Kickstarter
Pack Dog
Hi, my name is Matt and I am an adrenalin junkie. I just bought myself my first motorbike - a 1980 Honda XL500S. She's a bit tired with 85,000km under her belt, but has a newly refurbished engine (1500km ago) and plenty of oomph. I'm hoping to get it running great and if I like it enough then fully restore it.
Mechanically, the situation is looking ... alright. Fuel in the oil, small leaks around the valve cover and out of the decompression port. Front drum brake is pretty weak and probably needs cleaning. The silencer is butt-ugly and one of the only non-original parts, other than the rear suspension springs.
The 6v electrics are nothing to write home about, the battery wont charge once it runs too low and the lights are barely visible unless you gun the engine. I'm looking at converting to 12V and running LED indicators and brake light.
Took apart out the carb and found a whole heap of stubborn crud in the float bowl, flushed that all out with some carb cleaner. The airbox has a huge melted hole in it from the old exhaust being too close to it and will need to be repaired or discarded. It wasnt doing very much filtering anyway as the air intake was not sealed correctly on the carb. Got it all back together and she's sounding much better now (once I got her started. Barefoot nogal -my foot is paying the price much later)
Tomorrow I want to flush the engine oil, clean the oil screen, and give her a good tune up. Might be less-than-optimal seeing as there's no tachometer
Cheers !
Mechanically, the situation is looking ... alright. Fuel in the oil, small leaks around the valve cover and out of the decompression port. Front drum brake is pretty weak and probably needs cleaning. The silencer is butt-ugly and one of the only non-original parts, other than the rear suspension springs.
The 6v electrics are nothing to write home about, the battery wont charge once it runs too low and the lights are barely visible unless you gun the engine. I'm looking at converting to 12V and running LED indicators and brake light.
Took apart out the carb and found a whole heap of stubborn crud in the float bowl, flushed that all out with some carb cleaner. The airbox has a huge melted hole in it from the old exhaust being too close to it and will need to be repaired or discarded. It wasnt doing very much filtering anyway as the air intake was not sealed correctly on the carb. Got it all back together and she's sounding much better now (once I got her started. Barefoot nogal -my foot is paying the price much later)
Tomorrow I want to flush the engine oil, clean the oil screen, and give her a good tune up. Might be less-than-optimal seeing as there's no tachometer
Cheers !
