UK 500 fixer upper

[mickandsej]

Yep, just spent the last hour doing exactly that obviously ditching the speaker wires for the correct colours. Did the K2 have it on the bars or the frame? Got me thinking now!


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[florence]

should be on the frame, on the left, but hey, I would put it wherever if I were having to re-wire.

[mickandsej]

Could anyone show me how it’s mounted? I’m stripped down far enough to do it now. The flapping fob annoys me in the bars and it’s taking the paint off the idiot lights! My Triumph does the same but no messing with that one....


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[mickandsej]

I’ve made up a bracket from some old VW seat mounts, see how I get on with it. Didn’t even know it was supposed to be down there, I thought that was K0s only. Shows what I know! The “originality” rebuild went out the window early on when I realised what a mongrel I’ve got.....


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[mickandsej]

Good day today:
Relocated ignition switch to under tank.
Tidied up wiring loom under tank, added a fused heavy positive lead up to the headlight and fitting micro relays for horn, headlight (H4 conversion), and coils. Added an extra earth lead bonded to the frame. Wired horn to/from headlight, same for coil live side. Don’t think my kill switch is the best hence fitting relay, maximise voltage to new coils, caps and plugs. Already sorted static timing and last time out the bike was pulling nicely so should be even better.
Test fitted tank, no wires fouling.
Renewed head races, refitted forks, wheel, waiting on new pads. Rebuilt the caliper yesterday.
Renewed all brake hydraulics down from the master.

Tomorrow refit clocks, fit caliper if pads arrive, start building new sub loom in headlight for the above. Renew throttle cables and route properly. Refit rear mudguard and rewire rear indicators. Replace master fuse holder...


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[Johnwebley]

And what did you do in the afternoon??

Makes me exhausted just reading the list.

Keep up the good work


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[mickandsej]

Cheers! It’s not actually been that full on today, just 10/20 minutes on and off, hardest part was getting the bottom bearing off the tree, luckily I’d bought a blowtorch as I’ve got snapped studs yet to do.
These are the relays, not as small as I’d hoped but at about a third of the size of normal ones I can fit a few in the headlight bowl!

I’ll fit small blue crimps - remove the insulation then heat shrink over the crimps to hold them in place. I’ve removed loads of twisted wires and a few blue/red crimps and there won’t be any going back on!


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[Bryanj]

You will have to keep the revs up if you want it to charge with an H4 headlamp, mine did in the 70's but lets just say hooligan was slower

[deltarider]

Never ever had a problem running a 55/60 Watts H4 on mine. As a matter of fact my bike came with it and it certainly was on the CB550K3 for continental Europe which has exactly the same charging system. BTW, I wonder if that's why Honda went from one 15A main fuse, to a fuse box with three fuses on these latter models, knowing: 5A (taillight), 7A (headlight) and 15A (main).

[Woodside]

On that note
Did early 500's have a different air box lid.
I know they generally they have a tiny slot for a rubber fuse holder molded in that takes 3 fuses .?
But why 3 fuses ? When the electrical system only had the one in use ...

So have the lids always had a space for the 3 spares

[Nurse Julie]

On that note
Did early 500's have a different air box lid.
I know they generally they have a tiny slot for a rubber fuse holder molded in that takes 3 fuses .?
But why 3 fuses ? When the electrical system only had the one in use ...

So have the lids always had a space for the 3 spares

Yes Jason, 3 spares

[deltarider]

What a beautiful theory! And - moreover - proven in practice. Yes, it is all about robustness, folks. BTW, the 5A and the 7A fuse on mine are still the original ones. The 15A has been replaced a couple of times.

[Woodside]

I suppose that does make sense
As an electrician for 30 years I was always told when finding a blown fuse to just replace .if it blows again start fault finding ..and when pretty sure you had found said fault try again ......thats 2 fuses gone.
3rd one is possibly to replace the one you dropped and couldn't find ...

[mickandsej]

I think mine really needs a rewire, so much of the harness has been butchered, other parts are brittle, a lot of it is waterlogged. The principle I’m working to is track & trace fault finding in all the usual “barn find” areas, got it running, now running well, get it stopping, steering, bouncing, see where I’m going, tell others where I’m going, what’s that puddle, how fast will she go, ooh that’s rusty, but one day soon I’ll be able to jump on it, go for a blat on a B road, realise just how good it is, maybe use it for commuting, ride past that bikers caff where all the shiney weekend hogs park up (have to, its on my way to work...), relive the fizzy days of my yoof..
Sounds all poetic doesn’t it


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[deltarider]

Woodside, that's what I call robustness. From now on I'll have three in that grommet and another three in that little niche in the tooltray. That's for in case I forgot there was that grommet or - vice versa - that little niche. Yes, we're all getting older, folks. Now let me see, where did I leave my bike...
For those interested, I discovered a minor error in the wiring diagram for the CB550K2 (aka CB550 '76) on p. 172 of the Shop Manual Honda CB500-CB550 http://www.honda4fun.com/pdf_man_officina/pdf_manuali/CB500-550/CB500-550-K_09.pdf. The same error occurs in all three wiring diagrams of the CB500K2 (ED, F, G) aka CB500K2 GENERAL EXPORT. Forsaid wiring diagrams show the 15A main fuse fitted in the middle position. But... it's supposed to be in the last position, closest to the rear. So the order from front to rear should be: 5A, 7A, 15A just like the the cover and its grommet correctly indicate.