[Son of eevil]

So,

Between my old man and myself we have no less than 4 CX500's, we have a Custom, 2xStandard/Shadow and a Euro.

I've already got a build thread for my Standard and I'm starting to put a little bit of work into the old man's custom so I figure it's time I did a build thread on it.

I'll edit this post with some pictures later. But it's a 79' custom, brown, was last registered in 2001 for what we're told was a single year and previously was last registered in 92'. The Odo shows 3300K's we're yet to verify if it's been around the clock or if it's low. a quick look at the timing chain will give us an answer to that but I haven't popped my head down to check it out quite yet.

We're taking this bike in a few phases.

Phase 1: Get it roadworthy and registered
This phase is nearly completed we've got it checked by the road authority nad it's just waiting on a trip into the local registrar to get it done.

Phase 2: Front end and cluster.
We have in our possesion a full ZX6 front end from a 92' model. We've already worked out that we need to have a custom stem made up and pressed into the ZX6 triple tree and we'll be able to use the standard bearings. We've had a quote for around $200 to get this done. After that we'll be sorting out the cluster, I'm personally leaning towards the Danmoto 180, but there are plenty of options to consider.

Phase 3: rear end
We plan on doing a single spring conversion, possibly utilizing some of the bits from BBCR, remove battery tray, fit a lithium-ion battery, remove the airbox, replace with pods and have the carbs tuned.

Phase 4: Engine + extras
All of this next part is still up in the air may not ever happen, but we're considering a 650 conversion, some shenanigans with keyless start and alarms.

Here she is on the day we got her strapped to the ute near QLD ready for an 8 hours trip back home from just south of Byron

A few pictures of her general condition under some lights

Here's the ZX6 front end we got

One of the first tasks was to rebuild the shocks which leaked horribly on our way home

I remember looking at this and thinking "how on earth am I getting this back to together"

 

[JC]

Will be interested to see where this goes!

If you want to see a Danmoto in the flesh I have one on my 650 now.

 

[Son of eevil]

Updated with photos and I will definitely take you up on that offer, I'm interested to see how you've wired up the tacho, I've heard it has a couple of extra steps involved.

So at some point in it's life someone has done up the sump bolt too tightly and cracked the front engine case.

Luckily while my CX is being rebuilt I happened to have a spare lying around. I swapped it over but then had issues with oil pressure. I later found I'd left out the O-rings and spent this afternoon after work pulling it off again and fitting the O-rings. All back together and the bike is running again with no oil pressure light anymore. When in rome I also pulled the oil pump, cleaned the intake for it and tightened the chain.

While refitting the radiator fan I inadvertently cracked it. I've JB welded and epoxy'd the fractures back together and it's currently fitted to the bike for testing purposes but I have ordered a new electric fan that I'me xpecting to get in the next 2 weeks. So I'll fit that up when it arrives and provide some photos of the process along with a link to the item I brought should anyone feel like doing the same.

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks there's not a whole lot to do on it right now or until the thermo fan comes back. Once I get a new oil filter, I'll be changing the oil out on it again and using a new filter this time. Waiting on an order has forced me to place the old filter back in and given the length of time the bike has gone without a good run (15 years) I'm happy for this to be a very short service.

I've got a carb rebuild kit sitting around and a spare set of carbs so I'll likely service those in the next week or two but first I'll need to source an ultrasonic cleaner to let the carbs soak for a couple of hours.

The bike is currently running quite rough, but seems to idle ok. Under acceleration it seems to bog down, currently I theorise it's possibly because of the exhaust that's fitted to it, or perhaps is a result of fouled carbs. Once I get the carbs sorted we'll have a better idea.

But for the next 2 weeks:
Oil change
Rebuild spare carb and replace
Work out source of poor running if not carbs, possibly spark plugs, not sure if I've replaced those yet.

 

[Wannabebuilder]

Can't wait to see this unfold. Bummer about the surface rust.

 

[Son of eevil]

So a few photos of things I should have included earlier.

Early on in the piece we picked up twin pot calipers and got these fitted up

Here is how she looks as of today.

The grey side cover is just some plasti-dip I was playing around with that I'll peel off shortly I'm sure. The exhaust is a custom H-pipe I've pulled off one of my other CX's until she's put back together. The old H-box was rusted out.

But today I decided to pull off the fuse box and cover from the handlebars and give it a respray because honestly, it looked like trash.

Grainy photo but you can see what I'm talking about.

So I pulled both pieces off, got them in the blast cabinet and cleaned em' up. Unfortunately no photos of this process or the blasted product.

Here's the fuse cover after a couple of black coats

I then sanded the paint back off the lettering

Could help but scuff up some of the painted bits I didn't mean to. So I masked over the lettering and went again

After a couple of coats of clear

and here is the rest of it, also coated

Looking a million times better, I will get a photo of it back on the bike tomorrow.

 

[Son of eevil]

So small amount of work this this afternoon. Definitely room for improvement if I feel like revisiting but overall I'm happy with the result here is the finished fuse box

Side by side comparison of new and old .

Now working on the rocker covers, picked up some high temp paint today and I've just finished sanding back the ridges so we'll see how it comers up.

 

[JC]

Nice. Which high temp paints are you using?

 

[Son of eevil]

White knight black and I don't remember what brand for the clear coat. We'll see how it holds up but I am somewhat concerned about the clearcoat yellowing but the benefits of having your own blasting cabinet mean you can make short work of paint.

 

[JC]

I haven't tried that brand yet - I've had good results with Duplicolor's high temp paints and while the Dulux high temp paints seem to last well their colours are less appealing to my eyes - the aluminium colour is very... sparkly... which just looks out of place on old Honda bits, imho. Will be interested to see how the White Knight stuff goes.

 

[Son of eevil]

Verdict. The white knight black was not as black as I'd have liked, had a little browny tinge under certain lights and it seemed to be a very thing paint.

I used duplicolor for the clear coat and I've been extremely disapointed with it. The paint doesn't seem to dry properly and if you grab it (even after the 1 hour recoat) it feels very sticky and tacky and I found I was leaving finger prints in it.

Per instructions I baked the paint for an hour in my oven at 200 degrees and after pulling it out even the cloth I used to grab it smeared the paint and left bits of fabric sticking out of the sticky clear coat.

I got the look I was after on the heads (see below for a photo) but I'll be trying a different brand of both next time.

and here it is under the bright light, you can see the browny colour I'm so unhappy about.

Overall the quality of the paints has left me disappointed and has had a really bad outcome on the end result. You can't see it from the photo but there are scuff marks and smears in the clear coat finish that have come just from handling it. Even after the clearcoat has been cured.

I've been very tempted to get an 800 wet/dry and try nad take off as much of the clear as I can and try again. I'd also like to add and this was the 3rd attempt using these paints to get a good result.

 

[Wannabebuilder]

wow that brown is unattractive. I just used some VHT gloss black and it came out well. It was moreSemi than gloss though.

I'd skip any clearcoat.
I was a sign painter for many years and I always found that the clear yellowed or later flaked off of painted signs. Worst of all, when you had to do touchups the clear made the colors too different to match properly. Paint is no less durable than any clear

 

[Son of eevil]

I wanted to get VHT, but it's not available in any retail stores here in AUS (That I could find). It appears I can order it online so when it comes time to do the rest of the engine I'll be ordering it beforehand.

The reason I wanted to go with the clear is it allows me to polish and remove blemishes without taking off paint.

 

[CXPHREAK]

The importer of duplicolour paint has apparently stopped importing it. I stocked up on the cast iron engine enamel I will be using for many of the thingys parts from autobarn so they might be worth a call.

Duplicolour makes a good line that I've been using also. Their black is black, but appears a little sparkly due to the ceramic content.

 

[JC]

I wanted to get VHT, but it's not available in any retail stores here in AUS (That I could find). It appears I can order it online so when it comes time to do the rest of the engine I'll be ordering it beforehand.

The reason I wanted to go with the clear is it allows me to polish and remove blemishes without taking off paint.

Autobarn at Warners Bay have a good amount of VHT available - I use a few of the VHT paints which I also like, though I haven't tried their high temp stuff. That's odd about the clear coat doing that... I haven't ever had anything like that happen with Duplicolor stuff.

 

[CXPHREAK]

I haven't ever had anything like that happen with Duplicolor stuff.

He put it over another brand of paint. This can have unpredictable results.

 

[Son of eevil]

So the clear coat had the same effect on the parts I sanded back to aluminium as well.

It'll take me 5-10 to sand blast each head so I'll be taking it back and trying VHT paints. Is that what you guys have been using? https://www.autobarn.com.au/vht-eng-enamel-gloss-black-sp124

I actually went directly the VHT website and checked their suppliers for Aus, they only had 1 company listed and I didn't even recognise them.

 

[CXPHREAK]

I've painted one engine and a lot of random parts in that VHT paint. I paint many parts of the bikes in that and bake it. It's very hard wearing. Also, look at their black 'case paint'. Super hard wearing when baked. I did my 500Cs handlebar controls in it 7 or 8 years back. The bike is a daily rider and there are no wear marks.

The duplicolor black is what I painted a friends motor in and what I will be using on my thingy.

I'll be using a lot of black on the thingy so I'll be using both VHT and dupilcolor blacks in satin and gloss and maybe some flat here and there or black gets monotonous.

Only my opinion though.

 

[Wannabebuilder]

As an FYI I use Rustoleum #7777 semi gloss on my cars I have restored. Fords have a semi gloss black engine compartment and the rustoleum holds up Very well. They also make a hi temp gas grill paint. Home centers sell it. I have never used it on an engine but I like its durability and chemical resistance