[acp1]

Hello all, first post for us.
Have been working on this one off and on for a few months (admittedly more off then on).

Picked the bike up for $400.

Rebuilt and jetted carbs

Mismatched rims on it. So we swaped it out with com stars. Using a cm400 front end.

Tank was dented beyond repair...like some one dropped a 20lb weight on it from the top. Lol.
Had a late 70s KZ1000 tank sitting around so we changed up the tank mounts a bit and are using that.

Some trial and error with welding on the cafe racer loop. At first we welded it on where the stock seat sits, utilizing the area where the shock mounts are.
Then after it sat around for a few days I hated the lines, so we welded another loop in line with the bottom of the tank.
Welded on mesh between the two loops, which allows us to hide all the wiring and battery. Masked off "Honda" before we painted it, thought it looked pretty good.
Initially it was built for a brat style seat, then a buyer found us and said they also wanted a cafe racer seat. Made our first one out of fiberglass. We are making it so he can switch the seats depending on the riding he wants to do.
Clubman bars. Smoked led tail light. Resevoir shocks.

In house powdercoated items:
Super durable wet black: engine covers, rims, caliper, fork tubes, upper triple, kick stand, foot pegs
Super durable gold: front caliper mount
Black chrome: tank

Things that are left to do:
Finalize wiring and battery
Powdercoat and mount front and rear fenders
Mount MAC exhaust
Pod filters
Levers
Upholstry
Headlight and rear turn signals
Tank badge
Take her for a test drive !

Lots done and lots left to finish up...will keep the group updated

 

[ryan.hope]

What rear shocks are those?

 

[acp1]

Ebay special from Taiwan I believe. Haven't riden on them yet, so I can't vouch for them as of yet. They were about $125 shipped for the pair.
RFY nitrogen shocks. They are 13.5" to kick up the rear a bit. The rider is a taller guy.
They have a multitude of styles and colours.

 

[Sam I Am]

That is sharp looking !!

 

[acp1]

Thanks Sam. Got some more powder in today so I hope to get the fenders sorted this week.

 

[iamthewalrus016]

Where did you get the paint for that tank? It looks awesome.

 

[acp1]

Where did you get the paint for that tank? It looks awesome.

The tank is actually powdercoated "black chrome". It's a two stage powdercoat. First a chrome layer, then black chrome.

We powdercoat all of our own pieces. I like powdercoat over paint, because I can do it myself, its fairly inexpensive and its durable; the colour range of powdercoat is so vast now...
We started with a roaster oven and a gun from Harbour Freight; it was perfect for engine covers, calipers and other small pieces. We quickly realized the potential and wanted to powdercoat our own rims and frames. So we built our own 4x8 oven out of some scrap metal and scavenged oven elements and upgraded our powdercoat gun.

Seat is going to go gun metal grey and painter can't match the finish of the powdercoat...so sadly we are getting the tank painted to match the seat. Everything is going gunmetal gray.
But hey, at least we know that tank will never rust on the outside for many years to come. lol

 

[iamthewalrus016]

A friends of mines dad owns a shop and does welding and fabrication mostly but also did all my powder coasting for really cheap... I wanted him to do my tank but he was comfortable baking it. I cant blame him... and at least he soda blasted it for me. Pretty sick build.

 

[acp1]

A friends of mines dad owns a shop and does welding and fabrication mostly but also did all my powder coasting for really cheap... I wanted him to do my tank but he was comfortable baking it. I cant blame him... and at least he soda blasted it for me. Pretty sick build.

Our old coater wouldn't touch em either. This tank was sitting around fuel free for 1.5 years and fuel fume free. lol

 

[Nickcornaglia]

Love the mesh around the loop with the brat seat. Very unique looking.

 

[acp1]

Love the mesh around the loop with the brat seat. Very unique looking.

Thanks, wish i could say it was planned, it helps us to hide all the electronics though. So it's also functional

 

[iamthewalrus016]

Our old coater wouldn't touch em either. This tank was sitting around fuel free for 1.5 years and fuel fume free. lol

Yeah... The tank I wanted powdered was a 68 CL 350 tank... The original owner died in the early 90's and hadn't ridden the bike... according to his son whom I bought the bike from... since sometime in the 80's. I was fairly positive it had zero fumes left in it. Its all good though I didn't like that style tank much and I got two of them with the bike. Ended up with a with a 73 tank I believe and painted it myself. Still powder is where its at.

 

[acp1]

Yeah... The tank I wanted powdered was a 68 CL 350 tank... The original owner died in the early 90's and hadn't ridden the bike... according to his son whom I bought the bike from... since sometime in the 80's. I was fairly positive it had zero fumes left in it. Its all good though I didn't like that style tank much and I got two of them with the bike. Ended up with a with a 73 tank I believe and painted it myself. Still powder is where its at.

Ive had moderate success when I do my own paint.

 

[acp1]

Deleted the last post cause those pics were super blurry. lol

Paint is back and looking good. Seat will be upholstered soon.

Wiring has been rerouted under the seat, not a single wire needed to be extended which I am VERY happy with. I'm pretty good with wiring, I'm just...well burnt out I guess one could say
Re-wired a cx500 over the weekend, including a custom dash. My eyes need a break...

The Ballistic battery is also sitting nicely.

Making some custom tank badges too with one of our shop logo's. Using brass and steel sheet metal that we hand cut and filed.

Plan on finishing up the turn signals and headlight and mounting the exhaust in the next couple of days.

 

[acp1]

Mini update

Rear end is about finished up.
Turnsignals are mounted, chain guard has been trimmed and rear fender has been mounted.
Front fender has been chopped and all will be powdercoated in black chrome.

New request for the headlight: dual/twin headlight. Going for a dual projector "eye ball" head light, hiding the wiring will be interesting....

 

[ryan.hope]

You leaving those pods on there like that with out some sort of stack/tube?

 

[acp1]

You leaving those pods on there like that with out some sort of stack/tube?

Yup.....

 

[acp1]

The last of the modded and powdercoated pieces have been completed.
Original Front and rear fender: front fender chopped and rounded; rear fender relocated to a tire hugger, cut to allow for the chain guard, cut a star out and placed mesh behind it.
Powder coated black chrome

Chain guard has been drilled out and powdercoated black chrome

Lengthened the shifter rod and rear brake pedal have been coated wet black.

Tank badge is the shop logo and its almost finished

Should be able to mount up the pieces tomorrow.
Eyeball headlights are in and now I need to mount and relocate a whole bunch of wires.

As long as there are no last minute additions or changes, this bike should be ready next week.

 

[MattyB]

Quick question - did you cut off the original frame right behind the rear shock mount? I have cm450e that I just picked up and am looking to do a very similar build this winter. I've spent the last few days trying to visualize where to cut, where to add the new seat loop, etc.. I'm not looking to rebuild the entire rear end of the frame and was hoping structurally I could just cut it off right past the shock mounts. Probably going to ride the bike for the summer and then start on the build this fall.

Nice work on this one!!

 

[acp1]

We cut the frame about 2-3"behind the upper shock mounts. Then we put a loop there, got busy with other projects and the longer we lived with it the less we liked the lines.
So we put another loop that was inline with the bottom of the tank.

We sell a seat loop that will fit it perfect, details are in this thread:
http://www.hondatwins.net/forums/4-bikes-parts-sale/30515-cafe-seat-hoop-loop.html