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'83 Shadow vt500 Modification build

54K views 43 replies 18 participants last post by  techielabrat 
#1 ·
Here's a build my son and I did earlier this year. The process was documented on another forum here http://www.hondashadow.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63942&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
but I put some of the highlights here as well...since this is like the forums of forums for cycles :D

It's a pretty long thread so if ya don't feel like lookin' at all the how-to stuff, I have before and after pics at the end ! :D

Finally getting around to finishing up the project bike I started a couple years ago. I should say WE are finishing it up. We being me and my 19yr old son. So far we have swapped out the motor, lowered the rear suspension by 2 1/2 inches, cut and lowered the tail/fender and moved the controls forward! Here's a couple pics with a link to my photobucket album with more pics...









We're still kicking around ideas for a small low saddle and I have to fabricate something to get the rear brake forward. The brake light is the next item on our agenda. Either going to try and downsize the depth of the stock light and glass in the backside, or get rid of the hump and mount on on top of the fender.Then we'll slap on a nice custom paint job :) Not too shabby for our first go at it...(wish my first bike had been this bad!) always open to ideas or suggestions!!
Here's a link to the album of more pics.
http://photobucket.com/Ratshadow

UPDATE TIME..
Well I had the brake mechanism figured out and was just trying to get the right parts and pieces, but then I started working on the exhaust today and that threw a monkey wrench into the brake plans...so back to the drawing board on the brakes... But here's what I'm doing with the exhaust.
Since the plan is that this bike will be my sons at the end of the project, I figure it's only fair that he pays for the parts....consequently our budget is VERY tight! Found him some new slash cut drag pipes, but he apparently is unable to save $250 anytime soon..and yes he has a job and could save the money if he stuck to a..BUDGET! oh well ..19 and invincible..we were all there once.. But I digress.. Then he started talking about putting the old dented , rusty exhaust on.. :roll: (cringe) 'Not while I suck air' was my only thought.
So today while at Pepboys I spied a couple of 2" exhaust pipes with a tapered cut..and a plan was hatched.
Got the pipes home and first thing I did was cut off the 2"OD flared end, then made 4 cuts lengthwise about 4" long with my chop saw.



Then grabbed a couple hose clamps and put them together...



Then I use the hose clamps to taper the end of the pipe with the 4" cuts.




Had to widen a couple of the cuts but eventually got to where the new pipe fit snug around the stock pipe and up snug against an existing collar.



Then I welded the pipes together and welded the slots shut as well..


yeah yeah...I know ...not very pretty weld job... BUT THAT"S WHAT GRINDERS ARE FOR!!! :D


Here's what they look like after the weld but before the grinding....





Well...that's it for today...


UPDATE..
Finally got the parts I needed for the brake fabrication. Here's what it looks like...



Used some parts from another Shadow and made a front bracket.



..and used another brake pedal cut off and fed a conecting rod from the front brake mechanism....

[



UPDATE

Well we're gettin' closer ! Got the seat finished last night and got all the fabricated control pieces painted! :) Our list of things-to-do is getting smaller and smaller. Hopefully by days end the only thing on the list will be...
1.Mount new headlight assembly
2.mount new tailight assembly
3.paint tins (Scheduled for Monday 7-14 :) )
4.clean carbs
5.PUT IT ALL TOGETHER!!! :)

Here's the seat... Thanks to Grandma's sewing expertise!







psycoreefer said:
hey, I've got the same bike and I like what you did with the fender. Could you tell me what you did to drop it down like that? Also wondering if you've considered what will happen to the plastic fender when he hits a big bump. Doesn't look like you've "hard tailed" it so won't the rear tire come up and hit the fender?
Sure can tell ya... we chopped the rails off about an inch or so behind the shock mounts,ground about a 20 deg angle on the chopped off tail ends then welded it back on.



As far as the fender... we cranked the shocks up. I bounced on it with my 200lb frame (which I'll never admit to again...lol) and couldn't get it to hit the fender. So if he hits a bump big enough to bottom out he gonna have more to worry about than the fender hitting.....



I had some questions on some items so I figured I address them here just to keep as much info in one place as possible.
Drag bars - $24 piece of 7/8 diameter schedule 80 (I think it was 80... it's about .065" wall stock ) 'seamless tubing' which we sanded /primed / painted.
We had to add risers to keep the hand controls from hitting the tank on sharp turns.



FORWARD CONTROLS:
I started out with a 3/8" thick piece of steel that I cut/ground to the desired shape, then welded two peg mounts (I drilled and tapped the ends for a 3/8 bolt first) to the bracket. Then we welded that to the front downtubes of the frame in a location that didn't interfere with the radiator or radiator mounts.


For the shift controls I used all stock items except for the connecting rod. I cut the ends off the existing rod leaving as much of the screw length as possible from each end. The foot end of the shifter rod is a standard metric thread, but the engine end is a reverse metric thread. Next I got a small diameter steel rod from the hardware store. I then drilled a hole in each end about 3/8" deep and just big enough to let the rod ends I had cut from the original, to slip in. Then I welded them together.





I had to put a slight bend in the rod to clear the engine, and it took a little adjusting to get the shift in a usable location , but it came out working great.

For the brake I got a second set of parts off Ebay. Those parts were the brake pedal, attachment bracket,brake armature( in the yellow circle) and connecting rod.


The part in the yellow circle is the stock part here..

I just cut the area circled in red off the armature and ground it smooth. The brake arm that hangs down (with the connecting rod through it) is the stock brake pedal cut off and rotated 90deg from the 'normal' mounting position.
For the brake pedal itself I had to cut about 5" out of it's length to get it to be accessible with your foot on the peg. I cut out a section and welded the pad back on.


Everything looks simple and sounds simple...but I can't remember how many different ideas I ran through before coming up with workable plans. Like I said to a guy at a bike show this past weekend. It's amazing how much time and work can go into making something look simple and clean...:lol:
I think/hope this addresses the questions I've gotten. Please let me know if there are any that I missed or any new ones!!

OK, just to wrap this build thread up nicely I figured I post some final before and after pics. Thanks for all the encouragement and positive comments! I've enjoyed sharing our build with every one!!!
BEFORE:



AFTER:




I am now hunting for my next project..... :D
 
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#31 ·
Chris, on this particular bike I just used this...



It's a like a scotch brite pad that mounts on my die grinder. It cleans up the covers nicely and leaves a satin type finish. Look in the how to section here for some really great info on how to bring the shine back to old aluminum. It's a long read but there is some great info there. Hope that helps!
 
#37 ·
Awesome job! I have a 1984 Honda shadow 500 all stock in great shape.It sat in a back yard covered for 3 years, gummed up carbs and needed paint and cleaning. Bought it for $120,got it running, painted it black, cleaned it up with Autosolve .Just sold it for $1500 after 2 years and 18000 klms . loved it! I know have a 1982 Honda Nighthawk 750 project and am looking for left and right side covers. If anyone know's where I might find theses let me know please, thanks!
 
#40 ·
Very Excited

First off, let me say this was a great thread. My and a buddy of mine were just talking about all this stuff at work tonight. I have a 1983 Honda Shadow VT 500 C. I've been looking around trying to figure out how to lower the back end and put forward controls on it. I obviously didn't look very hard. :( I wanna thank you for sharing this. It explains everything i've been looking for. The only thing I have to ask right now is how much did it cost you for everything??
 
#42 ·
First off, let me say this was a great thread. My and a buddy of mine were just talking about all this stuff at work tonight. I have a 1983 Honda Shadow VT 500 C. I've been looking around trying to figure out how to lower the back end and put forward controls on it. I obviously didn't look very hard. :( I wanna thank you for sharing this. It explains everything i've been looking for. The only thing I have to ask right now is how much did it cost you for everything??
Boy.. you're makin' the old brain work on that on! :D I would say with paint, drag bars, risers, and all the little incidentals we probably had about $450 into the job. I did the paint myself so that saved us a ton :D

I personally don't get overly jazzed with feet forward custom stuff, because it's just not my thing.

That said, I DO get jazzed by work like this. Real chopped stuff. It may not be a bike to my liking, but it certainly is work to my liking. I like the innovation in the pegs, which is just as applicable to rear setting as well and the paint work. I like the angled shock which appear to be furter over than OEM to get the look. I like the paint with what seems to be - NO skulls! Cool.....
Thanks Mark! It's nice to get kudos from guys that understand can see the quality and innovation of a build even if it's not their style. this was the first 'build' I ever attempted... this was the second build (you may have seen it already)

Thanks again guys! :D
 
#41 ·
I personally don't get overly jazzed with feet forward custom stuff, because it's just not my thing.

That said, I DO get jazzed by work like this. Real chopped stuff. It may not be a bike to my liking, but it certainly is work to my liking. I like the innovation in the pegs, which is just as applicable to rear setting as well and the paint work. I like the angled shock which appear to be furter over than OEM to get the look. I like the paint with what seems to be - NO skulls! Cool.

That first set of pipes could have worked better if you'd gotten some mandrel bends from a source like - believe it or not - JC Whitney or the like. I do like the second set better and am glad to see you're using baffling. I think that probably gives the 500 a better tone. I know there was a huge difference between the MAC staggered duals (looked good sounded ike ****) and the MAC flat track pipes (looked good, but intended for the Ascot, and really sounded good too). Apparently the 500 needs some length and volume to get good tone.

Your son and you have got more to be proud of than a million big bore riders out there. You've created! Every bit as much as the cafe and street tracker (my preference) guys out there. You can't buy and bolt on the parts, you have to make or modify parts to work. You can't buy the look prebuilt either.

That bike shows ten times the creativity of some of those off the show room customs or the bolt on queens.

I may not particularly care for choppers or customs, but I still go to the Columbus Easyrider show every year to look. It's about creativity and one-off work. It used to be that was happening when riders had to build their own sportbikes in the 50s-early 80s. Now the sportbikes are so trick there isn't much to be done. Off road bikes are the same, back in the 70s it was about reworking rear suspension.

Keep your project going. Keep posting. I'll be looking for more and better on it. I know you have more ideas to refine it.

Oh, I love the black pipe drag bars. A big "atta boy" for you guys. A simple pipe bender could even put a bit of sweep on them if a guy wanted it. Better than $25-50 for aftermarket.
 
#43 · (Edited)
I like that you're doing it Japanese metric with some out-of-the ordinary bikes.

I've been hacking around on a project for a number of years mostly because I don't have the facilities to do the job easily, but I'm hoping to get going this winter/spring to finish the deal. Clearly it is an SR500, but I went with the 60s style flat tracker with rear fender instead of the XR tail section seat which has become ubiquitous on street trackers. The build is to make a short tracker first, then make it street legal. This was the mock up stage about a year ago.



It is in pieces to do the frame paint, assembly, finish lighting/wiring, and finish off everything. I need to soda blast the frame to paint it, finish upholstering the seat with a distressed leather look vinyl and finish off the old school graphic on the tank like my avitar here. The graphic is a sort of tip of the hat to my late father, who tolerated my working on bikes in his garage (in the photos) for about 40 years... and still doing so when I can get back there.
 
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