Engine bolted on engine stand

When I ordered a complete gasket set for the Honda CB500K1 it came with new std piston rings. And as I wanted to clean and paint its frame anyway I decided to remove the engine from the bike and bolt it on an engine stand. After two weeks of spraying the mounting/hanger bolts with WD40 all the bolts came loose pretty easy.I started with removing the bolts from the top hangers and worked my way down. 

Tip: If you wanna open the engine for a rebuild it's easier to loosen all the bolts and screws when it's still in its frame.
I removed the brake pedal connections, kickstarter, carbies (see previous post), all electrical leads, the top breather cover,  front sprocket and chain.

Honda CB500 four brake pedal

Honda CB500 four kick starter

Honda CB500 four engine

Honda CB500 four breather cover

Honda CB500 four 17T sprocket

Even after the last long bottom bolt was removed the engine stayed motionless in its frame. The engine weighs around 75 kg but it wasn't too hard to take it out of the frame and put it on a soft blanket next to the bike. 

 

Honda CB500 four removing engine

Honda CB500 four removing engine

 In order to bolt a bike engine on a standard rotating engine frame you need four 90 degree brackets, some threaded rods and a couple of washers and bolts. I used 50x50x50x5 mm brackets but other sizes may do the job as well.
It's way easier to fix the engine stand mounting head on the engine when the engine is still laying on the bench/floor. Only downside is it's gonna add another couple of kilos you have to lift while sliding the whole lump into the engine stand. I managed to do it myself but it's f*cking heavy...

 

Honda CB500K1 engine on engine stand

Honda CB500 four engine on engine stand

Honda CB500K1 engine

Honda CB500 four engine on engine stand

 

 

Honda CB500 four engine stand

Honda CB500 K1 1972

Back in the nineties I used to own a couple of SOHC Honda bikes from the seventies. All sold but still in my mind I started looking for a nice CB project to help me through the dark winter evenings. Browsing internet for a Honda CB I came across a 1972 Honda CB500 K1.

Honda CB500 Four advertisement

Honda CB500K1 1972

Honda CB500 K1 1972

Honda CB500 Four

The bike had been sitting in a shed for well over ten years and the engine was stuck from doing nothing for all those years. It came with a 4in1 exhaust and a poor quality custom brushed on paintjob but besides that it was almost a 100% stock original bike.

I've always liked the early CB500 bikes and as I was looking for a winter project I decided to pick up the bike as it was only a 1200 km drive (one way). It was a fun roadtrip with my bestie Batty over long flat roads across the middle of nowhere. No signs of life except for kangaroos, emus and speeding roadtrains.

The bike was as advertised and came with some original spare parts. Another nice surprise was the original owners manual still sitting in the seat and the stock airbox filter and toolkit tray were still there.

Honda CB500K1 owners manual

Honda CB500K1 owners manual

Pick up Honda CB500K1 with my Mitsubishi van

Back home I started cleaning the bike, there was a thick layer of greasy dust all over the bike.

Honda CB500 waiting for some TLC

Honda CB500K1

After changing the oil, oilfilter and adjusting the tappets and ignition timing I tried to start the bike. It made some pops but would only run for a sec after spraying starter fluid in the original airfilter box. When I inspected the leaky fueltap I found out it was almost completely blocked with dirt and tiny rust particles.

So I quickly made an external fueltank from a big syringe :)

 

Syringe fuel tank :)

Auxillary seringe tank

After some more kickstarting (the way too small battery in the bike was almost flat) the old Honda CB500 came back to life.  

                                                                   Honda CB500 K1 running

 

It probably needs a good carb clean and synchronising and some new sparkplugs but I was really stoked with the fairly easy but big progress.

Honda CB500K1 1972

 

Now I know everything is working it's time for some resto :)