New member, new project - 73 CB500 Bobber

andrewhass81

New Member
Hello all. My name is Andrew. I'm currently working on a 73 CB500/Four. I have swapped to clubman bars, bar end mirrors, and replaced my bar mount. I've cut and ground down the frame and will be welding in supports to move the shocks forward shortly. This bike will eventually be my wife's, so it won't be too heavily modified. She made me promise to finish my other project, my 69 Chevy C20, before I start on my bike. Pics should be up shortly of the progress. We're going for a classic look, very simple, old school, and on a budget that's as small as possible. Pretty much everything is done by me, in our garage, with what tools I have or borrow. Any advice or comments will be greatly appreciated.
 
Welcome! My advice is to post pictures before you're consumed by the ravenous hordes.
 
And now for some pics...


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This is the start of my project. I had just got her home. We picked her up for $800 last year. She barely ran. I cleaned the carbs, put in new plugs, changed the oil, and filled her up. After that she ran like a top.


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Just getting her home


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I decided I didn't like the look of the old pipes, so I cut them and painted them black. I put around ten coats of high heat black, then baked it on with a hair dryer. It worked out well, but took forever. Next, I'll be heat wrapping them black, except for the tips.


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Battery and wiring area before I started cleaning it up. Shortly after this picture, when I had everything put back together, I went to start her one night and a short in the wiring harness caught fire. Hooray for crotch fires!


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New bars and mirrors. This is still before it decided to catch fire. I'd like to say that I found the culprit, but the wiring was so bad on this bike that it literally could have been anything. I have my manual, so I'll be building a completely new wiring harness shortly.
 
Here's some more pics. This is how she's sitting as of this week. I'm not supposed to be working on her. I have severe sciatica and may need surgery, but I couldn't resist taking advantage of the couple of decent days we had. It's been shite weather here (I'm in Spokane WA, good old PNW) for so long, that I was just happy to be outside without freezing to death.


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How she's sitting.


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That's a sweet ass.


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Right


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Left.
 
My assistant, hard at work.


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He decided he wanted to clean the valve cover while I changed the oil. It was completely covered in a 1/2 inch of black nasty when he started.


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I'd say he improved it.
 
Very cool man! Love the bike, and the truck. You should get some shorty shocks instead of those solid struts though... Just my 2 cents... Thats awesome that your boy gets involved. Keep the updates coming!
 
Shocks are on the top of the list for replacement. I hate the look of those struts and will be replacing them as soon as I can.
 
Welcome! I'm running some hillbilly struts right now and shocks are next on my list too. I remember when i could fit under the hood of my dads '74 Custom 10. Now I don't think that fender well would hold my fat arse now.
 
He loves it. Give him a rag and he'll go to town for hours. He's not a huge fan of the grinder though. He thinks it will set us on fire.


I did some more work today. Pulled the carbs so I could do some cleaning. The top of my trans was gross. I'm pretty sure that I cleaned about an 1/8 inch of nasty off the top.
 
More work done. I got bored and decided to pull the carbs, so that I could clean the transmission. I also pulled the struts, because let's face it, they're just..... stupid looking.


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This is probably 3/4 of the way done. It was filthy.


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Clean!!! You could eat off this, assuming you like the taste of cleaner.


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Goodbye struts.


And now, because work is, you know, work..... A SANDWICH!


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.....with tater tots, because tater tots are awesome.
 
My tax return cleared my bank account 10 minutes ago. It's 4:30am in my neck of the woods. Perfect time to order some parts. My wife is asleep, so she can't say no. I should not be allowed to have access to the internet on this little sleep with money in my wallet. The interwebs set fire to my pockets. Clip-ons, full electric ignition system, shorty shocks (11in), tail light and plate holder, and a couple other odds and ends. I may be in trouble tomorrow. Meh.
 
hey man, welcome and nice biuld so far.
i have a cb500 1973 real fun to ride.
whats the plan on the rear end, hard tail or short shocks?
are you planning on rejetted the carbs for the exhaust, i would. i ran open ended pipes for awhile, and it worked ok.
then i rejetted, and it was better. then i picked up a 4-1 exhaust and wow, what a defferance. night and day, it was a lot more responsive and more noticable while passing.

seat wise what is your plan? brat or bobber?
nice to see another 500f up on here, keep us posted.
later.
 
I am waiting on my shocks to arrive. I ordered a bunch of new toys for her this last week. My new ignition system, coils, and wires came. I installed those and will put some pics up soon. Next is clip ons, springs, and other..... stuff. Pictures will come when I get it all on.
 
Picked up my new single seat and seat springs from a local shop. Chop Sui Motors here in Spokane WA. The guy that owns it is awesome. Really nice, super fair prices if you happen to be in town. Plus a guy from our local boards is possibly coming through to get her all wired up. If the local bike salvage yard has my throttle cables, she may be on the road tomorrow. I am still waiting on a couple of things to finish her up from Dime City, but she will be road worthy before that. Pics tomorrow!
 
So, no luck on throttle cables. I did get my seat mounted and started polishing my carbs. PICTURES!!!


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After
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They were really nasty. Here's a side by side.
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New coils and electronic ignition installed.
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And now.......... how she's sitting.
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I'm still waiting on a box from Dime City. I can't wait till she's done.
 
Parts came in. My clip-ons and springs arrived from Dime City. I lowered my front end and put the clip-ons on. Put the new springs on. She is really coming together now. Pictures soon.
 
I cut the fork covers off. My forks are super rusted underneath. I ordered new headlight mounts from Dime City and will be cleaning up the forks and putting the new mounts and headlight on when they get here. I'm going to take her over to a buddies house and make up a fender and rear hoop where I cut off the old stock hoop. I found a guy here in town who is going to take my old throttle cables and make me some new custom length ones. I found another guy who is willing to come over and wire her for pizza and beer. I have a May 7th deadline for show and shine at my church. I'm hoping to have her on the road in the next two weeks so I can iron out any bugs that she'll have. I have to have back surgery this summer, so this is pretty much my only chance to show her off before I can't ride for a while. I'll post some more pictures here soon. I broke my phone (it's probably not the best idea to have it on my garage floor after a few beers while I'm working on the bike) and my camera and my laptop don't get along very well. I'll post pics here quickly when I get them to like each other.
 
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