Junkyard fixeruper

Ok I was at the junkyard today and I saw an old Honda 500CC sitting there. It's like a 1975 or something. I have always wanted a bike but most are out of my price range. Since I'm good friends with the junkyard owner's son I could get thise bike for little or nothing. I am wondering what I am getting into. I still have to see if I can get a title for it and see how broke it is. I mean I don't want to spend much more than $500 on it.

I'll keep you guys update but I'm wondering how much work it is to rebuild a motorcycle engine and how much of a hassel it will be. Granted I'm a senior in high school in Auto Capstone so I have access to any tool I'd need and also I can spend 5+ hours in the auto shop a day if I need to.

A bottom end build is gonna require splitting the case, more than likely, which means the whole tranny gearsets and all will be coming out in order to repair the motor bottom end...if you got lucky and it was just in the pile because the top end blew up, that can be dealt with fairly easily...the head comes off, the the cylinder block unbolts and seperates from the crankcase, and the pistons are there where they can be replaced, reringed, etc, the cylinder block can be replaced, bored, sleeved, etc, and the head can have whatever it needs done to it...there will usually be a cam chain that feeds up through the middle from the crank to the head that needs to be dealt with in the process...suffice it to say you'll need a very good factory service manual for that model to do it without getting lost or screwing up something...

Personally, unless you just want the empirical knowlege and the satisfaction of doing it yourself (which I understand, believe me), you could probably find a decent, running mid 70s to mid 80s Jap standard motorcycle for not much more than you are thinking you wanna spend on this project...I just saw a great '79 Yamaha XS650 the other day for $700 OBO...those were great motors, and those bikes make sweet choppers, the motor looks like an old 60's Triumph twin...

It's not perchance a Honda CX500 is it? That's a sideways oriented twin, like a MotoGuzzi, a V-twin turned sideways. If so, I think that motor can be seperated from the tranny case as a seperate unit, but I can't remember. If so, that would make it ideal for a project, much easier than splitting the case and having to deal with that mess...but like I said, I'm not certain.

Here's one:

http://www.mcpoolen.se/images/mc-honda-82-cx500-custom-bla.gif

Sorry to hijack the thread, but if you're familiar with valve adjustments on Japanese bikes, is it any easier to work on 8 valve v-twins than 16/20 valves 4-cyls? Are Duc 2 valvers easiest to work with (if you're familiar with these as well)?

I went to the DMV and I can't get a title on it :( I guess the project's done before it even started.