I just picked this bike up this morning 10 hours from me. The drive was worth it. It's a running/riding bike with great bones. Came with a huge tote full of NOS Honda parts. Gaskets,seals,bearings , etc..... Probably $700-$800 worth of stuff. Plan is to do a full cosmetic resto, new tires, fix the seat (foam is cut), gold rims, I'll keep the FMF Fatty, and fix some odds and ends. It already has the water pump fixed with a later year aluminum cover.
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Nice find!! I’m just finishing my 95 that’s been on hold for a few years. Have an 89 that will be next up.
A decided to shoot a little video of the pre-teardown.
On my 95, both front and rear oem wheels had a small hairline crack on the shoulder of each wheel and I cut the spokes for easy hub removal. Once the spokes were cut, the front wheel completely snapped a few weeks later.
I'll likely have to get new rims, as I believe somewhere down the line somebody stripped the gold anodizing off of them. This bike will have gold rims again. I used Full Circle Racing for my CR 480 that I did. I may go with Excel Takasago for this one. I'll powdercoat the hubs, and polish the spokes, providing that I don't snap any of them lol.
These are the Full Circle Rims on the 480 I just did.
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Damn good looking 480 and the Trans Am too. What’s the TA a 78/79?
It's a 79 Y84 Bandit Trans Am that somebody painted Solar Gold back in the 80's. It's a fun car. We have a few other big boy toys as well. I wish they were as easy to fix as an MX bike lol.
I have a build thread for the 480 in here. I built it for a vintage race we had in September then I sold it. Still have another 480 sitting here though.
Yeah those bandit cars were cool. I’ve seen car shows where they recreated those wheels in a larger diameter than what was available back then. I think they were called snowflake wheels and the honeycomb were on the earlier years. I use to see the early trans ams rolling the streets with the 455’s under the hood in the 80’s.
I would have hated to race that 480 as clean as it was and then crash it lol.
The 79 T/A has a 1976 400 in it that's fairly mild by my standards lol. I have a really nasty 2015 Z/28 that I race autocross with. It makes 588 rwhp. A company called Year One makes all sorts of factory replica wheels in 17" diameters to fit more modern rubber but keep the vintage look.
I didn't race the 480, I just showed it. Next year I'll be on something though. The track is fairly mellow, it's a 70's natural terrain track.
I had a 400sb in a 79 K5 blazer back then. The Pontiac and the Chevy 400’s were completely different though, even though both came from GM.
Yeah your Z28 sounds like it will get up on its hind legs.
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It was nice out today so I got a little busy. I started off with a compression check. Got 146psi which is fine for a 500. People tend to think that the bigger the engine the higher the psi, but that is incorrect. Any decent wngine whether a 125, 250 or 500, you want it around the 150 mark give or take. I got it stripped down to the frame in about 2 hours. Found a wasp nest in the airbox, lots of incorrect bolts, a few broken tabs on the frame where the seat goes, and the wrong coil hooked up. Other than that I can't complain!
I shot a small video on how I remove the data plates from the stem of vintage CR's. It works really well. I see guys drilling out the pins and prying on them. Totally unnecessary.
Been busy with work so I haven't done much of anything at all to the bike. It came with a later year kickstarter on it for the lowboy pipe. Those were the 89+ models. I was searching ebay for weeks to find a correct kickstarter. Finally found one for $119 and I snatched it up. Here's a comparison of the improper kicker and the correct kicker.
You will be hard pressed to find a better pipe than the fatty for an 87!
Small update! It's been a while, but the weather finally broke, so I moved 1 of the cars outside to make some room to work on bikes. I'm doing some mechanical work to a friend's 2001 TM250 and digging into the 87 500. I also scored an 84 CR 500 a few months ago for dirt cheap. I MAY try to do both 500's at once. We'll see how it goes. Today I tackled the front wheel. Got it stripped down, got the spray paint off, and found that the gold anodizing is super faded. Crap. I'll probably go with Full Circle Racing rims again. Here's a few pics.
A few more pics.
Tackled the tank today. It has some tiny stress cracks up by the cap and a few deeper scratches on each side, but overall it's in decent shape. Started with 400 grit wet sanding, then 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000. Then hit it with a polishing pad and medium cut polish. Final buff with a wool pad and no polish. It came out great.
Pit Row
Looks mega that tank! Will be trying this on one of my projects lol👌
Tank looking great!!
I did the same on my 89 both oem tank and shrouds. Started by scraping with a blade for the larger scratches then wet sand with all the sand paper grits.
Did a little bit of polishing today. Start with a soft brass brush. Then wet sand 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000. Then a tiny amount of Mother's mag and aluminum polish on a red polishing cone on a drill. Buff with a microfiber. Each stand takes 10-15 minutes.
Not too much progress. I have a crude home built sandblast cabinet that I can assemble/disassemble in 10 minutes. I hate sandblasting. Got the frame, subframe,both hubs and handlebar done.
Got some powder coating done. Frame, dubframe, rear spring, hubs, and handlebars done
Caution, don’t use silica or play sand sold at Home depot or Lowe’s, very bad for your lungs
I wear a mask when blasting. I blast with aluminum oxide. I probably should get a respirator, or just farm out the blasting. I hate it.
Dove into the engine today. Looks like I'll be cracking open the wallet lol. I was hoping to see some good news, like some crosshatch, rings still in good shape, etc. What I got was a fairly clean cylinder, but rings way out of spec , tranny oil in the crank area (seals shot). The top ring was way over, and the bottom ring was over but not as bad. I'll probably just do the Millenium big bore kit since it's the same money. I really wish they did a decompression valve though.
joelster : " I really wish they did a decompression valve though " .
From what I gather, and I'm sure there are a few here that can tell you who to go to in the US, there's quite a few companies that do De-Comps. MRE for example.
Here's a Pull Button one - that is the most common, that I did for an old acquaintance a few years ago - on an 87, and, specifically in that more forward position as he requested :
While you've got the Barrel to Millennium, send off the head to whoever you can find.
I'd not ever do the old style Decomp that goes through the barrel, by the way, nowadays . Just too exposed to crud etc. And, the tiny hole you use with the Pull Out / Pop Offs in the combustion chamber, allows plenty of DeCompression.
It's not just about the easing of the Kick through - it also helps the entire KS mechanism, And the cases.
I've done a lot of decomps over the years - I personally use an Auto Decomp that uses Vacuum to close the valve, so I don't have to reach down for a button, but. it's Much more involved to do:
That's the Victa Lawnmower Vacuum Decomp /\
And that's where I put it - requires welding outside, and in the combustion chamber, and, of course, machining up the insert.
Plus, the pick up / hose point , be it on the Cases, Manifold, or Carb.
The Pull Out / Pop Offs, are an absolute doddle to do, in comparison.
Thank you for the feedback! I can buy a complete head on eBay for a CR500 with the valve installed for under $300, but they are for the later CR heads, not the 80's ones. From doing a little research, apparently I need to run a different head gasket. Not sure if it's for cooling reasons or compression reasons though. Seems to be conflicting answers as to why. I couldn't magine kicking over a 520cc beast with over 170psi lol. Would ne hard on the mechanism. If I go the millenium route for he 520 kit I have to send them the cylinder and the head as well. Seems that they modify both for the kit, so slapping on a head from another company may be a no-no. I'm thinking that they open up the chamber a little bit.
As far as I know, the water cooled heads will fit all - whatever generation it is.
There'd be heated debates between blokes on CR500 sites as to what one was the 'best' one - dome and squish shapes being different. All I've ever done is adjust the squish gap. Look to the Letter and Number cast on the heads - see the ML-3 on that one. I think there is only about 3 head codes.
So, Millennium do the set up as a matched pair - a good idea.
But, you could 'T" up a Decomp Installer to do your Head, after you get the Head and Barrel back. As, you may have a few finishing touches to do on your rebuild project, even then?
It's well worth having a Decomp - f**k the 'Hard Men' that decry them.
My decomp meant I could fit a short Gas Gas Trials bike lever, so I could get my non bendy leg up onto the lever. Heck, I can start it by hand - I made a Tube that I keep in my Jacket / Bum Bag / Fender Bag, that I can slide over the GG lever ( that I made a longer Foot section for, so my foot wouldn't slip off during a desperate kick) , with a soft Oury grip on it, just for that purpose - though, it's only a thing I'd do when stuck on a cliff / jammed between boulders on a 'Death March' ride. I'd hate to have the old Beastie decide to kick back while starting by hand............
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