Topic: 74 cb550 uber low buck build.

[stolle]

since my old tank is pretty much scrap, i think im gonna cut it up and try to make a seat out of it, thinking it should be perfect cause it should make the seat match the tank.

I'm a big fan of this approach.

also, started stripping paint from the engine, which really sucks, cause i bet there is at least 5 layers of paint on it, most of which is flaking off, i really dont want to take the engine apart and have it blasted, but right now its an ugly mess!

You'll get there.  Fussy repetitive work is good for you - just pretend you're spending a bunch of money to send yourself to a Montessori school.

i said try lol, i dont like what i have seen when people make seat cowls from tanks either.

haha, i have more time than money so i should have plenty of time the fussy repetitive work.

[stolle]

I bought a soda blaster from H.F. If you plug up all the holes real good you can blast the motor w/o taking it apart. It worked pretty good.

i have a soda blaster, i tryed on a few parts but the paint is so thick it eats up a lot of media and takes forever! i considered blasting it after i got the paint stripped, the soda is nice, i did the carbs and heads on my dads r69 and they came out real nice!

[stolle]

finished the upper shock mounts, now i just need to make some sleeves for the upper bushing and get some bolts that are long enough.

here is a crappy cell phone pic, im not the best at welding, but i get the job done.


i used 1"x3" "square" stock, the inside is sleeved where the bolt goes through so it doesnt crush when you torque the bolt down, i used the sleeves from an old control arm off of one my old civics and cut them down, with a few good tacks on the sleeve keep it from moving around.

[stolle]

gathered all the pics i had, here a few before and afters so far!

when i first brought it home notice the butchered rear suspension, some had cut off the stock shock mounts and welded on a piece of plate steel.


in  the process of adding the hoop on the back.






hoop welded on.


disaster with the original tank made it necessary, to go on the hunt for a different one which put a big halt on progress. then i found a tank and shocks!





here is an example of my awesome welding skills! lol


now the bike is a roller, getting ready to start the process of making a seat.



thanks for looking!

[stolle]

been working on the seat cowl, i made it from the old gas tank, still need to make a seat pan.


also got some clubman handle bars and my friend hooked me up with some bar end mirrors.

[stolle]

Been a long time since I updated this, finally rode the bike today for the first time since I got it, still not finished but I can ride it. I'll post more pics when time allows.

Thanks for looking.

[Syscrush]

That's a big milestone!

[DH]

Earlier in this thread you mentioned an indoor salvage place in St. Louis. That'd be Archway, yes?
How did they treat you? Have you been there lately? Just curious. I was there a few months back and the guys running it
had a take or leave it attitude, and pretty much talked me out of buying a petcock for my 550. At least that's what it seemed like.
They didn't let me look anywhere on my own, i was always being watched. Not the same as previous visits. Maybe the weekend staff is more trusting and helpful... The upstairs floor is where the magical stuff is.

[stolle]

Earlier in this thread you mentioned an indoor salvage place in St. Louis. That'd be Archway, yes?
How did they treat you? Have you been there lately? Just curious. I was there a few months back and the guys running it
had a take or leave it attitude, and pretty much talked me out of buying a petcock for my 550. At least that's what it seemed like.
They didn't let me look anywhere on my own, i was always being watched. Not the same as previous visits. Maybe the weekend staff is more trusting and helpful... The upstairs floor is where the magical stuff is.

yes, i was referring to archway, i never made it there a fine member of this forum gave me a fantastic deal on the parts i needed. i have always heard good things about the place though, i have a friend that has been there on more than one occasion. i would like to go there some day.

[stolle]

here are some more pics!

relocated ignition switch, disregard the battery its just temporary for riding around the block purposes. 


headlight is burnt out, will need to replace.


i have only one fuse 30amp, using the stock regulator the rectifier is something i found at my local electronics surplus store not sure whats its from, but it handles a hefty 50 amps. still have to make the plate to mount everything to.


i got the tail light from harborfreight, its actually an LED trailer side marker light, i put a resistor inline on the constant 12v to get the running light/brake light combo.


seat is just sitting there still have to make some way of mounting it. i made a black vinyl seal cover not sure if i like it though, might make a different one.


here is the tail light brake on...


...and brake off.


an other shot of the seat, im going to try and mount the brake light in the seat.

[stolle]

Havent updated this in a long time . Here are some pics, progress is slow but steady.
New filter pods.

I fixed the header and used an old muffler I had laying around to finish the exhaust.

Made a seat cover, installed the brake light and mounted the seat.

I used a 1" copper cap and some honda bond to seal the hole after deleting the starter. Installed the cap just like a freeze plug.

Made a side cover to cover up the space left open by removing the starter.


I also replaced oil filter bolt and filter, points and condensers and reset the static timing. Still have to fine tune with a timing light. Also adjusted valves and timing chain.

Thanks for looking!

[Lostboy Steve]

Some times simple really is the sweetest thing! Looks good!

[stolle]

Thanks for the kind words!

I'm thinking the next thing I do will be to spray the frame satin black so it's all one color. Clean everything, but not too much, I love the look of 40 years of patina. I really like the idea of this thing looking old but riding like it's new. I need to get new tires too, that's really that last thing before I can get an inspection. I'm going to get Shinko 712's, 100/90-19 for the front and 110/90-18 for the rear. The Shinko'so are cheap, but I have read nothing but good reviews on them.

[stolle]

Here are a couple pics I took over the summer. Gives a little better idea of how it sit right now.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Don't forget to get some new rubber.  Those tires look pretty jenky.

[stolle]

Don't forget to get some new rubber.  Those tires look pretty jenky.

Yes sir, mentioned that in a previous post. It looks like the previous owner did a lot of burn outs. Lol when I tore it down the first time there was rubber caked all over the swing arm and the back of the crank case.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Don't forget to get some new rubber.  Those tires look pretty jenky.

Yes sir, mentioned that in a previous post. It looks like the previous owner did a lot of burn outs. Lol when I tore it down the first time there was rubber caked all over the swing arm and the back of the crank case.

Sheesh.  That rear tire's last hurrah.

[stolle]

Don't forget to get some new rubber.  Those tires look pretty jenky.

Yes sir, mentioned that in a previous post. It looks like the previous owner did a lot of burn outs. Lol when I tore it down the first time there was rubber caked all over the swing arm and the back of the crank case.

Sheesh.  That rear tire's last hurrah.

Lol, the front tire has seen its last days as well, it's dry rotted and has cracks everywhere!

[stolle]

Got new tires for this thing, finally got it legal and registered. its a blast to ride, almost every time I am out at least one person says, "nice bike" or "that's a good lookin bike... what is it", lol. Makes you feel good hearing things like that knowing that its about something you put a lot of time and effort in building yourself. I love telling people that, "that's the only bike like that", sure there are similar bikes, but there is not one exactly like mine and I love it! I still have quite a few things to fix, but overall its starts, first kick every time and runs pretty damn good, so far I have put close to 400 miles on it without any issues. Seems like it gets better after every mile, definitely extremely glad I invested in this thing it puts a smile on my face every day.

[OneWheelDrive]

Nice!  Well done and glad you're loving riding it.

[Buckskin Bandit]

Sweet build! Like how the light in the seat turned out!  Congrats on getting it on the road.

[Stev-o]

Good job!

[stolle]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

[stolle]

Its has been while since I updated this, I haven't been doing much riding it every chance I got, its been pretty reliable, the ignition system is junk though. the 2-3 coil is bad and it eats condensers, its shorted to ground, I isolated the coil from ground and it works for now. I went through a few weeks of adjusting the float bowls, cause it kept fowling plugs. Right now its running better than it ever has, since I got it running. I did a lot of research on the ignition system and decided to make my own, at this point I have two setups I am going to try after I get new coils, I made my own "ignition modules" I found the schematics here http://www.5bears.com/tim4.htm I built the TIM6 and the TIM4. I'm going to start with the TIM6 until I get a rotor made for the TIM4. The TIM6 uses the stock points, but deletes the condensers, it uses a PNP transistor to trigger the coils. The TIM4 uses hall effect sensors and transistors, exactly like the pamco ignitions, but these only cost me about $20 to build, for all of them, 5 total.

TIM4, incomplete I still need to install hall effect sensors, I'm not sure on placement though.


TIM6, I made three of these two for me and one for my friends KZ.


Today, I made this muffler, please excuse the horrible welds, I was using a harbor freight welder and didn't realize the polarity was wrong for the flux core wire I was using. it was also the first time using this welder, my lack of skills didn't help much either.


Its made from two pieces of 1.75" exhaust pipe and some sheet metal I had laying around. It measures 5" x 4" x 1.75", I tried to make an internal baffle by drilling 4x .75" holes that are offset, there is about a 1" gap between the pipes. hope that makes sense, I didn't take any picture during construction.

like this:
in from header>  0  0  0  0  |     
                          | 0  0  0  0     >out to dump

The butt dyno says it feels like it pulls harder, its actually relatively quiet compared to the rusted out old mac silencer I had on there. I'm going to wrap it up like the header so no one can see my horrible welds. It may not be for everyone, but I like it, I was going for a look similar to the newer super sports like an R6 with Toce exhaust. After I got it on there, it really reminded me of a really small flow master with a dump. haha

thanks for looking!

[stolle]

After putting some miles on this thing with the new muffler, I love it! sound is awesome, not too loud, but not too quiet, I will get some audio and put it up soon. well worth the few hours of build time. I may build one that is more refined maybe use new pipe rather than rusty old tailpipe and make sure the welds are clean. I would also like to document it so if anyone wants to build one they can!