i am looking at buying this bike to work on as a project. How hard would it be to clean the inside of this tank, or is it a goner. Engine looks clean though. is it worth 400
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Jim,
The rust looks mostly like surface rust. As long as the tank is not thin or have pin holes the rust you can deal with.
The bikes worth of 400.00?, you need a lot more info to determine that.
Photos of the condition, a guess of what will it take to get it running, do the electrical's functional, what year, etc.
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/mcy/1026520969.html
here is the listing.
My answer would be yes, there should be more than enough good parts there to get your money back should you change your mind. Looks like it would make a nice project bike , just unusual enough to be interesting.
Very much worth $400. I was restoring a GL500 Interstate a few years back and ending up selling the whole thing for a profit. The 650cc version of that motor is a very nice machine. I have posted info about Don Hart Restorations on here before and they do an awesome job on gas tanks.
I reworked the tank on a cb350 that sat for 20 years.
The tank was extremely rusty; actually grew rust crystal pillars; looked like a tiny forest of rust inside.
It did not eat through the tank though and was salvageable.
I bought a kreme kit ; followed the instructions and let the acid etch go after the rust; plus a bunch of hardware nuts to rattled around inside.
A couple of treatments and I kreme re-coated the inside.
Worked great.
The amount of rust in your pic doesn't look that bad, if ya decide it buy it check for rust thru's. Also completely dismantle the petcock as that's probably gonna be in bad shape.
It would all depend on how much YOU want to put into the bike $$$$ wise to get it in safe rideable shape... Add that plus about 50% more atop the asking price and see if its in the market value range.
If YOU want it as something that is special to YOU then the $$$$ is not that big of a deal.
Just my $ 0.02 worth.
Quote from: Jamtndll on February 08, 2009, 08:05:20 PM
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/mcy/1026520969.html
here is the listing.
The good ole Honda CX650. Honda's attempt to make a Moto Guzzi that didn't leak...lol
One of our club members has this same year bike. The transmission is near impossible to work on, and the V configuration in this case makes the bike top heavy. I would never get one, let alone a used one. Check out the net for more info. Is there a group forum on these bikes?
Quote from: magnagregcan on February 09, 2009, 04:30:06 AM
One of our club members has this same year bike. The transmission is near impossible to work on, and the V configuration in this case makes the bike top heavy. I would never get one, let alone a used one. Check out the net for more info. Is there a group forum on these bikes?
http://choppercharles.com/cs/forums/
If I'm not mistaken "ChopperCharles" also has a Magna. He is/was a semi regular on the Delphi board
There are things you learn if you dabble in restoring old bikes. One is that if you want something that will start up and run - maybe not all that well, but run - even in badly neglected condition, you want a Honda. Suzukis are almost as bulletproof except for the electrics. Kawasakis, you better figure on doing some work. Yamahahas I've never worked on.
The CX650 was an odd bike even in its day, suffering from topheaviness (as noted), a lack of knee room for long-legged riders, and a general excess of ugly. Reliable as a hammer, though; it saw a lot of use with London bike messengers (one of whom summed it up as "boring, but never breaks") and they thrash their bikes harder than you'd believe.
So unless it's really been mistreated, you ought to be able to get it running without too much wrenching. And it wasn't such a rare bike that parts should be hard to find.
I don't know about the tank, though. Personally I'm a little nervous about trying to restore something that's going to hold a few gallons of incendiary explosive in my lap. (I picked up a GS1000 parts bike once that had several rust-hole leaks plugged with, I swear, JB Weld.) It shouldn't be hard to find a replacement tank from one of those salvage outfits, and I doubt if it would cost all that much.
I test-rode a CX650 once and immediately decided I hated it, but as I say it's not laid out very comfortably for a tall long-legged man. Somebody else might like it better. De gustibus non est disputandum, as the guy said when he did it with the alligator.
De gustibus non est disputandum, there is no disputing about tastes, for those of us that don't speak latin :P