Honda CX 500 first Café build

The filler has gone off enough to scrape and sand back to the markers and get the rough shape



I'm gonna let it dry for another day then give it a 2nd fill



While I had the heat shield off I gave it a crafty refurb



And pop riveted it back together



Another box ticked.

Got in tonight and gave the pod a quick sand



Then gave it a coat of PVA to seal it



While I was waiting for thzt to dry I decided to lower the rear seat mount



after grinding it off I chopped off about 2cm from both sides.



I have got a few bits and bobs to weld so I'll do them all at the same time.



I went back to the pod and stuck on anothe coat of filler, and tomorrow it will get a sanding with 120 grit.



Then turned to the radiator and gave that a cleas up. I think I'm gonna get it recored as its a bit forked.

The pod is just about ready for a final fill then a sand with 220 grit then I'll make the base



The engin was really cruddy so I removed the fan and gave it a clean



The fan wont be going back on as I'm gonna do an electric fan conversion.

Looking good Bud, keep up with the commentary and piccies :-)

OK, on to the base

I placed a section of 12.5mm ply on to the frame and marked a center line on it, then from the front marked back to the pod 330mm and sat the pod onto it.



I marked round the pod and marked up the front of the seat



The it was a quick wiz round with a hand saw and jig saw for the curvy bits.



I need to do something with that gap under the seat above the frame



I cut some blanks and ran a plane over the edges to bevel them as I want the sides to taper out



Its important to get both sides the same so take care doing this



Well then, I'm not a 100% on the shape of the sides but I can always chop em.



Starting to look a bit more cafe now.

I got stuck in to shaping the front of the seat edges today after removing the fixing screws. The glue is really strong and I'm less likely to damage my blade by removing them.



Its not that easy to see, but I sanded the base about 1mm smaller than the pod so I can fill it and get the two to blend



Its a bit easier to see how the infills taper out from the front of the bike.



Ow!!! I forgot about this. A real stumbling block was removing the fan as I didnt have the right tool for the job. Basicly its an M14x1.5 bolt, but the tool costs £7.95.

I had a bit of a mooch around on ebay and found a Mercedes car wheel stud is also an M14x1.5 but only cost £1.75.

Bit more filling and it starts to come together.

I cleaned the engine Thursday evening with Gunk then washed it off with soapy water



This afternoon I had a bit of time to kill while I waited for filler to go off, so I went over the engine with a dremil to brighten it up a bit.



Rocker covers are going to be powdercoated black along with the clutch cover, oil filter cover and the tops of the carbs.
I'm gonna do a bit more to the engine to brighten it up but I think I might take the heads off, re-seat the valves and polish the inlet ports.

Well thats it then, final sand is done and its ready for 3 or 4 coats of pva then lots of waxing

While the seat is sitting in wax I decided to make a start on rebuilding the heads, so after removing the carbs (4 x 9mm bolts) I popped of the rocker covers.



The plan is to polish the inlet ports, reseat all the valves and new head gaskets.
For a 30 year old motor I was really pleased to find the barrels were in first class order



Apart from a bit of gloop the tops of the pistons look great too.



The face of the heads need a good clean so thats my next job



Just a very light going over with some fine sandpaper is all thats needed, just to remove any old gasket and crud. be carefull not to damage the surface of the head.



I find it a good idea to keep everything organised so you know what went where and how it goes back together.



These are great little engins to learn on because there aint much to them.

This bit always bores the pants off me



Wax on........... Wax off.......... Wax on..........

looking good really impressed with seat unit out of interest are you going to change cam chain and tensioner as they are a real bastard to do as the whole back casing has to come off.
cheers
Steve

You're really hammering on with this one, impressed my friend, very impressed. BTW Like the 'fighter in the background, funny how some of us can't leave things alone, fighters, chops, bobs, trikes, cafes, it must be an inherrent urge to be different!

Pud wrote:

looking good really impressed with seat unit out of interest are you going to change cam chain and tensioner as they are a real bastard to do as the whole back casing has to come off.
cheers
Steve

Hi mate, I see you are only about 10 minutes down the road from me, I'm in Harwich.
I hadnt thought about the cam chain mate but now youve flagged it up its somthing to consider.
Thanks for your interest in my project and your positive input.

pauliexjr wrote:

You're really hammering on with this one, impressed my friend, very impressed. BTW Like the 'fighter in the background, funny how some of us can't leave things alone, fighters, chops, bobs, trikes, cafes, it must be an inherrent urge to be different!

Thanks for those kind words mate.
I built the fighter about 3 years ago, and nothing has captured my imagination untill I saw a CX500 that some other guy had done. Instantly I knew it had to be my next project, I thought, I gotta have me one of them bad boys.

Hi M8
Yeah saw you weren't that far away I'm in the process of doing an XJ600 Diversion cafe racer like you nothing has captured my imagination like this style i am loosely basing my bike on the hyde harrier will put a few pics up when I get time also if you do do the cam chain I have a machined extractor for the rotor if you need it.
Steve

Valves are coming out tonight, the inlet valves dont look to bad but the exhaust valves have a build up of carbon. Not the sexy stuff you bolt to your bike, this is the cruddy stuff inside your zorst



So youre gonna need some valve spring compressors



One of those screw drivers with the magnet is a good idea to get the colets out as they are a bit fiddly.



As you take them out keep them in order so they go back in the same guides



be carefull when you remove the exhaust valves, as sometimes they can get a bit of carbon up the stems and be a bit of a bugger to get out. Dont force them through the guids as you could damage them, just get a small bit of very fine sand paper and remove any deposits and they should drop out.



All this black stuff has to com off. You can use a wire wheel but keep away from the valve seat



Under the black stuff there is white stuff, that has to come off too



You should end up with nice clean valves that will perform as they should once they are ground in.

The inlet ports were not to bad, but if you run your fonger inside them you can feel the rough texture from when they were sand cast at the factory. Im not building a race bike so I didnt go over the top, but I gave them a good clean up with the Dremil and the polished them.



Run your finger in there now and they are really smooth



Exhaust ports got a decoke too



Next I started grinding in the valves, a piss boring job as each one takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
Radio on! brain off!



this is how they look when ground in, as you can see the one on the right has a nice flat grey band around the valve and the seat



In all I have 7 more to do, but I wont bore you all with that.

Oh and remember to keep the valves, springs and collets in the same sets as you removed the and mark them up so you know where they go back.

Ok, so tonight I got in from work and finished off grinding in the other three valves



That only took about 2 hours so I decided to revisit the ports and go the extra mile, so I went back in the inlet and exhaust ports and cleaned the up a bit more.

Next I fitted new oil seals for the valve stems, they are a patten part but fit really good



valves back in, and the jobs done. Well half done, theres the other head to do yet



Kind of a before and after shot here



Over all it took me just over 6 hours to refurbish one of the heads so I have about the same to look forward to with the other one. I think I'm gonna have a break from them for a few days and go back to working on my seat unit, then once I've made the seat mould I'll go back and do the other head.

While I was doing the 2nd head to break up the bordom I took a look over the other parts of the valve system. I niticed the tappet adjusting screws on all the exhaust rockers were either chipped or pitted. the intake side all looked in a1 condition. I dont know why it only affected one side, but they were all replaced with new.



20 quid for 4 tiny little screws, Sheesh!!!



All ground in and back together



I'll put them back on at the weekend after I learn how to use my torque wrench, lol. yup Ive had it for a few years now but never used it. Well, how hard can it be.



Never been more pleased to see something done.

look forward to next installment refreshing to see some one doing things properly and not just rushing it to get the image and loosing heart when it breaks down

Thanks mate.

Between valves I've been waxing and polishing the seat unit, and on saturday I'll be making a mould from it to cast my seat pod from.

I'm looking forward to that

Not a huge amount to report tonight.

The waxing is done, and left between coats to dry over night.
This is so it builds up layers of wax that will help the mould seperate from the original plug.



One last step before I can start laying on glass and that is to give it two coats of pva.
All pva is, is carpenters white wood glue. It forms a skin over the part and also aids seperation



Its a milky white now but when it dries should go clear and shiney.

Next I'm gonna be laying on fiberglass to make my seat mould, then paying my mate Porky a visit to borrow his mig welder and do a few frame mods.

This is my torque wrench, I've had it for a few years but never used it or understood how to read it

But now................



I'm really please because I found out how to read a torque wrench, and it turns out its really easy



Enjoy!!!

Right then,

Fiberglass. The thing about fiberglassing is preperation. Make sure you have everything to hand, then either cut up or tear your matting to the sizees you need. Remember big bits wont go round corners as easy as little bits and if you rip the edges they will overlap much better too



The guid on the can says 2cm of hardner to 100ml of resin. the can holds 500ml so 5cm of hardner for one of my paper cups should be about right as they hold around 250ml



I like to get a coat of resin on then add the matting and apply another coat of resin to wet it right in



The first layer is really important as that will be the outside face of the finish pod so take care to get it right. A few minor imperfections are no biggy as they can be got out with a little body filler



After that its just about getting the layers on. I'm gonna do a 3 layer seat so the mould needs to be 5 or six layers as it needs to be really ridiged.

Now it can sit and cure for about 48 hours then i'll remove the plug.