Honda 1983 cr480 83 cr480r cr 480 r

Other CR480 Build Blog

2012-02-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to Col Barretts 83 CR480 Build.
http://cr480rebuild.blogspot.com

2010-03-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

All Done But Jetting

2010-03-05T15:07:00.001-08:00

All I have to do now is jet the bike and start it, I also need one footpeg pin that got lost, but I have one coming.

Cables

2010-03-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

Carb

2010-03-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

I put a new mikiuni 38mm TM flat slide on, I'm just waiting on the jets to jet the carb, then I can start the bike. I will be running a Gunner Gasser with motion pro cables.

Pipe

2010-03-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

I put A DG pipe and silencer on the bike for now, I'm thinking of having CPI Pipes build a new pipe for the bike.

Top end on

2010-02-28T12:22:00.001-08:00

I bead blasted the cylinder and had it bored out to 4th over with a new weisco piston, I also put in a new v force reed next week I hope to have the 38mm Flat slide carb on also. If you look at the tank you will see that I have a pet cock from Clark Tanks on it, I have ran the pet cock on all my post vintage RM's for years with out a problem.

Chain Rollers

2010-02-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

I had a hard time finding new Rollers that fit, all of them where to wide for the frame, so I pulled out the old bearings and put in skateboard bearings. Cost was about 75-80 cent per roller. Here is a link to vxb bearing.

http://www.vxb.com/

2010-02-16T11:40:00.001-08:00

Wheels and plastic on bike

2010-02-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today I put the wheels and plastic on the bike. I have VMX plastic on the bike and I have to say it is some very nice stuff! I have had plastic from DC plastics before and I was not very happy with it, On a side note it is nice to have DC around because they make a lot of plastic for bikes and parts that know one has. I put Dunlop 756's on the bike and the rims are the stock rim polished and anodized clear with stainless steel spokes.

2010-02-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

Suspension

2010-02-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

I installed the front forks and the rear suspension, on the rear I have a Ohlins shock with a Simons link that I had made with the help of Jay from the Yahoo CR480 group, I also had all the bushings remade for the rear suspension with grease groves and ports so it can be greased without taking it all apart. The swingarm and all the aluminum parts was acid dipped and anodized. The forks were hard anodized, I also have race tech springs and Emulators in the forks.

Suspension

2010-02-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Top end

2010-02-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

I got my top end back faster than I was thinking it would take! This is one wild looking Head! the cylinder and head had to be decked to mill the new head design, There is very small groves that run from the spark plug to the edge of the head that you can hardly fill with you finger nail, hear is what is what I was told it will do, increased torque, increased combustion efficiency, more uniform combustion, smoother power delivery.
For head work call RK Tek.

http://www.2strokeheads.com/

Bottom end

2010-02-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

Bottom end

2010-02-08T12:24:00.001-08:00

Bottom end

2010-02-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Tank

2010-01-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

I worked on the tank today with some foam sanding pads that I get from the auto body shop that work good on the plastic, It will mold to the curves of the tank better than the paper disk and with out burning the plastic after that I buff it out with a paint polisher at 1000 rpm and some very fine wax, If you run it more than 1000 rpm you can burn the plastic. Also the foam pads I get are from 180 grit to 2000 grit.

2010-01-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

This is some before and after photos of the wheels.

The wheels are done

2010-01-29T15:38:00.000-08:00

I got the wheels back today and I have to say they look great. I had a friend build the wheels for me because if I was to do it it would look like it was built for a clown act in the circus. I had Kenny Watkins build the wheels he has built a lot of wheels for me over the years and he is also a Race tech shock and fork tech, I have had him build five or six old RM and CR shocks for me with great results. E Mail him at kwatkins497@yahoo.com

New brake stay

2010-01-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

I had a new rear brake stay made it looks good and will be very strong.

air box drain boot

2010-01-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

I got a new airbox drain boot from Bobby Damora cell# 702-373-3851 email bdamora@embarqmail.com It has a very nice tight fit on the airbox, so no more zip ties to hold the boot on.

3M Wheel

2010-01-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

I have been asked several times what I use on the aluminum and some of the steel parts that I had zinc plated. It is a 3M scotch brite wheel it will cut and polish the metal but on aluminum you have to be careful, like on a swingarm or forks so you don't get it wavy. On the swingarm I use a 2 inch wide wheel and it has to be a very fine grit or it will cut to fast. I use 5A FN on aluminum and I think a 8 med. on steel. Look on ebay for the best deals on a 3m wheel if you have to pay full retail the cost will be $50 to $140 for the wheel. One last thing only use a new 2 inch wheel on a swingarm or it will come out all wavy you just can't get it flat with a 1 inch wide wheel.

Frame color

2010-01-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

I got the frame back from the powder coater and it may be a bit to orange. What do you think?

Ex manifold

2010-01-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

I got a O ring EX manifold from Eddie sanders racing that I will be running on the cr480. I think that the stock manifold is not the best design with the metal seal ring, The o ring gives a tight seal on the ex. I hate oil leaking on the frame and down the motor. The out side diameter is about 2.5mm bigger so I had to cut off the old head pipe and weld a new one on. Looks like it will work good I will just have to Waite and see.

Brake stay

2010-01-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

I had the old anodizing striped off the brake stay after that I polished the out side and then had it anodized clear, The old bearing was tight so I pressed it back in with new seals I also had all the hardware zinc plated.

Backing plates

2010-01-06T12:18:00.001-08:00

Rear brake backing plate

2010-01-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

Today I put the front and rear backing plates together, I had the brake cams and springs zinc coated, backing plates were then powder coated, then I soda blasted the brake arms, as you can see from the photos the soda blasting will not hurt the aluminum or plating, I then put new seal and EBC shoes on.

Swingarm

2010-01-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

Swingarm

2010-01-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

In one of the older posts I had stripped the old anodizing off the swingarm, then with a 3m deburing wheel got the nick and scratches out of it then had it anodized clear. Now it was time to but it together, the bearings wear good in the swingarm so I cleaned them up in the solvent tank then pressed the bearings in and put the bushing for the rear shock back in that had been zinc plated along with all the axles bolts and dust seal caps and the wheel adjusters. I put the new chain slider on with the stock chain guide but used the new wear block I got on ebay, as you can see in the photos I had the chain adjuster hard anodized black to help with wear, the last thing to do was put the 480 stickers on.

Chain guide-slider- fork wipers

2009-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

I got some parts today a Chain guide, slider and fork wipers, the parts look to be nicely made with the fork wipers and slider being very good. I got them from Bobby Damora cell# 702-373-3851 email bdamora@embarqmail.com I had payed for a Slider from a other person on ebay but after a month I had not seen it, so I got my money back and got one from Bobby, he had the parts at my home in about three days. Thanks Bobby good job!

2009-12-30T11:48:00.001-08:00

Air Box

2009-12-30T11:17:00.000-08:00

The air box looked bad the mud flap was broken and the rear bracket that held the the top rubber mud flap on was rusted, so I drilled out the rivets, bead blasted it then painted it with PJ1. I pulled the rest of the box apart and put it in my sonic washer for about two hours to clean up all the parts. I found a old plastic mud flap that was good, so I sanded it and polished it out it was hard to hold on to so it is not the best good but it will work. I then put the air box back together with some black silicon on the air boot mount,I then riveted the bracket and top mud flap back on with aluminum riverts.

2009-12-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

2009-12-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Forks

2009-12-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

Today I put the front forks together. I'm running Race Tech Emulator's with Race Tech .48 springs. I drilled three 5/16 holes in the damping rods, then cut the stock compression adjuster off, you wont need it with the Emulator, you adjust the compression with the pop off spring on top of the Emulator by turning the allen bolt in. I put the springs in with 8mm of preload by cutting the spacer tubes that come with the springs, I Turned the Emulator preload in two turns from what Race Tech had it, I'm running 20wt oil 5 1/2 inch from the top. As you can see from the photos I had the fork sliders hard anodized, this will help the wear on the aluminum sliders and longer oil life.

Hubs

2009-12-22T11:41:00.000-08:00

Today I put the bearings and seals in the hubs. the bearings and seal kit is from all balls, I have found that the all ball bearing have no or little grease in them, pop the dust seal off and grease the bearing and then put the dust cover back on. I had the aluminum spacer in the rear hub hard anodized and the front spacer and rear washer spacers zinc coated.

Rear end bushings

2009-12-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

2009-12-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

I got the aluminum parts back form the platters, so today I put the bushings in the rear suspension. I had the bushings made, they are 60 Rockwell, have grease groves and a grease port. I drilled and taped a hole for all the bushings and put grease Zerk's in, then put the bushings in the freezer over night, heated the aluminum parts in the oven to 150 deg. and then pressed the bushings in with a vise and some sockets. The lower link is a Simon's link that I had made.

Fixing threads in frame

2009-12-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

There was one thread that I had to fix in the frame and I think the best way is with a time sert, you just drill the thread out, then use the counter sink from the time sert kit, tap the hole, then insert the treaded bung.

seat Brackets

2009-12-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Seat Bracket

2009-12-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

The seat bracket where bent and worn, so I made some new ones out of .120 5052 aluminum. I traced the old bracket on the new aluminum and marked the center of the holes, then I cut it out on the bench shears, drilled the holes, marked the bend line, and bent it on a metal brake.

Seat

2009-11-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

I got a seat foam and cover off ebay, as I pulled the old seat cover and foam off the seat pan I got looking at the front hold down mount and it had a lot of wear, so I got a better one from a old seat pan that I had, riveted on the seat pan and then put the new foam and cover on. I don't like the rear mounts in the back so I think that I will make some new one from .120 5052 aluminum. I will post photos when I make them.

Aluminum parts

2009-11-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

I got the aluminum parts back that I had striped of the old anodizing. The parts look good so I polished the rims and brake stay. The swingarm had some nicks that I couldn't get out with the 3m wheel, but over all it looks good. now I have all the aluminum ready the be anodized.

brake backing plates

2009-11-20T15:07:00.000-08:00

I pulled the backing plates apart today to have them glass beaded and have the springs and cams zinc plated. There is a lot of little parts in the plates so I take all the parts and put in a plastic parts bin, I will put tape on the little bins with the name were the parts came from, like (fbp) for front backing plate. Then you don't lose the parts and you know where they came from.

Bolts

2009-11-19T17:01:00.000-08:00

I glass beaded all the bolts and axles now I will have them zinc plated.

swingarm and aluminum parts

2009-11-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

I pulled all the bearings and bushings out of the swingarm and got it ready for the anodizer to acid dip and take all the old anodizing off, then i will bring them home to clean up and take all the marks and nicks out of them, Then I will have them clear anodized. To have a aluminum anodized you can't have steel in it so all bearing and bushings have to come out.

forks

2009-11-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

I pulled the forks apart, cleaned them and got all the marks and nicks out with a 3m wheel, then I polished them, now thier off to the anodizer to be hard anodized black.

2009-11-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

wheels

2009-11-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

I cut the spokes out of the wheels, pulled the bearing and spacers out then bead blasted the hubs and cleaned the rims. Now thier off to the anodizer to acid dip them, that will take the old anodizing off, then I will polish them and clear anodize them. The hubs will be powder coated semi gloss black

case update

2009-11-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

I milled the weld down so the trans will not hit it and cleaned up the bearing holes.

Crack in case

2009-11-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

I pulled out the bearings and soda blasted the cases and found a crack in the clutch side center case between the main and lay shafts. I heated up the case to 150 deg. in the oven and welded it up, the weld looks good and now I will grind and clean it up where the bearings go. If I would not have soda blasted the case I don't think I would have seen the crack, just something to think about when you rebuild a motor. I looked on ebay for a new set of cases, there was a set there but I zoomed in on them and they looked cracked to. Is this a problem with the cr480 Cases?

pulling motor apart

2009-11-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

I pulled the motor apart and the trans and shift forks look like new, crank was dirty but tight and in good shape. I will get all new bearings and seals, have the cases powder coated, new piston and I may have Eric Gore port the top end to smooth out the power.

fork

2009-11-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

The forks look good and straight with good chrome, so I soda blasted them to get ready for the hard anodizing. From the factory Honda put a clear coat on the forks and the clear has to come off, the best way to do it is with a soda blaster, which will not hurt the base metal. The same with the motor, the soda will dissolve in your solvent tank.

motor

2009-11-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

I will be using a 1982 cr480 motor, I think that the 4 speed motor is easier to ride than the 83 5 speed motor and the cr480 has the power to pull the 4 speed easily. The motor looks to be in good shape, so I soda blasted it and found that the clutch cover has some mag. rot in it so I will get a cover from one of my other motors to use.

Pulling the bike apart

2009-11-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

The bike came apart very easy with no problems

The Goal

2009-11-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

In this blog I will be building a 1983 cr480 Honda. The goal is to build a bike that I would have liked to see Honda build in 83. I will use a Ohlins shock with a Simons link, Hard anodize the forks, strip the old anodizing from the swingarm, brake stay, motor mounts and stock rims. I will fix all the marks and nicks and have them clear anodized, all bolts and and axls will be zinc coated, frame powder coat, motor cases powder coated, DG pipe and silencer. This is the goal now we will see if it works out