Any other FT 500 Owners in DFW?

[RustRunner]

Hello everyone! Just bought this thumper that needs work, and I kinda feel like I am in deep water, but I am happy to be here!
Meet Rust Bucket

[Lefty]

Welcome to the site, looks like you've got some work to do!
Where is DFW, btw?

[RustRunner]

Thank You!
DFW= Dallas/ Fort Worth
And yeah we will see, the previous owner started this cafe look, which I really like but looks are secondary.
Any advice on where to start?  I have the service manual and some basic tools.

[Lefty]

Does it run? Has it sat a long period of time? The first thin I'd do is take the carb off & apart and soak it in some carb cleaner( comes in a gallon paint can with a basket inside)from the auto parts store.
While that's soaking I'd inspect the plug wire & replace the plug with a new one.
You want to replace your slow jet and your main jet with a 58 & a 145, it makes a big difference. you'll find that & much more on this site, there's a wealth of information on these boards and many helpful users. Good luck & keep us posted!

[triguyracer]

Welcome to this forum  don't despair you will find some xclnt advice here on making your bike how you want it.since I got my ft,this site has saved me some time and money even though I have worked as a wrench for dealerships for years and still at 65 work on bikes and race them.Good info will save you lots of money and time.This site has good info on it,ft are a fun bike and I ride mine more than any of my other bikes,a Suzuki sv1000s ,a triumph 750 flattracker,a tri 500 daytona flattracker and 500 tri sonic weld flattracker.The ft is a fun straight forward bike that even if you have not spent much time working on bikes you will find it a fairly easy bike to work on,and almost all the parts you may need are pretty easy to find,though there a few starter motor related things that can be harder to find and expensive  .Good luck with your project.

[RustRunner]

Lefty:The bike has sat for about 3-4moth but ran before that 1 time when the owner I bought the bike from was testing to make sure it fired up, before making his purchase (I believe the bike sat a while before that as well).
The carb is what I was thinking too. I didn't know they came in anything other then the aerosol cans I have bought.  Should remove the diaphragm, needle (with the rubber tip) and plastics floats before soaking? I have here carb cleaner eats through rubber product very quickly... also is there any advantage to boiling it? a friend of mine did this to his chevelle's carb with positive results. Alos anything I should be keenly aware of when dismantling this guy? I have never see this push/ pull system before...

I also now the starter needs help- I wave never messed with one of theses before so any advice or direction to info on assessing and rebuilding this would be incredibly helpful. Are those ebay rebuild kits worth anything?

Triguyracer: I would like your life, or at least your garage. Thank you for the encouragement, its good to know I won't be in uncharted waters anymore. And yes, there is a lot of really good info on this forum already.

[Lefty]

You will see as you dismantle the carb what needs cleaning( I am a FIRM believer in soaking versus spraying) and what shouldn't , I.E., any diaphram. 9 times out of 10 it's the jets that "varnish" from old gas & fuel can not get through.
If you are mechanically inclined, the starter is pretty easy to figure out, especially if you've got the manual. Take it apart & you will most likely seewhat the problem is. It's usually parts that need cleaning & lubricating, or the flywheel teeth are ground down so badly that the smaller gear no longer is able to spin it(my flywheel had worn gear teeth that looked fairly bad when I first opened it up, but after some tlc, the starter works 98%, only slipping once in a blue moon), but more than likely your problem isn't the flywheel.
Good luck, and post up your results, Lefty.

[triguyracer]

Remove the plastic float and any other plastic or rubber parts before soaking in carb cleaner.if you are using just spray cleaner you will not harm the floats or any rubber orings and such The starter button on the handlebars would be the first place I would check if you are having intermintent starting issues,my starter button needed a good cleaning to work good and make a good connection.Many times if you use a electric contact cleaner u will be able to make the contact connection clean without disassembling the part ,just make sure and use a electric cleaner and not something else so you don't damage your electric parts

[RustRunner]

Good to know about the plastic and rubber, thank you. Ill go pick some up today, now the starter was given to me already out of the housing with one of the bolts to mount it snapped, the previous owner had to bump start it every time so... I'll clean out the starter switch too, but I am almost certain its more then then just those contacts being dirty.
 Also any idea on how to wire an ignition switch- that is the only part I don't have and will need to order. I was looking at this one:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferris-5100021-Scag-48798-Toro-83-0020-Replacement-Switch-6-Terminals-2-Keys/151087071900?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D31193%26meid%3Dc8319123a3654bb7bc49b80a0baaefb0%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D151689146093&rt=nc

[Lefty]

Looks pretty sketchy, but you have the manual- if it were me, I''d look for a Honda Switchbecause the color coding & terminals will most likely match up to what you see in the manual & wiring diagram.
Do a search on Ebayfor the FT500, but also CB, XL model switches too, there's plenty out there.

[RustRunner]

Good point, and yes it is kinda sketch.. I did see one ft switch on ebay , but it was almost $90, I'll look up the cb on ebay as well. Any cheaper places you know of?

[triguyracer]

keep your eyes open on ebay $90 is way to much to pay for the switch assy,ones come up often for way less or post a want ad in the wanted and for sale thread on the forum

[RustRunner]

Thats what I said, i found one from the UK for a third of that so I may be ok, I think I will wait, thank you for the idea on the wanted/ for sale thread, definitely will post. Got the chem dip too, looks like I have some time tomorrow as well, so time to actually do some work!

Any ideas on how to tell when a starter is bad if I have no power yet? its decently in need of cleaning but I have never touched one of these before so I am concerned I may go over zealous and damage something... Any tips? Places to find a detailed instructional for cleaning/ testing?

Thank you for help this far, I posted at least one other thread with no reply so I am really happy receive this info 

[Lefty]

There are 2 or 3 "brushes" that rest on the outside of the armature, they wear out after many years. I replaced them on a 250SX three wheeler years back with no trouble. Again, once you have it apart you wil be able to see if they are worn.

[scottly]

Rust, you can't really test the starter without power. If the starter is out of the bike, you can do a basic test by momentarily jumping the starter to a 12V battery; if it spins, don't tear it apart, and don't let it rev to supersonic RPMs!!!!! Don't fix it if it ain't broke.. Likewise with the carb; I wouldn't do a full strip-and-dip until as a last resort. There are some parts you may not notice that the dip may damage. Get the bike in a condition where you can try to get it started so you can determine if the carb has issues and if so, what circuit is involved. Most problems can be solved without dipping.

[RustRunner]

Thank you both for the advice! I'm gearing up to really dig in next week, I have been absorbing as much info as possible before I dive in