CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer ( CARB QUESTIONS )

Tetter

CB500F Café / CB750 K6 / Kawasaki Z750
Hi all,
I have been reading along for a while, and decided to make a topic of my own.

I own my 1975 CB500 Four for 3 years now.
It was a genuine barn find, it was in a corner behind tractors and other farmer equipment.
But the nice thing was that it ran !
We hooked up some starer cables, used some startpilot, schortcutted the starting relay and it fired up almost immediately.

This is how i bought it.
Foto-6LAERMIS-D.jpg


I painted the tank, rough polished and painted the engine, painted the wheels black, nounted some new Conti Go tyres and mounted clipons
I do not want the bike to look to "clean" so the polishing is just done with steelbrushes on a hand drilling machine. It should look like it just came from the track, not from the showroom 8)
Foto-UOQFYCPP-D.jpg

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In my opinion the original tank was to small, and after some time I bought a Suzuki GS850 gastank, painted it matt black and fitted it on the frame.
Also bought a nice handmade aluminium soloseat, mounted an headlight with brick guard from an Yamaha offroad bike.
All parts came from internetshops, e-bay and or smap meets
Foto-NSS7F46Q-D.jpg


This is how I have been riding for the first year, I cannot imagine anybody on a new bought bike having more fun than me driving my own build !
Foto-XP88AHWC-D.jpg

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In the winter I moved the electra and batterie underneath the seat, and sanded the side off the tank to bare metal.
Foto-ITLCX6U8-D.jpg


That summer the engine broke downduring a trip with the misses on her Honda CB-1 :mad: so i changed it for another one, and as i was working on it made myself a home made 4 to 2 exhaust with replica short megaton mufflers, and wrapped the exhaust with heatwrap.
As you can see on the pictures all work has to be done outside, or in my small bike shed.......
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Got my hands on a complete Ducati goldline frontbrake with adaptors to fit the CB :)
Foto-S7JUWMNP-D.jpg

This really imroved the braking, which is not the best with the original parts....
After that i also needed to impove the front suspension.
I added 2cm bushes on top of the spring and filled the fork with 15W in stead of the original10W oil.


Unfortunately the bike has not ran properly since I have mounted the new engine.
Too bad the guy had already sold the carbs :eek: those would have been better I guess.
There is enough compression, the valve clearance looks fine, and the ignition is also spot on.
But still the bike was not running like it should, it wouldn't hit the ton !

That is why this winter a carb revision is planned, together with the mounting of an electronic ignition with Boldor coils for a better spark.
The carbs have been cleaned ultrasonic, and a complete revisionset mounted. Jets, needles, o-rings, all new and fresh :)
I now first want tof fire it up without the electronic ignition, to see if it runs. ( if not i know where to find the problem )
If she runs, I will mount the new ignition and hope for a better starting bike.

I will keep the topic updated with the improvements made this winter.

Hope you enjoyed the story so far.
Regards from the netherlands :)
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

That is a hell of a bike - hope you get your carb woes sorted out. Do you have more pics/info about your exhaust work? I really like those headers.
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

That's a mean looking build. I like your style.
+1 on hoping you can get it running sweeter.
:)
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

Love it. I love a bike that looks both loved and used at the same time. That's how it should be.
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

Thanks for the positive replies. :)

I already have some plans to perform when the engine is running smooth again.

As I run open carbs I need to have some kind of rear fender, but I'm not fond of the original plastic one.
I'm thinking of mounting an Aluminium plate as on the below pictures.
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Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

After that I want to get the rear swingarm out, replace the bushes for new bronze ones and reinforce the arm.

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I really like this one ! It really stands out, but I'm not sure if it will work with the brake rod ( from the pedal ) and the chain.
The chain should go beneath the original arm, and over the "brace" I guess.
I'm sure the brake drum arm can still fitt on the original mount.

I think on buying an extra swingarm to experiment a bit ::)

If it does not work, I could go with a less visible version.
Foto-SPJGZXBP-D.jpg
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

I wish it was.... ::)

Sure looking for a Tank with knee dents, but as I also would like to keep the sides bare metal those would have to be hammered in. The dents on the last picture look like they have cut them out ,and welded in new material.
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

Just a pic from my phone of how's she looked after mounting the Ducati Brembo brakes.
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She's at the same place in the shed right now.
Wanted to fire her up this saterday, but I strained a mussle in my chest on thursday and need to take rest for a week !
( nice pain medication though....... :eek: )

Next week I'll fire her up ::)
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

sooooooow I could not wait till Saterday..... :-[

Took some extra pain medication :eek:, and hooked up the revised carbs.
Tried to fire her up, but the batterie was dead.
While charging I figured to use the time to mount the Boldor bobs, with new "old style" ignition cable.
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Mounted the tank and some new filters...

And she's back alive ! ;)


Next stop: elctronic ignition.
Already waiting for mounting in my shed ::)
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Update Januari 28th:

Yeah !
Just mounted the elec ignition, so easy, plug and play.
Starting is so much better now.
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

I'm thinking of buying a vacuum balancing gauge to balance my new revised carbs.

Anybody any reviews on this set ?
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Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

Just thought i'd update with a picture.
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You can see the new mounted finned dyno cover, and the suble orange cotton "old style" ignition cable.
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

I got them here in the Netherlands from a company, but googling on ignition cable cotten found this shop in the USA.
http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=736
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

Got a number photoshopped to the seat, what do you think ?
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Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

Tetter said:
I'm thinking of buying a vacuum balancing gauge to balance my new revised carbs.

Anybody any reviews on this set ?
Foto-TJ4TW37S-D.jpg

i have that one. works fine. i havent been able to use the brass extensions as they dont fit my carbs so the needle bounces a bit, but the plastic T's allow me to dial the bouncing down just fine.
 
Re: CB500 Four Dutch Dyke Racer

@DP9
I already recieved them from the UK, saved a couple off bucks ::)
Seem to be fair quality for the price.
Now waiting for the snow to clear and the freezer temps to go up, before I will try to balance the crabs though.

@YogiBear.
This was a photoshop mockup, I wanted to build that, but for me they did not work out. ( to wide from the frame )
I now handbuild a 4 into 2 with short Megaton mufflers.

But close call, ;) as the picture is indeed from the Benji Cb750 4 into 4 set.
 
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