81' CB650C & 72' CB500F UPDATES

81' CB650C & 72' CB500F UPDATES

 The first half of this post pertains to the progress of my 2nd Cafe Racer build with the CB650 Custom.  The second half are for the 72' CB500 Four.  Things are moving along slowly but surely.  My minimal cash flow is dictating the speed of this project unfortunately.  I don't mind taking things slow because it gives me time to make good choices and avoid mistakes which can be costly.  

Towards the end of last week I had a buddy of mine weld on some tabs for the new rear turn signals.  I don't have a welder or knowledge of how to do it so I had to outsource this bit.  As you can see they match the front ones from an earlier post I did.  Unfortunately, before trying to install them today I realized they were welded too closely to the rear shocks and wouldn't allow the bullet turn signals to fit.  It was an easy fix to pull them off, grind down the rough edges and re-weld them.  After a little black spray enamel I was in business.  They look great!  The following two pictures should give you a pretty good idea what they look like.  The wiring needs to be done for these and the rear taillight yet.

Say "goodbye" to these exhaust pipes!  More updates on that next week.

As far as my second CB500 Four project go, I made a little more headway on that this week.  The master cylinder was removed and disassembled.  I've never rebuilt a master cylinder before but I figured this would be the perfect opportunity.  The one I took off the bike was pretty dirty as you can see.  I cleaned all these parts and ordered a rebuild kit on EBAY for around $25 dollars.  That's what is in the plastic packaging on the left.  Due to the fact that I didn't have snap ring pliers I had to make a trip out to Home Depot to get some because there is a snap ring inside the cylinder shaft.

Once you remove everything out of the shaft, this is what the insides look like in the order they are removed.  Pretty gross and dirty.  The new stuff is so fresh and so clean!  After some vigorous cleaning of the inside I was able to get started installing the new parts.

 Below is the final product!  I'm really proud of myself for accomplishing this on my own.  I'll be much more confident in doing this again in future projects and it will be easier now that I have all the tools I need too.  I already installed it back on the bike, only to find that the lower front brake lines are going to have to be replaced as well.  Ugh.  Well, if it's not one thing it's another with these restorations.  I'm going to check out 4into1.com for what the cost of that would be.  I just bought one for my other CB500 but it was through EBAY.  There may not be another used, working one up there yet.

I also received the Yuasa battery I ordered like two weeks ago.  When I ordered it I guess I didn't take into account that they don't ship with battery acid in them, so you can imagine my surprise when I received it and started reading through the directions about installation.  I was naive in thinking I'd just pop it in and attach the positive and negative lines and be ready to go.   Nope.  Luckily, Huntington Beach Honda fills batteries with acid for free.  Loving that!  After they filled it up for me, I plugged it into the charger for about 6-7 hours per the directions.  After a long await, I installed it and eureka, I had lights!!  The right turn signals were sticking a little and the taillight needs to be examined as it wasn't attached when I bought the bike and didn't light up with the rest of the bike.  It could be a burned out bulb or incorrect installation on my part.  I'll figure it out.  

That is all for now!  Thanks for reading!