Frame CR500 - 05 - 08 CRF450-1 PDF

CP500 (www.conversionparts500.
com)

Legal Disclaimer: These instructions only provide basic guidance on how to perform a conversion. Use at your own risk. Since significant
alterations to the motorcycle, including but not limited to the cutting of the motorcycles frame, may be required, the User expressly waives any
claim for and indemnifies CP500 against any future unknown or unexpected injuries, damages, and/or losses resulting from modifications described
below. CP500 recommends that modifications be performed by a bonded professional.

Copyright 2013 CP500 LLC

05-08 CRF450 Aluminum Frame Conversion for CR500
Applies to:
Engine Chassis
CR500 2005-2008 CRF450

This instruction is part of a series of instructions showing how to convert a newer aluminum frame chassis to accept a
CR500 engine. The parts used in this instruction and other conversion manuals in the series can be found on our
website at www.conversionparts500.com

Feel free to contact us with questions regarding this process - CP500R@gmail.com

CR500 engines
If you use a CR500 engine from a 1989-2001 CR500, no modifications to the engine are needed. You can also use an
engine from a 1985-1988 CR500 engine but two issues need to be considered. The earlier engines have a coolant hose
that goes from the water pump up to the top back of the cylinder. This hose interferes with the newer exhaust pipe that
you will need to use in the aluminum frame conversion. You can simply find a coolant hose at your local parts store that
has the right shape to go straight up from the water pump then curves left around the back of the engine. Another issue
is that the bushings in the rear of the engine case where the swing arm bolt passes through have a smaller diameter on
the older engines. You can knock them out and have a machinist cut the inner diameter out to 17mm to make them fit
the same as the 89 and newer engine cases. They are hardened steel so dont try cutting them yourself unless you have
the proper tools for it. One final note to consider is that the cylinder intake is a little different so the carb may be a bit
more difficult to get to line up correctly if you use an earlier engine.

A note on welding
We recommend that you complete all the modifications before going to the welder because it will be less expensive to
have him do all the welding at once. Even if you know how to weld aluminum, we strongly recommend that you have an
experienced professional welder do the welding. Make sure he is a skilled TIG welder (MIG welds dont look as nice) and
ask him to show you some of his work on aluminum. Aluminum is not easy to weld unless you have a good deal of
experience and the right type of TIG equipment (the little $1500 TIG you bought for hobby work in your garage will
probably not do very well.) You may spend about $100-200 to hire a professional. It will be the most worth-while
money you spend on this project.
Tools Needed
Reciprocating saw such as a Saws-All (Wood blades usually cut aluminum the best.)
Small grinder with aluminum grinding, cut-off and sanding disks
Basic hand tools needed to disassemble/assemble the motorcycle
Map gas torch ($30 at Home Depot)

CP500 www.conversionparts500.com 05-08 CRF450 Aluminum Frame Conversion for CR500
CP500R@gmail.com Page 2

Hand drill with a small drill bit set.

Parts Needed
Lower Engine Mounts Y-piece

Head Stay Mount Head Stays/Bracketts



Instructions

Start by stripping your chassis donor down to the frame. You
can leave the fork assembly intact if you wish as shown here.
Hook a tie down to a rafter or to your garage door rail to keep
the bike upright.

Note: Many of these photos are for a CR250 or CRF250, but
the same instructions apply.

Lower Engine Mounts
Cut off the lower engine mounts. Only cut off the tabs that
protrude upward leaving the base that is welded to the lower
tube rails intact. This will leave a nice thick pad to weld your
new engine mounts onto. I use a reciprocating saw instead of
an abrasive cut-off wheel whenever possible, because abrasive
wheels leave microscopic grit embedded in the aluminum which
makes it more difficult to get a clean weld.



The base of the engine mount is curved so it is easiest to cut
half way in from each side. You can clean up the cuts with a
sanding wheel later.

Remove stock Y-piece
Cut through the square tube just below the stock Y-piece weld.
Leave as much of the lower tubes as possible.

Note: CRF250 shown



Cut the down tube just above the stock Y-piece.

Your chassis should look like this now.

Remove superfluous component mounts
Depending on the chassis, there may be a number of mounts
for components that you wont need or wish to move.
Cut off any superfluous mounting tabs by scoring the weld then
breaking off the part with a wrench. This way you can carefully
clean the remaining weld off the frame with your sanding wheel
and it will look like it was never there. If you try cutting too
close to the frame, you may cut into the frame tube leaving
score marks in the frame after you sand the remaining weld off.



Note: CRF250 shown

Now you can put your engine in the chassis. In order for the
sprocket to line up properly, you have to replace the swing arm
spacers. You will need a 54mm spacer on the left side (sprocket
side) and a 59mm spacer on the right side. The easiest way to
get these spacers is to purchase the OEM spacers for a 02-07
CR125. The CR125 spacers are just the right size to make
everything line up and fit properly. You can also buy an
aftermarket swing arm bearing kit for a 02-07 CR125 which will
include new spacers, but they are usually lower quality than the
OEM parts. The swing arm spacers act as bearing races for the
swing arm main bearings, so I would recommend buying OEM
Honda parts. With the correct spacers in place, install the
engine and snug up the swing arm bolt. The engine will be able
to pivot up and down around the swing arm bolt. As you rock
the engine forward the lower bolt boss on the clutch cover will
contact the frame forging as shown by the orange arrow. Mark
the position that the engine contacts the frame with a marker
and pull the engine back out.



The engine typically contacts on this part of the frame forging.
Grind this area down using an angle grinder with an aluminum
grinding wheel or a sanding disk.

Only grind far enough toward the peg to leave clearance for the
engine case. Do not grind into the lower square tube, just grind
flush with it. You want to leave as much meat as possible to
avoid weakening the frame.



Put the engine back in the frame and install the head stays and
the head stay mount. Try to align the holes in the center when
bolting the head stays to the mount so you have some wiggle
room both directions later on. Make sure you get the bends in
the head stays are oriented so the head stay base is on the right
side of the bike so that there is clearance for the boot and carb
on the left side of the bike.

At this point, you should be able to get the head stay mount to
fit against the large cross frame member in the rear by rotating
the engine up and back. In this position, you should have
clearance between the lower rails and the engine.

If you cant get the mount in place, then the engine may be
tilted too far back and additional grinding on the lower rail may
be needed. Alternatively, you can modify the head stay base.
Just make sure the engine is rotated far enough forward as it
will increase pipe clearance to the front wheel.

Once the engine is oriented correctly, you have two options.
Option 1 is to go ahead and tack weld the mount in place. This
will allow you to bolt up the engine and fix it in position for the
rest of the build.

Option 2 is to clamp the head stay base in placed with a c-clamp
so that you can finish the rest of the build. Just be careful not
to move the head stay base while taking the engine in and out.



Now the engine should be in a fixed position within the cradle
with clearance all around. You are ready to move on to fitting
the y-piece.

Put an engine mount bolt through the front engine mount.
Position the Y-piece with its right hand leg over the left hand
frame rail, as shown in this image. Note how far the lower
frame rail needs to be trimmed to make the bolt line up with
the mounting hole on the Y-piece.

Trim the frame rail a little at a time and test again until the bolt
lines up with the mounting hole on the Y-piece. Make sure the
centerline of the Y-piece is parallel with the centerline of the
bike. You should be able to look through both the mounting
holes on the Y-piece and see that they are centered with the
mounting hole on the engine. It doesnt have to be perfect; you
just dont want to cut too much off of the lower frame rails.



Do the same operation to trim the other frame rail to length.

With the engine mount bolt running through the engine and the
mounting hole on the Y-piece, hold a straight edge on top of the
Y-piece and mark where it crosses the front of the frame. Make
sure the Y-piece is angled roughly on the same angle it will be
when the down-tube is inserted into the top of the Y-piece.

Now move the straight edge to the back of the down tube and
mark the back of the down tube in the same manner.



Move the Y-piece to the other side of the bike and repeat the
same procedure to make sure you get roughly the same results
with the Y-piece on either side of the bike.

The lines you marked in the previous step represent the
location of the top of the Y-piece where the weld will be. DO
NOT CUT ON THAT LINE. You need to mark where you will cut
the down-tube. To do this, measure downward from the lines
you marked by five eights of an inch to create the cut lines. Do
this on the front mark and the back mark. Then connect the
front and back lines with straight lines on both sides of the
down tubes. Note that the cut will not be perpendicular to the
down tube.

Use your reciprocating saw to cut through the down tube
following the lower line you just created. After trimming the
down-tube to length, use your grinder with a cutting wheel to
score and remove the small piece of gusset that is welded to
the front of the frame (only on CRF250). Smooth it out with the
sanding wheel on your grinder.



To install the Y-piece you will have to flex the frame open
slightly. Use a bottle jack or the tire jack out of your car and
some pieces of wood; position your jack as shown in this image.
Move the base of the jack and the wood it is pressing on as far
toward the front of the bike as possible.

Position the Y-piece with its legs on the lower frame rails as
shown here. Before flexing the frame, note how much
movement will be needed to get the Y-piece into place. It
should only have to flex about 5/8 to as shown in this
image. If it looks like more movement is needed you may want
to check to make sure you have trimmed enough off of the
lower frame rails and the down-tube.

Tighten the jack until the frame flexes enough for the Y-piece to
fit under the down-tube, and then release the jack carefully
allowing the down-tube to slide into its pocket on top of the Y-
piece. Be careful not to get your finger in the way as the
frame may shear it off. It is fine if the Y-piece can move up and
down by 1/8 to 3/8 as long as the down-tube and frame rails
stay well inside their pockets in the Y-piece.



Install the engine back in the frame. Install the head brackets.

After the stock Y-piece was removed in an earlier step, the
lower frame rails may have moved slightly due to stresses in the
frame left there when it was first manufactured. This may cause
the engine mounts on the Y-piece to not line up perfectly with
the front engine mount of the engine case. This is easily
corrected with a wedge and a map gas torch.

The frame rails on this particular chassis needed to move
outward slightly to have the engine mounts line up. To do this
push a wedge such as a screwdriver between the case and the
Y-piece to push the frame rail out until the mounting holes line
up properly. It usually doesnt take much force; be careful not
to apply too much force to the engine case as it could crack if
you are too rough with it.



Acquire a heating torch. I use this MAP gas torch that cost me
less than $30 at Home Depot. Most hardware stores have
them.

Heat the curved part of the frame in front of the engine mount
pads. Take care not to point the torch at the engine case for
too long. This usually takes a 5-10 minutes of heating. Once
the frame rail is hot enough, the screwdriver will fall out onto
the ground. Check to make sure the holes line up nicely. If not,
push the screwdriver back in and heat it up again. If the frame
rail needs to move closer to the engine you can remove the
front forks/wheel assembly and rock the frame forward so its
weight is sitting on the front of the Y-piece. Heat the frame rail
until the engines weight moves it into the correct location for
the mounting holes to line up. When you are finished the front
engine mount bolt should slide in without too much force.

Test fit radiators and pipe to make sure everything looks good





If everything fits, move on to the lower engine mounts. If
something doesnt seem to fit right, review the previous pages
and figure out what went wrong. Take some pictures and send
it to us if you cant figure it out.

You can use engine mounts from CP500 or some of your own
making. These mounts are offset so the base will sit in the
middle of the pads that we left on the frame rails from the
original mounts.

Put your engine mount bolt through the mount hole and into
the lower bolt hole on the engine. Hold the mount flush to the
outside edge of the frame and use a sharp nail or scribe to score
the mount from the back side marking roughly where the
mount will contact the top of the frame rail.

Note the curved shape of the scribe mark matching the contour
of the pad on the frame rails. Use your grinder with a grinding
wheel made for aluminum to trim off the bottom of the mount.
Dont grind all the way to your marks on the first try as the
mark may be too high. Grind to within 1/8 of the scribe mark
then test fit it on the bike. See how close the holes are to lining
up before grinding more. Carefully grind the bottom until the
holes line up and the base fits the contour on the frame rail.
Remember it is much easier to grind more off than to put
material back on so take your time.



The fit between the mount and the base does not need to be
perfect because your welder can fill up a gap, but the closer it
fits the easier it will be to weld.

Test fit the trimmed engine mount on the other side of the bike.
If it fits well enough you can simply lay the two mounts on top
of each other and use your scribe to transfer the contour onto
the other engine mount. If it doesnt fit the other side very well,
still transfer the contour, but only grind to within 1/8 of the
scribe mark and repeat the process of carefully trimming the
other mount to fit. Once both mounts are trimmed to fit, bolt
them tight to the engine with the engine mount bolt and they
are ready for your welder to tack them in place.

You are finished. We recommend you complete the remaining modifications before going to your welder so you can
get everything welded at the same time.

Frame CR500 - 05 - 08 CRF450-1 PDF

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