Topic: CB550 "Lolita" My Cafe Build

[Ian_Butler]

I've been using this site for a resource for a few months now. Thanks so much guys! I figure it's my turn to contribute somehow now. Best way, I figure, is to start with a build thread.

My college graduation present to myself was to finally stop admiring from afar, learn to ride, and subsequently purchase a motorcycle. I've always liked working on my car (2000 Firebird) and I wanted to learn more about engines. I figured that a motorcycle engine would be a good and fun way to really learn about engine mechanics. Plus I get to ride a motorcycle! I had my heart set on the new Bonnie but then I found a '74 CB550 during a late night craigslist search and something just clicked. I'm not a big guy (about 5'11 140lbs) and the 550 just felt really right, better even than the trumpy. The 550 just has something to it that newer bikes don't; I'm sure you guys know all about that.









She is a dirty girl and a little rough around the edges, but she runs (with full choke) and I was thinking that she'd be a great starting point. Having just finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I wanted to dig in and get to know my machine. First step was to grab an objective. Having always been a fan of Formula 1, especially the vintage cars, I looked to 1974 for inspiration.

Honda wasn't running F1 at that time and the JPS Lotus colors always looked good to me: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Lotus_72_JPS.jpg

So the final product I think (at least for right now) will be a mix of the form of the bike above, the look/feel of the Type 72, and a steady helping of fast. I'll do my absolute best to try and chronicle everything I do the bike, no matter how trivial, just in case it helps some poor schmuck like me one day.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 1: Street Legal

Did I mention she didn't have a battery? No big deal there. I picked one up and got to the filling the battery with acid until I realized that they didn't give me enough acid! Having not spilt any, I was scratching my head. Luck me the guys at NAPA did too, and hooked me up with some free battery acid! Small victories 

No mirrors equates to a nice long talk from the cops in NY, so I snagged a set of Triumph-style bar end mirrors from Dime City Cycles (those guys are the best, great service) and some minor modification to the mirrors with a file, some pliers, a hammer and a block of wood left me quite happy with the result. (I'll post pictures later I guess I'm lazy with taking them off the camera).

Chapter 2: Fix the Idle problem.

So I'm pretty sure I have an air leak because the idle gets dragged up to 6k when the bike is warm and I have the choke on. If it's warm, I can back the choke off about 1/4 and if I really light it up, then the idle will drop to normal or it'll bog and die. The block is really hot, so I suspect she's running lean -- more support for the air leak theory. A WD40 test told me that the manifold side carb boots must be cracked because the idle would settle in to the normal operating range for a bit before getting dragged up again.

The bike sat for a long time in a showroom as an art piece, so I'm not surprised that the rubbery parts might not be in the best shape. I must have lucked out with the fork seals and bearings, because there's no problem there! But because it sat so long, I figured I'd rebuild the carbs anyway.

As of right now, by rebuild kits and manifold side boots are in the mail and I'll probably get to the actual work in a few weeks. I'm a little busy right now graduating and everything! 16 more days! http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3388/3573598435_90756952bf.jpg

Cheers for now,

Ian

[RAFster122s]

Welcome to the 550 fold! Nice bike to start with.
Sounds like you need to do a thorough clean of the carbs while they are out. Running with choke on is not good, but better to have that than lean burned valves or holed pistons.

Some bar end mirrors don't have good hardware to secure them, so ensure they are tight or fabricate new wedges to secure them. (Bias cut wedges of conduit thar just slips inside the bars with a couple washers, nut,  and long allen screw)

Nice looking bike you found. Do you know what brand of exhaust you have?

[Ian_Butler]

Yeah, the wedges that came with the set were a little too large. The wedge metal was soft, though, so modification was fairly simple. I'm surprised at the lack of vibe. There's a little shake, but I can still see in the mirrors clearly up to red-line.

I'm no fan of holes in my pistons! I'm looking forward to spending some time with the carbs. I've never dealt with carbs before, but learning about how they work was fun. They're really clever little things!

The PO said he thought the exhaust is the Jardine 4-2 system. I guess I'll take his word for it; I don't have a way of verifying. It sounds good though!

[Ian_Butler]

UPDATE

Carb Rebuild and a few other things:

For those out there that have  not done this, it's actually a simple task. You'll need a good set of wrenches and sockets, a wire brush, needle-nose pliers, a bottle of your favorite carb cleaner, and a bunch of shop towels.

There is simply no easy way to get the carb bank out. You just have to work around the rubber boots. Lucky me, I'm replacing the manifold side boots, so I don't have to worry about those too much. A lot of people say to use a bit of wood as a pry bar of sorts. I didn't want to damage the engine block. My suggestion is a friend and a good amount of beer.

For the most part it's an easy take-down. Play close attention to the slider lifter portion. This little bugger has a lot of "interesting" design points, For instance, the bolts securing the lifters are held in place by bent sheet metal tabs (hence the pliers and an old flat head screwdriver). After that, there is the spring-loaded connecting rod. This attaches to a few ball pivots and there is an interesting parts structure there involving multiple small metal bars (pics to follow). This also presented the trickiest part of the rebuild. The lifter arm must extend beyond the normal operating range to remove the slide (which is done by compressing some of the springs in the arm). The problem comes when reassembling. This over-extension of the arm causes the part that connects to the slide to get caught on itself (pics to follow) This is tricky and requires the bolt mounting the assembly to the (technical term here) "twisty rod that does the lifting for all the carbs" to be removed and the lifter arm to be slid out of place. Without knowing this, it will seem like the slide is stuck and your first inclination will be to just push harder; it's not going anywhere. With some spring compression and the aid of a skinny screwdriver, it'll become dislodged and you'll have a working slide again.

My favorite part was looking at the stock pilots. Clogged, so clogged. That might explain the propensity to die at idle....

Another tricky part is the float bowl gasket. Depending on the kit you purchase, the replacement gasket might be a circle o-ring. This is a problem because the gasket must fit into a slot the shape of a pentagon. Luckily, my dad was a turbine engineer and no stringer to annoying gaskets. Pro-tip: a small amount of Vaseline on the gasket will hold it in shape long enough for you to bolt it down.

Concurrently, I've encountered a number of stuck screws. These prevent my efforts to check valve clearances. I tried penetrating oil to no avail. Short of an impact driver or drilling the screws, I'm not sure what to do about those. Looks like that'll sit for a bit.

I also traded the stock sealed beam for a swappable halogen from a MKI Golf. It's much brighter and it's a direct swap. Props to my buddy for the research, parts, and labor on that one!

Also, I decided that the  ignition cylinder that came with the bike had to go. There was a mounting bracket that attached to the idiot lights that made the tach and speedo difficult to see entirely. I found what looks like the original ignition cylinder below the headlight up front. Can anyone confirm the OE location?

What's next:
I'll snap some pics tomorrow. Also, I'll be dropping off the tank and side covers for some new paint! Goodbye rattle can! Ordered a vac-sync kit today as well. I'll bench sync some time this week. I'll post pics of that, too.

[Ian_Butler]

UPDATE:

Yesterday was interesting. To start, I brought my tank to a custom shop that quoted me $1500 for the paint work 
Needless to say, the paint guy and I had a come to Jesus moment. I'm no longer welcome there. Seriously though! for $1500 I expect that paint to change color based on my command. 3 paint shops later (none of them wanted the work) and another guy quoted me 600 for the work. I might do that. My other option is to strip the tank and go down to bare Aluminum (at least I think that's what the aftermarket tank that's on there is made of. Let me know what you guys think!

Bench syncing the carbs was easy. I just chose the right most carb as the master and, because I didn't have a 1/8th in drill bit or a guitar string handy, I used a paperclip. It won't be perfect but the idle screw should function and after I get my Vac. Sync kit in from Dime City, it should be an easy enough job syncing the carbs.

I also bought lower bars. I'll put those on once I get them. After that, I'll need advice from y'all about rear sets. I understand that most won't clear the kicker?

[SF]

when you mean "a steady henping of fast" what do you have in mind?? nice bike BTW

[davidtime]

Your tank is after market? My 74 tank looks identical to it. Looks like you got yourself a decent ride to start with.

Most guys do the paint themselves that I have seen. It really isn't as difficult as one would think, it's mainly in the prep work and the wet sanding you do. Of course the paint has to be good as well.

[Bankerdanny]

I think bike tanks are the perfect thing to learn painting. If you screw up badly you strip all the paint off in a couple hours and try again.

Unless your goal is a show quality finish, do it yourself.

[Ian_Butler]

It's almost the same as stock, I think it may have been some sort of stock replacement. It doesn't have the tank badge mounting points and has a slightly different mount point for the gas cap. I did get the OEM tank from the PO. However, that tank has a leak.

The steady helping of fast I was talking about is performance upgrades. I'll eventually (over the course of the next few years (I can't devote every day to the bike unfortunately) swap in a 650 cam, re-bore, port/polish, and possibly do some coating for the internal parts. I have a guy that does nano-coatings. They're really cool, they do parts for satellites and such, but their son had them coat all the internals for his supra rebuild. They do "frictionless", high temp, and a bunch of other coatings. The 550 is smaller but could benefit some from some of these things. Not much power to gain there, but it's really inexpensive (an entire valve-train's worth of coating would cost ~$30.

Another thing, the pics aren't the best and, to be honest, I didn't notice until I began removing the carbs, but the PO painted the entire engine with silver paint. This paint is now flaking. I'll be spending some time in the near future removing this paint and polishing the block.

[Ian_Butler]

UPDATE:

I got bored and decided to be impatient. I gassed up the tank and started the bike. WOW! what a difference! I don't believe it's the same bike! I was able to warm it up ~4ish min and back the choke off completely and adjust to a smooth idle at 1k with the idle screw. Apparently the paperclip sync works pretty good! I'll still be vacuum syncing the carbs once I get the kit in (shipped earlier today).

The only issue is that the idle seems to be hanging at around 3k after I really wail on the throttle. If I leave it there, it'll start backing down around 2k for a while. I didn't want the engine to sit and overheat so I cut it after that. I think it might be a sync issue, but I'm open to alternatives. What do you guys think?

[davidtime]

I think bike tanks are the perfect thing to learn painting. If you screw up badly you strip all the paint off in a couple hours and try again.

Unless your goal is a show quality finish, do it yourself.

I second that.

[davidtime]

It's almost the same as stock, I think it may have been some sort of stock replacement. It doesn't have the tank badge mounting points and has a slightly different mount point for the gas cap. I did get the OEM tank from the PO. However, that tank has a leak.

The steady helping of fast I was talking about is performance upgrades. I'll eventually (over the course of the next few years (I can't devote every day to the bike unfortunately) swap in a 650 cam, re-bore, port/polish, and possibly do some coating for the internal parts. I have a guy that does nano-coatings. They're really cool, they do parts for satellites and such, but their son had them coat all the internals for his supra rebuild. They do "frictionless", high temp, and a bunch of other coatings. The 550 is smaller but could benefit some from some of these things. Not much power to gain there, but it's really inexpensive (an entire valve-train's worth of coating would cost ~$30.

Another thing, the pics aren't the best and, to be honest, I didn't notice until I began removing the carbs, but the PO painted the entire engine with silver paint. This paint is now flaking. I'll be spending some time in the near future removing this paint and polishing the block.

What would that coating do to clearances?

[Ian_Butler]

It doesn't really effect that. It is added size, but it's on the nano-scale. The coatings are a few atoms thick and, unlike electroplating, will last for ever and never separate. It's a really cool company. I'll post a link to their website once I can find their business card...

[Ian_Butler]

UPDATE:

Finished the carbs with a nice vac sync and installed some new clear fuel line to replace the very old pvc line that the PO had used. That stuff was probably flaking all over my carbs and murdering my poor jets. No wonder the original pilots were totally messed up!

The trick with Vac Sync is to get long fuel lines. Too long and the fuel tends to pool and, if you use PVC line (don't use PVC line), leak. too short and you can't reach the screws. Ideally, you can buy a test tank (basically a water bottle rated for fuel), but that costs money and fuel line is very cheap.

The nuts on top of the adjustment screws are 8mm hex and are a little tough to get to. Don't use a socket wrench because the screw will turn for you and you'll be very sad. Instead grab a spanner and use that. The box-end won't fit in the spaces though.

Looking forward to some saddle time with the bike now that I've fixed the entire intake system (I cleaned the air filter while I had it off). It definitely sounds better! Unfortunately, it's raining pretty bad here right now and it looks like it will stay that way for the next day or so.

Additionally, does anyone have a good wiring diagram of the rats nest of wires in the headlamp bucket? I dug in there today to see about removing the wires from the bars and it was really terrible! Once I figure that out, I'll see if I can't drill my new bars and install them. It looks like I'm running on euro bars right now (they're about the same as the ones my friend just put on his CM400 from Dime City) but I want them to be a bit lower. The new ones have about 2'' less rise (eyeballed) than the current bars.

Last question, it looks like the stock footpegs can be flipped. They're attacked to the frame by this bracket thing that has a little push forward on it. That looks like it will rotate to a position where the pegs will be about 3'' behind where they are now and up about 1''. Is this the case? Will that interfere with the kickstarter? I understand that I'll have to change the levers to make it work, but it seems like an alternative to fabricating a bracket and getting friendly with a blowtorch...

[Ian_Butler]

UPDATE:

I decided to go with y'all's recommendation and paint the bike myself. I bought the paint A Krylon gloss black and a Rustoleum metallic gold. Got the first coat on the side covers today (the gold) and It looks pretty good. I'll post pics later. Any advise on taping? I'll need to radius corners and painter's tape doesn't cut well...

[davidtime]

UPDATE:

I decided to go with y'all's recommendation and paint the bike myself. I bought the paint A Krylon gloss black and a Rustoleum metallic gold. Got the first coat on the side covers today (the gold) and It looks pretty good. I'll post pics later. Any advise on taping? I'll need to radius corners and painter's tape doesn't cut well...

You need fine line tape.

[davidtime]

Here is a link.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search/Fine+Line+Tape/N1998/C0404.oap

[buckett]

Additionally, does anyone have a good wiring diagram of the rats nest of wires in the headlamp bucket?

I've always found these wiring diagrams to be great for my 500 build!

http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/WiringDiagrams/MCwiring.php#class

Did you do the carb synch without the proper tool? I tried several times and eventually just gave up and ordered the tool, totally worth it.

[Ian_Butler]

Thanks for the advice on the tape and for the wiring diagram! I did use vac gauges for the sync. She's running great now!