50k km overhaul and winter upgrades

Hi

I have 1995 CB5 with close to 50k km on the clock. Got the bike in September 2015, drove a few weeks and put it on the garage for winter. Not much was done except oil + filters + plugs and I drove it through season 2016.

This is how the bike was in Sep 2016


The more I got to drive the bike the more things I found that I thought needed some attention. Or maybe it was the devil on my shoulder, who knows... Whoever said "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!" was probably wrong.

I have spent the beginning of this winter in planning and ordering parts and now the race against the calendar starts. I hope the bike is in good running order by 1st of May, which is kind of the official start of springtime and bike season in Finland. I know there are many who could do these things much faster but I have also other uses for my time and I am most probably one of the slowest wrenchers ever and I seem to tinker too long with non-essential details etc.

My plans include:

Mechanical upgrades:
Carb rebuild + larger jets      DONE
     EDIT: Had to go to DynoJet kit on the carbs to overcome misfiring at 5k rpm full throttle
Fuel exhaust    DONE
K&N air filter     DONE
Progressive fork springs + new seals (I guess it would be stupid not to change them even though they do not leak)   DONE + NEW STEERING BEARINGS
Shocks   DONE, YSS ECO

Service:
New clutch cable   DONE
Check cam chain tensioner (why not do this since I already have carbs and airbox off so access is excellent). There is some rattle when bike idles with cold engine.   DONE
Valve clearances    DONE
Oil + filter     DONE
Coolant      DONE
Carb sync     DONE
Iridium plugs (pending, as the current plugs only have like 6k km)

Looks (pending, low priority, can also be done during season or left to next winter):
Loose the rear rack and find passenger hand grip      DONE
Loose the screen (maybe)      DONE
Smaller indicators that go along with age of the bike (no clear glass, no LED), with e-marking.     DONE, ALTHOUGH PLANS CHANGED A BIT
Rattle-can for the headers      DONE
CB500CLUB.NET sticker   DONE

So this is the plan and now that I have written it here I would shame myself if I would not execute it.

Luckily I have Haynes to help me (it came with the bike)

BR,
Antti

The motivation for carb rebuild was intermittent acceleration at full throttle around 6000rpm. While I was on it, I changed to larger #130 main jets since the exhaust and air filter would be upgraded too. This is where I got my info regarding jetting http://www.cb500club.net/t2986-changing-main-jets



There was no #128 jets available so I went to #130 (seemed to be genuine Keihin jets) without adding extra shims to needles. I also set the pilot screws to 3.25 turns from closed. We'll see later how far off these settings are.

EDIT: After first startup I got feeling that the bike is a bit on rich side at idling and low revs without load so I closed the pilot screws 90deg so now they are 3.0 turns from closed.

EDIT2: I had quite notable misfiring at around 5000rpm due to lean mixture. I had to go for the DynoJet kit to fix it. Works like a charm now.

I had already removed the tank when I stored the bike for winter. So last week I removed the carbs for rebuild and jet change (actually I had them off bike also in August so they came off easily).

Haynes, some carb cleaner spray, 2 x rebuild kit, stainless screw kit, #130 main jets and heater hose connection block (many thanks to @ANDYC for the heater hose connector). Here's the background for carb heater issue: http://www.cb500club.net/t4997-solvedcarb-heating-is-it-necessary



Somewhere in the middle of:


The carbs are now rebuilt but not mounted on bike. I also bought new fuel hose and vacuum hose to fuel tap.

BR,
Antti

Today I changed clutch cable. The old one was bent close to the point where cable goes through loop on the frame.

Slightly out of shape, eh?



I also made key to remove cam chain tensioner.


I hope it works...

BR,
Antti

Melitos wrote:
I also made key to remove cam chain tensioner.

I hope it works...

Looks like it should work to me. I'm pretty sure the diagram in Haynes is correct, so if you made it to that diagram it should be fine.

If it doesn't work it is possible to use a small screwdriver - however it is easier to use the key.

There is no way the clutch cable should be that bent!

Good luck with your spannering.

i'm very interested to hear how you get on with your carb jet upgrade when you get the bike back on the road. please keep us posted.

Today I checked the valve clearances. The home-made cam chain tensioner removal key worked perfectly. I also gave the chain tensioner some work-out by turning it in and out a few times and put some fresh oil inside it. In my mind it felt smooth going in and out so I guess it is in perfect working order.

All exhaust valves had too small clearance by about 0.05mm, same also for outer inlet valves. The inlet valves closest to cam chain were actually in tolerances.

All the exhaust adjustment pieces were 2.10mm, which at least for me tells something about the manufacturing quality at Honda. The outer inlet valve pieces were polished so that I could not read the text. I need to borrow or buy micrometer screw to check their thickness and buy new pieces.

I was hoping to be able to remove the valve lifters without loosing the chain from the cam chainwheel but that did not work out too well after all. Anyway there are clear markings on the chainwheels to help on the assembly.


Everything in order


Next week hopefully new adjustment pieces and then assembly.

BR,
Antti

geewhizz wrote:i'm very interested to hear how you get on with your carb jet upgrade when you get the bike back on the road. please keep us posted.

Hi

Yes, I'll report my findings when I have the bike back on the road. Might me May before I have any miles on it, so do not hold your breath while waiting I might also need to take it for a dyno session to get the settings correct. Time will tell.

BR,
Antti

Shame you're not in the UK, as I may have been able to provide the shims you need.

Reading this post with interest as these are the jobs I'm needing to do to get my racer ready for March. I removed my cam cover quickly yesterday just to get a rough idea on my clearances of which most are tight. I can work out roughly what shims I'll need, do you supply shims sullvj or is it a case you've collected them over the years? Is it possible you could provide me with some thanks Matt

Mr bounce wrote:Reading this post with interest as these are the jobs I'm needing to do to get my racer ready for March. I removed my cam cover quickly yesterday just to get a rough idea on my clearances of which most are tight. I can work out roughly what shims I'll need, do you supply shims sullvj or is it a case you've collected them over the years? Is it possible you could provide me with some thanks Matt

I run a shim exchange for the guys on this fine forum.

When you work out what you need, let me know and if I have them, I'll post them out to you.  Please also contribute your spares when you're done.

I have a spreadhseet which helps to calculate what you need. If you need it, drop me a PM with your email address.

Yesterday I finally got the valve cover installed. I had to re-change one shim as my measurements or calculations did not match. Also feeler gauge with 0.05mm intervals was not quite optimum for the job where the acceptable tolerances were within same range.

Anyway now all the clearances are close to correct spec. I have 4 pieces of 2.10 shims if someone is interested. Alternatively I could just send them to @sullivj to add to the collection.

Melitos wrote:Yesterday I finally got the valve cover installed. I had to re-change one shim as my measurements or calculations did not match. Also feeler gauge with 0.05mm intervals was not quite optimum for the job where the acceptable tolerances were within same range.

Anyway now all the clearances are close to correct spec. I have 4 pieces of 2.10 shims if someone is interested. Alternatively I could just send them to @sullivj to add to the collection.

Please send them to the exchange. Someone will need them at some point. I'll PM my address.

Thanks in advance.

Today I installed airbox, carbs and Fuel exhaust.

While I was there I noticed that throttle was not smooth and stayed open when releasing from grip. This is obviously not a good thing so I took the cables and grip off and gave them some TLC.

I also started the bike for a few seconds to see if it runs (it did). I had no coolant on the system so I did not want to keep the engine running any longer.

Yesterday we had above zero temp so I flushed the cooling system with hose water without fear of freezing. I then filled the system with pure water and let the engine run and warm up, while lookign for leaks. No leaks so I drained the flushing water and let the engine cool. Finally filled with 50-50 anti-freeze and water. 

I only managed to squeeze in about 2 liters total while Haynes says it should take 2 liters to radiator + engine and additional 0.7 liters to reservoir.

Today I exploded my forks. I was lucky to get the oil seals out with slide-hammer-action and no need to pop them out by hydraulic pressure. What a messy and smelly job in any case.



Tomorrow i'll be cleaning and inspecting the parts more thoroughly and then hopefully on Friday I'll get the required parts ordered from local bike shop.

BR,
Antti

Changing the fork oil is a messy process - it is worth it - the handing gets better! Sadly you have to do it every 2 or 3 years to keep the benefit...

eternally_troubled wrote:Changing the fork oil is a messy process - it is worth it - the handing gets better!  Sadly you have to do it every 2 or 3 years to keep the benefit...

I totally believe it. Luckily I have the R model with oil drains in the lower parts of forks so next time it will be easier if I do not need to change any hardware.

Setback!

While I had the forks off I checked the steering head bearings and found that there is small 'notch' when the steering is dead straight. I really would have liked to not change the head bearings but seems that I have to tackle that one also...

BR,
Antti

Melitos wrote:Setback!

While I had the forks off I checked the steering head bearings and found that there is small 'notch' when the steering is dead straight. I really would have liked to not change the head bearings but seems that I have to tackle that one also...

BR,
Antti

This is one of the things that I'm dreading over easter when I rebuild my bike.

This morning I managed to drive the bearing races out without too much pain. The upper one had just enough lip for punch and hammer action.

For the bottom one I developed a special tool.



Details for the tool at: http://www.cb500club.net/t5093-head-bearings#47361

Tomorrow I'll try to turn plates to drive new bearing races in. (No, I don't have my own lathe but I have access to one.)

BR,
Antti

Still waiting for front end parts to arrive. Already received fork seals and upper bushings but due to lower bushings missing I cannot assemble forks.

In the meanwhile:

I see a red grab and I want it painted black...

Sanded, primered and waiting for black paint. Silver grab looked kinda weird because I have black Fuel exhaust and YSS shocks.

BR,
Antti

Earlier this week I finally received the lower fork bushings. Today I assembled the left hand side fork leg. Now off to in-laws for Easter Friday dinner and tomorrow assembly of the other fork leg.


To drive the new upper bushing in, I used old bushings + oil sealing where I had cut center out as spacers. I then used a piece of wood where I had drilled hole to push down the bushing. 




Progressive springs from Wirth. The spring alone is longer than stock spring + spacer. Installing the cap was the toughest step due to quite some pre-tension on the spring.


Next week I should get the steering bearings so I can finally assemble the front end and start riding the bike instead of waiting parts and wrenching. Anyway it's been very cold weather in Finland, hardly any bikes on the road yet.

BR,
Antti

Those fork legs look like new! It's a job I'm planning on doing very soon (waiting for the teflon bushings to arrive). It will be my first big overhaul, hope I won't mess anything ;p

The top of those Wirth springs (where the coils are closes together) is doing the same job as the spacer - no spring there! I'm not surprised they are longer - firstly your existing spring could have 'shrunk' from being compressed for however-many years, secondly I could well imagine that the Wirth ones are designed to be more firm and have more pre-load (like putting longer spacers in the original ones).

What weight of fork oil are you going to put back in?

Anyway, you'll have to report back if the Wirth shocks are any good - not sure anyone else on here has tried them (or if they have they haven't told us about it!).

Happy Easter!

Melitos wrote:
To drive the new upper bushing in, I used old bushings + oil sealing where I had cut center out as spacers. I then used a piece of wood where I had drilled hole to push down the bushing. 

Drilling a  hole in piece of wood is great idea for driving the bushing in. To make installing mine easier I tied a copper wire around the bushing.