Author Topic: Newby 1972 CB500 project (Read 10240 times)

Goofaroo · « **Reply #25 on:** December 19, 2010, 01:29:41 PM »

I got a little time today so I decided to tackle the front fender which has been looming over my head for a while. It has two pretty good dings that I need to remove. I've looked at a couple of forums about this but if anyone has any advice I'm all ears. I'm planning to use the sand bag and mallet method.

Now here's the vision for this bike that I have in mind.

The front rear fender are going to be powdercoated in an aluminum alloy color to create the illusion of alloy fenders. The fork brace, fender bows, rear grab rail, and the taillight bracket will be coated in satin black. I am also hoping to powdercoat the tank in the same alloy finish but who knows what bondo lurks under the rattle can paint job. I may have do a lot of work on the tank to get it to accept the powdercoat. The goal on the tank is the alloy finish with some rubber knee pads and a painted insert on the side. Then possibly a brown leather strap with a buckle and a pouch mounted on top. I'm thinking about maybe a light blue insert with tan striping around it and a vintage Honda logo waterslide decal under the clearcoat. I am also going to build a mudflap about 3-4" long with some stainless trim for the rear of the front fender. I know-WTF. I'm just trying something different.

It will have bar-end mirrors on the superbike bars (cut as narrow as possible) and I may try to salvage the original seat cover but shave a bit of foam off of the passenger portion of the seat to sort of flatten it an lower it a bit.

I just ordered a 4 into 1 exhaust that will be wrapped in tan.

I am also considering changing the rubber footpegs for some cleated style dirt bike pegs. If anyone happens to know of some that will fit I'd love to hear from you.

Zaipai · « **Reply #26 on:** December 20, 2010, 07:38:27 AM »

Not sure of any pegs that are like that. In fact when I went looking for new pegs, I found very little that fit with out mods.
Sure looks like you are making lots of progress.

.: Scott :.

sallen · « **Reply #27 on:** December 20, 2010, 08:12:34 AM »

Your bike looks like one I looked at late this summer in Stillwater,Okla. Had the CB750 pipes on it. I believe he wanted $500 for it at that time; had bought the bike with a friend and they had lost title. Is this same bike? Looks like you're during a great job on it...Steve

Goofaroo · « **Reply #28 on:** December 20, 2010, 01:57:33 PM »

Same bike. I paid him $300 due to the "lost" title. It ended up costing me about $200 to title and tag it so I'm pretty happy with the deal. It's been a pretty solid platform to work with.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #29 on:** January 08, 2011, 03:57:53 PM »

I haven't posted for a while but I've been making some progress and will be able to start doing some reassembly pretty soon and the bike will start taking shape.
Today, I ran into my first significant problem. I found that one of the carb bodies had the horns broken off that the float pin goes through. One has been reattached with a wad of JB Weld and the other is missing so it looks like I need to replace the carb body. It is the second from the left and they are 627Bs. I'm going to start watching Ebay and post a thread in the parts wanted section but if anyone happens to have a spare please consider me a buyer.

seanbarney41 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 08, 2011, 04:53:41 PM »

I'm sure everyone will think this a bodge, and I'm sure they are right, but I have the same float situation with 750 carb, and with everything buttoned up it actually works fine. I was just very careful to check the floats operation, did the clear tube fuel level adjustment, and will keep my eye on it. Just to let you know until you find a replacement...

Goofaroo · « **Reply #31 on:** January 08, 2011, 05:29:32 PM »

I would probably try to rig it somehow but the horn that is JB Welded on is not even close to being straight and in the correct position. If it was I would probably just drill and tap a small hole on top of the other "stub" so that I could run a screw in there to hold the pin in place or maybe just drill a hole so that I could secure it with a bit of safety wire. Unfortunately, the repair job is pretty sloppy so I think I'm going to at least try to find a replacement body before I resort to attempting to fix this one. Thanks for the thought.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #32 on:** January 23, 2011, 09:30:23 AM »

I haven't posted here for a while but I have been making a bit of progress. I ended up buying another rack of carbs so I could get a donor for my broken #2 body. It took a while to get it bought and shipped but I'm finally back on track. I've got both sets disassembled and I am piecing together the best set of carbs I can out of all of the parts. When I get done I'm going to lay out all of the extra parts, take a pic, and post it in the for sale forum so I can maybe recoup a few dollars and help out a few forum members. Meanwhile if you have an immediate need just hit me up.

I'm still waiting on a few parts to get shipped before I take everything to the powder coater but I've started a pile and it is growing daily. I'm really looking forward to starting reassembly of the front end so I can get reorganized and move on to the rear.

My plan is constantly evolving but I have decided that it is going to be a bagger. I bought some small Shoei bags with all of the mounting hardware from a forum member and they should be here soon. The chrome mounting hardware is going to get powder coated satin black to match a lot of the other parts I'm dechroming. The built in turn signals have solved my rear turn signal issues. I was having a helluva time finding any that I liked. Now that I am making it a bagger it's really complicated my paint scheme. I want to somehow tie the tank and bags together and make it look like the bags belong with the bike. The trick is maintaining a "muscle bike" look with the bags installed. I'm trying to figure out how to maybe use a stripe on the tank that is somehow repeated on the bags and maybe further tie the bags together with some emblems. As of right now I'm leaning toward some sort of shade of tan (beige) with gray or black striping. Once I get the bags and start mocking it up I'm hoping I'll get some ideas for how to pull this off.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #33 on:** February 24, 2011, 06:16:49 PM »

I thought I would post some pics and an update. I have still been working on this but it's been a little tricky to find much free time lately.

It took me a while to come up with a good front and rear fender. I ended up using my original front fender and a rear fender from a 550 that I got from a forum member. He also sent me the taillight bracket and taillight. I will end up using the 500 taillight on the 550 bracket. The 550 taillight was huge!

I got some parts back today from the powdercoater. I had all of the black bits shown in the pics done in satin black. The fenders are done in a ceramic coating. My vision was that I thought the black fork brace, fender stays, and taillight bracket would look good against the ceramic coating. The ceramic gives them a look similar to alloy fenders. I can't say I'm thrilled with the way they turned out. It looks good but I may end up just having the fenders done in a silverish powdercoat. All the powdercoated parts look fantastic and I was especially happy with the bag racks and mounting hardware. I think dechroming them and the paint scheme I have planned will give me a bagger with a sporty edge which is what I've been trying to accomplish.

After many hours of combining two sets of carbs into one good one, they are finally done and all I have left is to bench synch them and they will be ready to install. Now that I have my instrument housings powdercoated, I can finally reassemble them for good. Things will start taking shape over the next few weeks but I still have a lot of work left to do. I've been having a helluva good time working on this thing but my beer expenses have been considerable.

Zaipai · « **Reply #34 on:** February 25, 2011, 05:18:19 AM »

Looks good, well worth getting the powder coating.. I know about finding time.. Hang in there little by little she will get done.

.: Scott :.

joshuanagao · « **Reply #35 on:** February 25, 2011, 07:30:31 AM »

Looks like you are off to a good start, with you work cut out for you. Good luck! I'm excited to see where you take it.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #36 on:** February 27, 2011, 10:52:07 AM »

I've had a problem lately with too many small projects spread all over my workbench so today I'm getting reorganized. I was finally able to get the guages and all the associated hardware boxed up and set aside. I've had them laying in pieces while I waited for the housings to come back from the powdercoater. I also finally found a piece of hose that I was able to use to finish the "boot" for the odo reset knob. The original boot was destroyed but I was lucky enough that a forum member sent me the tip on how to build one out of a grommet and a piece of hose. I also ordered new rubber cushions for the guages and of the two styles available it was obvious that they sent me the wrong ones but I managed to get them to work. I also got the jewels back in the top bar clamp and got all the hardware to mount the top triple so I can set it aside as well.

It's nice to see a few more parts come together and get added to the pile of completed projects. Now if I can just complete about 100 or so more this thing will look like a bike again!

Zaipai · « **Reply #37 on:** February 28, 2011, 06:18:48 PM »

Dang they look great!

.: Scott :.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #38 on:** January 19, 2013, 04:09:52 PM »

It's been a long time since I've posted anything about this project but it is still alive and I have made some progress.

It turned out that the head gasket was leaking oil down the front of the block so I decided to go ahead and disassemble the top end. I removed and cleaned the pistons, honed the cylinders, lapped the valves, and installed a new gasket set and all new seals.

I also had to do some work on the wiring and charging system and I ended up upgrading to a 73 model wiring harness and electrical plate.

I've been hunting down a right hand side cover and finally have a decent one to work with so soon I will be starting the bodywork (which I've never done before).

I fired it up for the first time since reassembly and it sounds great and has perfect throttle response. Dwell and timing are set so next I just need to sync the carbs but I bench synced using the 1/8" drill bit method and it actually seems to run perfectly.

I'll try to be more diligent about posting my progress as I move forward with buttoning everything up.

My next move is to put the seat and footpegs back on it so I can try out the riding position with the superbike bars. I want to make sure that they are going to work for me before I start installing all of the controls and cables.

It still needs:
New shocks- probably Hagons
New stainless front brake line
paint and bodywork
reassembly of all remaining bits and pieces

I'm really anxious to get this thing back on the road. I've completed a couple of other bike projects since I started this thread but this is the one that I am most excited about.

Spike · « **Reply #39 on:** January 20, 2013, 02:15:44 PM »

It's looking great! Keep up the good work. I think the superbars are a good compromise, being much more comfortable than the clubmans for every day use. Unless you're 22, 5'08" and 160 lbs... then hunched over and tucked in might be your bag. No need for a label, but I like the muscle bike notion for sure!

rb550four · « **Reply #40 on:** January 21, 2013, 05:51:49 PM »

This is turning out very nice, very nice indeed.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #41 on:** January 21, 2013, 07:19:44 PM »

Quote

It's looking great! Keep up the good work. I think the superbars are a good compromise, being much more comfortable than the clubmans for every day use. Unless you're 22, 5'08" and 160 lbs... then hunched over and tucked in might be your bag. No need for a label, but I like the muscle bike notion for sure!

I'm building this bike to ride so I've got to keep it comfortable. I like the looks of the superbike bar so I'm hoping they will work out but if not I'll probably have to try a Euro bar. I haven't had a chance to throw the seat and pegs on it yet but I'm pretty sure the superbike bar will give just the right seating position to be comfortable at speed. I'm also going to cut the width down a couple of inches. The pegs are staying in the stock location and I'll be running the stock seat so I'll have a little room to move around when the my butt starts going numb. I'll also be keeping the passenger pegs just to give me another seating position.

We seem to have similar taste in bikes. I also have a Concours and a 78 BMW R100S.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #42 on:** January 21, 2013, 07:51:23 PM »

Quote

This is turning out very nice, very nice indeed.

Thanks! I appreciate the input.

The flash pic doesn't do it justice but I installed the fender stays tonight and I'm really pleased with the way it's coming together. I originally had the fenders ceramic coated but I didn't like the look so I had them powdercoated and they turned out great. The flash washed out the color but they are actually darker and have sort of an alloy look to them that looks great against the satin black.

I moved the bike into my cave so I could work on it in comfort and I'm hoping to make some serious progress over the next few nights. Unfortunately I'm still struggling to come up with a paint scheme but soon I'm going to have to commit to something and get started on the bodywork.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #43 on:** January 21, 2013, 08:22:49 PM »

I just came across my first real problem. The taillight bracket and fender I am using is from a CB550 which apparently doesn't have a grab rail. I guess I'll need to grab the seat out of the shed tomorrow and mock up the rear end. I'm hoping maybe I can just bend the grab rail up at the rear to provide clearance for the taillight bracket. If not I may need to come up with a new plan for the bracket or maybe find out if a 550 grab rail (if it has one) will bolt on and clear this taillight bracket.

Jay D. · « **Reply #44 on:** March 21, 2013, 11:49:44 AM »

Great work. Will be watching with great interest.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #45 on:** March 21, 2018, 01:54:56 PM »

It's been a few years and life slowed my progress on this project but it has started moving again. I now live in a different house and finally have a proper shop. I have also semi-retired and started a motorcycle and small engine repair business which has allowed me more time to work on my personal bike projects.

The CB is finally getting buttoned up. The bodywork is sent off for paint and the seat is getting reupholstered. I'm sure that there will be a few more things to do but I'm getting very close to moving on to my next build which will be a 71 model CT90 with a one down three up shift pattern and a manual clutch.

Anyway, here is where it has been sitting for the last 3 years waiting for me to give it some attention. It fires right up and runs great but will need a final carb sync once I put a few miles on it. I installed the new Hagen shocks this morning and put brake fluid in the front brake system for the first time since the rebuild. A few years ago I updated the electrics to a 1973 system. Yesterday I installed a new battery and fired it up and was glad to see that the charging system is working well but I'm open for suggestions on upgrading the rectifier and regulator. I can't wait to ride it and I'll post pics as it progresses.

Stev-o · « **Reply #46 on:** March 21, 2018, 03:33:04 PM »

WOW - Holy 5 year update Batman! Good to hear you are back at it.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #47 on:** March 22, 2018, 05:25:25 AM »

Quote from: Stev-o on March 21, 2018, 03:33:04 PM

WOW - Holy 5 year update Batman! Good to hear you are back at it.

I didn't want to post too frequently and become a nuisance.

WhyNot2 · « **Reply #48 on:** March 22, 2018, 06:07:20 AM »

Quote from: Goofaroo on March 22, 2018, 05:25:25 AM

Quote from: Stev-o on March 21, 2018, 03:33:04 PM
WOW - Holy 5 year update Batman! Good to hear you are back at it.

I didn't want to post too frequently and become a nuisance.

Quote from: Stev-o on March 21, 2018, 03:33:04 PM

WOW - Holy 5 year update Batman! Good to hear you are back at it.

Yep, 5 year update......wow.

Looks great, man I got to get me one of those bike lifts.....looks like it's sooooo much easier to work on these things.

My back starts hurting every time I walk by my 2 SOHCs bikes. Knowing I have work to do to them.

Goofaroo · « **Reply #49 on:** March 22, 2018, 02:34:44 PM »

I bought one of these lifts and within a few days decided to buy two more. I'm 53 years old and my days of working hunched over on a shop stool are over. Do whatever you have to do to get one of these lifts.

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Author Topic: Newby 1972 CB500 project (Read 10240 times)