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1991 ex500 -Barely Legal

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101K views 168 replies 32 participants last post by  funride  
#1 ·
OK so here is where I am with my bike. It's my only running bike at the moment so I can't take it down for longer than a weekend without going crazy.







The headlight is an xs650 I believe, aluminum flat bars bent for the mounting brackets for it. Speedo off a gz250. I wired in relays so the blinkers would both light a single idiot light on the dash. Seat is the front of the ex500 seat chopped and bolted to a monster seat and currently just vinyl stretched over it for a cover. I will be grafting the two original seat covers together to hopefully get a better fit. Turn signals and tail light are clearance markers with the stock bulb plugs in. Tail light idea I stole from someone on this site, I forget who, but thanks:)

I still have lots in mind, 01 gsxr 750 swinger swap but keep the stock rim. Better forks but waiting on a good ebay deal.

The theme of this project is cheap. $400 bike off CL with under $300 worth of parts to make it pretty, cheap on gas, cheap small tires for it. I found I can get pirelli scooter tires for the big maxi scooters for the 16" rims for $120 a pair and they are supposedly really good tires.

Bob
 
#3 ·
Hey I am good buddies with the President of HT moto. He could do a really Sick Seat Cover for your ride to match the racing stripes. Let me know if you are interested. Email me.

You can check out what materials he has at hydroturf.com
 
#4 ·
Grafted the two seat covers together. Sewing is a bit dodgy but it looks good.


Thinking about a klr650 swingarm swap so I can get a bigger shock in. Only small diameter spring shocks will fit current swingarm and I want to pop a gixxer shock in ideally.

Bob
 
#7 ·
The seat does go with the flow of the bike nicely.
 
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#10 ·
i like it, one of the better looking exs' ive seen
 
#11 ·
Scored a new tank on ebay. It was dented at a dealership so they replaced it, so it's basically brand new, still smells like oil in side :)

I tried pulling the dent with bent up pipe and with a metal rod up through the petcock hole, all to no avail. The dent was a triangular dent so it was pretty strong. Even epoxied a bolt to the center and tried to pop it using some metal brackets to apply force. It broke the expoxy. So seeing as the dent was about 1/2" deep at the center I figured that bondo only might crack from vibrations. So I sanded it down and put in some quicksteel epoxy putty to get it mostly filled in. Then sanded it down so that it was roughly level. Now I can go back with bondo to get it to level out right.

The tank was only $57 shipped :p It was listed as an ex250 tank so it barely got any bids. I'm really just happy to finally have a tank that wont LEAK!!!!



Bob
 
#14 ·
So I got the bike back from the shop on Monday night. The insurance co said it was worth $750, not bad considering it KBB's for $1000 with the fairings and in better overall condition. They let me buy it back for $100 so hopefully I can get it back on the road and running quick.



Can't really tell from the photo but the headlight mount is accordion'd up to half it's original length. Handlbars bent back in the mount holes. Not sure if they are tweaked yet.

I wanna just buy a new runner so I can focus on this bike and do it right. I'm really tempted to try to get a slabbie frame and fit the ex500 motor into it. I love the look of the slabbies but don't necessarily need more horsies.

Bob
 
F
#15 ·
Good luck, Bob. Hopefully she'll be road-worthy again soon. Decent deal on the insurance for sure.....

I know it's been said but it bears repeating; your seat really came out sweet. Made me start re-thinking mine.......
 
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#17 ·
OK. So the wife wants a dog so she got all motivated to clean up the basement and the small back yard we have. So I cleaned up my work area and storage closet and figured what the hell, I really should at least get the carbs off and cleaned before I have gas jelly in the bowls. So I brought her in and strapped my naked girl up to the ceiling (She is barely legal after all).

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Pulled off the shifter that was bent up to find that the pivot bolt also was bent. So seeing as a new shifter is like $30 on ebay, I might as well just mount different rearsets for the same price.

I got a guy who was asking about my FZR600 suspension I was selling. I was thinking of using it on the ex500 but if I can sell it then I'll figure something else out. I already have an 01 gsxr 750 swinger modded to fit, so I could potentially get a 180 on it if I can get the chain alignment right. And I was thinking of trying to make fork covers to hide the stock forks. I wanna open up the forks to see what's inside. They actually work pretty well for stockers, especially seeing as they are first gen 36mm ones.

Anyway. I also have been really considering biting the bullet and getting a gsxr slabbie frame and seeing if I can mount the ex500 motor into it. I've wasted lots of money on bike stuff so far and don't wanna waste much more, especially as the finances have gotten behind as of late due to some problems that I should have looked into sooner :(

But at least for now i'm thinking of just pulling the motor and cleaning everything up first. Then do some serious thinking and mocking up. If I can make the fork covers work so that they look beefier then that would be perfect, especially if I can do it for under $50.

But, more updates soon.

Bob
 
#18 ·
Stripped it down to a bare frame tonight. Took a quick look to see how close the FZR frame was to the ex500 frame. Looks like a full set of custom adapters is needed. I was hoping it would mesh up with at least 1 mount point easily.

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Motor out and on the floor. Started lightly cleaning both. Overall, the frame paint is actually pretty good on it. Small rust spots here and there but not too shabby. Gonna probably just powerwash it once the sun comes back.

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Then it's a matter of decisions and details.

Bob
 
#19 ·
Man, I wish I cared enough to go frame-off. LOL.

I'm thinking of soda-blasting the KZ motor and frame to get the paint and grime off, but even if I did that, it wouldn't be a good paint job afterward, so maybe I'll just wait until I'm ready to do a rebuild and clean everything up at that point, when I can get everything thoroughly cleaned and coated. Who knows, by then I might go with anodizing or something on the motor instead of painting. :shrug:
 
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#21 ·
Took the plunge today. Cut the lower rails from the subframe and mocked up the new upper rails for the subframe with PVC. I notched where the new Tube would but up against the inside of the main frame.
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I bent a long L bracket from the old headlight mounting bracket so to mount the ignition behind the neck in the frame.
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Finally I started stripping the paint from the side covers on the motor. Started on the flywheel side due to scratches that where there in the first place. I still don't know if I'm gonna paint the motor, or just strip the paint and leave it aluminum. This whole project is still so up in the air depending on what parts I end up using.

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Bob
 
#24 ·
OK so playing around in Illustrator I mocked up what I would love to do with the EX500.

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Twist on the cafe. Upside down clubmans for dirty bar comfort. Single round headlight, liking the bullet back look. And a cbr1000rr tail with a custom cowl to give it a bumstop look. Tail might be a bit high but in trying to match the angle of the tank I'm stuck. I may chop up the CBR tail and change it a bit to get it a little lower. We'll see. Still lots to work out.

Bob
 
#25 ·
If you don't want the tail that high, and you still want to match the tank angle, why not see about changing the angle of the tank? A couple 1/4" spacers under the front bolts might do it for you.

1/4" makes a pretty big difference over 6 feet.
 
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#26 ·
You could also probably trim the pinch point and re-weld the seam to get a slightly lower tank line. Someone here did that to get a flush line on the tank.
 
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