The International CBX Owners Association

Hello all,

I have wanted a CBX forever and it just never worked out. I felt like I got distracted by other bikes and/or couldn't find one around me to get started on. I live in Anchorage and while our riding season is short, when it's good it's really good. The riding community is pretty strong but our inventory for for classic parts is much smaller than most places in the US at least. I finally found a CBX up here that the timing worked out on.

3700 miles, has been sitting for many years, missing some parts.....but it's up here and I have to do it.





Missing side covers:



And rear top cover:





Choke cable hanging by a thread:


Toast on both ends and I'm missing some pieces from the bottom of the choke lever:


I need these pieces:


Wiring harness rubbed through under the seat. I have a complete 81 harness in good shape being shipped up to me:





It may be a basket case but the engine is so nice to look at :



Fired up on starting fluid:
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[youtube]https://youtu.be/6JK_dtVUDvQ[/youtube]



So I've had it for about 4 days and so far I have ordered a complete wiring harness, choke cable, and brake lever. I still need random bits for the choke lever but I'm guessing I'm not going to find those without spending $150 on a complete lever on ebay. If you have any scratch and dent junk pile parts that I need let me know.

We are about to head out on vacation for a bit so I'm going to stop with the buying phase for a couple weeks. I will dig into it further when we get back and I really get motivated over our super long winter. This is probably the most intimidating project I have taken on and will likely take the longest and be the most expensive. BUT this is the bike I've always wanted so I'm just going to pace myself and ask a ton of questions probably. I appreciate the resources here and any feedback or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks all,

Jay

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Good luck with the project. Assuming you have the all the service manuals to refer to.

I’ve got this one and I’m going to do my best trying my hand at it.

Welcome!

Outstanding! Good on you for wasting no time getting down to brass tacks. You’ve come to the right place to post your progress. Loads of excited followers, and knowledgeable oracles.

To mention: There are all sorts of part sources. Do check them and compare. One source that likely has anything that you need is usedcbxparts.com. Owner, Louis Mintrone, is a good guy to work with. Located in Florida. As with probably any source, shipping might be a bit $$. Good luck and, above all, have fun. As was mentioned, this is the place for any question(s) regarding your project. Someone here has 'been there' and will be happy to help.

First tip - get some brand new tires.

CBX-tras wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 31, 2021 6:56 pm

First tip - get some brand new tires.

That’s probably the last thing I do before it’s on the road.

Side covers and choke lever bracket on the way from Terry on here so I’m happy to have those pieces early on.



Fuel tank is clean inside but I’ll be coating it with RedKote shortly.



I’m not sure if I want to swap the entire harness or just cannibalize what I need just yet.


I’ll start looking for that rear tail piece in a couple weeks so hopefully I can have it visually complete. For some reason that always makes them easier to work on knowing it’s all there.

If your tank is perfectly clean inside, DON’T coat it. Just keep the tank full, especially during storage, and you’ll have no issues.

Dave

daves79x wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:50 am

If your tank is perfectly clean inside, DON’T coat it. Just keep the tank full, especially during storage, and you’ll have no issues.

Dave

I have never had any issues with RedKote on any of my tanks in 20 years. This stuff is seriously resilient and not at all like the Kreem and other brands that eventually break down and wash out through the carbs. Once lined it can be stored, dry or wet and it doesn’t matter. What’s the reasoning behind not lining the tank?

Biggest reason is that they cannot be prepped properly for any kind of lining to adhere completely. You may think your tank is completely clean, but there is likely some part in there that the coating will not adhere to. My reply would be, ‘why coat it if it’s clean inside’?

Dave

I guess we will just have to disagree that they can’t be prepped for the lining to adhere properly since I’ve done dozens from my 240z to many motorcycles. Vinegar baths then washing out with acetone makes them receive the RedKote extremely well with complete coverage. Easy to tell you have complete coverage with a cheap eBay lighted boroscope.

“Why do it if it’s clean?” It’s not just to prevent rust but also makes any pinholes or seams from leaking. I’ve had several old Triumph tanks that were rust free but needed pinholes soldered and still leaked and were ruining paint after a while.




RedKote fixed even slightly leaking tanks so I just do it preemptively. I have some left over from my H1 I just did in May so just to have them stay rust free and leak free forever no matter how they are stored is a benefit to me.

Back in town and I wanted to get a little progress done on the CBX.



New cable arrived and the missing choke lever bracket is on:












"New" used harness arrived and the section I need is perfect. I'll be digging into this later as it gets closer to the road as I know it runs as is :








New Ebay brake lever was a fail and not the right angle at all. A new slightly more expensive one is on the way that looks more like the OEM features.





After bleeding the rear brakes with the syringe I confirmed I had fluid throughout the system but I could still hear air at the master cylinder. Finally I get pressure, pressure,pressure..... rear master cylinder explosion. Ha! I'll be looking for a rebuild kit for that shortly.







I popped in the side covers just to get a look and them popped them back off to store them. I still want a good condition rear tail piece so even if it's just sitting here it looks complete:






All in all, not really a ton accomplished but I did add some stuff to the "need to buy list" and I learned some things. 

Terry should have offered you some oil lines - do not fail to replace those. That bike is in really nice shape in many respects, but those old oil lines are thin and old and I had too many fail.

Great project!

N.

NobleHops wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 10:21 pm

Terry should have offered you some oil lines - do not fail to replace those. That bike is in really nice shape in many respects, but those old oil lines are thin and old and I had too many fail.

Great project!

N.

I mean he could have offered me 100 things this bike needs. It will all get there but for now I'm in the collect missing parts mode instead of replacing everything that it needs right now. It's a long winter and it will get there.

Toning up the fat butt on this thing.

Goodbye contraband cases:




Tims CBX relocation kit (these will get painted eventually):




Rear tail piece acquired and no longer missing pieces:




Whew! I can walk around it now. Front fairing coming back off will gain even more space and has to shed lots of weight with all of this gone.

The right brake lever came:




Digging in to the rear brakes:



Ouch:




Piston seized and corroded. It's been soaking for 4 days with no progress. I'm about to try a grease fitting to push it out. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try and fit a universal one.

A decent couple days though I wanted all the brakes done. It doesn't matter since it's not on the road but it will be nice to be done with all of one complete system instead of mostly done with several.