Author Topic: Just brought a CB550 home, I'm ready to build (Read 19987 times)

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 18, 2012, 05:25:48 AM »

More pics:

I have a question about that last pic. Can anyone see that one 90 degree spade connector in the center of the pic that is not attached to anything? I was losing light so I didn't have much time to check but what does that go to?

I'll try to find it when I get home today.

jason41987 · « **Reply #26 on:** September 18, 2012, 05:42:57 AM »

those carbs are in really good condition, if you seen the insides of mine before i started cleaning them you would scream

but umm.. does yours have the leaf springs?

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #27 on:** September 18, 2012, 05:46:49 AM »

Yeah, they're in the pile of screws in the first two pics. Too bad you don't have them, should be an easy find on fleabay though.

IndyFour · « **Reply #28 on:** September 18, 2012, 10:06:47 AM »

Those carbs don't look bad at all. Alot of times you'll see the casting where the main jets press in starting to corrode away. Looks like a cleaning and rebuild and you're back in business.

What color is the wire that's hanging there?....hard to tell in the pic. If it's green, that's an extra ground wire that's not used. These bikes (in North America, anyway) came with a two wire blinker for the signals. Don't know if other markets around the world had another type of blinker installed? At any rate, it's not really intended to hook into anything unless you need a ground wire for something extra. Every 500/550 I've ever seen has it hanging there doing nothing like it did from the factory.

Stev-o · « **Reply #29 on:** September 18, 2012, 06:47:54 PM »

The green wire is for the CB radio!

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #30 on:** September 21, 2012, 05:26:34 AM »

I threw my carbs back on after letting them soak and giving the bowls a good scrub out. Before I pulled them off I was leaking gas but it seemed only when I moved the bike. I'm still leaking gas. The petcock is a bit leaky but that's not where all the fuel is coming from. The blow off needles in the bottom of the fuel bowls seem to be my problem, they get wet with fuel when I move the bike and drip. I noticed one of the blow off hoses connected to these (hanging under the bike) was wet before I pulled the carbs but I figured it would just be a stuck float. I just reassembled the carbs and nothing seems to be stuck and my gaskets seems to be holding well.

I'm missing something here, they're not supposed to do this! What is going on?

Is it float level adjustment??

Killer Canary · « **Reply #31 on:** September 21, 2012, 08:21:00 AM »

Anytime the relationship between the needle and seat has been disturbed, there's a possibility of a drip until fuel flow has allowed them to "work in" or seat together again. You'll find this even with brand new needle and seat sets. Let it run for a while.

saxamaphone · « **Reply #32 on:** September 21, 2012, 09:39:05 AM »

Nice bike Drewski! Same year and paint as mine. Just getting mine going. If you're thinking of selling your 4-4 exhausts, let me know. I just put on new Mac 4-1s two weeks ago but I prefer the originals.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #33 on:** September 21, 2012, 11:22:42 AM »

Thanks Canary, I'll try it.

I'll keep that in mind Sax, I cleaned them up. I'm gonna weld up a couple pinholes in them so I don't have leaks but I may very well take you up on that.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #34 on:** September 22, 2012, 12:08:37 PM »

So I have a little time today to do some diagnosis. I hooked the new battery up last night and gave the starter a spin. The engine sounds like an engine with no spark so I got to looking. I have fuel, all 4 plugs are getting wet after cranking. I have air (no air filter box on currently). I pulled the plugs and the only one I can get any spark on is the no. 2 cylinder wire. I was *shocked*

to discover this! I had tried a couple others and was getting no spark, why would I get spark on one out of 4???

It's pretty sunny outside so I want to try when I get some cloud cover. It's very hard to see the spark right now but to the best of my ability I can only see and feel spark on no. 2. I tried the continuity test on the coils too through the plug wires and I got OL so I thought for sure the coils were gone but the spark has me wondering if I just had a bad contact with my multimeter.

Any ideas??

EDIT:
OK, I got a little shade, I have spark on #2 and #3 which makes a lot more sense to me. I could potentially have a bad coil on #1 and #4 but I still have a lot to check before that. I think it's weird that with spark on 2 cylinders I'm not getting any firing though. I would think it would at least give me a cough.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #35 on:** September 22, 2012, 01:46:44 PM »

Well, it was!! I gapped the points after discovering they were way off and it fired right up! It ran for about 5 minutes and while I was putting the point cover back on it abruptly stopped. Now I can't get it started but I don't even care, at least I got it to run for the first time in possibly a decade!

What's really cool is it took me exactly a week to get it going. I brought it home last Saturday and rolled up to the house around 3:40pm. I got it started at about 3:30 today (weird...)

Video to come, I'll just button a few things up.

Stev-o · « **Reply #36 on:** September 22, 2012, 01:58:05 PM »

Good news. Check your main fuse.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #37 on:** September 22, 2012, 02:16:41 PM »

Thanks man! Actually it was even simpler than that, it just needed the choke since I don't have the airbox on. I got a couple videos but I left my camera cable at the office!

I may go get one just so I can upload and prove it's running.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #38 on:** September 24, 2012, 05:26:04 AM »

Okay, here's what I got done Saturday:

http://s1147.photobucket.com/albums/o548/thedrewski86/1975%20CB550/?action=view&current=MVI_1177_zps0560f0ea.mp4
http://s1147.photobucket.com/albums/o548/thedrewski86/1975%20CB550/?action=view&current=MVI_1176_zps94a6ddec.mp4

After that it was time to sit back, relax and have a homebrew!

I plan on setting the valves today. The valves are almost louder than the exhaust now!

IndyFour · « **Reply #39 on:** September 24, 2012, 06:32:08 AM »

Bike looks good and glad you got her running! I'm sure the valves need adjusting, but I'm guessing (from your video) that the majority of the noise you are hearing is more from carb imbalance than from valves. That's "hammering" sound is what I get when I know it's time to sync...does it when at idle with the sound coming mostly from the area of the clutch and goes away as RPMs rise.

Also be sure to adjust your cam chain tension per the manual.....tho chances are it's like just about every other 550 I've ever worked on and the tensioner is shot, so you'll just have that rattling chain noise to live with unless you replace the tensioner at some point. It's supposed to "automatically" adjust when you set the engine to a certain timing spot and release the lock nut.....I've never seen one that actually works though. I'm guessing that most people didn't adjust them like they were supposed to back in the day and the mechanisms ceased up due to the fact.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #40 on:** September 24, 2012, 08:23:17 AM »

Huh, I hadn't thought of the carb sync but I bet you're right. I finally have an excuse to buy a carb sync vacuum gauge tool! That would probably explain why it would stall much below 2000 rpms. I'll see if I can do the chain tensioner today too, I saw that in the service manual.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #41 on:** October 21, 2012, 07:41:58 PM »

So I've been moving along bit by bit with my progress. One thing I came across in trying to hook up some front brakes is a front bracket off a (I believe) '75 CB550 that doesn't line up to the mounting holes on my fork. I asked the guy I got the bracket and caliper from if it may have come from a non '75 or maybe an F model (mine is a K model) but I'm waiting on word back. Would either of those things make a difference? The caliper seems like it would work and I actually got a new lever assembly, master cylinder, lines and rotor from the dude. All in all it was a good deal but I can't hook it up! I guess I'll have to keep on ebay for the bracket.

Everything else is pretty good, I pulled the right cover yesterday to figure the clutch out. I'm putting new springs and plates on. The clutch was working really hard and wouldn't disengage the engine from the trans no matter how much I adjusted the cable and what not. Hopefully it will work after this. Good news is it shifts fine without the clutch so things are looking operational as far as I can tell. I'll try to post some pics soon.

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #42 on:** November 18, 2012, 03:39:55 PM »

I finally got around to finishing the clutch and took my first test ride today!

I love the feel, seems nice and quick for being all crappy and out of tune still. It still doesn't want to idle but I suspect my crappy throttle cables are partially to blame since they wont let me set the idle screw very accurately. I'll get new ones to free that up and see if that works. I did set my idle screws at 1-1/2 turns out which may have helped a little. I guess I should upload a pic... hold on...

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #43 on:** November 18, 2012, 03:46:33 PM »

My wife looks better on it than me:

but here I am anyway:

Stev-o · « **Reply #44 on:** November 18, 2012, 04:09:55 PM »

The bike looks good. And your right, she looks better! Sorry, but you set yourself up for that one.

How's it running now?

thedrewski86 · « **Reply #45 on:** November 18, 2012, 04:13:04 PM »

Oh I agree! She does!
It runs pretty good except for the idle but I'll figure that out soon.

Stev-o · « **Reply #46 on:** November 18, 2012, 04:41:48 PM »

Have you set the idle with the bike fully warmed up? I like mine a little high, about 1500 rpm.

Tews19 · « **Reply #47 on:** November 18, 2012, 05:54:01 PM »

That is a sweet looking bike! If you havent, adjust the valves and the cam tensioner... I am thinking it's more tensioner making the rattling than the valves.... But be very careful while doing this.....

Stev-o plus 1..... His wife is better on the bike then he is and yes he did set himself up.. If this was one of those non classy sites, I am sure more inappropiate comments would be made.

Tews19 · « **Reply #48 on:** November 18, 2012, 05:57:53 PM »

Quote from: thedrewski86 on September 18, 2012, 05:25:48 AM

More pics:

I have a question about that last pic. Can anyone see that one 90 degree spade connector in the center of the pic that is not attached to anything? I was losing light so I didn't have much time to check but what does that go to? I'll try to find it when I get home today.

The spare ground you can actually hook up to a modern flasher to give yourself same rate turn signals.. i did this on my 550. Worked out much better

DustyRags · « **Reply #49 on:** November 18, 2012, 08:46:20 PM »

When you adjust the cam tensioner, make sure to a) NOT spin it around and around, and b) to lock that nut to the cylinder case and not the end of the thread on the screw. In other words, it works by creating friction between the cylinder, the nut and the screw, but if you have a washer that's too thin, you'll just lock it down to the shoulder at the end of the threads. You'll go nuts trying to lock it down so it doesn't spin, and in the process risk breaking the slot out of the end of the screw and destroying your tensioner. If it's an issue, just throw another washer under it, and watch the problem magically go away.

This happened to my (former) bike- the PO didn't know what they were doing and wrecked the tensioner. I had to go and do a top-end rebuild to fix that. Then I almost made the same mistake- figured out what was going on, added a washer, and the issue went away and the bike got much quieter.

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Author Topic: Just brought a CB550 home, I'm ready to build (Read 19987 times)