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Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:19 am
by JorgenL
Put my billet triple trees on the bike and experimented a little with the washer. It's all in the details.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:36 pm
by ross_cheeks
JorgenL wrote: Today I made a new A4 stainless front engine mount and I received my velocity stacks from Steel Dragon Performance.


Hi, just wondering what ones you ordered, was it the PD ones from the 550?

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:45 pm
by JorgenL
ross_cheeks wrote:
JorgenL wrote: Today I made a new A4 stainless front engine mount and I received my velocity stacks from Steel Dragon Performance.


Hi, just wondering what ones you ordered, was it the PD ones from the 550?


I just mailed them my carb measurements, what style I wanted and said it was for a 650. I don't think they have anything in stock, I believe they make them by orders.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:00 pm
by FordMan
ross_cheeks wrote:
JorgenL wrote: Today I made a new A4 stainless front engine mount and I received my velocity stacks from Steel Dragon Performance.


Hi, just wondering what ones you ordered, was it the PD ones from the 550?


I talked to the guy at Steeldragon, they are Here in my State of Minnesota, according to the measurements we gave each other the PD carbs on the early 650's are the same size as the 77-78 cb750 PD carbs, which are PD46 or something.
Just email them they will make u a breadbox or stacks whatever u need, great guys to talk to.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 3:26 am
by JorgenL
A new year and a little update to show that I'm still alive...

Got tired of the paint an decided it was time to finish the project.

Tore the bike down into parts and sent the frame to powder coat and the other parts to regular paint.

The plastic swing arm bushings looked a little tired after 35 years so the had to go. They wouldn't survive the powder coat oven anyways.

Cleaned up the handlebars with minimalistic switches and wiring inside the tubes.

I'm also redoing/optimizing the whole wiring harness from scratch with new wires, connectors and sleeves.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:20 pm
by FordMan
Like the switches, were did u get them, i have only seen that style with billet push buttons on them.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:44 am
by JorgenL
FordMan wrote:Like the switches, were did u get them, i have only seen that style with billet push buttons on them.


I found them on ebay. Some guy bought them for a harley but got the wrong size.
I got the double one on the picture and a single switch to go on the right side. Had to find a latching red pushbutton switch for the emergency/engine stop (required by law over here).

I've seen Posh switches from a Japanese web site but they are quite pricey.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:02 pm
by JorgenL
Got my parts back from the painter and I'm impressed by his work, not a single flaw and the paint is so deep it's impossible to show it on the photos.
Now if only the powder coater could give me a call about the frame and a few parts.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:03 pm
by JorgenL
And the last part from the painter...

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 9:28 am
by JorgenL
Okay time to move over to my wheels!
Those comstars are scratched and generally nasty.
Some time a rivet came loose and a previous owner "fixed" it by hitting the rivet with what it looks like a sledgehammer. If he only hit the rivet things would be good.

The the rivets/bolts are the same length both front and back.

First I mark the spokes with a pencil. 1-5 on one side and A-E on the other. Make marks on the hub and the rim so everything goes back EXACTLY the same. When everything is off the wheel I will punch in the marks on the back of the spokes and on the hub/rims so I don't remove them in my cleaning frenzy.

The alu-rivets are easy to drill out. Center punch them and drill gently with a good 8mm drill bit from both sides, the head pops off. Knock them out.
I'm replacing the rivets with 20 pcs M8 x 25 A4 stainless bolts with nyloc nuts so I will have to enlarge the holes in the rims so that it just goes in.

The five hub bolts are a different story. They are one use only. Using an impact driver I could snap the bolts and pull them out. 2 nuts came of without snapping the threads.
The length of the bolts is 61 mm. I gave one to a friend who have access to strength testing equipment. He told me that they aren't 10.9 strength like I thought but 8.8. Maybe they were high strength back in the day.
Nevertheless I'm buying 10 pcs M8 x 65mm 10.9 strength flanged bolts and flanged lock nuts and using permanent thread locker just to be safe

While everything is in pieces I will put in new bearings for good measure.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:54 am
by JorgenL
Just got my seat back from the upholstery shop.
The quality of their craftsmanship is just amazing. I considered trying to reupholster myself but I'm glad I didn't.
It took the guy approximately 2 hours to create this. If it was me I would still be at it and it would look like a beanbag.

For those located in Sweden and want good result you should give Top n' Trim Shop a call.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:35 pm
by FordMan
JorgenL wrote:Just got my seat back from the upholstery shop.
The quality of their craftsmanship is just amazing. I considered trying to reupholster myself but I'm glad I didn't.
It took the guy approximately 2 hours to create this. If it was me I would still be at it and it would look like a beanbag.

For those located in Sweden and want good result you should give Top n' Trim Shop a call.


That is a sweet job they did.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 2:50 am
by hocus82
Any updates Jörgen?

Er du klar for ny sesong? 8)

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:21 am
by JorgenL
hocus82 wrote:Any updates Jörgen?
Er du klar for ny sesong? 8)

Inte ännu :(

Still waiting for my powder coater to call and give me the good news that my frame is all done.
I'm also working on the comstars. Mediablasting the spokes, etching primer, paint and clearcoat. It's a tedious task and I want it to look just right before putting them together with Loctite.
I have gone through all the nuts and bolts on the bike and replaced all that I could with polished stainless A4.
There's also a lot of small steel parts that will spoil the over all look if they are dirty so they all have to go into the ultrasonic cleaner and get a quick buff.
I hope I can start putting it all together around Easter when I have a couple of days off work.

Re: 1980 CB650z RC03 Café Racer (ish) project

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:35 am
by JorgenL
Today I picked up my powdercoated frame.
It's primered (powder), base coated (powder) and then clearcoated (wet) on top.

I'm ready to start the assembly.