My XBR project

[iansoady]

Just to recap - I initially wanted a CB400SS grey import. But wiser counsel, mostly from this forum prevailed and I am now in possession of a beautiful XBR500. I'm not going to go overboard with this but intend to fit a CX500 tank which seems to be the easiest fit / best looking, and mod a spare XBR seat by getting rid of the raised front end and possbly other things. I foresee side panels may prove interesting.

To remind my faithful public what it looks like:






Under the bonnet - all in excellent condition.



VF400 bars arrived and look as if they will fit; arranged to buy another seat. All I want now is a tank......

[Itsme]

That is absolutely lovely. Can't wait to see how it progresses.

Ian

[iansoady]

Don't hold your breath Ian.....

[xbally]

Well Ian, I've followed this thread and the associated ones and as a former owner of about 5 XBRs and about the same number of CB250s it's proved most interesting.
As I think I may have said before I do find the RS a bit underpowered and lacking in much torque and they can be snatchy at low revs. The only way to ride them is to use the revs and not pull too high a gear especially around town-others may disagree.
I've now SORNED 2 of my other bikes - my  750 Monster has never been fully reliable and its developed a misfire or two so that is being looked into as well as a slipping clutch so the RS is my main bike at the moment.
The best feature of the RS is as again I've said before it its light weight which the Monster also benefits from even though its a750 but there's not much to it with the trellis frame and it's not unlike a super thumper to ride.
The point of this diatribe is just to say in comparison to the RS, the XBR is much torquier and not too much more heavy.
I know you don't like the styling-hence your intentions to modify and I do understand that. They are a bit of an acquired taste-but I can remember while not exactly drooling over one in Bob Joyner's showroom when they came out in 1985 when my sole bike was an early 400/4, I couldn't afford a new XBR due to mortgage etc and it wasn't until about the early noughties IIRC that I got my first one.
So anyway I hope you find the XBR more suitable to your needs than the RS.

[iansoady]

Many thanks Martin. It's partly because of help from you & others here that I've ended up with the XBR - although having said that the same could have been said for the CB250!

I have to say that in the metal the bike isn't actually as ugly as I'd thought. In any case I will not be making any irreversible changes - I know this will limit what I'm able to do but want to be able to revert to standard if my conversion foes pear-shaped.....

[xbally]

Yes understood Ian.

I meant to say the bike does look very nice indeed.

The build quality of 80's Honda wasn't always the best.

If it was mine I would want to preserve the condition but I know that can be a pain but this can be done as long as you're careful where and when you go in the poorer weather months avoiding wet country lanes which never seem to dry out and gritted roads.

I think it was Michael (Moto 63) IIRC but could be wrong ( senior brain moments)  who recommended heated clothing. I finally got a waistcoat (only £50 new off Fleabay) and have been out this afternoon on my RS and it's so much warmer I couldn't believe it. I fitted heated grips on my last XBR but couldn't get along with them!

[JOOLZ]

Looking forward seeing this project progress

[mthee]

VF400 bars arrived and look as if they will fit; arranged to buy another seat. All I want now is a tank......

You've  certainly  hit the ground running - should be finished by Tuesday  next? 

Best of British to you, Ian.

[iansoady]

You might think that - I couldn't possibly comment.

Like most of my projects I expect it will progress in fits and starts. And it's nowehere near as complex as many here. But should keep me busy during the winter months. Ride on greasy leaf-strewn lanes? Not any more......

[iansoady]

I've drained the oil and am awaiting filter etc from David Silver. Also checked the tappets which were fine. But I think I've found the source of the noise (apart from the silencer). The exhaust gaskets were squashed flat and the whole lot plastered with gun gum or similar. Bodge number 1 discovered...



The silencer as I expected is empty but this is in the exhaust going into it:



I don't know whether it's fixed as part of the exhaust or not.

These are the VF400 bars which have a couple of inches rise and pull back a similar amount as the XBR ones are in front of the stanchions:





A quick coat of Tetrosyl wheel silver should have them looking tidy but it'll be a while before I need to look at them. Still on the hunt for a CX tank.

I suspect my plan of swapping gear lever / brake sides will be very tricky as there don't seem to be any convenient gaps to install crossover shafts. I do have a cunning plan for potentially lowering the footrests however if it proves necessary.

[iansoady]

Aha. I think I've discovered the reason for the bodge - the exhaust collars p/n 18233MK4000 seem to be unobtainable. Does anybody here happen to have a set lying about? Alternatively, if you have one that you don't want to part with I could make them if I had the dimensions.

[themoudie]

Aye Ian,

Predator Motosport are producing reproduction sets in stainless steel, at a price!    But cheap in terms of man hours faffing about! Link to Predator site below.

Honda-XBR500-repoduction-exhaust-clamp-in-s-steel-each

Good health, Bill

[Moto63]

Morning Ian... I’m pretty sure predator still do the down pipes and silencer for the XBR in S/S too.
I had one on one of the XBR’s I bought a while back, sounded good. Loud enough to be a ‘real” motorbike but not offensively loud, road legal.
Cheers, Michael

[CrazyFrog]

Looks like you've found a very nice example Ian, good luck with it!

[iansoady]

Thanks both. Now I've cleaned the gunge off I can see that the pipes I have - which are stainless and in good conition - have a ring welded to them and a captive clamp (ie its ID is less than the OD of said ring). Hence I think it's designed to not use the split clamps / collets I've been looking for. Careful measurement seems to bear this out but will check. It will be nice to use what I've got. There were a couple of the copper seals in there but squashed beyond retrieval.

That predator site is very interesting and if I was to replace everything would be a good port of call. They do lots of other useful stuff as well.

CX500 tanks seem rare. I'm enquiring about this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185629257177 which looks reasonable. The filler cap area looks to have been molested but I'd probably want to change that anyway.