I picked this bad boy up a few months ago. It runs and is loud as hell. Left hand kick is super dumb, and I shredded my sandals today trying to do a compression check. Basic plans include powder coated frame, subframe, hubs, triple clamps, footpegs, and rear spring. Everything else will be scrubbed, polished, and or painted. I might do aftermarket gold rims, and then relace them. I see some cool options from a place in the UK. If I get crazy I'd like a cone pipe setup from JSV, and a decompression mod, the one that uses a special spark plug so you don't drill into the head. Probably go with Hoosier tires, but keep it cosmetically near stock. I'll be at Vintage Days in Ohio next week, selling my 1987 YZ 250 I just finished, unless it sells sooner.
RestoMod of a '83 CR480 (Completed Page 3)
Edited Date/Time
9/22/2025 6:26pm
Tore it down to the frame today, only a few small surprises.
There's a small dilemma about the correct powder coat color for 83-87 CR's. It's probably been beaten to death but a lot of guys swear by the paint code RAL 2002. I ordered 2 spray cans for my last CR project and it is too orange. Almost looks like KTM orange to me. I took a few pics of the RAL 2002 sprayed onto a piece of aluminum and then held next to my 480 frame which is bone stock. In the pics it looks VERY close but I'm person you can clearly tell a difference. One of those moments where you have to see it in person. So I ordered a different powder and it should be here Tuesday. I'll get the frame coated mid week, but then I'm headed to vintage days. Anyways here's a few pics of RAL 2002 compared to a stock 80's CR frame.
Disassembled the front wheel today. Broke 2 of the longer spokes on the non-brake side. Needed the torch to loosen 12 of them. The rest came off no problem. The rim itself is in excellent shape, but I'm going to explore options of getting some gold rims. They look so bad ass on vintage bikes. If I can score a rim for under 200 I'll likely do that. Building a wheelset is so therapeutic and satisfying. Take your time and be methodical and it will turn out nice.
Not sure how much you want to spend on wheels but Tom at Full Circle Racing could help you out. He's helped me out in the past and is a great guy.
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Honestly that is likely where I'm going to go. That company produces a better gold color than the Excel rims. The price is right as well, plus they have a 480 on their website and it looks badass! I figure $500~ish shipped for 2 rims isn't too bad. People put those gold Excels on vintage bikes and I can spot that color from a mile away. It has way too much yellow in it. Looks funky to me. I got both wheels stripped today, and only broke 2 spokes on the front. Found a guy on eBay selling spokes/nips for $8/each so I ordered 2 of them. The front rim is in excellent shape and it made me almost want to keep the silver rims, but the rear wheel is in much rougher shape. That's 1 skillset I need to learn in the future, stripping anodizing, smoothing out a rim, and then re-anodizing it. Would save me a lot of money!
What would it cost to have the stock rims anodized gold?
It's not just the anodizing, you have to get all of the scratches out, and deeper marks from tire irons, otherwise they will stick out like a sore thumb. On deeper cuts ideally you should weld them up, and grind them down. If you just sand out the scratches and cuts and follow up with a polish, you made the wheel thinner and weaker. For just the anodizing a shop would typically charge a minimum for a batch of whatever you're doing. To do 2 wheels would likely run around $100-$150.
The second photo of the comparison actually looks pretty close, but always hard to tell from internet photos. The red frames from 80s Hondas are notoriously hard to get just right. You probably already know this, but there is a pretty big difference from the 81-82 frame color to the 83s and after. I've seen a few restorations where this was overlooked and it really detracted from otherwise good restoration projects. Good luck with the project and keep us updated as you progress with it.
The last CR I did I was able to paint the subframe and then compare it to the frame that wasn't yet stripped. The RAL 2002 was too orange compared to the stock color.
Here's the subframe painted ColorRite Flash Red
One word of advice, talk to Tom before you buy spokes to make sure the nipples you are buying fit his wheels. I believe most of his rims have a .280 nipple but check with him to make sure. I personally buy spokes from him as you know they will fit his rims and he sells Buchanan stainless spokes and nipples at pretty much the cost you would pay buying directly from Buchanan. One stop shop and you know they will fit.
Here is a side by side comparison of RAL 2002 (left) to ColorRite Flash Red (right)
I will do that! Thank you for all the help! Vintage gold wheels will look amazing on this build!
Did some sand blasting today. Got the frame, subframe, hubs, brake drums, upper triple clamp, and rear spring done. Took me about 5 hours total.
You may have already thought of this / done this:
Check the lower frame rails / cradle for rust - before you paint it!
Start at the OEM drain holes.
If there are dings, scrapes, where it can be thin, they are the sorts of places you can have a bit of a gouge at the metal, or, drill tiny hole(s) to see if you break through rust.
The most obvious places are at the lowest point of the cradle - if you don't know, brochure / ad pictures should indicate if there is a curve / dip as the lowest point.
A simple TIG, or MIG 'spot' weld can seal up any investigative drill holes - though, they can certainly pick up rust you may have missed!
It's a 43 / 44 year old, steel frame - Rust, internally, is quite likely. You've already shown a fair amount of external rust (to be expected).
Even if it's a 'show' bike, you're best to sort out rust inside the frame if possible - of course, far more so it it's to be ridden / raced.
I will do that, but honestly it's in excellent shape. I'll go over it once again though. There are literally no dents or and big hit marks on the bottom. I don't think the bike was ridden very hard, and it was cared for based on how well everything came apart. The only rust that you saw was surface rust where the paint had chipped away, and the bracket that someone welded on for the exhaust. I didn't have a single linkage bolt, engine bolt, or suspension piece give me any problems. Headset bearings worked great, same with the rear shock. The only bolt that I had trouble with was the rear axle, but it came out with a deadblow hammer. It's in better shape than the YZ 250 I just did https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/bike-builds/building-1987-yz250
Yes, general tear downs and the results you find, are a good indication of what you can expect / may be found.
But, when I get MTBers chanting "Steel Is Real" - and I largely MAKE Steel frames - I also counter with : "Steel Rusts = Keep That In Your Mind" . I confess, I do like to give my fellow MTBers heaps - and, I Do Not Need anyone's purchase of my frames - so much 'Wankery' and BS abounds in the sport, and, my profession of making 'things'.
I've always been a bit fanatical about regularly spraying oils / rust inhibitors into any breather / weep hole, and non welded gusset interfaces, on any of my steel framed MCs, and, in my repair work, so much of it is related to rust destruction. After painting the frames I make in steel, I thoroughly coat their interiors (when it's not a sealed tube ) with rust inhibitor, and, urge owners to keep on top of that.
By the same token, I'm fond of saying that Aluminium always looses the fight against Rubber or Plastic. For the want of just putting some contact between a cable run, or under a piece of bodywork onto say, a frame spar, I see trenches worn through on peoples frames / sub frames, swingarms. And, I can't count the amount of swingarms I've repaired - or rejected for repair - through drongos letting the swingarm chain slider wear through....... 🤬
Got a little powder on some parts today. My oven is shot now. Time to build a new one. I'm going to do a big write-up on it when I'm done.
We went to Vintage Days in Ohio this past weekend. I was taking to a guy and inquiring about 2 YZ 490's that he had and I mentioned that I have a CR 480 project. I told him that I was planning on getting a cone pipe for it. Well lo and behold he happened to have a brand new PFR Coe pipe and silencer so I grabbed them for $300. As we were walking away about 200 feet further down I spotted another 83 CR480. I shot him a decent offer and now I own 2 of them lol. It has some race pedigree as the previous owner did a lot of racing with it. Got it home today and cleaned it up as best as I could. I put the new pipe/silencer on it and took it for a spin.
Pit Row
Update time! I built a new powder coat oven which came out amazing. I used a rack from Amazon as the structure and then surrounded it with insulating sheets. Came out great.
I asked a bunch of times for the correct color of powder for an 83-87 CR frame. Ask 10 guys and you'll get 10 different answers lol. The best paint match is Color Rite Flash Red. For powder, guys were telling me Chevy Orange or RAL 2002. I tried the Chevy Orange and it wasn't even close IMO. So I got creative and with some advice from my girlfriend we mixed up a batch of our own color. To say it came out great is an understatement! It's equal parts Chevy Orange and Flame Red. It's absolutely perfect! I did the subframe and held it up to the original CR 480 I have here up by the VIN plate.
Here's the powder colors, and what they look like when mixed.
Short video of the frame after the first coat, I gave it 2 coats.
ALWAYS put on a boot when kicking a 500
Small update. I put a clear coat on the main frame. Came out very well. Clear powder goes on as a flat white.
Nice job with the powder coating, you will need a ground between the motor and ignition coil, if you don't want to remove any powder coating, you could run a ground wire like HRC did with their last generation CRs...
TCR Wheel reanodized my 94 rims. I forget the cost, it was just under a new rim IIRC, but these are originals. Didnt take long to clean them up, and TCR did most of the polishing. These are clear anno.
I went through exactly this with my last build of an 87 YZ 250. I ground everything down by the coil, but I never cleaned up the coating where the engine bolts to the frame. I had an intermittent spark problem for a little bit. I used a multi-meter to check for continuity and I had it, but apparently it needs a REAL strong signal for the coil to fire. I ended up adding a simple wire from the coil itself over to the brace on the cylinder head.
I just checked their website. Their pricing is fantastic! $95/rim. Shipping will be brutal though, I'm near Buffalo NY.
That's a better location for a wire, than the cylinder or cases.
Congrats on the powder coating job, it's looking good.
Thank you my man! I'm trying to get more people into it. It's incredibly easy to do if you take your time. It's one of those things that 99% of the people will farm out to a shop. But honestly you can get professional results your first time if you take your time. My new oven cost me about $190 to build, and it can do a full frame with subframe attached, or a vintage frame. I can walk people through the build process if they want to.
Farted around a bit today. Got the frame on my building stand. Reattached the serial plate. Attached the triple clamps and decided to do a minor polish job on the lower clamp. It came out pretty good. Did the lower leg of one of the forks as well. After dinner I started to tackle sanding the tank. I plan on replacing most of the plastics but the tank can be saved. It's such a labor intensive job though. Razor blade, then 5 grits of paper, rinse, repeat.
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