[pbussey]

Thanks! I'd just found my way to that list when your reply came through.

 

[pbussey]

Parts delivery!

 

[pbussey]

Something to mention from the clutch pile above: There are 2 EBC kits available for the CX/GL500. CK1146 and CK1147. The latter has an extra plate (8 included), and I'm not sure if the extra is the plate with the larger lugs, or due to the fact that one of my steels was actually a riveted pair that seemed to take up the space of another friction plate in a different setup.

 

[LC8Adventures]

Hello from GRM, always funny to see someone pop up on the other side of the internet.

 

[pbussey]

Hello! It's definitely always fun to figure out who people are from cross-posting.

 

[blivy]

@blivy It's dual brake! Shoot me a message if you're interested in some parts!

Sent you a pm!

 

[pbussey]

Hi @blivy , I shot you a message about the front brake stuff. Let me know your thoughts!

Yesterday I began wiring the bike and decided that I want an under-motor battery box. So... I spent a crazy amount of time trying to remove the stock exhaust! Lots of repeated cycles of heat and penetrant finally loosened the silencers, then I dropped the headers and H-box as one unit where the headers easily twisted out with a couple whacks from the dead-blow. This battery will fit nicely underneath, as you can see!

I've also picked up a new starter solenoid as my old one seems frozen. A little smaller, more weatherproof connectors, and readily available as a replacement for hundreds of other bike applications.

Spent some time getting the Ray-San hall pickup installed. This will trigger my coil on plug, which is changing up a little bit.

 

[pbussey]

Bring on the CAD! I'd been worrying about space to put all the electrics underneath a seat, but the GL frame has a ton of space up here in the backbone where the old coils lived. Now, the CDI drivers will live here on the left side, with the ignition controller on the right side where it's right there while checking timing marks.

Rivnuts make the dream work. What you can't see is where I went back and remade this bracket from a bit thicker steel so I could bolt on the control module.

 

[pbussey]

Oh, and a little bling

 

[pbussey]

A somewhat out-of-date progress pic. I've got the controls sorted out and I'm working on the main power wiring (battery box, ignition, X21 system) before hopefully getting a startup this week!

 

[D-Fresh]

gotta love a startup!

 

[pbussey]

Okay, time for an update! Life has been chaotic and the weather hasn't been kind for letting me work in the (HOT!) garage so progress has been slow. She hasn't started yet, but I've gotten the ignition switch and system all wired up. Lots of plans in the works...

First off, my R1 fork conversion had nearly no steering angle between the GL500 frame stop and interference with the tank and radiator shroud. I've since removed the shroud until I can figure out how I want to trim it, but the tank still needed to be moved back an inch or so. Drilling the frame here was super hard, but I was able to make it work and ream it out with a 10mm diameter Bastard file to get...

I promise that the bolt and original rubber mounts are parallel in both the Y and Z directions. The photo lies!
I dusted off the TIG, and my own skills, and got a good enough weld and trimmed the bolt to match. My argon flow was a little screwy for this weld.

 

[pbussey]

Since the whole bike is getting rewired, and the original key mount is gone, I grabbed a CM400 ignition switch and fuel cap to have the matching key. This also makes for an easy wiring job with the X21 system really only needing the switched ignition power so I can cut out the rest of switched ignition wires later.

I made a rough template and cut/welded a bracket onto the frame rail to mount the key underneath the tank and above the right intake.

I'll be back later with the grinder to smooth things out here 😅
This is how it's sitting now. I'm going to be raising the rear ride height about an inch and replacing the dangling "honda digital rectifier" from 4-into-1 with an NWT Cycletronic unit this weekend.

With the future addition of rearsets, I'll also be replacing the brake lever setup with a cable.

 

[pbussey]

!!!TOOL TIP!!! If you're ever modifying control cables for a motorcycle, or any vehicle really, you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't use a solder pot. I got a couple of ends to work with a torch, but mostly wasted a lot of money buying more cable kits. Cut the cable, throw some flux in the ferrule, and dip for ~10 seconds.

 

[pbussey]

Further activities related to the tank. The rear mount moved back an inch sits off the middle frame cross member, but only just. I threw the bushing into the tank and threaded a nut on the bolt, tacked, welded. That ain't goin' nowhere...

 

[pbussey]

I've gotten to the point where I have everything to do the subframe. Before...

Measured 8 times, cut twice. Turns out the bottom frame area near the swingarm is several sections welded together and it took a bit of hand sawing to tackle with the swingarm installed. The top tubes are also double-walled, it turns out... these 4 pieces of frame were unexpectedly heavy! No rust on this side, but the brake side is real crunchy. Gotta see how much loose stuff I can remove before I put POR-15 all inside the frame.

I've got a rear hoop "for cafe racers" with a tight radius 180° bend and long legs. That gets me a long enough seat that it doesn't look like a bobber. I'm still planning out the support legs, but the blue tape should give a good idea.

 

[pbussey]

Got my new dash in the mail last weekend. I went with a single gauge tach/speedometer from KOSO. It came with a ridiculous amount of documentation and wiring, and is only a couple of inches thick. This should replace all the gauges and warning lights on the stock bike! The 500 won't really rev over 10k (for long) so this is perfect.

I was out camping this weekend, so as I was unpacking yesterday I let myself get a little distracted and installed the new temperature sensor. OEM Honda on the left, new Koso sender in the middle, and the M16-1/8 NPT adapter on the right.