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Messages - Roxy John

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1
CB500/550 / Re: Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 31, 2023, 11:01:03 AM »
The 'pilot jets' you are refereing to, I'm assuming you mean air/ fuel mixture screws on the outside of the carbs?

Yes Julie, those are the ones I meant - I've revised the wording so it makes sense!

(Thank you for the o-rings and the note  :D )

2
CB500/550 / Re: Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 31, 2023, 10:43:34 AM »
Morning all, just another thought on the annoying hanging idle - when I dismantled the carbs, the air/fuel mixture screws were between 1.75 & 2 turns out. When I rebuilt, I installed all screws to 1 turn out as per factory spec. I've been having a read on t'internet and fancy having a play with these screws before stripping everything down again, however, I'm not sure what would be the best procedure to adopt when adjusting - do I set idle to 1000ish and then turn screws in/out and see what happens? Or set to 2000ish and do the same?

I've got the vacuum balancing gauges so can ensure all in sync but I'm not experienced with setting up carbs and don't want fiddling with one thing to cause more problems than I already have! Any advice appreciated.

3
CB500/550 / Re: Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 28, 2023, 10:31:37 AM »
I was out for about an hour covering verge-lined lanes and a bit of dual carriageway - I'll keep my eyes open but reckon the chances of finding it are pretty slim... If it's visible from the car it's likely to be scuffed-up pretty bad and if it's rolled into the verge I've got no hope! Will probably just have to put it down as "one of those things"..... :-(

4
CB500/550 / Re: Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 28, 2023, 10:15:20 AM »
Ah, thanks Bryan - I didn't take the manifolds off last time. I've ordered the kit from Julie so will have a play this weekend.👍👍

5
CB500/550 / Re: Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 28, 2023, 07:57:05 AM »
Thank you Oddjob & Julie - at the very real risk of looking like an idiot, when I took the carbs off, I didn't find any o-rings like that.....🤔🤔. I'm guessing that they sit inside the carb to inlet rubber boot jobbies and seal between face of carb stub and cylinder head?

Regarding the generator cover - it was a new one, fitted by previous owner.  :-[ Must have shaken loose when I was hurrying along a bit on Saturday. Coincidentally I had to re-trace part of the route in the car later in the day and had a cursory hunt as I drove along but no luck.

6
CB500/550 / Re: Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 27, 2023, 05:15:27 PM »
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354154761826?hash=item527544ce62:g:57gAAOSwt~9iyFMV&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0Ihxg7lWlgyHaFk4hgMBd%2BjxT5faV3GbWHzg8ElFWifVm%2BUJR8q8q0c4zW5ve9JV2HoLFoPYvsmO%2FSNgG2ikl0KZ0HfWsQFCq9TrifVJYqamNGDQi%2F6lWRrr3FtaohdoBt%2Fzbu9vpo1PLEtSAcxG9JhbsHKNE2rN%2BL9S9%2Faf4S9dlGPmU2wCabTAwQodm4ExuskN%2BQdT4Ov6r4F3CnO1TVTG%2Bzo7xN%2Be3tkU8RsyTOgGC0buzD7GwM%2BaV%2FYMs4ykw09XN%2B9lU6RxksCYyoh2Im8%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5Tt_rvkYQ

Or

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203778550584?hash=item2f7225eb38:g:eLIAAOSw-ldh0aZV&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwMRnPMXyr1txyl8SX8U5Fla5zb3k4%2Bt7D75c3CMHMx5JX6tiApmxWi%2BhNyLwb29E46T6vp4k6v9FjkrZA36nplnP4H%2Fyp6IQUEuC%2BJFcJnCy9N28IWC5aiGTYPWxcc0kn2cpiifXyVf2v5ZiRIBSGOG%2FuoY5T8sytXwn7LAjByEvjmV5Fk%2FgbE6LYsj%2FKa1efCUmg5cQbgED7O84knuFO%2FjhGq0BCDiNWala1axa2NozNx8J0bvk9TNW%2F0kOFOdT6g%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR47ijbzkYQ

I bought one from Shire Bikes, the seller above, last year and it was £46 which I thought was dear then.

The cover is held on my 3 small spring clips which grip the pegs as they are inserted, they are only mild steel and tend to rust to bits, that causes them to lose grip and the cover falls off. Buy new ones or you'll lose the new cover as well, cover them in grease before fitting to protect them as well.

The other alternative is to fit the generator over off a 550 which looks the same except the Honda logo is actually part of the cover and you can't lose it. The only downside is you can see the 3 screws holding the field coil in place. Finding one in decent nick is the hard part.

Like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354463125979?hash=item5287a611db:g:Mo4AAOSwnw5joE48&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0JnuH4kpS0aBZfxSPo4YVeHdJzOr9vskzZwSJYOurfuFtU5SDkal6%2BFlpNVquh7iu3wrKIO58ct02GgxkXojng2owRkUYgVgI17hOjl%2FDNnPCSONM5pp6mQcvScLBRASXS%2FcvaLBnS1YVJH7DtRYcgg%2FOP70c9%2BV4T2vQN3u0Qm%2BWGxh%2F5lrxF91OaS5VOLMytF3lFBRRvA9rQVSe3ps9UQGD3stdcML0F8QJnE3UwJqDSA%2BCoCO8XMDRemS8HVQgN5O9lpsA0SBRzuY3uynB5I%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6KnurzkYQ

Ah, many thanks for that Oddjob, much appreciated. I'll go with the Shire Bikes one 👍👍

7
CB500/550 / Re: Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 27, 2023, 02:15:21 PM »
Hanging idle is nearly always attributable to the pilot jets and/or pilot drillings. I put my carbs through the U.S. cleaner several times without success and eventually had to use aerosol carb cleaner in the pilot jet ways, sequentiality blocking the three points of entry/exit. I used STP carb cleaner, two tins of it. I then heated the pilot jets to ‘ash’ any fuel deposits and then pushed through the #40 jets with #38 probe. It worked, the hanging idle disappeared and the throttle response returned to factory standards.

Thank you for that - sounds like that's what I need to do then. I've got plenty of STP carb cleaner so will take it all to bits again. Not a job I relish but has to be done! Thanks for your help 👍👍

8
CB500/550 / Mid-Suffolk CB500 Update & Parts Enquiry
« on: March 27, 2023, 11:28:19 AM »
Morning all, it's been a while since I last posted so I thought I would update after the first proper ride out after a lot of tinkering.

Saturday was pretty much the first dry weekend day for ages so I took the CB for a shake-down trip - approx 30 miles around various lanes and a bit of dual carriageway. When I first got the bike in January it wasn't running well and was very reluctant to start. Fearing a blockage in carbs after I cleaned the tank, I stripped the carbs, ran them through the ultrasonic cleaner and re-built with Julie's o-ring kit (thanks Julie - excellent service and very good price!). The floats were all over the place so set them all to 22mm and vacuum balanced when all back together.

I also fitted 4 new plugs, new battery, changed oil & filter and checked & adjusted valve clearances.

The bike still doesn't want to start easily but once fired-up, settles to a nice even idle. However, during the ride on Saturday, when pulling up to junctions and waiting at traffic lights, the idle hung around at 2000 (ish) rpm before settling down and felt like it would die at any moment. I pulled on to petrol station forecourt and it did indeed die. It fired-up again having filled up and while riding, responds well to the throttle, pulling very nicely throughout the rev range with no hesitation well up to 8000 ish - any ideas why it may struggle at idle? I wondered about an air-leak but have sprayed carb-cleaner over all the inlet rubbers and no change in revs. It has the DSS electronic ignition which is set correctly.

Also, rather annoyingly, I lost the generator cover plate during the ride - I can get one from DSS but £90.... anyone have a spare or are they so rare that the price is the price?

Cheers, Phil




9
New Member Introductions / Re: Hello from Mid-Suffolk
« on: February 07, 2023, 01:03:38 PM »
Hiya, funnily enough I was in the garage last night and remembered your message so took a pic of the GT's adjuster but obviously couldn't recall exactly what you had asked for! I'll get some side-by-side pics tonight and hopefully remember to post them tomorrow! In the meantime, here is the GT one.


10
CB500/550 / CB500 Two weeks into ownership update
« on: February 03, 2023, 08:33:00 AM »
Following the warm welcome I received in the "Introduce Yourself" section, I thought I would provide an update on things I have discovered so far, with my '75 CB500K1.

(Firstly, many thanks to those who responded to my first post, especially Oddjob and Bryan, who have taken time to provide lots of info).

The bike landed in my garage on Monday 23 January, having been driven up from Kent by a pal from work, whose friend had rebuilt the bike in 2018 but he sadly became ill in 2019 and hasn't used the bike since then. On the face of it, the bike looks really nice, so I'm hopeful of a bit of a tickle-up in the garage (who isn't?) and we should be in business.

First thing was to give her a clean and determine which bits needed attention - she hasn't been ridden or cleaned since tackling a few laps of the Isle of Man in 2019 so there was a bit of road-splash but nothing too serious.

It was apparent that there was a bit of rust in the tank - not too bad, but worth some action. I drained the tank and although the fuel was quite orange, there was no jelly or black nasty stuff in there, just a few tiny flakes. I did some research and it seemed as though the easiest and potentially less problematic option was to try a citric acid solution and see what happened. I bought some citric acid powder online (it's about £6/kg) and mixed up enough at 1kg acid to 10 litres hot water and brimmed the tank, leaving it overnight to do its' stuff, then drained it and re-filled with the same and again left it overnight. I had read about "flash rust" appearing immediately following draining this from the tank, so mixed-up a litre or so of petrol with a dollop of 2-stroke oil ready to pour-in after emptying-out the acid solution.

I emptied the solution into a big white bucket and it was pleasing to see it had turned a bit orange and had some small flakey bits in it but no big lumps of anything. I shone a torch inside and it looked much better, so poured in the petrol/oil mix and sloshed it around for a while, then emptied it out, flushed with another half litre of neat petrol, then filled the tank with fresh Esso Supreme 99.

I drained each of the float-bowls and again, some slightly orange but clean petrol filled my little tin up, so rather than disturb the carbs, rubbers, airbox and all that lot, I instead crossed my fingers and remembered it's a Honda.

As mentioned in my Intro thread, the throttle and clutch cables seem quite stiff; the throttle cables had been passed down through the gap in the tank-side of the clocks then along the right side of the frame  ::), so last night I re-routed the throttle to make it run a bit easier; I sent it around the steering head, through the hole in the frame where the coils sit and on to the butterfly jobby - there is an improvement but the throttle still won't close on its own... further investigation required - I've got some WD40 silicone arriving today so hopefully a squirt of that might help; if not, I'll order some new cables. I'm not sure where I need to send the clutch cable yet so any advice gratefully received!

A new battery (together with 4 lites of mineral and an OE filter) arrived from DS earlier this week, so having popped the battery on charge on Tuesday, the temptation to give it try was too great to resist.... I had poured some light oil and several squirts of spray-lube down the plug holes a day or two after delivery and for a few days after, so having tried a few tentative gentle hand-prods on the kickstart with the plugs out during the last week, I was happy that everything was (hopefully) free.... I had cleaned and gapped the plugs while they were out and the previous owner installed electronic ignition, so I hooked it up last night, connected a temporary fuel supply, kicked it over a couple of times with fuel off, then fuel on, hit the button and she burst into life, immediately chiming-in on all four. As Captain Millyard might say, I was well pleased with that.

I'll warm her through over the weekend and change the oil & filter so everything is fresh.

The right hand pair of exhausts don't line up at the balancer pipe - I've read about bracket alignment being something of a dark art, so will have a look and see if I can suss-out what's wrong there. Failing that, I have got several hammers, so I'll sort it one way or another.  :D Again, any advice on this would be most welcome!

Anyway, that's plenty of rambling so I'll update if anything interesting happens over the weekend!

Bonjour for now, Phil.





11
New Member Introductions / Re: Hello from Mid-Suffolk
« on: January 27, 2023, 08:45:11 AM »
All UK 500's were K1 models and in 75 it would have had a K2 engine as Honda were producing 500K1, 500K2 and 550K0/1 all at the same time for different markets.
75 would probably been the last year the 500K was available and may have had the disc shield from new, the rear grab rail is not from a 500 as far as i know but looks ok.
If you pm me the full frame and engine number i will see where they fit in my list of numbers for you.

Many thanks Bryan - PM sent 👍

12
New Member Introductions / Re: Hello from Mid-Suffolk
« on: January 27, 2023, 07:50:50 AM »
Hi all, many thanks for the welcome!!   :D Julie's bike looks a belter - I'll be getting the polish out at some point and that gives me something to aspire to!

Thank you Oddjob for all the info - I've only had the bike since Monday and haven't had a chance to check all the details yet but you've given me some really useful info, especially about cable routing, which may be the cause of heavy action in both cases.

I suspect mine is something of a bitsa, with frame and engine numbers suggesting that the former is K1 (2069###) and latter K2 (2158###) but it matters not to me - I'm just really chuffed to have got it in the garage. I'll check the chain adjuster blocks on the GT over the weekend and post some pics. The horn button is only that - not the combined pass/horn jobby.

Thanks again and I look forward to the next few months tinkering!
Phil

13
New Member Introductions / Hello from Mid-Suffolk
« on: January 26, 2023, 12:52:48 PM »
Hi all, I've just added a 1975 CB500 to my garage to provide some company for my 1974 Suzuki GT550 and I'm looking forward to the contrast  :) Wasn't really looking for another bike but a guy at work has a pal in Kent who restored the CB in 2018 but it's hardy been ridden since and he needed to get rid of it.

It needs a bit of a freshen-up; very slight evidence of rust in the tank and the throttle is stiff so will get the tank soaking in citric acid & water and hopefully whip the carbs off this weekend to see what we've got. I don't think it's been fired-up since 2019 so have squirted some oil in the plug holes and will see if she turns over in a few days. The clutch lever is also quite stiff but will investigate further when time permits.

She needs a battery and I'll do an oil & filter change before going any further - luckily I'm not far from David Silver (who supplied all the bits for previous owner to build it) so will undoubtedly be making a few trips over there during the next few months  :)

Looking through this forum it looks to be an excellent source of info so look forward to learning more about the bike!

Cheers,
Phil

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