Renovation Time

[florence]

I love the bars on my bike.  Someone kindly put them on in the seventies and they have been there ever since - now impossible to find the same.

[florence]

and..

Only problem is I've just broken the clutch cable and having to wait a week for a new one to be made.

To bleed the brakes you have to move the master cylinder up the bars to a level position, then when it's done slide it back down again.

[z1100r]

 TA dah...!!!!!  was MoT'd this afternoon and ready to go...well almost ready ...just a polish up and few things here and there.

[mick]

Nice on Cyril  , thats a beauty  ,

there was a very tidy Brown one at wednesday bike night if its there next week i'll get a photo of it for you,

so you off to the TT on it ?, cheers Mick.

[UK Pete]

Very nice, you done that really quickly, i hope you get to enjoy it with this really good weather we are having
Pete

[Spitfire]

Nice job, that looks great.

Cheers

Den

[z1100r]

 Oh yes definately off to the TT on it next week now....been blasting about this afternoon, firing it upto red line and well over 100mph, she's flying.
Certainly cooked all the engine paint but also annoyingly have some leaks...one fork seal is pissing it out like it hasn't even got a seal, one cam end cover is leaking slightly, its one that i swapped because the one on my other engine was less work to polish, oh well Ive some new orings somewhere. Also one of my tappet covers has a large crack half way round it that I never spotted when i blasted it.

 Will order some proper Honda fork seals and send yet more pattern tat to my scrap heap, I'll fix the other leaks in an hour or less. Very pleased with it. Have to fit my screen though, the wind at high speed is horrendous.

[mickwinf]

that is one fine looking bike, well done mate

[z1100r]

 Why I've kept this bike all this time has all come flooding back to me over the last couple of days. I love it and cant keep off it. Its so pleasurable to ride compared to the modern stuff. With my 600 motor giving it mainly more grunt and the easy flickable nature and basic comfortable riding position its briliant.
 I didn't have engine oil leaks, it was the leaky fork firing oil over the engine. Will get the fork tubes re-chromed when I get back, just hope some original seals will do a good enough job for the week.

 Also will definately hang around on the boat to tie it down myself....its is now by far the best bike in my garage.


 Oil cooler plumbed up...looks like it was made for the job. Screen bodged on and works a treat. Vinyl tank protector stuck on where seat rubs..just been riding it about AGAIN...oohh lovely.

Florence....my bars were put on in the seventies aswell by the young bird that owned the bike...bars like this were readily available then for Triumph twins and the likes but you try and find some now - as you say.....I had to severely modify a new pair to get them even something like.

[z1100r]

 Ok 2 more problems.

 Carbs..  
  Looking at that pdf I posted my carbs came from a late cb500 K3 American bike, yet I know they came off a 'S' plate 78 550 K3 UK bike that was only 3 or 4 years old.
 My problem was with needles....The new carbs I have had E2349F needles as do a spare set of carbs I have, yet my old carbs from the K3 that ran perfect had these E2350F things. All though the bike seemed to run OK it was very rich low down with the 49's and my plugs were black. I saw that chart in the PDF and stripped my old carbs again to check this out...I swapped the needles over and all is fine now.

 Another thing.....I didn't know they did a 500 K3..?? All the carbs I have have 42 primary jets...I've never seen a 38 in one of these bikes.

  Forks..
    My K3 forks are shot to pieces...the legs are worn and pitted and the bottoms are worn out....they did do all the miles over the years and i shouldn't be surprised. I still have the original 500 forks and they are in very good nick even after kicking about my garage since early eighties. So last night I did some swapping about. The good 500 legs are now in the 550 bottoms and the seroious leaking is now fixed. The legs are very different but seemed to fit OK and should get me through the IOM after which  I'll get the 550 legs re-chromed and some new bottoms.

[z1100r]

Some odd pics i didn't post

[Bryanj]

500K3 was a European only model, was a 550 bottom end with 500 barrels and different bits in the carbs, only ever seen one in UK and that had been mis registered by DVLA as a tax exempt 1972 bike( don't tell anybody!!) Internals vary between 500 and 550 on forks but if you just undo the allen screw that holds the sliders on and leave all the internals in the legs, swopping complete, there is not usually a problem, until you forget what you did!!

[z1100r]

 Interesting about the 500K3...never heard of that bike.

  Whats weird is that the only needles that seem to work on my bike are E2350F yet all the carbs I have except the ones off that 78 K3 UK bike have E2349F. I have measured the needles and they only differ for the top 25% the rest of the needle to the tip is identical. The 50's are slightly bigger dia than the 49's at the top making them leaner at initial pick up and low revs.

 I'm fairly sure that the other 2 sets of carbs I have are from F models and both have E2349F richer needles, maybe the 4-1 required a richer needle.

 Finished the bike off completely yesterday, rear footpegs, seat adaptor plate for catch - god knows what the seat is off, but it fitted perfect execpt catch and is like new underneath so I dont care - catch now works a treat.

[SteveD CB500K0]

Show us the pattern on the top of the seat - that'll indicate which model it came from.

[z1100r]

I found out what it is now....I reread the ebay ad..doh..!!....'its a K0 seat, the one with the latch' it says..'not the plunger'.
  Well i didn't know they were any different all i was bothered about was a very good base with an half decent cover for less than the DS fibreglass shite that dont fit at all...result. Didn't read the ad that closely..it said cb500 four and I thought that'll do for me and pressed buy it now as quick as i could.

  I've made a neat adaptor plate out of 10mm ally to fit my plunger and its about the best fit seat I've seen. The pics dont do it justice, theres not a gap all round it and its totally original.