Topic: CB550K0 Build - 450T Tank mods

[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!

[streak09]

Just a quick update/reminder that this build is not dead! I taking some time to set up the garage so I can have a decent area to work in. I dont have any bike updates, but I did build a workbench and I do have the bike at our new place now. Planning on diving back into the bike after 1 or 2 more projects in the garage.

[MickB]

Streak09 I just found your project, it's looking good. Now the honeymoon's over you can concentrate on building the 550 and not worry about the little woman, I'm sure she'll understand. You're very close to the end.
Get some oil on that floor!

[minimo]

I'm loving that custom battery box/mount utilizing the existing center stand brackets. Great build so far. Looking forward to catching more progress.

[streak09]

I'm loving that custom battery box/mount utilizing the existing center stand brackets.

Thanks! I can't take all the credit though, I got the idea from Bru-Tom.

I put a neat little fold down bench next to where I will be working on the bike. Should come in handy. Work on the bike is comming soon.... promise!

[riverfever]

Congrats on the house Streak. I did the same floor in my garage and its held up great.

[streak09]

Congrats on the house Streak. I did the same floor in my garage and its held up great.

Thanks! I am very happy with the floor so far. Did a lot of research and gave it my all when prepping it. I hope it holds!

[streak09]

Ok, time for some bike talk! Took a little time to re-familiarize myself with the wiring that I started. I do need some input here though. Where would you guys recomend putting fuses? I dont really want to go the fuse block route (yet). I would rather put in-line fuses where I need them. Im going pretty bare bones here for a while but will be added some circuits in later (lights, blinkers, etc). So, here is my wiring diagram.



Is the fuse show in the diagram the only one I need for now? I really dont even know if thats the right spot, and what apmerage should I use? I really am kinda lost on this one, and want to make sure I protect all my components. Let me know what you guys think! Also, please tell me if you see something fishy in my diagram 

[streak09]

I think I got an answer over on the tech forum. Seems like my one fuse at the battery power will do for my initiall setup, 15 Amp. 

I've decided to tear my carbs all the way, as opposed to just cleaning with the bank assembled. This is against reccomendations of multiple people on various forums  . A few reasons I chose to go this route. I would like to learn more about carbs and the intricacies of the set-up. I also would like to clean them ultrasonically. To do this with the size ultrasonic cleaner I plan on getting requires dissasembly. Lastly, I would like to paint the bodies  so I need access to the inner portions of the rack.

Planning on setting up in the basement so I can do it in warmth and in front of a TV. 


Also put this whiteboard up in the garage. Got everything at lowes, under $20 total!

[CBR954AD]

I have a questions, what kind of swing arm bushing are you using. I cannot find any gold color ones. all i see ios black rubber ones, or aluminum kind . thank you

[streak09]

I have a questions, what kind of swing arm bushing are you using. I cannot find any gold color ones. all i see ios black rubber ones, or aluminum kind . thank you

I think I got them off ebay, and i believe they were made by a member on this forum. They are bronze. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-CB-250-360-400-500-550-750-Four-swingarm-bronze-bushing-set-bearing-new-/281371815863?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4183112fb7&vxp=mtr

I think the above link is the same seller that I purchased from.

[streak09]

Yesterday I tore the carbs allllll the way down. Only thing I didnt take apart was the pivot and steel rod that the throttle cables connect to. Maybe get to that later if I determine its worth while.

Here is how they started...


Here is the end result...


I picked up some of those plastic bins that hardware stores keep their screws in for a buck a peice. Very handy to keep all the the parts seperated and organized.

When I ordered o-rings a while ago I didnt get the ones that go on the incoming fuel "T"s, so I ordered those along with intake and tappet cover o-rings from the oring store so I have everything need to reassemble when the time comes.

Couple questions for the peanut gallery:

I found the felt washers on the throttle slide pivot arm (except for 1 carb  ), but Ive read that there are also ones on the choke pivot arm? I found no sign of felt on the choke pivots. Anyone know if there should be?

Felt washer


Question 2, what are these tubes for? 


Next up I will get the carb bits soda blasted and wait for my ultrasonic cleaner to arrive by raindeer 

While I wait on that I will try to get my exhausr mocked up. Need to make a call to my painter/fab guy to see if we can set up a time to get it done. I wish I had a welder...

Traveling this week for work, so probably no updates until this weekend

[Riceman]

Those tubes are the float bowl vents,two short tubes attach and
run down through the the front of the swing arm I believe.

[PGF550F]

Yes, vent tubes. Mine has ~12" long lines on those tubes running back over the rear part of the transmission. Float bowl vents to atmosphere from what I understand.

[streak09]

Perfect, thanks. Im assuming the tubes are there to prevent gas from draining allover the engine in case of a serious overflow where the gas would start coming out of the vents. Good to know.

[streak09]

So, I havent been able to get ahold of my welder guy. Is anyone here from the Dayton Ohio area and could do some welding as well as some tube bending? I will post in the services as well.

[streak09]

I decided to do a first round of cleaning on 2 carbs with just unltra-sonic cleaning, no soda blasting beforehand. Some before pictures...





I did no cleaning what-so-ever before hand. Plunked them in the cleaner (about 50% simple green, 50% water) and started the cycle. After about 8 cycles of 8 minutes each (flipping carbs every 2 cycles), they came out looking like this...






I think it did a pretty good job! There is a bit of grime left in some places, but overall im happy. The next 2 carbs I will soda blast before hand, and utilize the US cleaner to clean the soda off and ensure the passages are clear. If I weren't painting the carbs, I would probably use the US by itself and just do 1 carb at a time. I think they are perfectly fine for operating condition, I just want to make sure I get ALL the gunk off prior to painting.

[DustyRags]

Lookin' good! I think I scrubbed my carbs with a toothbrush and WD40- made a massive difference as well, but a hell of a lot messier! 

[streak09]

I finally got to soda blast the carb bodies, and cycle them through the ultrasonic cleaner, but not without battling the lovely weather here in Ohio.  It was a bit chilly, but dry, so I though I would take the opportunity to make some ground on the bike. I move all the stuff outside, and of course, it starts sleeting, so the ice just kinda bounced off the box. Not to be discouraged, I thought at least its not rain. Well 20 minutes later and its rain  . I kept going and eventually finished, covered in baking soda paste...

Ran them through the ultrasonic to get all the soda off/out and make sure the passages were clear and they are spick and span.




Dirty carb vs. clean





They are as clean as they have ever been, or every will be again. I'm trying to decide what paint to use on the bodies. I would like to use POR-15s chassis coat black in a spray can (same thing I used for the frame). It applies nice and is tough, but I don't know how it will hold up to gas. I think I will try it out on some scraps before coating these guys. I would hate to find out that it just dissolves the paint . Anyone have any recommendations? Ideally I would like to use the VHT paint I used on engine so they match, but I just haven't had much luck with the durability. I have babied the motor and I already have a few chips... I may give it a shot, but it makes me a bit nervous.

Plan is to paint the bodies, and leave the bowls and top caps brushed aluminum.

[streak09]

Believe it or not, this build is actually still moving. Barely, probably not even visible to the naked eye, but it is moving. With the warm weather I was able to get into the garage and collect some thoughts and try to think some things out. I found a guy right down the road that a co-worker recommended for welding. Apparently he does a lot of custom fab turbos, so I hope he can easily hook me up with a good modification to fit my cone muffler to by F headers.

While test fitting some things I found a pretty bad crash between by right foot peg and my kicker. When in the folded position it barely clears the foot peg. I can barely unfold it without scraping the peg to bad. There is little to no room for rotation when trying to kick it over. Now, I do have an F model kicker, but what I did not realize is that the F models had a different foot peg as well  . It looks like the F model have a pivot point closer to the engine to allow it to fold in close to the frame to allow clearance for the kicker.





I'm going to see if I can do some grinding on the kicker to give clearance, but I'm not too optimistic that it will work out.

Does anyone have a space F model foot peg that they have replaced with rearsets that they wouldn't mind letting go?

Any other suggestions?

P.S. My photobucket links are acting very strange, so sorry if pictures are getting mixed up.