Topic: Total Newbie First Restoration

[Cvalero]

I picked up a 1974 CB550 for very little money.  I thought I had struck gold until I brought to a mechanic to have some work done.  After about 30 calls from him telling me different things wrong with the bike, I decided instead of spending $1000 trying to fix this one it would be better to just invest in a new motorcycle.  So I purchased a 1977 CB550 that was in a lot better shape and could be ridden as is.  That's when pride got the best of me.  I decided to attempt to fix the 74 myself.  That was a month ago, and you will see the progress, or lack thereof, made so far.  With a two year old keeping me busy I'm lucky if I get a solid hour in the garage a night, and forget about the weekend.  So this will be a very slow moving thread most likely.  I'm in the process of getting everything off the bike now to get the frame, swingarm, and few other ancillary items blasted and powdercoated sometime soon (relatively speaking).  Here are some pics of the bike as purchased, and in its current state.  I am ever so grateful for any helpful tips, I am a newbie in the truest sense of the word when it comes to working on bike.  I am an engineer but there doesn't seem to be much crossoever between my day job and my current hobby.  Thanks for looking.

Pics below are before, current, dented fuel tank, new fuel tanks that i've purchased, and my daily driver. Hopefully I'll get better at posting as time goes along, please bear with me.

[Cvalero]

Seems I may be doing this for my own amusement, but I am going to keep a record anyways.  I have gotten a bit more done on my project in the last couple weeks, particularly picking up some parts that I needed.  Still looking for a dent free front fender, a speedometer plate (I picked one up but it's way too rusted with chrome peeling off), and a headlight bezel.  A few other odds and ends as well.  Still trying to figure out the best all purpose blaster to purchase.  I have heard sand blasting is too much for aluminum engine parts so was thinking of a soda blaster, but will that be enough for my frame?  I may have to bite the bullet and get some parts and blasted and just pick up a soda blaster for smaller engine parts and what not.  I was going to try eastwood's chassis coat for my frame and was going to use POR chassis and black coat for everything else.  I picked up some nice parts from Midwest Mafia (thanks again), he was a great person to deal with.  The parts had a bit of oxidation but check out what a little elbow grease and 0000 steel wool can do.
Also wrestled with the dreaded circlip for my master cylinder rebuild, as the plunger was stuck in the down position (wouldn't you know after tearing out the boot and starting on the circlip it popped out, at the worst possible time).  I ended up succeeding with a #6 torx wrench, as it was skinny enough to get under the clip and pull it out.

[madmtnmotors]

Looking good. Take lots of pictures to remind you how it goes back together. You've also got a similar model to use as a guide! "Hobby" is a good term to describe our illness! 

 

[OneWheelDrive]

I picked up a 1974 CB550 for very little money.  I thought I had struck gold until I brought to a mechanic to have some work done.  After about 30 calls from him telling me different things wrong with the bike, I decided instead of spending $1000 trying to fix this one it would be better to just invest in a new motorcycle. 

Mechanic!? What's a mechanic???  Good for you for tackling the bike yourself.  I'm confident that if you keep winning small battles, it'll be on the road before you know it! 

[Cvalero]

Thanks for the kind words.  Finding this site, and particularly SohRon's build thread, is what gave me the confidence to tackle this project on my own.  I have a Clymer manual as well as a downloaded Honda shop manual, but I rely on this site more than any of them.  A good example is the master cylinder circlip (which is a bi*&^ BTW), there must have been 20 different suggestions posted at some point, all of them helpful.

Looking good. Take lots of pictures to remind you how it goes back together. You've also got a similar model to use as a guide! "Hobby" is a good term to describe our illness! 

 

Definitely doing this, though it took me a while to figure it out so I will be relying on the parts diagram for some of the assembly that I didn't document as well as I should have.  Luckily for me I hadn't diassembled anything that complicated so for the hardest stuff I will have plenty of pics and notes to guide me.

Anyone have any opinions on the best all purpose blaster to buy? I know a lot of people use the harbor freight soda blaster for carbs and stuff, would I be able to use a grittier media with it for my frame, seat pan, kick and center stand, etc.?  Would I even need to?

[mono]

soda blasting would probably work on the steel parts (eventually), but there's no need to be delicate with them.

i used 180-grit blasting media at 90psi on steel parts - it leaves a "blasted" finish for sure, but does not eat steel (it'll strip chrome with some work).

the carb bodies themselves seem to be unpainted aluminum, which soda blasting should clean up nicely - i would not use anything coarser on anything delicate.

on parts like the triple (cast aluminum), i used a 240grit media at 40psi with no damage to the metal.  of course that was only a 3gal compressor.

just be careful, or test on scrap parts or similar materials if you're in doubt.

[Cvalero]

soda blasting would probably work on the steel parts (eventually), but there's no need to be delicate with them.

I will be using my plant's air compressors which run about 100 psi continuously so I will have quite a bit of pressure and non-stop pressure at that.  I was checking out your bike build.  I am in the same boat as you on the engine, I have no experience working on a bike engine and the bike was running fine when I started ripping it apart.  The engine block paint just looks totally crappy so I would like to try to sand or wire brush it and repaint it like you did.  I also want to restore my seat pan similarly as well.  I see you used rustoleum paint for a lot of stuff.  I have been told POR 15 chassis coat and black cote is the way to go but it's not available locally and shipping adds at least another $15 to the cost.  Do you use rattle cans or do you brush the paint on when you use it?  I was thinking of eastwood's chassis coat for my frame, but after seeing your post I am thinking I may be able to get away with just touching it up, I can always completely strip and either powdercoat it or paint it at a later time.  What is your opinion on the rustoleum paint you used?

[mono]

i used rustoleum's "Rust Reformer" primer to base coat everything that was steel.  I should have sandblasted or stripped the seat pan, but was so eager to get working on it that i just used sandpaper.  it did an acceptable job, but if i ever do it again it's getting taken to bare metal everywhere - results are much better that way.

after the rustoleum primer, i used DupliColor automotive paint (in a rattle can) to paint things.  i did also use the DupliColor clearcoat on the pan after painting, and it came out really nice.

i had wanted to powdercoat my frame, but had budget limits, so i just sanded the rusty spots and primed with the rustoleum, and actually just masked the engine off and used satin black rustoleum to touch up the frame.  it seemed to closely match the factory paint  -- it's nowhere near great, but it's better than being half-brown from surface rust, and from 5 feet there are no noticeable flaws.

i've heard good things about POR15, and was considering that for mine.  i guess the advantage of paint is that if it scratches you can repaint the scratch, then sand and polish the new paint and you're back to good.

my advice is to just go slow, take lots of pics, and consult the service manual before you start taking stuff apart.  my biggest (and funniest) problem was that even though i was REALLY organized about bagging everything, i didn't know the technical names for all the parts, and so my labeling was rather... creative... and when i started rebuilding it, i would think "top box mounting bolts?!?!   WTF am i talking about?"  haha.   you're going to be amazed at how much intimate knowledge you have about your bike by the time you're done with this project

just work within your budget and do the best job you can.  my rebuild has probably $1200 into it - $300 for tires/tubes/installation, $375 for pipes, and the rest is in $5-25 items -- spraycans, cleaners, polishes, rags, etc etc.

if you want any tips on cleaning anything, let me know.  i think i hand-polished every square inch of my bike, and learned some helpful shortcuts along the way.

[Midwest Mafia]

  I picked up some nice parts from Midwest Mafia (thanks again), he was a great person to deal with.  The parts had a bit of oxidation but check out what a little elbow grease and 0000 steel wool can do.

They sure did clean up that bike had sat since 1985! I'm happy they went to a good cause.

Thank you for the business.