Ken's (oddjob) 500/4 resto??? Where are you with it?

[Rozabikes Tim]

Hi Ken,

Now you're back in the fold Ken,  I have been desperate to know how your 500 resto is going? Really enjoyed the old thread and your fanatical attention to detail.

[Oddjob]

Sorry Tim, missed this. So busy with my bathroom project I don’t have time for anything else.

Where is it at? Ready to start rebuilding the rolling chassis, frame has all the welds sealed, it was then powder coated. I still need to fill the inside of the frame tubes with zinc paint, drain it off and then do it again with Waxoyl. When that’s done assemble the front end. Most of that is already in sub assemblies, bars are finished, clocks are mainly finished, just need to sort out my digital voltmeter which lives inside my tacho, might fit that at a later date though. Forks and yokes are done, brakes are done, wheels are not. Fitting my Lester mag wheels and they need ceramic coating and the rims and spoke edges polishing. 80% ready for the coaters, haven’t decided on front guard yet, might fit standard chrome guard or might refit the 900fz blade I had fitted previously, needs a repaint though. Rear end is ready to fit, Marzocchi dampers are done, they turned out well. Engine hasn’t been touched yet though, got a bucket load of new parts to go in that including a set of NOS 550 barrels, new pistons, rings etc. New shells if it needs them, clutch basket renovated with new damper rubbers, 650 primary chain tensioner being fitted as well. Was planning for this year, might make it, might not. Missus wants me to do the house first and tbh I feel that’s more important than just thinking of myself, so if I’ve got some free time I’ll do a bit and if not then what’s another year, it’s been going on for so long now another won’t matter much.

I do have some plans to improve the bike, side stand warning device for when you set off with it down, plus a few others I’m still planning out, like an hydraulic clutch conversion, some engine improvements to gain a few bhp, nothing radical, still needs to be rideable. Coming along but haven’t done a single thing to it this year yet.

When it does happen it will be fast though, expect a month from first assembly to finished project, it’s just starting it that’s the problem. 😁😁

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Be good to see some photos as you progress with the frame build Ken, we like piccies.

[Rozabikes Tim]

Ta Ken for the update.

[deltarider]

[...]
I do have some plans to improve the bike, side stand warning device for when you set off with it down, plus [...]

I'm interested in this. Long time ago I had a switch connected. It was a small container like one of our condensers. It was filled with mercury. It worked but hasn't lived long. It has spilled the mercury in the environment  . Those who own a model with that dreaded turn signal buzzer, could use it to alarm you, when sidestand is down with the IGN ON and kill switch in RUN.

[Johnny4428]

I think this is a very worthwhile mod on these old bikes. Twice last year I set off with the side stand down!😳 There are probably so many ways to wire it up, I thought about having one wired to kill switch wiring. Haven’t done anything about it yet but have been looking online at switches. Trouble is I’ve got three bikes that need this mod. Even the old “matchbox” has got the spring loaded one that retracts on its own.😜

[Oddjob]

Actually wiring it into the indicator buzzer was one of the plans, I've set off with it down so many times, in fact on inspection the side stand has a slight bend upwards, caused no doubt by hitting the road quite hard, this caused the stand to ding the exhaust pipe closest to it, always wondered why it was doing that. I'm also fitting an adjuster bolt so I can stop it going to high in the future. I'm considering using a side stand sensor off a modern bike, mounted on the rear nut, either connected to the kill switch so the engine won't start with it down or to a warning device like the buzzer (which I have) so you know it's down, still refining the idea. Need to get the stand straightened first, tried using heat, couldn't get it hot enough to glow, need Oxyacetylene on it and a press.

I'll document all the mods, you can either copy them or laugh at them 

[Bryanj]

Could you not utilise a rear brake light switch Ken

[Oddjob]

Think it would look unsightly Bryan.

[Bryanj]

OK but i remember a bloody great big tin box on the Z 1000 doung the same job

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Trying to think outside the box as to a suitable switch:-

Can't remember what car it was, back in the day some had a mercury switch for the boot light.

House door alarm sensor has a magnetic proximity switch.

I never work out how the interior light worked on our old Jeep WK as there were no visible typical door shut switches on the doors or in the frame.

Does anyone already make a kit suitable  for older bikes?

[Johnny4428]

Surprised that there’s not just an after market kit that has been developed just to fit to these old bikes, there’s plenty of them about to justify the development of such an accessory along with wiring details. I would buy at least one.

[Laverda Dave]

When you say you sealed all the welds Ken, where were the welds exactly and are they uniquie to the 550 or common to other models? I ask becuase the 400/4 has a bit of a reputation for rotting on the lower left frame loop at the sidestand mount so maybe the water finds its way into the frame tube via weld?

[K2-K6]

For the sidestand "switch" you could possibly use a bicycle derailleur cable as they are fairly small and available with stainless bowden material.

If you fit two ferrule, one in each end of sidestand spring, thread the cable up through the bottom one so the nipple is captured in that end, top ferrule bored to accept outer cable, then as the spring is moves in down position (spring is left more extended) it'll pull that cable.

Route the cable up along the frame into underseat area to mount a suitable switch there.

Switch wiring, could go to earth and T into one of the points to coil leads. Stand in down position switches that line to earth and cuts two cylinder out. It'll then stall if set correctly to run on all four.
But critically, it would give you an element of fail safe should it activate inadvertently, allowing you to have some control over pace in that eventually. 

Honda and other's have some level of fail safety built into loom via neutral light status etc.

[Oddjob]

When you say you sealed all the welds Ken, where were the welds exactly and are they uniquie to the 550 or common to other models? I ask becuase the 400/4 has a bit of a reputation for rotting on the lower left frame loop at the sidestand mount so maybe the water finds its way into the frame tube via weld?

I noticed when I was stripping the frame of all it's paint prior to having it powder coated that all the welds Honda did, not seam welds, but welds where a lug had been welded to the frame, lower front engine mounts for example, they were spot welded rather than seam welded, this allowed water to get under the lug and essentially just sit there and rot the frame over time, made worse because there is no paint under there to stop them. The more I looked the more gaps I could see, it is for example why the 500 tends to rot out the exhaust brackets welded onto the back of the frame, where the pillion foot rests go. Water run down the frame tube, into the gap in the weld and then drops down to the bottom of the bracket, there is a drain hole there but it's small and not always in the right place and sometimes people don't see it and it gets painted over. There are gaps everywhere. So I decided I'd get them all closed up before having it powder coated, cost me about £50 IIRC. Now they are all seam welded and no corrosion can get under them. I was talking to the welder and he pointed out all the drilled holes in the frame tubes, blow holes for when it was welded originally, without them the welds won't close as the air can't escape, so I decided to use those to gain access to the inside of the tubes, I bought a meat marinading needle set, very thick needle, so should be fine for thin paint for instance. I now intend to fill each section of the frame with a thin zinc paint, this should coat the inside of the tubes and stop any further corrosion, I'll then drain out the paint and reuse. After I've done all the frame I thought I'd do the same thing but this time with Waxoyl, can't hurt and you never know, might just work better than the paint. So the frame is now sealed outside and in, hopefully that should stop any corrosion and rust happening in the future. I won't live to see the benefit I don't think but my lad who will inherit my bikes will see the benefit with a little luck. I even intend to zinc paint the inside of the headstock, it does get rusty as I've found out, and the inside of the swinging arm, had those welds closed as well.