[Garymga]

Hi everyone,

I'm new into the community and would like to thank you all for welcoming and building this place.

I just bought a CX 500 custom, 8000 miles, barn found. The bike is in very good condition and will be a nice way to start my project. The seller even gave me the shop manual !

I started to read some threads and realized I will have a lot of work for what I planned to do but it will be a fun time.

Will keep you posted as soon as I start to dismantle the bike.

Thank you

Gary

 

[JC]

Welcome. If you haven't found the factory service manuals check them out:

Factory Service Manual - Honda CX and GL Wiki

motovillage.org

For any triple/quad bypass work, check out these articles:

Triple or Quadruple Bypass for CX500, CX650, GL500, GL650

One of the most well-known set of procedures for the Honda CX and GL V-twin family of bikes, the triple or quadruple bypass addresses several major common points of failure at once. Check out the details here!

motofaction.org

What are your plans for the bike? What's the reason for dismantling?

 

[Garymga]

Hi JC,

Thank you for your answer. I have the factory service manual which is going to very helpful.

The seller told me that the bike sit in a barn for about 20/25 years, it was owned by a farmer that only used it to go between his house and the barn.. he got it a year ago, changed oil and cleaned carbs but never took the chance to put it back on road. But the bike starts right away and so far the engine is looking good. Will see when I will check main components, but 8000 miles is a very good start.

I don't know exactly what I'm going to do yet but I definitively want to give it a lifting. But before I dive into cutting everything I want to study the general shape I'd like the bike to have. The reason I love this bike so much is the engine and its shape. I want to focus on it and work around it.

Also I'm french living in NYC so I will have to work on learning mechanical words to understand and make myself clear

 

[nolimitz]

welcome
Many recommend starting with the high mileage service items in the FSM (regardless of actual mileage) you will need new tires, check all rubber hoses and parts. Then ride the bike to see what you really want to change. Good luck with the project.

 

[Garymga]

welcome
Many recommend starting with the high mileage service items in the FSM (regardless of actual mileage) you will need new tires, check all rubber hoses and parts. Then ride the bike to see what you really want to change. Good luck with the project.

Thank you Nolimitz!
I definitively will.

 

[Garymga]

Thank you Nolimitz!
I definitively will.

The bike felt in the van when I was bringing back, so I already broke a spark plus boot that I ordered from England..

 

[Garymga]

I started to take the bike apart, removed everything and the engine.

So far it's looking ok, will open the engine to see what's going on inside. Will do the classic maintenance and replace gasket. Probably rejet the carbs, do not want to go for Murrays right now as I don't know the bike I will not even feel the improvement

My tig welder is not working anymore so I'm left with the MIG. Will have to check it out before I go into deconstruct the frame but will keep you posted. Think I will go for a monoshock, not sure now, but I will have to decide which one suit the best my desire.

I'm going to post on the sell thread all the pieces from the bike I'm not keeping.

 

[Garymga]

Hello everybody !

i just got a front end from a 2003 954rr, will order the ball bearing.
I’ve seen some post with that set up, I know I will have to modify the bottom triple to fit the CX.

Will post pictures and info on how it will go with that front swap.

See you !

 

[Garymga]

Hello everyone,

Today I performed the cbr 954rr 2003 fork swap on my 1980 CX500 custom,

Cut the steering stops on the frame and I'm waiting to find a tank that I like before welding new ones.

I bought the bearings at All balls racing, 99-3511-5 for the top and 99-3512-5 for the bottom, nonetheless I found very strange that the top bearing race sticks out from the steering column as you can see in the picture..

There is no way I can push it further down as it's already touching the lip...
I still went forward but I still have this issue in mind.. Any thoughts ? I will post in the technical part of the forum as well.

Concerning the wheel I was wondering either I would keep the comstar and go to a machine shop so they can make make spacers, rotors adapters and machine the axle or keep the cbr 954 rr rim.

At that point I will choose option 2, so I will be in 17 in front with radial, I will adapt the rear rim from a 17' GL so I can match up tires and use radial on both. The size of the rotor are covering almost the full cbr rim and in the future I want to go with bespoke.

 

[Garymga]

Hello everyone !

Received the gasket kit on Friday so I decided to start to take a look inside the engine
I think there was a leak on the left cylinder - as you can see in the picture. Even the bolt from the head cylinder was rusted.
Did anyone already have this issue ?

Now I will have to take care of the valve and soak the head in solvent to get the old gaskets out, and continue to move forward !

Received my wheel from the a GL1100, so I could swap the rim and have 17" wheel front and rear for radial.
I'm ordering bolts and nuts but on MSC to get 12.9 everywhere !

 

[Garymga]

Yesterday I got my nuts, bolts and washers from McMaster (they really have good stuff), so I wanted to do my frankenwheel.

Didn't know that the GL wheel bolts were not metric neither imperial, a pain to get rid of them not scratching the spoke

Anyway I managed to take both wheel apart and put it back my wheel when I realize I had put everything back on the GL hub it was late so I accepted my defeat, will fix that later !

 

[Garymga]

Took the valves out today,
Head cylinders don't look too bad,
Put them in solvent for the night to help remove the old gaskets, then I will work on the valve.
I would like to put everything back before moving to the clutch/oil chain/camshaft.
Does anyone have a suggestion why I should leave that open for the remaining planned work ?
Thank you

 

[D-Fresh]

Gary,

I like the pics and write up, keep them coming! What were the numbers on the blue painters tape on the wheel assembly for?

I'm kind of new to engine building and looking at the head pics the valve sealing surfaces look pretty good but seems like there is a excessive amount of carbon build up everywhere, what are your thoughts or anyone else that is familiar with these engines?

Cheers,

Doug

 

[Garymga]

Gary,

I like the pics and write up, keep them coming! What were the numbers on the blue painters tape on the wheel assembly for?

I'm kind of new to engine building and looking at the head pics the valve sealing surfaces look pretty good but seems like there is a excessive amount of carbon build up everywhere, what are your thoughts or anyone else that is familiar with these engines?

Cheers,

Doug

Hey Doug!
Thank you for your message !
I did a exchange between a gl1100 rim and my cx500 rear hub. So following the great advices I found here I marked each rim and spoke to make sure to put them back on my cx500 hub exactly the way they were on the GL.
Regarding the head cylinders there was an amount of carbon sure, not an expert but I soaked them in acetone and they’re back to new.
The bike has only 8000 miles, sat for 20/25 years in a barn before a guy bought it, fired it up but never started the project.
I’m going to do the valve laping and measure everything following the Shop manual to see if the dimensions are still ok.

 

[D-Fresh]

Ok, that makes sense on the wheels. So soaking the valves/heads in acetone cleaned them up? any before and after pics?

 

[Garymga]

Ok, that makes sense on the wheels. So soaking the valves/heads in acetone cleaned them up? any before and after pics?

So it worked to get rid of the old gaskets with a plastic scraper,
For the carbon WD40 works better but I had only a few left so I'm not done yet but it's already an improvement !
It was clearly necessary as carbon has built up a lot on some valve seat

 

[reclinedrelic]

Which cylinder head gaskets are you planning on using? Are you aware of the problems with the cylinder head gaskets in the aftermarket gasket kits?

 

[Garymga]

Which cylinder head gaskets are you planning on using? Are you aware of the problems with the cylinder head gaskets in the aftermarket gasket kits?

I’ve already bought a kit on ebay..
Now that I read your post I guess I made a mistake because I was not aware of that.
You can see in the picture, so should I be back to square 1 and buy OEM for the heads ?
Thx again

 

[reclinedrelic]

You will have a better experience with the OEM head gaskets. If you can't find OEM head gaskets, these are a good choice as well CX/GL 500 Head gasket X 2 – Murrays Carbs
If you do decide to use the head gaskets from the kit go through several re-torques of the head bolts, one after first run of the engine. After each re-torque check the valve gaps. Keep following that procedure until there is no change in valve gap after a re-torque.

 

[Garymga]

You will have a better experience with the OEM head gaskets. If you can't find OEM head gaskets, these are a good choice as well CX/GL 500 Head gasket X 2 – Murrays Carbs
If you do decide to use the head gaskets from the kit go through several re-torques of the head bolts, one after first run of the engine. After each re-torque check the valve gaps. Keep following that procedure until there is no change in valve gap after a re-torque.

Thank you for the tip !
I think following your experience on this engine/aftermarket gasket I will go either for an OEM or on Murray’s website.
It’s time to do things right, if I had to reopen the engine 3 months after everything will be done it would be a bummer !