SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB500/550

Renovation Time

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z1100r:
 
 Well rather than just talk about it I started it last night. My poor old 500-4 has been sat in the back of my Horsebox lorry looking very sorry for itself.

 I dropped down the back door of the lorry and was quite shocked at the state of my old bike. They tyres were flat and one had left a black stain on the floor. It was covered in cobwebs and straw/hay...it looked horrendous. I went and got a pump and blew the tyres up, I lifted the bike off its stand and heard petrol sloshing about in the tank. A sudden panic set in, that petrol is 4 years old at least, oh no, not again. I'd parked a bike up before (motoguzzi) with half a tank of petrol and the top of the tank rotted out. I carried on and wheeled the Honda out into the dark, and finally down to my garage. In the garage lights the bike looked even worse.

 Oh well I'll get the battery charged up.....hahahaha...no chance, first, when I pulled the sidepanel off it shattered into a about 10 pieces...man they go brittle, I opened the seat and found a huge mouse nest...my airfilter had been eaten. I cleared the nest and all the mess away.

 I attached my charger/starter to the dead battery and switched on ign. Hmmm idiot lights are OK, press starter, Hmm it turns over OK. Open filler cap and blow hard, petrol smells quite off, but its not rusty in there. Right lets see if she starts. Those carbs must be gummed to hell. Well I tried and tried for 10mins and then almost gave up, all it wanted to do was backfire everynow and then. This was going to be my last attempt....I pressed the button, and without even hearing the startermotor it burst into life and sat there at 4,000 revs as smooth as you like. I knocked the choke off and revs dropped to about 1000 and she just sat there and purred. Fooking superb.


Right I'd better see what I've actually got in terms of new parts. I go off to find stuff I bought 10 years ago. Well I found the new rear hub, I found the 4 new pipes and all the brackets and fittings, new revcounter drive, 2 complete sets of cables one for 500 and one for 550, Gasket sets, extra head o rings and camcover rubbers. I could not however find, my new mudguards, indicators, grab rail, headlight brackets, rear light bracket and other bits. I'm just hoping they haven't been chucked away in some box I didn't look inside of first. This was real panic attack stuff, the problem now is I have nowhere left to look so its looking bad - and expensive.

I took a couple of pics that I'll post up later when I've got them off the camera. I'm not stopping now until its a tidy respectable bike again.

Spitfire:
This sounds much to good to be true ! I'm glad (and dead jealous) that you have been so lucky.

Cheers

Den

florence:
Hooray, these bikes can take some punishment certainly.  Be careful about revving bike hard if it has been standing.

Many years ago my friend resuscitated a CB550 which had been standing for a few years.  He took it for a really serious blast round the lanes but when he came back after a few miles it was smoking like mad.  When we pulled the barrel off we found that all the piston rings had been gummed up and had now broken into lots of pieces.  Maybe a strip down of the engine would be a safe precaution?

I would love to see pictures.  If it's rougher than mine I will be very envious.

matthewmosse:
Good start there, 500/4's are a tough cookie type of bike, I've bought 2 projects that have yet to get a look in and were pretty much sripped down to big lumps already, after a clean out of the oil galleries (stored with filter off) I simply bolted on what must surely have been the furryest carbs evet to the head, plus a set of pipes and a battery and tempoary fuel line and had a bench test of that engine to see what I was up against. It ran like a swiss watch, perfect tickover with a bit of a blow from the exhaust where I'd neither used new gaskets or indeed fixed 2 missing studs. The 500 carbs are probably the best I've found for coping with being stood, the 550k3 being really sensitive to old fuel or being stood.

basketcase:
Tell me about the K3 carbs!! My bike had covered only 63 miles in the last 3 years prior to me buying it, what a pig to clean them out. She runs now but still needs a good tune up. I now have a problem with the clutch.....replaced the clutch complete (metal and friction plates), cable, basket and the snail cam. Adjusted as the manual now the gears are hard to engage, getting worse as the bike warms up????? Any ideas folks?

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