Topic: Going to check out a CX500.

[mgbgt89]

Well my friend wants to get into motorcycling after i left my dirt bike at his house for a month. He found a CX500 on craigslist for 250 bucks. Seems complete and halfway decent shape, and has a title. It's also the Deluxe model, which in my opinion looks way better than the custom. I've told him about the stator and water pump issues it could possibly have. Anything else to check for on these bikes?

[hoodellyhoo]

Aside from those two issues, nothing to look for outside of normal old bike stuff. Good bikes from everything I have heard.

[mgbgt89]

He ended up buying it. We tore into it tonight, The guy said it wouldn't run after he put new heads on it. The old heads were fine, he just stripped one of the holes holding the valve cover on. He ended up burning up the starter trying to get it to run. The old ones came with the bike. I asked him if he set the valves, and he said yes. He thought it had some sort of ignition issue. I pulled the valve covers and the valves were ridiculously tight, like 5-8 turns before i even got any play at all. Since there was no way it could have ran like this, i don't think there should be any cam damage.

Carbs were "rebuilt" by him, but judging by his technical prowess with the valves, i'm sure there is work to be done there as well.

The good:
Came with loads of spare parts, Including a vetter fairing and trunk, Travelcade seat, Tank is clean as a whistle, motor is oil and coolant tight, no funny noises in the final drive, 100% complete, even came with the tool kit.

The Bad:
Possible damage to the valve train, swingarm bushings are trashed, needs tires, unknown carb condition, bad starter.

I think he got a decent deal for 250 bucks. And of course everyone wants pictures...

[bryanj]

These motors need good quality fresh gas to run and a virgin white air cleaner to get good running.

Stood anything over 10 days means drain the carbs anything over a month drain the tank and fill with fresh

[mgbgt89]

Worked on it some more tonight. We took the starter apart and cleaned it. Brushes look alright, but it still can't turn the engine over. It seems like this is a really difficult engine to turn. 2nd gear with no spark plugs in, it takes some work to turn it with the back tire. Being paranoid, I pulled a head off, and the bore looks beautiful, cam shows no sign of wear. The oil had a touch of coolant in it, but it was obvious the PO re-used the old head gaskets. No metal in the oil, and the coolant looked fine.

I'm stumped as to why this motor is so hard to turn over. Where could the drag be coming from? In neutral the back wheel spins freely, so i don't think its in the final drive.

[Jordan]

Could be the cam chain adjuster cx500's chew them up due to poor design at relatively low miles, there is a fix of a stronger mounting bracket mechanism from honda I think it cost me a little over 100 for the part.

[mgbgt89]

This one is an 80, so it had the upgraded cam chain assembly from the factory. I've read more on the CX forums, I guess its just a difficult motor to turn over with the rear wheel. Since i've had it apart, and didn't see any unusual wear on the bores, cam, or any parts of the valve train that were visible by removing the heads, I'm going to put it back together and get a new starter for it. The old one wasn't exactly in great shape internally. Some of the wires between the commutator and the armature looked like they could have been burnt.

[mgbgt89]

Turned it over using the bolt on the crank, Smooth as butter through all the gears. Worried about nothing.

Once we source a starter, we can really make some progress.