Ton'in up
 

figured id throw up a thread about my halfassed resto/cafe conversion to my cm450. first a brief history: i got her off of a guy i went to iraq with to the tune of around $250. it had been sitting outside and hadnt been registered since the early 90's! put some air in the (very flat) tires, threw in a new battery and plugs and swapped out the ancient gas with fresh premium and she fired right up

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0409082308.jpg

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i really hated the custom look so i scooped up some flat bars which not only made her far better looking but much easier to ride.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0417082034.jpg

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http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0417082010.jpg

made a couple other improvements, mirrors never fit wit the new bars so i eightysixed 'em. also lost the sissy bar and spent a lot of time cleaning, de rusting, and painting. also de baffled the stock pipes so the system is now open and straight with a rather unneeded crossover

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...g/DSCN1143.jpg

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took it to my car club meet two weeks ago and snapped the throttle cable, limped her home and parked her for a bit. anyway since i had to order one part ive been racking up goodies that ought to make it more interesting. so far ive ordered a new cable, pod filters, clubman bars, oil filter etc.. also have some new bar ends for her cause im putting the 954's stock grips on the new bars when they show up. still looking for a good deal on header wrap, tires, carb rebuild kit, and maybe some more enticing sprockets. coming soon :rockwoot:

get rid of that seat, and make it a solo seat with a little hump where the back seat is and you might have a nice little project

Suggestion.... $25

http://www.d2moto.com/Items/m040-bla...0End%20Mirrors

seat is staying for now, might try ditching it for an older flat honda seat + cowl though.

and tiggs, ive seen those but im not crazy about em. looking for other options

in jersey the requirement is for one mirror, and it doesn't have to be in any sort of place that you can see behind you, just pop something on there with a short stalk then

Suggestion... buy a can of rustoleum engine paint in flat black and hit the engine,frame,etc. Also,run sb foot pegs straight from the mounts and get a shorter shifter. You'll have to figure something for the rear brake,if you even use it. I agree with the seat idea. Take it to an upholstery guy,he could easily and cheaply,shave the rear portion of the seat and re-cover it for you. loose the fender,use a cruiser or trailer aftermarket tail light and mount it under the seat. Cut and paint the chain guard. Lose the turning signals. Get some surface mount leds and attach them under the seat and to the bar end mirrors (run the wire down the handle bar if you're feelin' frisky)

Oops so much for my turning signal idea...:sorry:

Ok... $79

http://advanceauto.shoplocal.com/adv...toreid=2370190

that actually sounds not too far off. ive got a friend who powdercoats and also has a massive media blast cabinet so at some point in the season id like to tear it all down, blast it and paint it. then i ought to be able to make radical changes. still using it for training the gf at the moment so besides the clubman's i dont want to noodle with the controls too much :lol:

Okay...here goes,get the light-up bar ends and use those for turning signals.....:cf:

Just received word from the gf that the new bars came in today, looks like someone is getting great feedback lol. Probably put them on tonight with some other goodies. Pics to come

photobucket is being gay and i only managed to get one up. new setup feels good, def more sporty at only a slight loss i control ( i think)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0326092203.jpg

I didnt know you had another Honda..... who's Superchicken is that???? And what year? Me likey...

the hawk is the roommate's. he signed up but never posted, says he doesnt like bike forums :shrug:

managed to blow the carbs loose from the engine while riding home today. (no wonder shit wouldnt idle! :lol:) found and fixed a couple big airleaks in the intake ( in lieu of new o-rings i did some jerry riggin') torqued everything down, adjusted the the accel pump and the throttle cables and installed some pod filters. 100% better. still some roughness down low in the band but i loove the parallel twin power band. you'd never think forty horses would be so goddamn much fun. maybe do a sprocket next? gotta get new tires cert

got tired of the rusty chrome fender, so i tore it all apart painted it and slapped her back in there. looks pretty good IMO. debating going to pepboys for some header wrap but im not sure as that mod would cost somewhere around 1/8th of the bike's purchase price :lol:

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Purty. Like the wheels. If you do the wrap, wet it first, it goes on much easier.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j3...g/HPIM0653.jpg

passed on it for today, but i'll keep it in mind. thanks!

I can't see your pics, so I am subscribing to this thread.

My FIL has a....shit I don't remember the year, but it's a CB550 that I want to take from him. The poor bike has been sitting outside under a tarp for years. :( I just haven't had the time to drive up to Missouri with a truck and trailer to pick it up.

This isn't it, but it's the same one.

You bastard! Whenever I do that I end up with a POS with a seized engine :bash:

What is that, around a 1980? Looks like almost everything except the engine and drivetrain would interchange with one of my CX500s.

A tip: Harley Sportster OEM shocks. They're cheap as hell on ebay because all the RUBEs replace them with Progressives, they're available in a variety of lengths, and I bet they'll swap right on. Just have to swap the bushings from your old shocks.

Also, if you can pick up a Trailtech Vapor (or hell, even a bicycle speedo) you'll lose about 50 pounds off the top of the bike by ditching the gauge cluster.

What a great project!

good luck getting it! that thing looks like it would be a better starting point than the cm is, at least you have a flat seat!

its an 82' and yeah i think honda in those days used the same frame for a variety of different bikes. i saw a cx a few weeks ago that looked just like it used to. interesting that they were so hot to clone triumph and guzzi in the eighties :dribble: have you tried pouring seafoam or maybe pb blaster in the cylinders overnight? that usually can do wonders for unsticking things. actually i should prob run some seafoam through this old bastard...

nice start.
looks like it's cleaning up pretty nicely. keep us posted

lookin' good!

Dave, have you done any more mods to it? Can I ask how much the new bars were?

i de chromed and color matched the rear fender a few weeks ago. Other than that ive been too busy riding it or just plain poor to do anything else with it. the bars came from ebay and were like 30 bucks shipped. Grips were the oems from the 954 and the bar ends were like 15 at the local cycle shop. just do a search for clunbman bars or alternately if you want a set of flats i have one that used to be on the cm ill ship you for like 15

I might take you up on that. You in a hurry to get rid of them? I am not getting my bike for another 3 weeks.

I seen an ugly bike like that at BK the other day, and some fool on a 954 was tooling around next to it.

no hurry, they've been chilling in my junk pile in the garage for months.

well i didnt want to make an official announcement on here due to msf flaming :lmao:

heather, heres what the flat bars looked like when mounted, cant remember if these were previously posted or not :lol:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...g/DSCN1140.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...g/DSCN1141.jpg

found out a couple of our cars at work got wrecked recently today, and now the CM is sporting a new GTFOMW loud horn from a caravan ;) im loving that i fixed my japanese bike with a german part from an american car :lol:

snizzail!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0915091853.jpg

I put one on my VF from a Freightliner Classic:lol:

jebus :lol:

this was free, zip, zero, nada :)

Noice :dthumb: Does the stock electrical system actually have the nuts to get full volume out of the thing, or did you have to relay it?

I got a Harbor Freight air horn compressor and an old-fashioned brass bugle horn waiting to go on my bobber :lol Really need to get back to that project

yup worked perfect, direct replacement too. Didnt even have to splice connectors