My Turn

So I think my battery is beyond fried. I don't know the load numbers on it right now but at the terminals it was 11.5. Dropped to 9 with the key on. Dropped to 6 with the light on (and no lights would even come on). I hooked up the car battery to it and got 12.5 at the terminals. 12.2 with the key on and 12 with the light on and it cranks over fine. Does this sound poor? Also...when I go to Dime City Cycles (a supplier where I get a lot of my parts) they have like 12 different options for batteries for my bike. How do I know what I need? I know some are gel on the inside and fancy small batteries designed to fit under a cafe seat that cost $150. Right now I think I just want a battery to put in the stock location.
 
Bit of an update. Tank is back on for now and I got the tail light installed. Also bobbed the rear fender another inch. I think I like the way it's looking but not sure. Spent a lot of time staring at it tonight.

 
Cover the battery. Trim seat to less seat and it will have more of the race feel vs beach cruiser. Drop the reflectors and pass foot pegs. Shorten up the front fender or put a streetbike style fender on.
 
I'm still waiting on a buddy of mine to finish up replica side covers (I'm done buying covers on ebay and having them crack). His are made with modern plastics but look the same as the originals. Also...this is version 1.0 of this project. Right now I'd like to get it road worthy for the summer. This fall it will come all apart and get a different seat (same as the one on the 550 above), frame will maybe get chopped and simplified, rear fender will be gone and I'd love to try to to make a carbon front fender.
 
Ya if you shave the mounts for rear pegs and cover the battery it'll clean that area up a ton. A shorter front fender will make it look less skinny and big up front.
Rear fender delete will make it look less stock. It's all a process lol.
 
Got a new Yuasa battery installed yesterday and all the electrical issues are taken care of. Stopped and got more acetone, denatured alcohol and toilet bowl cleaner and will clean the inside of the tank again. Red Kote was waiting on the step when I got home so I hope to line the tank this weekend and give it a week to dry. Then the tank goes back to Virginia for paint along with the side covers. And I scored some parts off ebay the other day and they should be here soon.
 
I hope to have it roadworthy real soon here but we'll see. It's gonna need new tires so that's gonna be about 200 that I need to plan for. I also have been talking to a guy who is up in Denver and is extremely familiar with this bike and its electrical system. He makes upgrades for it. He's going to make me a modern fusebox and ignition to make things more reliable. I also need to break down and buy the gauges to sync the carbs (they're about 100). I'm taking a MSF course once school is out and then I'll be able to ride it a bit and know if I want to keep it or sell it off.

I actually like the look of the full front fender but only when it runs two sets of struts. I missed a set on ebay two days ago but scored a set yesterday for 30 so they should be here real soon. If I like this thing and it doesn't scare me then I'll make plans for version 2.0 next fall. I have a pretty good pic in my head of how I'd like to see it turn out. I also found a guy with several 550 motors and he said he let one go for 250 (if I kept it I'd eventually like to see one of those motors go into the frame). It's sure been fun to play with.
 
After a lot of searching, I finally found some fender struts and they are in excellent shape so I jumped on them. I really like how they changed the front end.

 
I also made a call to talk to the welder of these pipes.



Stainless. Gorgeous welds. Incredible sound. Guy worked for Yoshimura in the 70's and has done all kinds of team work (including Isle of Mann). I'm in line for this but I'm worried about the tuning.
 
Tuning should be pretty straight forward on the bike, its not an old car at all. Just got to figure out the right size jets. Remember, its better to be on the rich side than the lean side.
 
Today I cleaned the inside of the tank out again. This was the second time I've done the job so it wasn't nearly as bad this time. I used The Works toilet bowl cleaner and several gallons of hot water. With corks in both holes of the tank, I swished that around several times and let it sit for an hour and percolate. Drained it and washed the inside with soap and water. Blew it out with compressed air. Ran some denatured alcohol in it and blew it out again. Then I carefully ran acetone through it and blew it out one more time. It's sitting and drying now. I may give it 5 hours and then do the Red Kote liner but I also may wait until tomorrow. Want to really make sure it's all dry.
 
Well the tank is lined now and probably dry but I'm going to give it another 24 hours. If it's nice tomorrow evening up here I may fill it and see if it starts up.

Today another piece of the puzzle arrived in an alternator cover. There were two different kinds used for the CB500/550 motor. This one has been really hard to find. It's basically a badge plate that pops onto the alternator cover where as the other style actually bolts on. I suspect it's hard to find because this one is flimsy. I found this one in Minnesota and scored it from a guy doing a restoration and this one just wasn't good enough to keep (he probably spent $200 on a NOS one). I, on the other hand, have much more time and sand paper than I do money. I started sanding tonight and got the biggest scratches removed already. I hope to get it nearly done this weekend but we'll see.

 
Not yet Jim but I will once the weather gets nicer and I can run the grinder outside of the garage. I hate messes. I still need to work on the left side motor cover a bit more and use a polishing wheel on it as well.

I put some gas in the tank today, kicked it over once and the motor fired right up. I road around the block a few times. Next up is the vacuum sync the carbs.

 
And if you get a crappy El Paso county or cspd officer they will write you a ticket for improperly mounted plate.

I used to keep my plate under my seat. Having it but not mounted because something 'broke' $20 ticket.
Improperly mounted ticket cost me $180.

:dunno:
 
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