'76 CB500t Cafe racer

lolz@piston :lmfao:

ive done worse :blush:

 

the studs were a bit worrying when i was getting them out

 

They were fine after running the dye down them mate loads of crud came out of the threads like wise when I put the tap down.

Mart, I was just glad I didn't tighten the studs all the way up lol

Managed to get a bit more done this afternoon, fitted the cct, neutral switch, oil filter, new oil pump,clutch pack and rotor for the alty/magneto.
I need to repair the wiring that runs from the windings, they aren't broken just the insulation has come off.
Everything is turning over nice on the kickstart and I'm getting all the gears on the lever!
I'm going to run the bike without the electric boot so I've done away with the starting clutch, sprockets and the chain for it so now I need to get an ally plug made to bung the hole where the starter comes through the casing.
I bet last time this ran it made a right row, the rotor was full of metal shavings off the screws that worked loose on the starter clutch!! Managed to get the worst of the stuff out tho.
Should have the head on by the end of the weekend or early next week but I'm going to give that a coat of satin black 1st!

 

getting there mate

 

Looks great wish I had the skills to do this

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Thanks boys!
Lee trust me mate I've done some spannering before and do it everyday for work but I've made some whoopsie's doing this, it's all a learning curve mate the 1st lesson I learnt was to buy a Clymer manual and file 13 it because it's shit!! and that the oil pump comes out with the clutch basket lol.
I just wish I had more time to get stuff done, but it's a project and something I've wanted to do for ages!!
Life is too short bud, get looking on the tint find a shed, get your hands dirty and re build it.....you know it makes sense!

 

Looking good fella, black barrels on silver block looks period and right for the look....

 

what kind of polishing? im thinking of polishing my wheel outer bits if that the polishing your talking about

 

Once ive booked my holiday I'm gonna look for a bike to do as a project, any recommendations for a first project

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can sort that for you, reckon would look better on spoked wheels though

 

Been a while since my last update sorry
Anyway I've been busy with work and a new baby so spare time to spend on the project is like rocking horse poo atm.
I nipped the frame and some other bits over to Carl (Bloke) for blasting, even though I haven't been able to spend much time 'hands on' I've been buying a lot of parts in for her.
After blasting I needed to do some repairs to the frame, weld the seat loop on and de-tab bits and bobs on it.
I've managed to get it painted up with satin black coach enamel, so that's all done now ready to go.

The engine is finished and sat on the bench.
Got a ruck of polishing to do, started the top yoke today

The majority of the ally is pitted quite bad. Started with 120 wet and dry, 240, 400 then brown compound, blue compound and finished with some autoglym metal polish. It's 10x better but still not quite happy with it :/
Anyone got any tips on how to speed the process up? Think I spent about 6 hours plus on that!

 

would say start with 240 or 320 compound on a stitched wheel and see how that goes. could even try 400 as a start and f that works fine then stick with it.

don't use solvol, it's quite abrasive in the scheme of things, for a final polish use belgom chrome. before that though you want to clean with white spirit, this gets rid of any grease and left over compound then wipe it over with vienna lime, make sure you use a very soft cloth.

and don't forget the golden rule of polishing...the shinier you get things the dirtier you get

 

yup, certainly have.

 

The problem with badly pitted alloy is the amount of metal you need to remove to get through the pits to the good alloy underneath.

You could go for a more 'brushed' look to the finish (instead of the shiney bling look), this tends to hide any imperfections a little better. Just use a slighly more abrasive mop and make sure you always polish in the same direction.

 

am away for a couple of days, give me a shout when you want them doing though.

 

Project's looking good Tom!

 

Ok managed to get my swing arm back in and the new shocks fitted.
Not really keen on the look of them so will probably change them eventually.
Going to be putting the engine back in tomorrow with help from the bro-in-law, it might start looking a bit like a bike then!
Once I've done that I'm going to rebuild the wheels, I've got new spokes just waiting on new bearings and head race bearings to arrive then I can put the forks back on.
Tonight I will be wire wheeling and polishing all the engine mount nuts and bolts......rock 'n roll.
Meh

Swing Arm in

Shocks on

Ps thanks for the polishing tips fellas!