Topic: My first CB: The final push 6 years later...

[stereosilence]

First a bit of background. I'm 25 and I grew up with parents who don't have any technical or mechanical background or pursuits. I never even learned how to change oil growing up. I'm an electrical engineer who LOVES motorcycling and I have always wanted to be able to completely build a bike from scratch. I have been wanting a cb550Four for about 5 years and finally had the spare change and found a good deal on a 1975 cb550. The PO was a college kid who used it as a daily driver. I figured I could keep it running and work on it bit by bit.

My strategy is to start small and tackle bigger and bigger things (although my confidence is rapidly rising) and make sure I get everything cleaned up and done right as I go along. One day I hope to completely disassemble, clean everything, and have the frame painted.

Here is what I started with:



That rear fairing and the rear turn signals were held on by zip ties (signals didn't work). The tachometer cable was broken. None of the right hand switches work. Headlight switch doesn't work (headlight was permanently on in the low position). It did come with an LED voltage meter because the PO had a problem running out of juice in traffic.

He recently put in new plugs and the tires are new. The electric start and the kick start also work well. However, the electric start switch was moved to a toggle switch on the rear left fairing.

I bought a tach cable and another set of gauge clusters that I cannibalized to get my gauges working properly. I set the tappet clearance and changed the oil. Then I spent time riding it and reading the forum to get a feel for what I was dealing with.

[stereosilence]

I decided the first thing I wanted to do was to fix up the electrical issues. Being an electrical engineer, I felt more confident about that. I am also friends with a bunch of technicians at work so I have access to a lot of nice tools and parts. I wanted to install connectors that I would be able to take apart and put back together so that it is less of a PITA when I completely disassemble. I bought some insulated butt connectors. It seems they might have been a poor choice. They go together very tightly so it is tough to undo them and I was constantly pulling the connectors off the wire and having to crimp new ones on.

However, it went well as I cleaned up a lot of the wiring and got thing straightened out. Inside the handle bars, some of the wires were extended by stripping the wires, twisting them together and covering in electrical tape. They loved electrical tape. I had to use a lot of goo-gone to clean it all up. I got it all cleaned up, soldered connections and covered in heat shrink. I got the left hand switches connected up properly. The right hand switches are basically toast so I decided not to bother with them. Anyway, I got it all connected and working.


I found a few toggle switches on the case for an dual channel audio amplifier I recently built. I put some leads on, covered them in heat shrink for weather protection and put them next to the ignition. The right one is the kill switch and the left one cuts off the headlight and running light. I am really happy to have that functional as daytime traffic is an issue with the battery.


In taking a lot of stuff apart, I also bought a lot of new hardware to replace all the rusty and stripped crap that was holding everything together.

[stereosilence]

The exhaust that came with it was functional but not so awesome. It would be much cooler if it wasn't so rusty. I was a little worried about the rust on it. The forum told me that rust was fairly normal but that the hex bolts holding them in were bad as they would wear out over time.

Here is what I was working with.


I took them off (one bolt broke off about halfway in, I don't think it will hold me back) and have (mostly) installed new studs. I think they will work much better.


I also cleaned my pipes with steel wool and then did some sanding. I painted them with VHT Flameproof. Hopefully this will help with the rust, but I may put exhaust wrap on there. The exhaust is currently hanging in my garage for the 1 week cure time. More photos when I get them on.

[stereosilence]

I posted a question with a photo on the forum about something and everyone told me my shocks were shot. So, I bought new ones (the cheaper CycleX ones). I am not currently willing to invest several hundred on just shocks. If I took that approach for every piece I need to replace I would be in the thousands pretty quick.



I just got them on yesterday. More photos to come, probably once I get the exhaust on there too.

Once I changed them, I realized that the PO had short shocks on there and he also had lowering blocks. This explains why there was virtually no clearance from the fender to the wheel and also why the sides of my pipes were scraped *facepalm*. Since I am weighing in around 190 these days, I am hoping that the new shocks will help out the ride a bit. I currently am using the lowering blocks, but I may go back to the stock position. I am not sure.

[thrutheframe]

I posted a question with a photo on the forum about something and everyone told me my shocks were shot. So, I bought new ones (the cheaper CycleX ones). I am not currently willing to invest several hundred on just shocks. If I took that approach for every piece I need to replace I would be in the thousands pretty quick.



I just got them on yesterday. More photos to come, probably once I get the exhaust on there too.

Once I changed them, I realized that the PO had short shocks on there and he also had lowering blocks. This explains why there was virtually no clearance from the fender to the wheel and also why the sides of my pipes were scraped *facepalm*. Since I am weighing in around 190 these days, I am hoping that the new shocks will help out the ride a bit. I currently am using the lowering blocks, but I may go back to the stock position. I am not sure.

Keep forging ahead, you'll get it all sorted with perseverance.   If you want to part with those lower blocks I'll take them off of your hands.

[harisuluv]

Great start, good luck!

[lucky]

You do not need $1500.00 OR $700.00 shocks.
You do not need $700.00 foot rests.
You do not need a $700-1500.00 exhaust or garbage can muffler.

Garbage can mufflers are ugly anyway and the people that make them should take some sheet metal classes and make some exhausts that have some style.

BTW...All engineering students want to build something.
I know... I used to be a shop foreman. They just need supervision.

[Stev-o]

Your off to a good start!  I would take off the lowering blocks, no need for them. The painted exhaust looks good, im considering doing the same on my K5 (PO cut off stock exhaust)

[stereosilence]

I got my exhaust back on after the drying period (7 days). If you don't cure in an oven, you have to do a process of idling a while, cooling, idling longer, cooling, driving for 30 min., and more cooling. Here is what it looks like on the bike. One of the exhaust gaskets was all bent up so I took it out. Mistake. I need to get a new one pronto unless I want the one cylinder to be making all kinds of racket out the front.




And I got one with my other bike (similar exhaust painting).



I then proceeded to go out riding. Any metal on metal contact instantly removes the exhaust paint. Apparently the shift lever on mine will go down and hit the pipe so I have a rash there on the left and I scrapped the curb on the right (a whole line of cars weren't turning right on red with a full length merge lane...). I don't really mind. The scrapes fit in with the way the bike looks now.

The electronics worked well. The switches worked beautifully and the voltage meter showed a high reading most of the time. My brake lights didn't work though. I'm not sure why. I tested them earlier. Maybe I cut a wire somewhere. I need to investigate that. I need to get a new clutch cable/lever. It kept coming undone so that the lever couldn't pull the clutch completely.

Finally, my next big project needs to be the carbs. It doesn't idle smoothly and I had some trouble with it dying at stoplights. I don't want to take them completely apart to clean, but I may have to. I need to start and the beginning and set everything. May need to change the jets and such because it has pods and I think it is running rich (lots of popping).

I rode and enjoyed it though. Even buzzed an Aston Martin out on the Atlanta freeway. Also nearly broke my spine by having those new shocks on the firmest setting.

[kpier883]

I decided the first thing I wanted to do was to fix up the electrical issues. Being an electrical engineer, I felt more confident about that. I am also friends with a bunch of technicians at work so I have access to a lot of nice tools and parts. I wanted to install connectors that I would be able to take apart and put back together so that it is less of a PITA when I completely disassemble. I bought some insulated butt connectors. It seems they might have been a poor choice. They go together very tightly so it is tough to undo them and I was constantly pulling the connectors off the wire and having to crimp new ones on.

However, it went well as I cleaned up a lot of the wiring and got thing straightened out. Inside the handle bars, some of the wires were extended by stripping the wires, twisting them together and covering in electrical tape. They loved electrical tape. I had to use a lot of goo-gone to clean it all up. I got it all cleaned up, soldered connections and covered in heat shrink. I got the left hand switches connected up properly. The right hand switches are basically toast so I decided not to bother with them. Anyway, I got it all connected and working.


I found a few toggle switches on the case for an dual channel audio amplifier I recently built. I put some leads on, covered them in heat shrink for weather protection and put them next to the ignition. The right one is the kill switch and the left one cuts off the headlight and running light. I am really happy to have that functional as daytime traffic is an issue with the battery.


In taking a lot of stuff apart, I also bought a lot of new hardware to replace all the rusty and stripped crap that was holding everything together.

These guys have the real deal when it comes to wiring connectors.  The key is their crimping tool.  I purchased the kit and it has been really good to have around. 

http://www.vintageconnections.com/

click the "connection kits" link on the left side.  I got the kit numbered CK-1.

[PurduePete]

That crimp kit Kpier linked looks great. I wired a couple dirt bikes with homemade dual sport kits with similar connections. Bought the first set at Wal-Mart and they were awful, second set was from an online dealer and they worked better. I used a tool that put a small hole in them while crimping with the best results. I am a MET student so I love my projects. I really like your toggle switches, might do something similar for my CB500 project. Gotta work on my own electrical gremlins before it will even start though. Keep it coming.

By the way I just painted my exhaust on my DRZ400 and wrapped it. The paint does chip easy but the wrap is a lot more expensive. I bought the greenish stuff that 2 in wide for $22. Looks amazing but I would not use it all the down where you are talking. I'll include a pic of it on my dirt bike if I can from my phone.


PurduePete

Sent from my iPhone

[stereosilence]

Yeah, I am pretty sure I can borrow a crimping tool that will do that from work. However, I was never a big fan of the plastic bubble. I really wanted to do the shell connectors (also shown on the website) but the wires come from far too many connections.

I will probably end up with the wrap. However, after scraping my exhaust on the curb, I am worried that my wrap might get ruined in short order. Anyway, I'll worry about that if I start getting rust or if I get the rest of the bike looking really nice.

[stereosilence]

I finally got my new tail light wired up. It is still not "perfect", but I haven't fully decided what I'm going to do with my fender and seat.

This one is integrated so that it has some white LEDs (apparently worthless), some red LEDs for running lights at night (mostly worthless), much brighter LEDs for brake lights (should be fine), and yellow LEDs in each lens for turn signals (seem to be very bright). I think it will do its job, but I am mainly interested in have functional brake and turn signals. And legality. I have been riding around without rear turn signals for months and my brake light stopped on me a few weeks ago.




I got this snap connector from old stock at work. I wanted a speedy disconnect (one day I'm going to strip everything to the frame).


Next up is carbs. I currently have them off and have cleaned two of the four so far.

[stereosilence]

I bravely tore off my carbs and ripped them to pieces. I think they are works of art (all covered in crud). I did the Simple Green thing and it worked moderately well. One day I want to do the homemade soda blaster and blast it all and do a nice metal color paint job.

Before
It is sort of hard to see, but there is a ton of black nasty in all those crevices.


During:


After:
Much cleaner, float height set, idle mixture screws at 1.5 turns out, just need to apply some liquid gasket to upper piston access.


I can't wait to get them on and try them out. However, my POR15 tank lining kit is here and I have a carb sync kit my buddy loaned me. I may need to order the valve extenders. Hopefully it'll get back on there by this weekend.

[OneWheelDrive]

Making progress!!  Electrical is definitely my weak point.  Although I'm on my 4th CB and I have a much better grasp now, things just don't look as clean as what you've done.

Any reason you went with flathead screws on the slide covers?  In my opinion the dumbest fastener system ever invented.  Also, your choke lever looks pretty bent out of shape. 

Make sure the carbs have been re-jetted for the open exhaust and pod filters.  Stock mains for those carbs are 110s, idle jets are 38.  Start by bench synching http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=5410.0 the carbs with a 1/16 drill bit so you know they are close before a full blown carb tune. 

[Eddie]

looks good !!   check out TechFlex in stead of wrap...buy the 1" stuff and just slip it on...that way in the future if you want to check the condition of the pipes you can slip it right off...check out my pics of the 550..

[stereosilence]

I just finished the POR-15 tank treatment last night. It involves an alkaline de-gunker, an acidic de-ruster, and a silver sealer. The de-gunker was a pain as they said you could use duct tape to seal the holes and the solution instant started leaking through the tape. I used a rubber band on top of the tape for the second and the sealant is more viscuous so it wasn't a problem.

The trick is to really swish everything around well. It is hard and takes time but I think that gets you the best job. Also, make sure it is really, really dry for the sealant. I ran a heat gun in it for about 20 min, and there was still water in the seams. You need to keep drying and then swirl it around to get the water out of the cracks. Finally, when you do the sealant, you swish it around to get full coverage and then you drain the leftover (I got 5-6 oz of an 8 oz can back) into the can. The trick here is to drain it upside down out the gas input opening. If you try to drain it out the petcock, there will be some left puddling that won't come out. You don't want that.

Eddie: I'll take a look at the TechFlex. It looks great on your bike. How does it go on over the brackets? Mine has a flange that connects both of the pipes on each side together and connects to the bike. I'm not sure how I would get a sleeve over that (but I'm not sure how the wrap would go around it either...

OneWheelDrive: I was fairly happy with the cleanliness of the wiring in the bucket. I don't like the connectors much, they are made to be too permanent. I may one day upgrade them to something (maybe spade connectors). I wanted to do all molex like for the tail light, but there are too many point-to-point connections. I got the flat heads because it is what Ace Hardware had. They are just machine screws and they were still $.30 each. I have a very large driver that fits them well and they are not high torque. Stock jets for this model are 38/100. I will probably go up to 40/110, but someone said the color of my plugs (see below) wasn't that far off so I just bumped the needle to the richest setting and I'll see how it goes. I don't want to spend the $30 before I test it. I did the bench sync (used 1/8" drill bit) and will soon put it on there. I still need some top end gasket material.




I ordered this new rectifier from FleaBay for $10. It is 1000V/35A. My electronics are working well, but this one is more compact, has a bolt-hole in the middle and (I suspect) better quality. I currently have an osciliscope at my house and plan to get all nerdy on it and see what sort of ripple there is in the DC power supply. I'm hoping that a new rect/regulator will give me a better quality voltage (better for non-lead/acid batteries) and help me relocate them to clean up the triangle. Stay tuned for that data.

[stereosilence]

I attacked the crummy paint job with POR-Strip. It seems like a good product but the instructions were not good enough. It will start to burn if you get it on sensitive skin (if any spray hits your face you will know it). The instructions involved using a spray bottle. Not a good idea as it seemed to eat up the spray bottle they provided and get all over my hands (nitrile gloves didn't help). The way to go is to paint the stuff on thick with a paint brush, wait, and then scrape it off with a windshield ice scraper (I used a razer blade). Then, after a few iterations, use steel wool to get the last pieces off.

What I started with. It actually looks better in the picture than in real life.


Finished product:




I have some Bondo on the workbench to fill in those badge holders and the dent. Then I am planning on using the SpayMax 2k system (see the $18 paint job thread) to paint it Polo White.

[tango911]

spraymax is the bomb just ordered some more.

[stereosilence]

Here are two teaser photos to precede the the next large post.

In the following crappy cell phone photos, you can see my newly wrapped exhaust, my newly reinstalled carbs, my primered, wet-sanded tank and side cover, and my *custom* shorty fender.

My next post will show everything currently shown but with my new chocolate leather reupholstered seat, freshly painted tank, side covers, and headlight bucket (1956 Corvette colors). Lord willing, it will look like a new bike.

I will take lots of photos with my camera post-paint that will be much better quality.

[CycleRanger]

I ordered this new rectifier from FleaBay for $10. It is 1000V/35A. My electronics are working well, but this one is more compact, has a bolt-hole in the middle and (I suspect) better quality. I currently have an osciliscope at my house and plan to get all nerdy on it and see what sort of ripple there is in the DC power supply. I'm hoping that a new rect/regulator will give me a better quality voltage (better for non-lead/acid batteries) and help me relocate them to clean up the triangle. Stay tuned for that data.

That rectifier should work fine. I used one similar to that on my bike. You probably should add a heat sink however.
I used a small PC CPU heat sink for mine.

[tango911]

good job on the thread with pics and info. and nice work on the bike. Looking great.

[Blitzburgh207]

Lookin good man!  You'll pick it up fast, it's a pretty simple machine really... and you're already an expert w/ the most pita part!: the electrics!

I like your SV too you don't see many fully faired.. I'm jealous you have another bike to ride while you work on the CB!  Good work 

[stereosilence]

Thanks! I'm getting itchy to have the CB rideable again cause I need to work on the SV.

[70CB750]

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