The Diablo 500 for the 50th Anniversary Celebration

[Go Go Diablo]

I assemble the hoods complete with decals and then put a protective coating of clear coat on the hood and chassis.

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[Go Go Diablo]

I powder coat my own parts by using a Powder Coater from Harbor Freight. I set the powder coating in an electric oven down at the shop (not the same one my wife makes cookies in!)

Before baking:

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After baking:

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I powder coat all my smaller black parts like bogie stations, bumper brackets, motor mounts and so on. It takes no more time to powder coat as it does to prime and paint, but it is a bit messy.

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[Go Go Diablo]

The gearbox for the 500 is different than the 502/503 gearbox. This was Bolens first design for this gearbox and lord knows they had room for improvement.

The first gearboxes had a nylon wheel for the idler sprocket. This nylon wheel wore down so quickly, they must have had gearboxes failing as fast as they could put them together.

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Later 500 gearboxes had a steel sprocket for the idler and the flat bar back plate was lengthened so the oil did not run out of the open gap left by the shorter back plate. These gearboxes also had a very thin grove on the ends of the shaft and a light snap ring was used to hold on the sprockets. I widen out that snap ring groove and install a large heavy E Clip like used on the 502 & 503.

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These gearboxes had one fill hole and that was the hole on the side of the gearcase. I added a fill hole on top of the gearbox and also installed a drain plug in the bottom.

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The gearbox gets a brand new pair of reproduced drive sprocket that will last a lifetime.

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[Go Go Diablo]

The motor in the Diablo manual start 500 and 502 is a Hirth 54R. This is a 300cc 16 HP motor. You will see that most of them are red, but in the early 500 production, the motors were a standard Hirth blue. My interpretation of this is the original motors came to Bolens from Hirth the typical blue, but at some point Bolens purchased a bulk order of these motors and had them painted red at the Hirth factory. The red motors are not blue motors painted red, so they were put together red.

Blue or Red, they are exactly the same motor.

The muffler on the Diablo 500 is mounted directly to the motor cylinder. This gives the 500 a really neat sounding BRAAAAPPPP sound different from the other Diablos.

This motor has been rebuild and is ready to install.

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[Go Go Diablo]

While I am finishing up a different restoration in the shop, now was a good time to prepare the skis for this Diablo as well.

I use Barrie's Diablo Skis. No one can argue against them being the best reproduction ski available. They are made to the exact detail of the original skis. However, I do add the UHMW wear skins to the bottom of his skis. Once this wear skin is installed, the skis never wear out again. The skins also help hold skis together as without them, even the best skis can crack over time.

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I then install new half oval runners which are what the original skis had.

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I use solid rivets to hold the runners on which makes for a nice connector on top of the ski that you are not catching your boots on.

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Lastly, I stain the skis a solid flat black.

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[Go Go Diablo]

To start the assembly of the unit, I always start with the bogie station installations. These original stations have the star clips on the wheels which are pretty much just for show. The wheels are pressed on to the shaft, so they rarely ever come off. All tires and bumpers are like new originals. I do install a lubrication zerk and extra welds on the stations because it would be foolish to assemble any Diablo without doing so.

The original bogie station pins would have been held on with the same star clip as mentioned above. Reusing this design is not advised as they tend to pop off and then the pin can come out. I drill holes in the pins like what has been done on the 502/503 and use a cotter pin.

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The idler sprockets are new as are the idler sprocket bearings. As you can see, the spring assemblies are held in place with a pair of U-Bolts. A little different design than the 502/503, but effective.

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[Go Go Diablo]

After sliding the gearbox in place along with the other front end components, the tracks are ready to install. These are NOS (New Old Stock) tracks which are fitting for this almost new Diablo.

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Once installed, it is time to flip the Diablo over. As you can see, I've assembled this as the very first Diablos would have been put together.

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It has the long nose tine and only two bumper brackets. It has a fresh chromed bumper on it as well along with chrome bumper bolts.

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[Go Go Diablo]

This Diablo also gets a NOS Secondary Clutch. It even has the Bolens Part Number Stickers on it.

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The fuel tank is a refurbished and lined fuel tank. The gas cap is a NOS original cap. Not the best to grab and turn when cold, but this is what the original Diablos had on them.

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[Go Go Diablo]

The handle bars on the early 500's were very weak. They later had gussets installed. This new pair of handlebars already had the gussets installed. Although this Diablo is a mock up of an early model 500, it does not pay to put on handlebars without gussets as they would just get bent. So you will need to excuse some details such as this.

The dash on the 500's were very thin and cracked very easily. I was lucky to keep one good original 500 dash around for this special 500.

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The top end of the dash is held in place with a plate to two brackets that get put over the top openings in the dash. These are only temporary as you will see later.

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[Go Go Diablo]

The motor on the early 500's where barely held in place. All the weight of the motor is hanging on the top end motor mounts and soon after driving them around, these usually broke and sent the top of the motor crashing in to the gas tank. For now, we will leave this as original but can add the upgraded motor top bracket later if desired.

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Another really cool thing about a 500 is the muffler is mounted directly to the motor and is under the hood. Although this makes for a hot engine compartment, it makes for a really BRAAAAPY sounding Diablo which I think is pretty cool.

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