[egar]

I build and restore cb550s and 750s, but found a 79 cx500 for $200 with the title and a beautiful shop manual. The PO said the bike just quit one day, has no compression and was told it may be a bad timing chain. I was intrigued, so I borrow a truck and trail and brought the bike home. It is complete but rough and has a hideous retro sissy bar back rest that my wife thinks is cool. I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions including whether it is even worth bringing back to life....

 

[DaveF]

Welcome to the forum. There is a wealth of information here about these bikes.



Please take a few minutes to edit your profile to show your location and to edit your signature to show your bike's year and model.



Be sure to check out the many links in the Quick Reference thread.

 

[egar]

Ok, I've started tearing the bike down and am wondering if anyone has any suggestions about determining why the bike is dead. I'm assuming that if I remove the head covers and bump the bike, I should see the valves move up and down. If they don't move, perhaps the rods are shot? Anyhow, here's a couple of shots of the bike. This is nothing like a cb, but I'm hoping the shop manual will give me confidence to tear into the motor....

 

[Allan]

If you look under the radiator,,between the clutch and oil filter covers you will see a 17mm cap nut,,if you remove this nut you can access a bolt on the end of the crank. The bolt is also 17mm and if you turn it clockwise (turning it counter clockwise could loosen the bolt) it should turn the engine over, much easier that trying to push the bike.

 

[Shep]

Drain and check the oil for metal particles.If the cam-chain is gone you may have a locked engine and or damaged crank and rods but that is a worse case scenario

 

[egar]

Thank you both for the information. I can already tell that this site will be as helpful as the sohc site that I have relied upon for three cb builds. Thank you so much for your patience. I will try these recommendations this weekend.



Ed

 

[redcloud]

Thank you both for the information. I can already tell that this site will be as helpful as the sohc site that I have relied upon for three cb builds. Thank you so much for your patience. I will try these recommendations this weekend.



Ed

is that a 72 CB350 in the background? I have one on the slate for rebuild

[Edit]I guess that would be middle ground

welcome btw!

 

[egar]

The bike in the background is my 1970 cb750K0, a two-year restoration. It was a basketcase but it took $6k and a lot of blood, sweet and tears (for real) to bring it back. My third bike is my st1300.