Author Topic: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO  (Read 96224 times)

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Offline bigdaddyusmc

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This thread is to document the building & modification of a 1982 Honda CX500tc TURBO street bike to run at the 2012 Bonneville Salt Flats SPEEDWEEK

This is a bone stock 1982 Honda cx500tc Turbo the way it looked as a showroom fresh street bike

We never saw our cx500tc look like this. We purchased ours on January 3 2012.

Let me introduce you to our team
Owner & Crew Chief
JACOB BAGNELL

Jacob is a retired industrial arts teacher. He has devoted his life to his family & his students. Jacob has built & raced many race cars, speedway motorcycles , drag motorcycles , street cars & hot rods over the years. He is the brains & driving force behind our team.

Co-OWNER & RIDER
JAKE BAGNELL

Jake is a science teacher at Anderson Valley Junior/Senior High School in Booneville California. In his short career as a teacher he has made a large inpact on his students & the community.

THE REST OF THE CREW
RANDY CHENOWTH

I'm the one that is documenting this project. I'm a long time gear head. I have worked as a mechanic , aircraft machinest & in many different trades in my life. I volenteered 3 years as a High School Auto Shop Teacher


Below is what ours bike looked like the day we purchased it off craigslist. It is obvious that the bike had been modified when we got it , But we plan on taking it in a whole different direction than the last owner had planned
« Last Edit: May 09, 2012, 09:10:46 PM by bigdaddyusmc »
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Offline Tman

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2012, 12:40:41 PM »
I see you found home. Yes, cool bike and fits on this forum.

Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2012, 12:52:34 PM »
2012 will be Jacob & my second trip to the Bonneville salt Flats for Speedweek. In 2011 we went to Bonneville with a vintage Belly Tank running a Ford 4 cyclider B motor. That is Jacob Bagnell in the drivers suit & helmet.

That whole story is documented on a garage journal thread. So I won't get into that story here. Altought things didn't go well in 2011 , Jacob & I have not lost our interst in building something BITCHEN & GOING FAST on the salt

2012 will be our riders , Jake's first time to the salt. Jake was with us on the restoration of the vintage Belly Tank in 2011, but he was not able to make the trip to Bonneville with us.

Jake may be a novice to the Bonneville , but I'm sure it won't be long before he is infected with SALT FEVER like myself & his father
« Last Edit: May 09, 2012, 09:11:44 PM by bigdaddyusmc »
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Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2012, 12:58:13 PM »
Right after Jacob & I picked up the bike. The first thing we had to do was go to our favorite taco shop in Oceanside Calif. We asked a young US Marine to take our photo


The bike was in great running condition with just over 15000 miles on it. Although it was a good running bike , It was ugly
 
The first thing we did was strip off the steel gas tank & body panels
« Last Edit: May 09, 2012, 09:15:12 PM by bigdaddyusmc »
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Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2012, 01:00:00 PM »
A few days later we hauled the bikle to a local recycling center & used their scale to get a baseline weight on the bike. It weighed 422 pounds



Then we headed to COMPETITIVE METALS in El Cajon Calif. to get some steel & aluminum. Competitive Metal has an excellent selection of material on hand & the staff is always eager to help no matter what you need.
BAGNELL BAGGO CHENOWTH RACING

Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2012, 01:03:50 PM »
Seeing this is a shaft drive motorcycle. There is no easy way to change the final drive ratio. Jacob searched the internet & found  a different size rear wheel. He purchased one on ebay from a guy in England. When it was delivered we took it to Larry Storck at JIMCO in Santee & had tabs welded on for 1/4 turm fasteners & had discs made for the rear wheel.



We also talked to Larry about the streamline body work we will need to have made. That will be something we will have done in the next few months.
BAGNELL BAGGO CHENOWTH RACING

Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2012, 01:13:25 PM »
The larger rear wheel will give us a better final drive ratio. But we wanted more , Jacob did his research & found taller gears out of another Honda that will work in our cx500tc. So it was back on to ebay to find a decent set of gears & a clutch basket


Now we will able to run faster at a lower RPM on the salt. It will be like having an overdrive tranny compared to the stock cx500tc gears.
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Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2012, 01:14:46 PM »
Now its time to start stripping all the unneeded heavy factory parts off the bike , both kick stands GONE , heavy factory rear shocks GONE , speedo cluster GONE , The list goes on & on. When we got done the bike looked like the vultures in scrap had picked it apart
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Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2012, 01:16:32 PM »
With the bike stripped down , We started the almost imposible task of finding light weight after market parts. Seeing this is an old bike that only lasted in production for a short time. NO ONE makes parts for it & honda has discontinued most of the parts.We have to scavange the earth looking for NOS parts or have custom parts made.
We started with the rear shock.We went to HAGON Shocks in San Marcos Calif & had a custom rear shock made for the bike.


Billy & Christina Hamill run HAGON shocks. Billy is a Speedway bike racer & he sells everything from shocks to complete speedway bikes for beginners to pro riders.
They are great people . Billy has raced on the salt so he knew what we needed in a rear shock. About all I can say is THEY HOOKED US UP... We got a custom built shock for the salt at a great price

BAGNELL BAGGO CHENOWTH RACING

Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2012, 01:17:29 PM »
The Honda CX series motors are water cooled , Most of them have a small radiator. The CX500tc Turbo has a radiator that is the size of a basketball backboard.

This stock radiator is GONE. We are having a new smaller alumnium radiator made for the bike.
It will catch less air at speed on the salt & it will cool the bike better. The guy in New York is almost done with it. I'll post photos when we get it.
BAGNELL BAGGO CHENOWTH RACING

Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2012, 01:19:48 PM »
SCTA rule require a steering stablizer on bikes. We did our research & found a local company that makes a cool one . They are GPR STABILIZER in San Diego . Loren Black at GPR gave us a tour of the factory & then had one of the techs build us a custom stabilizer while we were there.

We are going to have to machine off the top of the triple clamps where the handle bars mount to get it to fit , but thats OK because we are going to use clamp on handle bars that connect low on the front forks.





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Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2012, 01:21:26 PM »
Larry Storck at JIMCO got the rear wheel & wheel discs finished




Jacob took them to be polished & anodized. We aren't going to paint much on this bike ,parts are going to be powder coated or anodized. Jacob keeps saying" this bike is going to look BITCHEN.....
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Offline WOODY@DDLLC

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2012, 01:21:55 PM »
Although it was a good running bike , It was ugly

A CX-500 will always be ugly - but if it is fast no one will notice!  :-D

Cut my mechanical teeth on helicopters & Hondas - looking forward to your build!  :cheers:
All models are wrong, but some are useful! G.E. Box (1967) www.designdreams.biz

Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2012, 01:24:08 PM »
Jacob removed the stock rear shock & arms , Drilled the arms to reduce weight & painted them red. We installed the rear arms & new HAGON shock.

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Offline bigdaddyusmc

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Re: BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2012, 01:26:37 PM »
Jacob drilled & painted the the lower triple tree & the motor mounts also. Jacob may be right , things are starting to look BITCHEN


We received the gold anodized Velocity Stack. We had a hell of a time finding one that was close to the right size. We thought we were going to have to modify it , but it slipped right on.

BAGNELL BAGGO CHENOWTH RACING