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My CX500

38K views 99 replies 24 participants last post by  Duxinrow 
#1 ·
So, been signed up on here for ages and know the CX cops a fair bit of a beating on here when anyone posts one up but I thought what the hell, it's been a bit of a running build and I'd stick it up for scrutiny and suck it up ;)

Bought it about 4 years ago now for $425AUD, was someones daily rider so mechanically Ok but cosmetically....



Spent as little money on it as I could, already had a triple bypass done on it but it missed pretty bad, a good claen of the carbs sorted that out, ended up with a rough looker but a good runner. Then it was time, knowing mechanically it was good, to make some changes.

Still went with the idea of as little money as possible, seat was bought from Roc City Cafe in the US (I'm in Australia) the rest of the gear was sourced on a budget or made by me (like the seat pad).

Up until a week or so ago it looked liked this, some mechanical work was done, forks tweaked, carbs jetted, rearsets made (in the process of chopping the shifter to move it back to suit). Total cost was still low, painted by a mate for $30.





Then I picked up a fairing of a Laverda race bike, made a bracket off of the steering stem and mounted it up this past weekend. Kept the same headlight as it was a good size, the worst bit was cutting the hole in the fairing.





Next is to paint the brackets, tidy the wiring nest left there now it's not in the headlight and sand off the sticker imprints in the fairing where it was made off of another race bike fairing at some point.



And that's where it stands now, I've put the glass back in the headlight, mounted some flush indicators on the fairing and now need to get the paint sorted. All up still a cheap bike and great for a quick blast on the weekends.

Cheers
Steve
 
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#9 ·
quote:Originally posted by Josef

How did you get your engine so clean, paint?
Soda blasted and then paint, this engine will get a full going over next winter (Summer is Australia now), nothing wrong with it but I have 3 engines and it's time it got a good freshen up and I have a collection of spares building. It'll get a repaint then.

Cheers
Steve
 
#8 ·
quote:Originally posted by Josef

How did you get your engine so clean, paint?
Soda blasted and then paint, this engine will get a full going over next winter (Summer is Australia now), nothing wrong with it but I have 3 engines and it's time it got a good freshen up and I have a collection of spares building. It'll get a repaint then.

Cheers
Steve
 
#14 ·
Yep, rear brake pedal is on the list for over christmas sometime, 3 kids and a job means time is tight but an hour or so chopping and welding is theraputic, did the shifter one evening with only a little grinding and welding to annoy the neighbours.

Agreed, those shocks suck from the box, drain them (this doesn't take long, or at least it wont take the same amount of time from one to the other), refill them and regas them so they are at least both the same and they work OK.

I guess opinions are exactly that, I wont be selling the CX anytime soon, wonuldn't get a lot of dollars for it, not enough to make it worthwhile starting again, and I enjoy riding it when I get an hour or two to spare.

Cheers
Steve
 
#15 ·
Yep, rear brake pedal is on the list for over christmas sometime, 3 kids and a job means time is tight but an hour or so chopping and welding is theraputic, did the shifter one evening with only a little grinding and welding to annoy the neighbours.

Agreed, those shocks suck from the box, drain them (this doesn't take long, or at least it wont take the same amount of time from one to the other), refill them and regas them so they are at least both the same and they work OK.

I guess opinions are exactly that, I wont be selling the CX anytime soon, wonuldn't get a lot of dollars for it, not enough to make it worthwhile starting again, and I enjoy riding it when I get an hour or two to spare.

Cheers
Steve
 
#16 ·
Made a new front guard over the weekend, I need to trim it properly and add some filler to smooth it out but it's getting there. I used some flyscreen cord to get a raised edge on it so it looks more factory and has a lip at the front and back. Should get it done over the Christmas holidays.

Taped up a spare wheel/tyre combo I had.





Just roughly cut out at the moment. I'll mount it to the stock brackets, it's shorter and lower profile than the factory guard but should still do the job of keeping the water out of my face and debris out of the radiator.



Cheers
Steve
 
#18 ·
So going for some more performance, ordered some Mikuni VM34 carbs and the custom intakes etc. Should be here in a week or two.





While I'm waiting for the carbs I pulled a set of heads off of one of my spare engines. Valves are coming out for new valve seals and a good clean. Then I'll lap the valves and port match the heads to the new inlet stubs from the carbs. With this fairly simple work and the carbs (which are jetted to suit the pods and exhaust) I should get a reasonable increas in HP out of the CX as the stock carbs dont like pods at all and very rarely do they produce more power with pods. Torque will be up quite a bit as well and if I go by the results others have had with this setup I should get 15%-20% increase in HP and torque.



Also ordered an electric fan off a Ducati (they are very thin and quite efficient) so I can take the mechanical fan off as it runs on the end of the camshaft and slows throttle response and saps more HP. Basically I'm trying to put the Racer in Cafe Racer, as much as can be done with the CX anyway.



Cheers
Steve
 
#20 ·
Instead of the carbs, you should get the FI from the turbo.
Looks like nice work, though.
 
#21 ·
Way to much work for me to retro fit the FI, even the ignition system would have to change from the CDI to TAI. I like carbs :) Other than that the 500 Turbo is pretty rare down here in Oz so I imagine getting all the parts would be an expensive excercise.

Cheers
Steve
 
#22 ·
Postie brought me a package today. Now I'm waiting on valve stem seals so I can finish the heads and swap them over and bolt up the carbs at the same time.

Two VM34's, two custom inlet manifolds and associated bolts and seals etc, new throttle cable, fuel t-piece etc. Also got the bare inlet manifold flange to make port matching the inlet easy.



Cheers
Steve
 
#24 ·
The guy I got them from has sold plenty of kits of these and knows the CX motors inside out, they are producing good power on the dyno and others are having great results with them so hopefully they'll also work well for me. Should know in a couple of weeks when it's all back together.

Cheers
Steve
 
#27 ·
Finished the front fender (pics of it's build further back), undercoated, painted (to match the silver stripes) and clearcoated to finish off. Just used rattle cans since it's a small piece, the fairing is off being painted with 2K today as well.







Cheers
Steve
 
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