A few more pics of the bike

Its been some time since the last update...

 The new front end... 18" cm400 wheel (repainted and clear-coated), BT45 tire to match, lightweight EBC rotor, and twin piston caliper from a CB900.  I was able to sort out the front brakes with a master cylinder left over from my ex650 racebike, and a spare braided line.  Fender is on its way out, however... gonna use a radical harley cafe-racer fender and a fork brace.

 Rear 3/4 view.  The CB-1 rear shocks, 18" rear wheel and BT45, with new brake shoes in the rear, and a reset rear brake.  Longer kickstand from my box o' bits.  I had to modify it slightly to work... believe it or not, it is off an MZ machine!

Side view... coming together nicely, if you ask me.  Still need to finish the exhaust system, and sort the front fender.  I think it will end up being a "love it or hate it" look!

More progress

The bike is making slow progress.  Tank and tail have been painted and cleared, and I also color-matched the headlight ring to bodywork, and cleared the bezel as well (the black paint did not appear to be particularly durable).
I've noticed that the kickstand is a bit short with the longer rear shocks, and will likely be worse when I install the 18" rear wheel and tire.  There are a couple of solutions out there, from sleeving the kickstand, finding a new kickstand that is longer, or adding some height to the bottom of the kickstand "foot".

I managed to get the wiring tucked into the headlight bezel to keep things tidy.  With the new wiring loom and LHS switchgear, all the proper functions work -- brake, turn, horn, hi/lo beam, etc.

Still some work left to do -- waiting on a few final parts so I can fix the coolant weep from the water pump (a common fault and fairly easy to fix).  Then I can mount the carbs again and fire up the bike.  It still needs the front brakes rebuilt, new rear pads, the rear brake switch installed (bracket broke off), the front rotor installed, and of course new rubber on the 18" wheels.  At that point, it still will be cosmetically rough, but it should work sufficiently to pass a safety.  No rush on that, of course.

Paint and brakes

Poor man's spray booth.  $100 from a local surplus store.











Tank and tail getting cleared, as well as the 18" rear wheel hiding in the back.

 With the repositioned pegs, I needed to tweak the shift lever, as well as the brake lever.  Stock, the brake lever was too long, putting the pedal too far away from the peg.  I mocked it up rough to get the correct angle and distance, and then set about trying to find a piece of curved tube that would work.

With no pipe bender, I was stuck trying to find something myself.  In the end, I cut a section out of the stock handlebars, and it actually lined up great.  I then broke out the torch and welded the curved tube in between.  Pretty cool scavenging parts I was just going to discard!

Finished Seat

I came to eventually realize the previous owner mullered the wiring harness so badly that it made sense to find another one and start from scratch.  In the interim, I decided to tackle a few other projects.

Here is the seat, properly and professionally covered by a local upholstery guy... did a great job, quick turnaround, and a cash transaction which likely saved both of us some hassle.  Note battery box behind the rear of the seat, which will be covered under the seat hump.







New carbs -- these are the "Murray's Carbs" -- set of mikunis, with new manifolds, a splitter, and cable made to length.  An awesome setup that fit quite easily... I'll have to be patient to try the carbs with the engine running.  Need the harness first!

I thought I'd try to do a simple, homegrown solution to the paint.  With only the tank and tail hump needing to be painted (at least by me, anyway), I simply picked up a spray can of primer, and two cans of "hammered" paint.  I really like the look of some of those "copper" bikes, so a can of that and a can of gold, some masking tape, and a simple stripe job is done.  For some reason I still can't eyeball a straight line (as in centering the tape perfectly), but I think I am getting better.  I used to purposely offset things, knowing I would never get it straight!  Next step is once the paint has dried, to clearcoat the tank and tail with proper automotive clear... stuff I've used on my racebikes in the past.

Progress

I've been puttering away on this project when time allows.  I've been maintaining the racebike, making some arrangements with the XS project, and certainly have SOME responsibilities outside of the garage.  The seat pan was finished, and based on some information on the net, I used camping pads and yoga mats to create the padding.  This stuff is glued down with some 3M spray-on glue, and will likely not go anywhere!  Its actually kind of neat in that the edges can be sanded with 80 grit paper, so the rear hump of the buttpad (which bumps up against the tail) has been smoothed out/contured after this pic was taken.  Next step is to get some marine-grade vinyl and get a professional to cover it!  Hopefully my design did not make it too difficult.

I also snagged one of the last 2-1 systems available for these bikes.  I think twin exhausts sound better, but the benefit of some weight loss could not be overlooked, nor the simplicity of the design.  It was listed as used, but the chrome was in excellent condition. The finish on these MAC systems is not known to be that durable, so likely over time some header wrap or another coating will be needed.  Note that the rear brake pedal needs considerable modification to work with the relocated footpegs.

I also guessed at whether these shocks would fit -- they are from a Honda CB1, and are about an inch longer than stock.  These appear to be "proper" shocks, made by Showa (and even have a "honda" sticker on them as well).  I needed to press out the bushings from the stock shocks and insert them into these ones, but they all fit.  They are in pretty rough shape, so new ones will be ordered when I get the chance.
Currently I am working on the tedious front wiring loom.  I've got everything working (in a stripped down way), but I just need the right connectors to make it all work.

Some More Progress

The delay in updating this page was a result of waiting for some parts to come in.  During my initial inspection I decided to remove the cylinder heads and freshen things up in the simplest sense of the word.  So basically, I soaked things in Simple Green for a few days to try to get rid of the massive carbon buildup on the exhaust port, as well as try to clean up the valve heads a bit.  In the interim, I sealed off the heads as best I could and waited for the gasket kit to come in.  $60 for that, vs nearly $350 for the one for the Kawasaki 650 racer...

When the parts arrived, I began the reassembly.

4 valve, overhead cams, but with rocker arms.  Different for sure, and my first rocker arm engine build.  So far I have done Cam belts and Desmo valves (ducati), cam chain (everything else), gear driven cams (my RC51, but I didn't do anything to that engine), and now pushrods.  Neat.

Knitted together, with new coils from a DRZ400.  A good replacement, according to the forums.












I also did some work undoing the hamfisted maintenance of a previous owner.  This mainly surrounded the cooling system, so a bunch of parts were removed, cleaned (usually in simple green again), and then painted if need be.  For the radiator shroud, I ended up stripping right down to bare metal as wee rust spots were bubbling up under the paint.  Once bare, I used Hammerite Paint to put on a fresh coat.  I see myself using a lot of this stuff in the future.

The radiator itself has received some service, with fins being straightened, and a new paint job with proper radiator paint.  Waiting from some new drain bolt washers prior to installing the rad.

Next up was the seat.  There is no proper cafe seat pan made for the cx500.  Stuff can be modified, but as you can see, the frame has a goofy bend in it, that isn't seen on any other bikes out there.  With this in mind, I decided to make my own, starting with a cardboard male mold, covered in packing tape and sprayed with hair spray as a release agent.  Try it, it does work!  This is after I cut off a frame loop and replaced it (before cutting!!!) with two frame braces for seat and undertail mounting.



I am using epoxy resin (West System) -- this is aircraft spec stuff.  A bit more expensive that Polyester resin, but very easy to work with (when you have the pumps to dole out the proper mixture).  This also mates well with the microballons I will no doubt have to use when I start with a male mold.  The rear seat hump is from a Suzuki GS450 or something.  The plan is to mount a lithium battery under the hump.  I think I can also engineer it so that the hump mounts separately from the seat components.

Tail light (a proper DOT legal one) can mount to the back face of the seat hump.

Best non-creepy use of an old block parent sign?  The seat will keep me busy as several layers of glass and matt fibreglass will be required to make for a study base.  Then quite a bit of finish work will be needed for a smooth surface... much of which will be covered with a seat cushion anyway, but it is what it is...

Previous Owner (POs) making me PO'd

Started to strip the cx to turn it into a Cafe Bike.  After a day and a half, this remained in the garage.

Found out where the coolant was coming from:  the water pump is on top of the transmission, and the seal had failed.  The good news is, they were cheap -- around 5 bucks for new ones.  I picked up new ones online, and got a couple of spares. While stuff is going to go back on the bike, I think I shed at least 100lbs.  I did begin to note, however, the presence of a lot of blue silicon.  Like synthetic snot, it was tough to get rid of and sticks to everything.  A "repair" was attempted on the water pump.  Instead of doing it right and buying a 5 dollar seal, the silocone was used.

I moved to the front of the bike, and noted some evidence of hamfisted maintenance.  One of the clutch cover-case bolts was obviously over-torqued, or the wrong one put in, as evidenced by a crack in the case and.... MORE BLUE SILOCONE SNOT!!!

I've slept on it for a couple of days, and I think I can affect a locktite red/jb weld repair (when it warms up).  I'll turn the male bolt into a stud with a spacer and nut on the end.  The whole shebang only requires at most 10lbs of torque, so some idiot either put in a too-long bolt, or over-tightened things.  Sigh.

Other things I noted was cylinder heads pretty loaded with carbon.  That might be a project as well, to remove the heads, clean them, and check valves and etc.  The other plans at this point is to make my own seat, rather than buy something online.  I think it will be fibreglass with reinforced areas, and then get it covered.  That might change if something else comes available.

And it begins...

I've always wanted a Cafe Racer.  A lot of it, admittedly has to do with style.  Where I live, the realities of owning a modern performance motorcycle is the following:
1.  You have do drive/ride for hours to find any roads with curves in them.  Smooth roads with curves are nonexistent.
2.  Our riding season is short.
3.  My riding season should be great, as my job in education gives me summers off; however, summer is also the time for "getting things done" in terms of the house, holidays, and of course racing.  I have "given up" on streetbikes several times in the past as an expensive, fast machine has sat idle for days or weeks at a time, while I have been preparing to go to the track.
4.  I want to modify and customize everything.  Everything.  I've kicked the habit with cars we own, as I can now see them as simply tools.  Bikes on the other hand...  Modification is expensive, especially on new machines.  An older bike allows for tweaking and improvement on a much lower cost scale.
5.  The government in my province is anti-motorcycle.  Anything over 500cc costs in excess of $1000/yr to insure, and that does not cover fire, theft, or vandalism.  Count on double that for that coverage.  Add some extra power, and extra cost, and the price creeps closer to $2000.  My last bike, a 2006 Kawasaki 636, was nearly $1500/yr to insure.  That is obscene!

So the goal is to find an older (there is some relief given to older bikes), under 500cc machine that could be made into a cafe racer.  Obvious choices were honda cbs or Kawasaki KZ machines.  I though I had something when a 73 CB500 4 showed up on kijiji, but it was sold before I could get to it.  I also didn't want to re-do or un-do anyone else's work, and cheap was the order of the day.

So, I put a "wanted" ad up, and someone responded.  The bike in question was on the list in terms of possibilities, but it was, honestly, on the outer fringes of what I was looking for.  A CX500.  Liquid cooled, v-twin (mounted transversely, like a Guzzi), shaft drive.  There was one model line that was more desireable, with an 18" rear wheel and a cafe tank.  However, this was not the case. Worse yet, its former life saw it indignantly suffer as a Shriner's Parade bike.  When it rolled off the truck, this is what I saw...

It is huge!  These bikes were always heavy, but what made things worse in my case were the sturdy saddlebags, the crash bars, and the stock exhaust.

That being said, goal 1 of any cafe project is to lose some weight.

Massive headlight!  The price was right, however, and money changed hands.  At the price I paid, the bike was a non-runner.  I wanted to be very careful of how I spend my money, so I hooked up a nearly dead battery after replacing the very dead battery it came with, and got the headlight, horn, turn signals and idiot lights all to work.  I even got the starter to turn over a bit, but the bike was nowhere near running.  Just as well, as I need to drain the fluids and start from scratch.

The good news is, there may be some value in some of the items I want to remove from the bike, so that is always nice.  I have, already, purchased my first "new" part.  A pair of clubman cafe bars.  Let the games begin...