Author Topic: CB500K2 Turbo Project (Read 20825 times)

Bob3050 · « **on:** September 07, 2011, 04:40:55 pm »

Hello all. I'm a fairly new member (since April) and I'm very impressed with all of the builds of all types on here. I've been working on a CB500K2 since March and it should be road worthy in the not too distant future.
In 1972 I bought an American Turbo Pak kit and put it on a new CB500K1. When I sold the K1 I kept the kit and put it on a '74 CB550and then when I sold the '74 I transferred the kit to a "76 CB550F. After all that when I sold the "76 I put the kit in a box and that's where it's been for about the last 30 years.

So my plan is to use this set-up one more time on this K2. This bike is not very pretty but it seems mechanically decent. Lots of things to do to it but that's the whole idea ,right?

The bike had been sitting for several years with fuel left in the carbs so they were badly plugged.

That made me decide to go ahead and install the old turbo kit to make the bike run and check it all out before a complete tear down.

That being done the old thing fired up and ran on all four and has all the gears in the transmission. So after that it all gets disassembled to see where I am and what needs to be done. I am not very efficient on this computer and this is taking longer than I thought, so I am going to continue this tomorrow. I hope this will interest some of you.
Bob

MattInVA · « **Reply #1 on:** September 07, 2011, 06:29:17 pm »

Quote from: Bob3050 on September 07, 2011, 04:40:55 pm

I hope this will interest some of you.

I want one! That turbo is cool!

Doum · « **Reply #2 on:** September 07, 2011, 06:46:42 pm »

Nice project! I'm also trying to setup my rickman 750 with the Blake turbo kit.What is the carb you have on your ATP kit? Does it idle fine?

Bob3050 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 07, 2011, 08:41:20 pm »

Quote from: Doum on September 07, 2011, 06:46:42 pm

Nice project! I'm also trying to setup my rickman 750 with the Blake turbo kit.What is the carb you have on your ATP kit? Does it idle fine?

The carb is a Bendix/Zenith from a Harley of unknown vintage. I think some of the American Turbo Pak kits used Mikuni carbs but this kit came with the Zenith. It idled relatively well on all the bikes I've used it on before But I haven't run it enough on this K2 to be able to tell you anymore.

Bob

TommyT · « **Reply #4 on:** September 07, 2011, 09:11:23 pm »

I see your from Lompoc, I'm just over the hill in Santa Maria. Hope to see more of these old bikes on the road around here. Not to many being ridden anymore.

Bob3050 · « **Reply #5 on:** September 07, 2011, 09:22:28 pm »

I've got some time so I guess I'll add some more to this thread. It takes a while when you hunt and peck with two fingers like I do. The bike had a 16" rear rim installed at some point in the past and an 18" front rim or so I thought. But when I started taking it apart I realized that the front wheel assembly was off of a CB350F or G or some other model that uses an 18" rim and a 4 bolt rotor. I did some horse trading and got a good front wheel and rotor but the chrome on the rim was not too good. The 16" rear rim also had issues with the chrome so I decided to paint the rims to keep the cost down.

The spokes in both the 16" and the 19" front were not too good so I replaced them.

Well the wheels are together but there is still plenty to do.

Bob3050 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 07, 2011, 09:27:39 pm »

Tommy T:
We probably know a lot of the same people. I owned the Honda Yamaha dealer in Lompoc from 1971 til 2009 so maybe we know each other.
Bob

Greggo · « **Reply #7 on:** September 07, 2011, 09:35:01 pm »

Very cool that you're the original owner of the kit. Can't wait to see the finished product. I've been looking for one of those kits for two years! (not that I'll be able to afford it when I find one!!)

lordmember1969 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 08, 2011, 01:29:29 pm »

Subscribed:) I want one of them turbo kits to

Bob3050 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 08, 2011, 01:30:29 pm »

Here is some more on my project. Turns out not only was the front wheel off of a 350 or some other bike but the instruments and mount were also. I managed to find a set including the mount at a wrecking yard. They are not pretty but they both test good.

I like the polished aluminum look so that's the way I went.

I couldn't find replacement faces for the small gauges so I cut down the big ones and cut a new hole for the trip meter and patched up the old hole.

After dis-assembly I started cleaning, painting or polishing everything that I could.

My polishing skills are not the greatest but I can't afford to send everything to a pro, so this will just have to do.

Nezhac · « **Reply #10 on:** September 08, 2011, 04:07:16 pm »

That's one heck of a history behind that turbo bob

Will follow this thread with interest.
Just out of interest, what did you stick into the exhaust ports when you painted the engine? looks like some custom-made plug of some sort
also, are the gauges with the white faces the ones from the yard? or did you make those faces yourself?

It's looking pretty good already, keep going, the pics are are real pretty

Bob3050 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 08, 2011, 05:38:29 pm »

Nezhac:
Thanks for the interest. The plugs in the exhaust ports are rubber ends for the legs of a patio table. They just happened to be handy in the garage. The picture of the gauges with the cracked paint on the faces is the gauge set from the junkyard before I put the new white faces in them and polished the cases.

nohbudi · « **Reply #12 on:** September 08, 2011, 05:52:38 pm »

RAD!
No one has stuff like that laying around. And no one has that kind of a history. Seeing a turbo "kit" for a cb500 from 71 is just cool. The classic Garrett T3 design hadn't even been developed fully, and most turbos were based on the Ray Jay Hydraulic pressure bearing system. Just neat!

Bob3050 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 09, 2011, 12:06:08 am »

Well here's some more on the build of my bike. The forks were pretty rusted under the original headlight mounts but not in the area of travel below the triple tree.

The inside as grubby as the outside.

After a good cleaning they really didn't appear to be too badly worn, so I went with new seals and fluid and polished the sliders.

I didn't want to use the original headlight mount so I cut some chrome tubing to cover the legs between the upper and lower clamps. I got it at a plumbing shop and it slipped right over the legs and gave the appearance of being the leg itself.

I guess you can see by the pictures that I like yellow. The frame, swingarm, rims,intake manifold, turbo right case and some other pieces all got the yellow treatment.

Do you like my open air paint booth?

So now some of the assembly starts.

I installed the tapered steering head bearing kit from All Balls.

I wanted to use the original style gaiter boots so I cut the bottoms off of the headlight supports (they were pretty beat up anyway) and made some clamps to hold the top of the boots.

I dis-assembled the turbo to paint the right side and to check the bearings and impellers. I had to make the gasket for the case because I couldn't find one. The only source for turbo parts I could find was from aircraft maintenance and they didn't recognize the model number of my Rajay unit.

I will add some more to this thread tomorrow.

lordmember1969 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 09, 2011, 08:53:13 am »

Me like:)

looking god..

Greggo · « **Reply #15 on:** September 09, 2011, 10:44:00 am »

Nice work on the refurb/polishing jobs. Everything looks brand new!

articblue · « **Reply #16 on:** September 09, 2011, 11:15:38 am »

subscribing to this one....should've named it the yellow streak

looking good so far though, your polishing skills are great compared to anything I do.

Honda Brat · « **Reply #17 on:** September 09, 2011, 11:30:35 am »

bloody hell a turbo on the old 4, excellent!! Lacing your own wheel and doing all the other stuff yourself, I take my hat off to you, I know how difficult it is - look forward to seeing the end result - good luck

Bob3050 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 09, 2011, 01:32:31 pm »

Thank you all for the compliments and kind words. I'll keep posting more stuff, probably later today. Thanks again.
Bob

Bob3050 · « **Reply #19 on:** September 09, 2011, 03:11:14 pm »

Hello again. Well lets see about adding some more to this thread. When I got the bike the front caliper had the bleed valve broken off flush. In my drilling out the broken piece I over did and drilled into the seat. I thought I had ruined the caliper but a member here,HSR65 I believe, turned me on to an $8 repair kit from NAPA. I got the kit, drilled the caliper to 1/8 inch pipe, installed it and it saved my caliper. Thank you HSR65.

The master cylinder cleaned up good both inside and out .

Some time in the past someone tried to jump start this bike with the polarity reversed so it cooked the ground wire through out the loom. I had to replace the green wire from end to end and repair the damaged insulation on some of the other wires. Surprisingly the rectifier made it unscathed. More luck than skill to that.

The handle bars that I decided on are the "European" bend. Clubman or clip-ons are way in the past for me. My back lets me know what I can and can't do.

I'd better go see if I can get some work done for the wife. I'll try to post some more later.
Bob

Raef · « **Reply #20 on:** September 09, 2011, 05:03:37 pm »

very cool stuff,

I've been stuck in a yellow rut lately, currently painting yellow car #3 this summer, (73 Mach 1) when I seen this it made me smile

Bob3050 · « **Reply #21 on:** September 09, 2011, 07:41:34 pm »

Back again. I hope this isn't getting off the thread too far but I thought some of you might be interested to see some pictures of a couple of the bikes I used to have with this same turbo kit installed. This one is the CB500K1 that was the first bike that I put this kit on. Check out the psychedelic paint job.

I don't have any pictures of the second bike but here is one of the '76 CB550F with the turbo and a set of Lester wheels.

OK, I hope everybody got a kick out of my blast from the past.
Now back to the bike at hand. The handlebar switches were scratched up some but fully functional, so I dis-assembled them and polished the cases.

In my dis-assembly of the headlight switch the knob on the off/hi/lo lever broke in several pieces and I haven't found a replacement yet. I also polished the handlebar hold down while I was at it.

CBJoe · « **Reply #22 on:** September 09, 2011, 08:20:24 pm »

Cant believe that I'm admitting this.. as I'm normally a dark colors guy... but the yellow frame is really striking!

Looks good... Cheers, Joe

Greggo · « **Reply #23 on:** September 09, 2011, 09:17:14 pm »

Really love the blast from the past. I have a pic of my dad on my bike 20 years ago. This bike's gonna be sweet when it's done!

Bob3050 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 09, 2011, 10:36:39 pm »

I thank you guys for the approval and encouragement. Greggo I think it's pretty cool that you have kept your bike in the family for all those years. So mechanically my bike is ready to run. Here is a video of it starting for the first time since I put it back together. I originally started it before I tore it down but I wasn't into this forum yet so I didn't think to record it.

News:

Author Topic: CB500K2 Turbo Project (Read 20825 times)