Topic: CB550K0 Build - 450T Tank mods

[streak09]

Gotta build thread for the 90?

No thread, its been complete for a year or two now. Im just doing things here and there. Rechroming handlebars, polishing some things, updating here and there. Here are some pictures from a year ago.

[DustyRags]

Oh man. That's gorgeous. Thanks for the pics!

[jdtim]

Thanks for the interest tim!!! Alsways great to know that someone is whatching and interested!

P.S. do you have a build thread tim?

I haven't started a build thread quite yet...because 1.) I've only done minimal stuff  (i.e. took of the fairing, cleaned & synced the carbs, and bought a battery) to the bike so far; and 2.) I'm terrible at documenting lol. I'm going to try to take more pictures though, since I vowed to work on my bike more this year!

Congrats on the wedding!

-tim

[streak09]

Congrats on the wedding!

Thanks! Pretty exciting! I will be dealing with buying a house here soon too... so I hope I can squeeze things in here and there on the bike!

Oh man. That's gorgeous. Thanks for the pics!

Thanks! I love that lil 90. All I need is a black bomber 450 to go along with it  .


So I think I am going to purchase Hagon shocks (the cheaper pair) for the rear, Pamco Ignition (and coils), and the cone engineering 12" muffler this week so they will be at home when I make my trip back. Anyone have any opinions on these items?

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

There's nothing wrong with Hagon shocks.  They are an affordable upgrade from stock shocks. 

I've heard no bad things about Pamco; all of my bikes have a Dyna 2000 (with no problems).  Some folks swear by the Pamco system as being more reliable than Dyna.  The Dyna offers more tunability (is that a word), a rev limiter and easy hook-up to an electronic tach.

I've also heard not problems with Cone Engineering's muffler products.  They sell to a host of exhaust manufacturers who then re-brand the cone as their own.  They look and sound great.

[streak09]

Well I got my goodies in!

Ill probably throw these guys on today.





Went with the whole Pamco package.



And the shorty cone engineering muffler. Purchased from Dime City. I hope this isnt too god awful loud...


Ill throw up some pictures if I get things installed.

P.S.
This is what I woke up to yesterday....

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

What's that white dusty stuff on the ground?  It's 72 and sunny in LA.

[streak09]

What's that white dusty stuff on the ground?  It's 72 and sunny in LA.

Something we have been way too familiar with here in Ohio. It was actually 65 and sunny the day before!

[KrautKoffin]

What's that white dusty stuff on the ground?  It's 72 and sunny in LA.

I put on a light sweater today and am sweating in class.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

What's that white dusty stuff on the ground?  It's 72 and sunny in LA.

I put on a light sweater today and am sweating in class.

Given the fact that Jordan is a skinny bugger, it had to be warm.

[DustyRags]

Sweater? Musta been colder down there. The San Francisco financial district was pleasantly mellow today in short sleeves. 

[KrautKoffin]

What's that white dusty stuff on the ground?  It's 72 and sunny in LA.

I put on a light sweater today and am sweating in class.

Given the fact that Jordan is a skinny bugger, it had to be warm.

 

[streak09]

Well, Im back home for a long stretch and I'm going to get a lot done! I cleaned out the oil pan this morning and put some oil in to get everything lubed up. What is a good way to get all the oil where it needs to be before startup? I don't want to starve anything of oil.

Im going to start wiring everything up and test everything. Ive already replaced my coils, and will replace the points with the pamco system Here is a diagram I drew up.

 My regulator/rectifier is the electrosport esr 240. The color coding is a bit different from what ive seen in the past, so I put some notes as to what wire is what (according to the electrosport instructions ). This will be my first wiring from scratch, so please check my work so I dont fry anything! I also have a Shorai battery, shouldn't make a difference though.

Let me know what you guys think!

[streak09]

make sure your battery grounds between the engine case and frame to bare metal

Thanks for the tip! I made sure to scrape the paint off of the fram and engine where the ground cable will be located, and will also put some dielectric grease there.

Anybody see any flaws in my wiring?

[streak09]

I did some preliminary wiring today to test out my switches and see if my points and coils were working properly.


I was able to get spark, but only on the 2-3 points, nothing on the 1-4. There was spark between the pads of the 1-4 points but nothing from the plug wires, Im not sure what that tells me.

I was going to hold off on installing the Pamco system, but I may go ahead and install it now and see where that takes me. I will start reading up on installation and timing and see if I can get it done this weekend.

All is good except the points issue that will hopefully be fixed with the Pamco system. Plan is to test out all my wiring with "test wiring" to make sure all is good before doing a more permanent job.

[streak09]

Just a quick update. I was able to get the Pamco system installed with some more preliminary wiring. Easy install and it works great! Good strong spark, and no points to mess with!



Now I need to figure out my wiring scheme. Any recommendations out there for a clean wiring job? Im thinking about picking up several junction boxes so that I wouldn't have a bunch of bullet connectors all over, and it would be easier to expand upon when I decide to add lights and starter later on. Something like this from O'reilly Auto Parts - http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/CTI0/85685/N1177.oap?ck=Search_N1177_-1_2047&pt=N1177&ppt=C0172

Any thoughts on this??

[streak09]

I saw that unit on your build and would love to use it, but unfortunately I cant swing the price tag right now  . I did pick up some ordinary terminal blocks (actually only one, apparently radio shack only stocks one of each item... everytime I go in that place I swear I will never go in again). Anyways, ill see how that works. It should help me keep it somewhat clean at a cheap price.

[streak09]

Well I'm getting closer to wrapping up the first round of wiring. Ive got some junction blocks in there and confirmed that my on/off, kill, electronic ignition, and coils are working properly. I have also got the battery installed and I'm pretty happy with it. I think it worked out well. I need to do some cleaning up to get some slack out of the wires.






I guess the battery is hidden pretty well, I can't really get a good picture 

I will be switching gears here soon to start working on the carbs and intake.

As always, I always welcome comments/suggestions! 

[streak09]

Thanks Calj! It looks like a rats nest compared to yours!

I will make sure to keep the Shorai charged up, I did throw it on the charger for just a bit today but I will make it a point to keep it charged. By the way, what is fully charged voltage for one of these?

I also made good and sure I had a good ground. When I first connected the ground I got no continuity, and had to the the actual wire contacts, they had some oxidation. But My engine contact are clean and have dielectric grease on them, so I think I have a solid ground.

[streak09]

While I wait for a couple plugs from vintage connections I decided to tear down the carbs to check them out. These carbs are a bit more complicated than what I am used to (mainly just work on singles), so please bare with me.



They don't look bad at all actually, but I want to at least do a thorough clean and test them for leaks before I put them on the bike. First off, what are the two fittings right in between carbs 2-3? Should a fuel line be connecting them for pressure equalization or something?


Looks like I will at least be getting o-rings...



They have 100 mains and 40 slow. Look to be original, but in pretty good condition (will replace o-rings though)


Again, everything looks pretty good, but I will make sure to clean all the passages and blow air through them all.

So here is my intended setup:
'76 CB550 Motor
CB550F headers with Cone Engineering 12" shorty muffler
Stock airbox with single K&N filter

I've done enough research to know that no one can tell me what I should jet my carbs with, but I will ask for recommendations. My thoughts are I leave as is, get it started and running, then tackle jetting. I can't imagine I will struggle to get it running with the current jets. It may run a bit lean, but it should run, right?    I have not done any jetting of any sort, so any tips to help me out will be appreciated!

Last thing... Im struggling on how to clean the carbs. I would like to get them as clean as possible (grime etc.) but I don't want to separate all of them. It looks like there are some pretty intricate connections that I'm not sure I want, or need, to bother with. Ive seen a lot of people say the have soda blasted them. Do I need to completely disassemble and remove all rubber components for this? Any other options without tearing completely down? Am I safe to use carb cleaner with the hoses running from carb to carb?

I will keep my searches going, but I do appreciate any feedback!

[iron_worker]

I wouldn't suspect you'd have any issues getting it started with your planned setup. As you said, you may be a touch lean but probably not too much. You may only need to change the main up a size but it's hard to say until you run it.

IW

[streak09]

Thanks IW, I will stick with what I got.

Another question. I would like to take the emulsion tube for the needle out and make sure its all clean. I think you have to push it out from the top side? So take out the slide and needle out, push with something soft to pop it out the bowl side. Can someone confirm this for me, I dont want to damage these carbs, they are in great condition.

[riverfever]

Correct. I used a popsicle stick and pushed all of them out with that enough to get to them from the other side.

[streak09]

Thanks River. Ive got the first two out. Havent had time to do more.

I have had time to do some shopping though!  I ordered a lot of stuff for my trail 70s to get them running reliably for mid-ohio. I also got a single stainless line from slingshot. I know some dont agree with running the line straight to the caliper without the hard line, but I have read a lot where people do this with no complaints, so im giving it a shot. Purchased caliper seal and formed float gaskets from ebay and all other o-rings from the oring store.

Thursday I made a trip to harbor freight and picked up a media blasting gun to use with soda. Gonna try my hand at it.

Im traveling next week so I probably wont have any updates.

[streak09]

Well its been a while since my last post, but I have an excuse, I promise!

My fiance and I have bought a house and I promised myself that the first thing I would do would epoxy coat the floor, and I kept my promise!  . I was able to take my time with it. We aren't getting married until Aug. 9th, so we are doing some things to the house before we move in (like the garage floor  ).


Before - Floor doesnt look bad, but there was some pitting and cracks along with tire marks and oil.


After Epoxy - Hard to see the flakes, I did a pretty light flake coverage


Final - After clear gloss

I'm pretty darn excited about how it turned out. It will make keeping the garage clean easier and will also provide motivation for keeping it clean!


 Also just got back from a vacation that include Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio and a trip to Vegas! Had a blast at both places, but Mid-Ohio is by far, and will probably always be, my favorite "Vacation".


Our setup at VMD


I entered my S90 into the Vintage show, and it ended up next to a Black Bomber, which I have wanted for a while now. My S90 looks like the younger brother of the Black Bomber and it would be awesome to have those two in the garage. I think my bike showed well, but it has a little bit to go to compete with that caliber of bikes. There were some beautiful ones there. I also got to take the 90 out on the track and it was awesome! Topped it out at 58 mph! Haha 

Not sure when I will start digging into the bike more, but just letting you guys know I am still here!