1982 CX500 tracker

[frozenhawaiian]

so 4 months at sea with decent internet and seeing the rive gauche CX 500 trackers I decided to build on when I got home. well here we are, found myself a very ugly $250 1982 CX 500 custom. she's rough, clearly been dropped a time or 2 if the dents in the tank and broken blinkers are any indication. but it turns over easily and has good compression and wasn't leaking any fluids anywhere so I think she'll do nicely for this project.

time to start striping off the old.

one question for you guys right off the bat. the OEM front brake master cylinder is shot and I wanna put on an aftermarket unit. I'm looking at this unit from DCC, it's a 14mm piston, would that work with the front brake unit on the CX 500's?

 

[nrcb125]

one question for you guys right off the bat. the OEM front brake master cylinder is shot and I wanna put on an aftermarket unit. I'm looking at this unit from DCC, it's a 14mm piston, would that work with the front brake unit on the CX 500's?

This will explain the master cylinder to caliper piston sizing: http://www.vintagebrake.com/mastercylinder.htm

Keep the master cylinder the same size as stock (which looks like it's 14mm anyway).

 

[cxman]

check all your paper work

that is a 81 cdi bike

not a 82 ti ignition bike

82 bike would have transistorized ignition and dual ignitors 250 watt stator (g8)

and a dual piston front brake with a different rotor on the 35mm forks

 

[frozenhawaiian]

damn you guys are good, thanks for the info.

 

[frozenhawaiian]

finally had some time to work on the bike today, 6 and 7 day work weeks aren't leaving me much spare time. anyhow, more progress getting the bike stripped, hoping to have things ready to pull the engine out of the frame in another day or 2. as I go along I'm finding more things wrong with the bike that need fixing. pulled the throttle controls off today to find the throttle cable was almost completely rusted through so that will need to be replaced. I think Im also going to replace the clutch cable just to be safe.

I apologize for the poor photo quality, took them with my phone, I'll bring my real camera out to the garage with me next time.

so here's what she looks like at the moment

to my surprise the headers came off with minimal fuss. the pre chamber and pipes were a bitch to get off.

anybody need some CX parts?

so the pre chamber or crossover chamber, whatever you call it is pretty had it. got it off the bike and was poking as some of the rust with an old screw driver and the tool just went straight through the damn thing. before i go to the trouble of finding and then buying a replacement, is this thing really worth having on the bike? or should I just get a length or exhaust pipe for each side?

most of my parts have come in the mail.

 

[cxman]

scroll down this may be easier

http://cx500forum.com/forum/cx-customization-modifications/20432-new-quick-build-exhaust-6.html

 

[frozenhawaiian]

scroll down this may be easier

http://cx500forum.com/forum/cx-customization-modifications/20432-new-quick-build-exhaust-6.html

bingo. that will fit the bill. what the purpose of the pre chamber thing anyway?

 

[frozenhawaiian]

another question for you pros. I've seen a lot of the builds people do they get the engines bright and clean, like factory new looking, is there a particular product/process people are doing to get the engines look to spiffy and clean?

 

[Steve F]

another question for you pros. I've seen a lot of the builds people do they get the engines bright and clean, like factory new looking, is there a particular product/process people are doing to get the engines look to spiffy and clean?

Paint That's what the factory did

Cheers
Steve

 

[frozenhawaiian]

Paint That's what the factory did

Cheers
Steve

gotcha, I was wondering if it was a stong degreaser and elbow grease then some sort of product that shines the metal.

 

[Steve F]

I soda blasted mine and then painted, Been good for 5 years now. I've seen one polished but it's a lot of work.

Cheers
Steve

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[frozenhawaiian]

I soda blasted mine and then painted, Been good for 5 years now. I've seen one polished but it's a lot of work.

Cheers
Steve

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

got a photo of how it came out? and what paint did you use on it?

 

[Steve F]

got a photo of how it came out? and what paint did you use on it?

Sure, when I got it.

And a few weeks ago after years of riding

The paint was just heatproof acrylic lacquer silver, the rocker covers aren;t heat proof, I did those a year ago with a non heat proof paint as a test and it's held up just fine.

Cheers
Steve

 

[frozenhawaiian]

Sure, when I got it.

And a few weeks ago after years of riding

The paint was just heatproof acrylic lacquer silver, the rocker covers aren;t heat proof, I did those a year ago with a non heat proof paint as a test and it's held up just fine.

Cheers
Steve

thats looks great. I don't have access to a media blaster at the moment but I suspect I could find one

 

[cxman]

duplicolor 500 degree engine enamel is what most of us here use

 

[frozenhawaiian]

thanks for the info guys. I'm back to another work week so I won't be able to get much done on the bike for a few days. I'm still hunting around for the rest of the parts I want. found a set of headlight brackets that I dig.

http://www.theonlinepartsshop.co.uk/high-quality-pair-of-33mm-diameter-cnc-machined-headlight-brackets-fork-clamps-for-motorbike-motorcycle/

I like the machined look much better than the stamped brackets that are more common, I also like that I can mount the front blinkers to them, the stamped variety just look cheap to my eye. before I pull the trigger on there are there any other companies out there that I should be looking at for similar parts? also what width headlight should I be looking at for this bike?

 

[frozenhawaiian]

got rained out of work this afternoon so I had a few hours to get some work done on the bike. got the rear wheel off, the gauges are off and I'm in the process of disassembling the front end. ran into one hiccup which I could use some guidance on. I'm trying to get the front wheel off, whats on the bike doesn't match whats shown in my clymer manual so thats not much help.

here's what I've got.
right side:

left side:

so how do I go about getting this bad boy off, I took off the nut/bolt holding the axle on the right side, as you can see there isn't one on the left. I looked for the set screw on the speedo mentioned in the manual, couldn't find it. on the right side, is that nut what needs to be unscrewed and then the axle tapped out?

where I'm at currently. weather looks like I may get rained out again tomorrow so I'm going to try and get the frame and engine separated by the end of the day tomorrow.

 

[cxman]

you dont have to pull the screw out of the speedo drive

spray some pb blaster on the axle from both sides then unscrew the axle the axle can get frozen to teh spacer in the wheel

use a drift punch to push it back out of the wheel dont lose the spacer on the right side it normally stays stuck in the wheel

keep track of it

the speedo drive will drop with the wheel and just stay on the end of the cable

 

[frozenhawaiian]

will do, it got a healthy dose of PB blaster before I went to get some lunch. needed to walk away before I lost my temper. I'll give it another go when I get back to the garage.

 

[cxman]

http://cx500forum.com/forum/general-discussion/10-quick-reference.html

scroll down a bit and you will find all sorts of stuff

but your bike has the correct front end so something is wrong with your clymers

so here is a link to the factory service manual your bike specifics are covered in section 23 marked 81 addendum

https://docs.google.com/folderview?id=0B6EDVo72Y5BfNjlkMjVjZGYtN2RjNi00ZjhmLTlkY2MtMTFjODVjY2IwYThk&usp=drive_web&hl=en&tid=0B6EDVo72Y5BfMDEwYmExZWEtMzZiZS00YjdlLWFiODEtZDQwNmVlNDM5YzE2