Staffy's CX650 Euro
- Thread starter Staffy
- Start date
Staffy
It's not yours 'til you cut it up.
Well tomorrow is the day that all things going well she'll get some new legs. I've had some CX650 forks to replace the CX500 ones which are on there in the garage for a while but today I dropped them by a friends place. Tomorrow I'll be riding down there and we'll be making a day of it fitting the right forks which means I'll finally have a fork brace on the front. It's about time as we've done the fork seals on the left fork twice now due to it elongating under the torsional forces. Not good.
stroker crazy
crazy as a fox
Staffy-
I hope you've taken the tinsel off!
Crazy
I hope you've taken the tinsel off!
Crazy
Staffy
It's not yours 'til you cut it up.
Popped round to a mates place today to change the front forks from the braceless 500's to the nice and clean 650 ones. Got in about 10 and didn't roll out the drive until after 6pm. Why so long?
This:
That WAS the circlip from the right fork leg. It was so badly corroded that the eyelets had rusted away and it was about 3 hours to remove using screwdrivers, cold chisels and heat. It took a lot of messing about but now it's done.
The bike has now gone from this:
To this:
We also had to utilise one of the 500 fork tubes as one of the 650 ones was too far gone. The good news is they are identical and a straight swap.
The other good news was this little surprise:
The stock springs are about 480mm free length with a spacer on top, but both forks had these springs which were around 540mm free length with no spacer. We could only assume they were replacement progressives or from some other model. Either way they worked well in the bike on the ride home so there's no complaints here.
Also, just for the hell of it I chucked on a shadow tank. Not too bad methinks.
This:
That WAS the circlip from the right fork leg. It was so badly corroded that the eyelets had rusted away and it was about 3 hours to remove using screwdrivers, cold chisels and heat. It took a lot of messing about but now it's done.
The bike has now gone from this:
To this:
We also had to utilise one of the 500 fork tubes as one of the 650 ones was too far gone. The good news is they are identical and a straight swap.
The other good news was this little surprise:
The stock springs are about 480mm free length with a spacer on top, but both forks had these springs which were around 540mm free length with no spacer. We could only assume they were replacement progressives or from some other model. Either way they worked well in the bike on the ride home so there's no complaints here.
Also, just for the hell of it I chucked on a shadow tank. Not too bad methinks.
stroker crazy
crazy as a fox
Staffy - the tank definitely looks the goods, a better shape than the original.
Crazy
Crazy
Staffy
It's not yours 'til you cut it up.
I had a really long day today. The quest was to overhaul the cooling system and wire up the manual override switch for the fan. It's tucked in neatly by the throttle so I can toggle it on in heavy traffic if the temperature starts to climb a little as the fan has a tendency not to come on from time to time.
I've got it all done but only just sat down. The thermostat tract was really bad and needed a good tidy up which took a large portion of the day. The tubes which run between the thermostat housing and the elbows looked like this:
After hitting them with a wire brush on a drill, soaking for 5-10 minutes in diluted rust converter then letting it dry (repeated this process 3 times) they came out looking much better:
I also think I found the fault which was causing the fan to cut in and out intermittently. I think this dodgy wire may possibly have had something to do with it....
Nevertheless it doesn't matter too much now as the override is in place, but I think I should go back in there at some point and replace it. I'll do that at the same time as replacing the sensor so that I can do away with the honda genuine plug and run fresh wire to the new connection.
This weld has broken too:
It shouldn't be too hard to solder up but I don't have the gear or the know how to tackle it. I reckon there'll be someone around who could help me out with this.
So the only hassle I had today was after everything went back in I realised I had two issues. The clutch cable was outside the radiator *headpalm* (but it's being held in place with the chrome shroud for now), and the left elbow in the cooling tract from the thermostat is leaking.
I have a vague recollection that the CX500 did this too when I did this fix a couple of years back and eventually it stopped as the o ring just needed to bite in and seal. As usual I used a liberal amount of KY jelly to help slide everything into place as well so this may be helping to cause the problem. For this reason I ran the bike for about five or so minutes then I parked it in the shed and came inside.
I'll run it again tomorrow and see if it's sealed up. If not I'll blame the o rings that came from the gasket set and go down to gardner bearings and buy some correct sizes. I had to pop the thermostat housing gasket in the fridge to get it to shrink back a little so it would fit as it was marginally too big so next time I won't be relying on these o rings. I'll buy the correct sizes individually instead.
For future reference the part numbers I used today were:
I've got it all done but only just sat down. The thermostat tract was really bad and needed a good tidy up which took a large portion of the day. The tubes which run between the thermostat housing and the elbows looked like this:
After hitting them with a wire brush on a drill, soaking for 5-10 minutes in diluted rust converter then letting it dry (repeated this process 3 times) they came out looking much better:
I also think I found the fault which was causing the fan to cut in and out intermittently. I think this dodgy wire may possibly have had something to do with it....
Nevertheless it doesn't matter too much now as the override is in place, but I think I should go back in there at some point and replace it. I'll do that at the same time as replacing the sensor so that I can do away with the honda genuine plug and run fresh wire to the new connection.
This weld has broken too:
It shouldn't be too hard to solder up but I don't have the gear or the know how to tackle it. I reckon there'll be someone around who could help me out with this.
So the only hassle I had today was after everything went back in I realised I had two issues. The clutch cable was outside the radiator *headpalm* (but it's being held in place with the chrome shroud for now), and the left elbow in the cooling tract from the thermostat is leaking.
I have a vague recollection that the CX500 did this too when I did this fix a couple of years back and eventually it stopped as the o ring just needed to bite in and seal. As usual I used a liberal amount of KY jelly to help slide everything into place as well so this may be helping to cause the problem. For this reason I ran the bike for about five or so minutes then I parked it in the shed and came inside.
I'll run it again tomorrow and see if it's sealed up. If not I'll blame the o rings that came from the gasket set and go down to gardner bearings and buy some correct sizes. I had to pop the thermostat housing gasket in the fridge to get it to shrink back a little so it would fit as it was marginally too big so next time I won't be relying on these o rings. I'll buy the correct sizes individually instead.
For future reference the part numbers I used today were:
- Top and bottom radiator hose - Gates number 02-0031 (from repco) Ford EA falcon/fairmont 1988-89
- Radiator cap Repco brand RC50-13 (cross references to the CPC 543-13 radiator cap. In fact the repco one has CPC stamped on it)
- Dayco thermostat DT15A available from Repco.
- Castrol antifreeze/anti boil mix 50/50 with demineralised water
- The switch is a Narva 2 way toggle (part number 60290BL)
Staffy
It's not yours 'til you cut it up.
I went out for a bit of a ride today to clear my head and when I got out to Port Adelaide I came across an old building near some disused boat launching ramps on the river. I couldn't help but pull over and grab the phone out to take a few shots with a retro camera app.
JustinLonghorn
No Purple Hearts, No Blue Ribbons
Yes sir, I can dig it!
