good threads, the tools was $16 total on eBay.

thanks for the response.

[Little_Horse]

subscribed... keep it up

[Stev-o]

Read about the back tap on the other thread, sounds good, let us know how it works.

I have always been very cautious about installing plugs in an alum head, the metal is so soft, it is not hard to cross thread.

[Dr. Honda]

[Read about the back tap on the other thread, sounds good, let us know how it works.]



Will do, should be getting it by wednesday. Hope to fix and reasemble the motor within hours of recieving it in the mail!

Up next will be all the frame work im doing.  Want to do all that before I put the motor back in.

[Dr. Honda]

I got the back tap sparkplug hole re-thread tool the other day in the mail. Gave it a try, easiest best thing I've ever used.  Way simple.  The threads looked very messed up before and it just straightened everything right out.  Highly recommend it to anyone with some jacked up threads.

[Stev-o]

Great to hear! You dodged a bullet...