[Sidecar Bob]

I was sure I read a post about how to take the lock part of the keyswitch apart on the old forum a couple of years ago but I can't find it now.



I have been getting the 650 ready to go on the road on Monday (it has been mighty cold in the mornings lately on the unfaired GoldWing) and remembered that the keyswitch was worn enough that the key will come out when it is ON (why didn't I remember this last month???). I have a keyswitch that is in better shape but the little door that keeps snow & rain out doesn't work and a bad one with the little door in good shape that I can combine if I can get the cylinders out of them.



I have the feeling it involves drilling out the little pin but I'm not sure. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Blindstitch]

http://cx500forum.com/index.php?/topic/1175-re-keying-the-ignition-switch/

 

[Sidecar Bob]

Thanks Don. I read it over (& even posted a reply about WD40 freezing in locks) this morning. I am heading out to the garage in a few minutes and I will give Reg's method a try & post my results in the other thread afterwards.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I changed my mind. What I did won't add much to the other thread so I will explain it here.



As I said, the ignition switch I have been using on my CX650E since I made the new instrument panel would no longer keep the key from coming out in the ON position and I was afraid of it bouncing out when I'm driving on an unpaved backroad. Somehow I forgot about it until yesterday or I would have ordered a new switch during the summer - maybe something like this (I could easily make that keyswitch work in my setup but I'm not sure if the fuel cap would fit).



My plan was to put it on the road tomorrow morning so waiting 2 weeks or more for a new one to get here was out of the question and I had to make something that works from what I had on hand.



I'm was pretty sure that the problem wasn't just a worn out key because I always keep the best, most original key as a master in case I need to make a new one and it came out with the switch ON too.



I ended up taking apart 3 ignition switches and had no luck removing the pins the way Reg showed in the post Don linked to. It seems that the switches used on later models (2 of mine came from '84 CX650Es and the other from an '84 CB750SC) have steel pins that look sort of like blunt nails with some knurling near the head instead of the plain brass pins the earlier models have.



The first one I managed to have my hole take off the very tip of the pin so the cylinder came out easily.



The second one I drilled through the pin higher up and the end wouldn't let the cylinder come out so I had to drill out the upper part of pin to get the end out. After that the cylinder came out easily.



The third one I just drilled directly into the pin with a bit smaller than its diameter. The bit drifted a bit so that one side of its hole was right against the original hole in the housing, which allowed me to extract the remains of the pin and see what it looked like.



I spent way too much time messing around with the parts from the 3 locks trying to make up a cylinder that would keep the key from coming out and work with the key I had been using (I have a slightly modified car gas cap that co-incidentally would open with that key too), but no combination of slides, cylinder and housing would work. I finally picked the best parts and made up a lock that works. I will have to live with using the gas cap's original key.



Since I butchered all 3 pins I had to find something else to use. I ended up tapping the hole and screwing in a 3mm phillips head screw. The tip of the screw was too big to work properly in the groove on the cylinder so I had to file the threads off of the last couple of mm and it still won't go into the part of the groove for the fork lock part. If I turned the end of the screw down to 2mm properly it would work but the way I have the keyswitch mounted it can't engage with the bike's frame anyway so it doesn't matter.



After all that, there is no way it will be ready to go tomorrow morning, but maybe it will be ready for Tuesday.

 

[Dash]

What holds the key in the cylinder in the first place? I have the opposite request -- I'd like to be able to remove the key from gas cap when I have the gas cap off. When I'm fueling up, I don't like laying the gas cap with my keys in it on top of the gas pump while pumping gas. Any suggestions?

 

[bandit]

What holds the key in the cylinder in the first place? I have the opposite request -- I'd like to be able to remove the key from gas cap when I have the gas cap off. When I'm fueling up, I don't like laying the gas cap with my keys in it on top of the gas pump while pumping gas. Any suggestions?

dash,i just went out to try mine.you are correct,you cant relock it and remove the key.....without turning the cap over,pushing up on the outer spring mechanism....then you can withdraw the key.

i suspect the design is to prevent you riding off and forgetting your cap

 

[Sidecar Bob]

When I'm fueling up, I don't like laying the gas cap with my keys in it on top of the gas pump while pumping gas. Any suggestions?

1) Put your bike key on a clip so that it is easily detachable from the rest of your keys so that you don't have a bunch of weight hanging from your ignition switch (I have been told that this accelerates wear). One key in a gas cap is also a less tempting target for thieves (if you live where this is common, move somewhere else - you will also sleep better at night

).



2) You should always put your bike on the centrestand for refuelling - you can't fill some bikes' tanks up to full capacity while they are leaned over on the side stand so its a good habit to have (if you add a sidecar it won't be an issue any more

). Since the bike is sitting level you can put the gas cap (& key) on the seat where you can see it while you are filling the tank.



3) As Bandit said, if the key is in the cap you can't drive off and leave the cap behind (although I can't imagine how dumb someone would have to be to not notice that the cap isn't there on with the tank right between their knees

).