Topic: '78 550K Resto-Mod

[Greggo]

Have you fired it up yet?

[Scott S]

 Not yet. The battery is all but dead. The lights come on and I can hear the starter solenoid try to click, but it's to weak to even honk the horn.

 I still need to:
-Fab up a rubber bumper for the center stand stop. It barely touches the chain right now.
- Get a battery.
-Put gas in the tank.

 After that, I'll cross my fingers and see what happens!

[LesterPiglet]

Nice job Scott. Not fond of the airbrake tho.   

[Scott S]

 I may end up losing it. It has a couple of hairline cracks in it and that's as far back as it will lean becuase of the instruments.
 Undecided on it at the moment.

[derelicte]

Does anybody make a spacer for the centerstand?  I was wondering what I was hearing while riding around the block after removing the mangled rear footrests on my 750.  Ended up putting the left hand one back on to keep the centerstand off the chain until I figure something else out.

[Scott S]

 Today was D-Day!

 Got a new battery and put a little gas in the tank and she fired up almost immediately!
 But.... There's always a but, right? Just before firing her up I noticed that the boot on the #1 carb was really compressed and the plenum was pulled away from the frame.
 This pic is actually after I loosened it.


 I know we had a bear of a time getting the filter box itself installed. I'm reasonably sure that I have all the brackets accounted for and in the right place, but I had to remove the front screw just to get the plenum to seat properly against the frame and let the carb boot expand. The rear bolt is out as well.
 Am I missing something here? Why is it off so far?

[Scott S]

 And, of course, when I turned on the gas it leaked out of the overflow on at least 3 carbs and got all over my fresh, uncured engine paint on both sides.


 I re-used the overflow hoses and they were cracked. After adjusting the idle a couple of times and actually running some gas through the carbs, they seem to have stopped overflowing. Maybe just some dry, sticky floats or needle valves at first?

[Scott S]

 But she lives!

http://youtu.be/4ZCDICkobSs

[LesterPiglet]

Your carb boot isn't orientated correctly. That seam on it needs to be horizontal but you can still get it 180 degrees out. Can we see a pic of #4 boot?



Oh, you do know the inner boots are different from the outers?

[Scott S]

 I rode her around the neighborhood a few times, varying the RPM and trying not to let it idle. I then rode her up to the corner gas station (no tags yet....shhh!    ) and filled up the gas tank. Even with a full tank, not more carb overflowing, so that's a good thing.

 Then, on the way home, I noticed that the handling was very sluggish. About two miles from home, I noticed that the front tire was low on air. It kept getting flatter and flatter. I actually cut off the bike just outside my neighborhood and pushed it for the next couple of blocks. Topped it off and it's holding air, too....for now.

[Scott S]

Your carb boot isn't orientated correctly. That seam on it needs to be horizontal but you can still get it 180 degrees out. Can we see a pic of #4 boot?



Oh, you do know the inner boots are different from the outers?

 Yes, I know the two inners are different. That is definitely an outer boot. It's a brand new aftermarket boot.....what's the guy on here that sells them? That's who I got it from.
 I lined up the nipple on the inside and made sure the slanted part of the velocity stack was as it's suposed to be....I think. However, when uploading the pics you asked for, I found this pic in my album:



 So, you're right. Even though it is an outer boot and I lined up the nipple, I need to rotate it so that the line is horizontal. At least it IS the outside pair! That'll be easy enough to do.
 I even pulled the filter and put my had inside and I do have the thinner part of the velocity stack near the narrowed portion of the plenum....just not twisted far enough.
 That said, I still don't think that's what's keeping the airbox/plenum from seating properly. Still scratching me head on this one. As soon as the bike cools off, I'll fix the two outer boots.

 

[LesterPiglet]

Is the breather hose under the plenum caught on something?

[Scott S]

 The bike runs well. No intake leaks, no hanging idle, etc. I played with one of the outer IMS screws and it seemed to like 1.5 best, which is where they all are set. I have not done them individually yet. Those things are a PITA to get to on the PD series carbs.

 I set the float height at 13mm, raised the needle one clip, kept the 42 pilot and went from a 90 to a 105 on the main.

 The plugs look just a tiny bit on the lean side to me. They're not white, but they are on the whiter side of tan. In real life, imagine them just a tiny, tiny bit more white than this. Very clean, no soot, very clean on the porcelain.
 Whatta ya think? I do need to get the snorkle back on the air box and clean/oil the Uni-Filter element.

 #1 plug



 #4 plug

[Scott S]

Is the breather hose under the plenum caught on something?

 I don't think so, but I'll check. The plenum will seat correctly...and is in there correctly now....but the air box no longer lines up to the mounting holes. If I push the airbox forward to match the mounting holes, I push the plenum forward and squish the boots.
 I'm consulting my pics and the diagram on Motogrid but, so far, I don't see why it isn't lining up (scratches head).

[Scott S]

 I also have some electrical gremlins to sort out. When I got the bike, the P.O. had a bobber style headlight and aftermarket signals on the front. The kill switch was also bad.

 I replaced all of those things with stock items and now the kill switch works, but the horn won't blow and the turn signals will light up but don't flash.

 The front running lights work and, I think, the RH front signal stays lit all the time. It seems brighter, to me. Hopefullly, it's something simple....loose wires, a burned out turn signal bulb or maybe the flasher unit.

 However, the main fuse gets awful hot after riding for several minutes. If I spit on my fingers and touch it, it will sizzle. You can see that the plastic is melting. I don't think this is all new....I believe this is/was an existing problem.

 

[LesterPiglet]

I would put a different fuse in there. The fuse is supposed to burn out, not your fusebox. A different problem somewhere else methinks.

[Scott S]

 I've already replaced the fuse and this one hasn't gotten hot....yet. I'll keep a close eye on it.

[Tews19]

She sounds really good. I have an original fuse box from my 75 550 if you are interested.

[Scott S]

 Tews19, I'll keep that in mind.

 I was also looking through my pics and I think I see what I did wrong on the airbox. It's a little hard to see here without enlarging the pic, but I should have ran the breather hose down between the manifold on the engine side and then to the air box. I bet if I did that, I could get the hose in place, the breather box to sit right and the snorkle back on.

[Scott S]

 Re-routed the airbox breather hose and fiddled with the plenum/airbox mount a little. Rotated the outside carb boot to their proper orientation. Got the airbox to fit a little better.
 I also found the parts needed to route the breather hose to the airbox and plug the drain hole, which was previously open and letting unmetered/unfiltered air into the carbs.
 Cleaned the breather foam and Uni-Filter and re-oiled the filter. Installed the factory snorkle. I'm hoping all these things together will go along with my ever-so-slightly lean jetting and get me right on the money.

 I also swapped the flasher unit out and got three of the four flashers working. The LF won't flash, but everything checks out. It's a ground problem, as I was able to make it flash with a jumper cable one time, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet.
 Cleaned the contacts on the horn and it now works.

 The bike starts easily and runs really well. I need to get it insured and tagged so I can start putting some miles on it!
 I hate that I spilled gas on the engine paint. Why, oh why, didn't I put a towel down on the initial start-up? 
 I'll get her broken in and then worry about detailing her and making her look pretty again.

  Oh! And the Jardine exhaust sounds WICKED!

[LesterPiglet]

I don't have that drain hose for the airbox so I'm going to use the finger from a latex glove.

[Scott S]

 Been a while since I updated this thread. This bike is an absolute JOY to ride! Most comfortable, best handling SOHC4 I've ever been on. My only complaint is that I can't get the the RH disc to stop dragging. I'm seriously considering removing it and going back to a single disc. Might even put the Henry Abes on this bike and not the CB500.

 I did remove the fly screen and swapped out mirrors. These mirrors looked really cool, but were to close to the centerline of the bike. If I only wore a T-shirt, they were fine, but if I had on a jacket, all I could see were my elbows.



 So I picked up these. They look similar, but the arms are longer.

[Scott S]

 Was going to try them out today but the choke cable broke! Grrr!

[Greggo]

Those choke cables are NLA, yeah?

[Scott S]

 I found a few on ebay. Genuine Honda and Motion Pro. Gonna try the MPro. Already have it ordered. I have genny clutch and throttle cables on all the bikes, but I figure aftermarket for the choke should be OK.