anglia4 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have been looking around at getting an old bike for a while now and just before christmas came across this old 1983 cb650 in vegas that I picked up for $900. Trailered it home cos the guy said it wasn't running right, seemed like it was most likely just a blocked jet as it had been sitting for a while. When I got it home I cleaned out the carbs which made it run better but it kept cutting out if you tried to go higher into the revs. I talked to the mechanics at the local honda shop and they thought it would most likely be a carb balance issue so in it went for a tune which was just meant to be a couple of hundy bucks. They rang me a day or so later and said that the ignition modules were knackered so we replaced them ~$450... Then they found it still wasn't running properly so they started messing with the carbs and found a few bad o-rings etc. In the end I picked up my bike in bits on the trailer with an $1100 bill! Since then I have rebuilt the carbs myself with all new needles, jets etc, between that and the new ignition modules it has solved the plug fouling issue that it had but it still won't rev. It rides really nice and I'm really happy with the overall condition of it otherwise though, its pretty tidy, just a few things to tidy up. Here is a few pics of the beast Out on a ride with my brother and dad My steeds I have big plans for it, the picture below is of the rough shape that I want, in paint I have dropped the bars, lowered the headlight and cluster and changed the rear end. I have already bought some rear-sets from an old GSXR which I will adapt to the CB. I want to paint it black with a white stripe or maybe a chequered white stripe down the middle of the tank and tail section. I want to come up with a really cool retro cafe-racer style logo for "Dixon Performance" to go on the spine of the tank. I'm also toying with the idea of getting a front disc set-up from a late model single disc bike and adapting it to this bike, that would allow me to have a drilled disc, modern levers and a nicer master cylinder than the monstrous thing on there at the moment. Bars will be either the flat/drag style bars or clubmans depending on how the riding position looks, gonna get some bar end mirrors and get rid of those huge indicators quick as I can If I am still enjoying it in a couple of years when I'm actually earning money and haven't sold if for a Ducati then I will invest in some wire spoked wheels for it too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 why not clip ons for the bars? if your going for that cafe look i think they need to be lower than the top of the forks to look right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 clubman bars will achieve pretty much the same thing, the bars will be lower than where I photoshopped them to. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cafe-Racer-Ace- ... 588e4ef990 I would like to try and keep it a little bit rideable too, I want to be able to ride it for a few hours, not just across town to the pub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seedy Al Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 This thing is cool man! good score Please remove the air box with CB650 on it though. i think It cleans the bike up heaps more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Nah I'm going to keep the side covers on there for the moment. Maybe one day if I can afford to get it tuned for pod filters and get a smaller battery then i might empty that area out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage Grumble Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Can we be CB friends? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 did you get one in the end? you were looking at a 350? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage Grumble Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Yeh, but I got a 74 CB200 (the nz ones seem to be early 70's spec tho) as i'm going more for the look than the speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 I have actually found a similar thing with mine, its listed as an 83 but the carbs on it are from a 79/80 model which means that the head etc is the earlier model too. I haven't looked into it any further than that though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 i have dropped down clubman style bars on my bike (though considerable smaller) and its surprisingly ridable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felixx Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 she looks boss. the wheels look the business. They look strong! The bike looks great, your plans look even better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 agree on the wheels, current ones look sweet. maybe consider hitting them with some form or black? maybe satin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Yeah I had been thinking they might look pretty sweet in black. Wasn't sure if it might be a bit too much though once I have painted the tank and tail black as well? Fuck I love ebay, bought a full set of indicators for it for USD$6 with free shipping. http://www.ebay.com/itm/110674078180?it ... 23&vxp=mtr And have got a bid going on these just to see if they work http://www.ebay.com/itm/251024696949?ss ... 1426.l2649 and this http://www.ebay.com/itm/270941394863?ss ... 1426.l2649 Also I have been thinking, instead of just doing the same old white chequered stripe like everyone does on their cafe racers like this: I might get my mates fluid coating business to make a stripe down the middle of the tank and tail the same as he has done for the flames on this harley I've wanted to put skulls on something since he opened the business but just haven't had the right project. I think its time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 I got some parts back from the Water Jet cutter last week: Which becomes: There is 2 clamps per side which clamp onto the forks, then the triangle part will bolt to them and become the mount for the new indicators and also the original headlight I also got me rear set mounts made up: They are a bit bigger than I had intended to make them but I was running out of time and rushed them a bit. And the gear change linkage: Can you see the spline? I've got some drilling and tapping to do to finish them all and I also have quite a bit more to make up for the rearset mounts. In other news I have got it running pretty well at the moment. The engine not revving out turned out to be pretty simple, I set the float bowl level properly and since then its been running pretty good. I rode it to Taupo from New Plymouth and it was running a bit rich and kept fouling plugs, I haven't had time to split the carbs to adjust the needle height so in the mean time I have taken off the air box cover and replaced it with duct tape with a slightly larger than standard intake hole Works sweet as! I also managed to ride it to Christchurch from New Plymouth on Sunday! Was a long way and got seriously cold south of kaikoura at about 9pm. I did notice along the way a bit of a missfire , seemed like an electrical miss so I think I might replace the spark plug leads soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 I'm quite tempted to throw heaps and heaps of black at this I still want to do the tank and tail section in gloss black with the ghosted skulls stripe in it. I definately think the wheels should be black, maybe satin as suggested before. I've been toying with the idea of painting the engine black and trying to polish the edges of the fins like on these harleys: I'm betting its bloody hard to prep an air cooled engine like that to paint though? I also thought about doing something different with the frame and painting it a copper colour or something to break it up a little bit. I even thought about copper plating it like Ladaspeeds bike except I wouldn't want it to tarnish Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRK Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 yeh its a mission cleaning up in between the fins spesh if they have corrosion. I'm guessing you dont want to take apart the engine etc to get it proper clean so if you want black i would deagrease then waterblast out the crap then give it a light coating of matt black(you dont want that much paint but apparently matt black is better for aircooling than rough 'as cast' alloy, which its self is better than polished alloy). Sandpaper the edges of fins after paint. Will look sweet if you did need to get corrosion out from inside the fins and can't fit anything in there like wire brush etc, i've found some sandpaper wraped around a knife blade works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 Cheers for the tips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 Got into the shed this weekend and had a bit of a tinker with the bike. I pulled out the old headlight mount and mocked up my new one: I've got the headlight sitting quite a bit lower than standard and have lowered the gauges by about an inch-inch&ahalf. I'm not happy with how it looks like that, there is too much mess in between with all the wiring and it just doesn't suit the shape of the gauges. I'll decide what height to set it at once I have my new bars. For the above reasons, I have added some of these to my shopping list: The set of gauges is less than NZD$250 landed and a nice sleek headlight like that is about a hundy. Between replacing them and offloading all the wiring it should tidy it up really nice. I am really happy with the improvement the new indicators have made though! And I have just ordered this kit: which should be here in time for the kaikoura camping trip. I've also had a re-think about the foot peg mounts, the ones I had cut are just too big and don't look right. More on that later though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
governorsam Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 this may be of use... http://www.jasonkent.ca/cb650manual.htm http://www.myhonda650.com/cb650manuals.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 Cheers but I found them ages ago The workshop manual was really choice when I was rebuilding the carbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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