650 Cafe Project

Alright, here it goes...

I bought my 650 to be a project bike. I thought (foolishly) that I could use this as a running bike while I did work on it until I got to certain points. Nope. This has immediately started as a project.

I have an idea of how I want it to look and to sound and to feel when I ride it. I used to have a cafe CB550F but I want so much more from this one.

When I brought it home:





I started tonight going through the wiring harness to get to know it a little more. I've been reading my manual to get prepared for everything I am going to do.

I took off side panels, under fender, the hazard relay, brake light failure switch, aftermarket mirrors, passenger pegs, horn, removed the engine crash guards and put on a working kick starter (the old one would not lock open or closed). I also disconnected a bunch of the idiot lights. Other than the center stand and some cutting and grinding on the frame, I think this is most of weight that is going off.

It looks much cleaner already:


Bucket o' stuff - About 15 pounds worth of junk:


My plan is to do a few quick checks on the engine and carbs to see where I am, then start pulling stuff off and prepping it for either cleaning, painting or repair/upgrade. I am ordering parts as they come up and when I think I will need them (about 7-10 days early). I already have my clubmans as a place to start. I also have a new petcock, dyna-s and a few other parts coming Saturday or Monday. I am kickstart only and have a nice big hole where the electric start would be. I have a starter cover now that I may weld on just to clean it up.

Originally I wanted to upgrade the forks and front brakes but I think I'm going to stick with what I have - to keep tradition with doing some things on the cheap.

My vision:

I am going to be doing all my brake lights and blinkers with LEDs including an integrated brake/blinker setup. I am planning on doing a traditional bubble cowling setup, moving my battery under the bubble. I am going to completely redo my wiring harness. I am going to paint the frame and swingarm orange - to keep the orange feeling from when I bought it. The tank, fender and cowling are going to be either black or dark gray with orange pin striping. I also want to go with a dual front headlight.

I have some things that need to go still - aftermarket Lockhart oil cooler:


Airshocks:


I am going at this at a slow pace as I am teaching myself as I go and I work a full time and part time job. I am looking forward to hearing from you guys and getting feedback and help on this.

We are watchin'

Welcome to KZR. Nice looking project you've got there. Keep the work and pix coming. I live in Yorba Linda and there's a nice group that meets up for a ride now and then.

Mark

I found the plug and ring I need to plug up the engine when I take out the oil cooler. Ordered from my local shop (plugs are renumbered but were still used as recently as 2006 on a Kawi). Maybe the cooler is gone Sunday if the parts make it in on Saturday.

On a completely unrelated note, I am going to have a Lockhart oil cooler, fittings, hoses and clamps for sale. :laugh:

Mark, that is a pretty good trek for me - I'm up by San Jose.

OK. I had my first day off this month from both my jobs so my time was spend in the garage.

I have parts on order form 4 different places from the last week and nothing showed up for my shop day. Instead, I went and picked up a new battery and a dremmel. Since I'm not running an electric ignition I can run with a much smaller battery.

I dropped in to Batteries Plus and they had this sweet thing:



I got home plugged it in and it fired right up. Perfect.

Then I stripped off the battery box, headlight, tach and speedo, miscellaneous mounts. Then I ripped off the handlebars and put on my new clubmans.



And here (This is just a mock up so nothing is really in the right place I just need to make sure it all fits):



I then got the wiring harness out and started taking the tabs off the frame.

As of right now, I have taken 28 pounds off the bike.

Its getting there.



I'm happy, today was a good day. I know every day won't be this good but today was. New parts in next week, continue my mock up then strip it down get the rest of the tabs, and do the mount for my battery tray. Then paint and cleaning. When the paint is getting done I am going to go through my wiring harness to get rid of what I don't need.

I do have a pair of stock Ducati Monster 1100 Pipes. I'm thinking I might try to core one out and try to make that my pipe instead of what is there now.

I forgot to add that last week I purchased a nice fiberglass bubble seat. This one:

www.airtech-streamlining.com/vintage/images/seats/CB75021M.jpg

I talked to them and they make each piece at order so this should be ready in 2-3 weeks. My plan was to take the mount from the dirt track seat out (It is just a metal support) and attach it to this seat so I can still use the lock and helmet lock. I'm not sure that's going to work but I will give it a run.

S, Welcome, When you get your' seat sorted if you'd like to sell your' present piece I'm intrested. G

gane wrote:

S, Welcome, When you get your' seat sorted if you'd like to sell your' present piece I'm intrested. G

Sounds good. I should know more in the next few weeks.

Looking good.

If you went to the factory electronic ignition, there's a good chance you could eliminate the battery entirely. You might even be able to do it with points.

You have to replace the battery with a 6000 to 10,000 micro-farad, 50v capacitor. They are much lighter than batteries.

You just have to have a way to start it with all the lights turned off.

I have the area on the right control for the light on/off switch and I have found switches online. I am going to set it so I can flip the headlight off.

Good news for me - one of my parts orders came in from Z1 - Dyna-S, Replacement Petcock, New Ignition Switch, Carb Holders (hard bullets for the carbs). Tomorrow I get my engine bolts so I can rip off the Oil Cooler.

O Happy Day!