Renovation Time

[Bryanj]

Everything on a 550 rear hub/brake is different EXCEPT the brake shoes and bearings, can't remember if they can be made to fit or not

[AshimotoK0]

I'd love to know where the Homdacrome man gets all of his bits from particularly mudguards. I guess the USA.

I wimped out and got my 750K0 paintwork done by a pro. Did my 400/4 in '86 though including the F2 pinstripes. I reckon that modern paints must be a real pain though.

Cheers Ash.

[z1100r]

 I've bought a complete backplate from the US....the seat arrived today and fits like a glove...its bloody perfect, sits on all the rubbers lovely and came with an additional new seat cover, strap, and chrome strip. Original cover isnt bad and will do for now. Of course thers a problem....the catch plunger doesnt fit...must be off a different bike with a different catch system. Base is like new, and not been restored, foam is not great and is collapsing a bit. I can make a real good like new seat from the 3 seats I now have though. Gotta fabricate something for the catch...no problem but more time I haven't got.

I could machine the wheel or the back plate and make it fit but figured I might aswell get the right thing. The sprocket side fitted fine. Never gave it a thought in the eighties when I swapped it, just stuck the K3 wheel in complete and binned my old 500 wheel cos it was completely knackered.

What else did you think was different Bryan.

I changed my mind about the petrol tank stripe...its going to be the original 500 shape now cos it will be a dammed site easier to do with this soft paint.

[SteveD CB500K0]

I have emailed "Hondachrome" over the years.

He buys his stuff in California. His prices are pretty good - even though they have increased substantially over the last 5 years.

If I needed a mudguard - I'd buy one from him any time.

[HondaFour]

Have you tried paints4u on the internet? They do very good quality stuff and over

[z1100r]

Thanks for the input guys..I was starting to get depressed about how things were falling apart. One of my mates came down tonight and asked if he could have a looksy at my 500 cos he'd heard the old direbladder was having a makeover. He's been collecting 500's 550's and 400's for years and been pestering me for mine for about 10 years. He's been collecting like 20 years and has 3 lock ups full of them. I forgot he might have some of the bits I want. He saw the bike and was gobsmacked...he was that impressed he rushed home to get his camera...where did you get that new engine from..and where the fook did those new carbs come from..holy crap, Is that a new frame yours was never gonna come out that good...holy shit dude thats impressive...that cant be the race engine...whats that oil cooler off...fooking hell you better get yourself a good lock....NO, you cant take that to IOM it needs to be in a museum. Yeah yeah ..OK.

Then the missus came down with a cup of tea for us and said "Wow, is that what you've been talking about, is that the old thing that was in the horse box..bloody hell it looks new, I like that".

I'm dreading going to bed tonight...I know what the question is going to be......"HOW MUCH"

[Bryanj]

Brake cam, brake operating arm, hub, brakeplate, all the spacers, sprocket carrier(sprocket fits same but 550 has more teeth than 500) and thats from memory when i tried to put a 500 assembly in a K3 with F swingarm

[SteveD CB500K0]

Have you tried paints4u on the internet? They do very good quality stuff and over

[z1100r]

 Blimey ... I reckon I just visited DS for that last time. It cost me

[matthewmosse]

If you still had / have the original hub then relining it is not that bad a job and there was a chap in Huddersfield mentioned in cmm who did it for

[z1100r]

 Yes, I did think after looking at the problem that it would be easy to sort if I really wanted to.

   Then I thought hang on a minute...!! I've got a genuine brand new 500 hub here, do i want to be putting it in a lathe and machining it. Ok so I'll do the back plate...arrgh thats OK but then it still looks like I have a K3 back wheel and my mate will be round going.."thats wrong"..!!! Also I wont have a backplate for my old hub - and I might reline that. I mean if I do end up doing another winter on this bike then some  old wheels and 4-1 exhaust will be straight back on..no messing.

 So for a

[matthewmosse]

Personally I like to have a spare wheel with good tyres in the shed in any case as tyre changing using leavers in winter and in a cold workshop fails to amuse - I prefer to wait til summer and just swap the whole wheel when the tread wears out. If I ever invest in shiny new wheels or rebuild using new rims then I may well be sure to keep them out of winter use in favour of a set of alloys or comstars getting the winter treatment. I've always been inpressed with how well a 500 copes with winter use, I have had bikes half the age where the frame has rotted clean though in a few years of all weather use which is one reason a 500/4 is one bike I'll always take a bit more trouble to keep going. The quality is frankly brilliant throughout.

[z1100r]

 All the wiring is back on and the rats nest in the headlamp is all connected back up. A nightmare for me because of the different switch gears and wire colours. Have left that switch gear on for the moment. Sort the CX500 stuff out when I get  back from IOM.

 So what did I do this weekend.. I was in the garage all weekend but achieved not very much. It was painfully slow progress fitting the exhausts...the new mounting brackets are not good and need alot of fannying about with. I found a couple of my old very rusty brackets and tried those ... perfect. I then spent ages rebending the new brackets to match the old. My new brackets are a 10 year old pattern set from DS..the pipes are all brand new in original Honda boxes bought 10 years ago aswell.

 My mate came down with a scabby old rear brake backplate for me.....now that was a nightmare...it had been chromed in the past and there was bits of stuck chrome and mega corrosion. I vapour blasted it, filed it, sanded it, vapour blasted it again. I was going to polish it, but thought sod it, and painted it. The new pattern shoes didnt even fit - they need copious amounts of filing at both foot and mounting eye.

  Only piece of luck I had was that my original 500 wheel spindle with all its spacers and nuts has been poking out at me for years and years on this shelf without me really seeing it. I thought ..arrrgh I know what that is now and went straight to it and it all fitted bang on. I gave up last night  at 01:00am this morning.  

[z1100r]

How do the rear indicator brackets fit to the frame on a 500. Is there a rubber somewhere..

[Bryanj]

From memory the braket bolts to the rear mudguard bolts--no rubber, unless its a US model of course