Topic: My better-than-stock 76 cb550f build

[percolate]

Hello all,

So it's still winter here in the upper midwest and my thoughts turn to and yearn for spring and the coming riding season. I've meant to compile a build thread for a while and with a foot of snow still on the ground now seems like a good time. So here goes.... Look at me! Validate me! Pay attention to my shinny thing! Criticize me etc etc.

My bike is a 1976 cb550f Super Sport. It's my first bike and I just learned how to ride last summer when I finally got it up and running. I've had it since September, 2008. I was coming off of an unpleasant break up and knowing myself, was looking for a project to loose myself in/distract me for a while. (Got more than I bargained for there. I'm still lost. But loving it!)

A friend at work offered to give me one of his several non-working motorcycles that were stashed in various garages and barns around the twin cities and greater MN. I knew virtually nothing about motorcycles other than they are louder and faster than bicycles. I'm mechanically adept but the combustion engine was still a vast mystery to me and I was interested in dispelling some of that mystique. So we borrowed a friend's truck and drove an hour or two west to a barn with an old Honda and an old Puch stashed in it. They had both been in there for about 12 years and hadn't run for a couple of years prior to going into long term storage.

Another friend is an auto mechanic and was generous enough to let me work in his shop and use his motorcycle stand. So that's where the bike went. I washed off the years of dust and dirts and dove in. Bought a Clymer's, carb rebuild kit, new throttle and clutch cables, and a bunch of other stuff. Seemed like rebuilding the carbs was a good a place as any to start and so the great tumble down the rabbit hole begun in earnest.

Here's some pics: the freshly washed bike x 2, carbs apart and soaking.

[percolate]

As I dug in more and learned about this bike and other like it, it was clear that this bike had been laid down hard. Handle bars were bent, blinkers were scratched up, and there was some good road rash on the stator cover. It also had a  replacement tank from a 77 or 78 550k (?).

I got the carbs back together and was able to get it running! (Well, actually my friend got it running. I just stood around and whacked the trottle and marveled at the clouds of rust that bellowed forth from the exhaust.) It had pretty good compression and seemed to run ok but not great. At this point I contemplated a couple of different engine options to try to get a little more power out of it. (See the first two pics. ) I did some more this and that to the brakes - new sst lines, rebuilt front caliper, new stuff in the drum in the back, and certainly some other stuff that I don't remember cause I didn't really write anything down.

And then it was early October and I had to travel to southeast Asia for work followed by some vacation time in Japan and by the time I got home it was winter. I stowed the bike in the garage and hoped I would get back at it in the spring. I couldn't get the front brake bled and there seemed to be clutch issues, so at least I knew were to begin when I picked up the project again...

[metalhead0283]

plan on keep that stock looking an jus cleaning it up or what?

[percolate]

So fast forward almost four years... The bike had sat fallow, not running, not getting any attention whatsoever. I bought a house in mid 2009 and proceeded to tear it completely apart on the inside. My thoughts and efforts were elsewhere. And then last May a new short term roommate moved in. He has a few motorcycles and asked me about mine sitting in the garage. I told him its story and he offered to help me get it running and on the road. Ultimately that was the extent of his help (except for the part where he does body work and did a beautiful job repainting my tank and side covers). Ironically, I ended up helping HIM get his old Yamaha chop-n-bob running - teaching him about the existence and function of idle air mix screws and showing him how to free up a lightly stuck clutch.

I had just gotten a new old lawnmower and tuned it up and was dissatisfied by how easy that was. The very next day I came across an old rototiller from the 1960s with a little 3.5 hp Briggs engine. It was on the side of the road with a free sign on it. Eureka! That should prove to be a little more of a challenge I thought. So after a couple weeks of monkeying with that, I made it run!!! It was the first ever gasoline engine that I changed from a not running to a running state! Much more satisfying than the lawn mower and a nice baby step towards the motorcycle.

So back to the bike... The real challenge at that point was the electrical system. There were a few random wires that the PPO had added to presumably to make it run. They were confusing. The wiring harness was confusing. I was confused. I had several wiring diagrams to work from but they were incorrect (which I learned part way through the process). I spent a lot of time with my multimeter trying this and testing that. A major breakthrough came when I realized that all the black wires in the harness were +12v, not ground like every other DC system I've worked with. That made things much more clear!! I tracked down and replaced some broken connectors, cleaned or replaced a bunch of other connectors, and wired in my own starter switch as the stock one was buggered. I also installed some superbike bars, routing the wires inside to be nice and clean.

Finally! The day came to take it for a ride! A good friend who's a very experienced rider came over to give it a go. I had my permit by then but had never ridden a bike so thought it was best for him to ride it around a bit, and then do a little two-up ride up and down the Mississippi here in town. The bike was happily idling in the driveway and as he climbed onto the seat I noticed that one of the fuses (main fuse? or maybe the headlight fuse) was slowly drifting down! The pastic had liquefied and the fuse was on the move! Stop! So I replaced the old fuse holder with a automotive blade type and few days later actually got out for a first ride.

I quickly learned how to ride myself and put about 600 miles on the bike. It ran OK, but still needed some love and attention. So one summer eve my wrench slipped and next thing I knew I had removed the head, jugs, and pistons. I guess I was rebuilding the top end.

The head had been painted black at some point and it was aggressively peeling and looked pretty bad. And there was a clunky clunking sound that sure seemed like cam chain problems and the cam chain adjustment screw didn't seem to do anything. So into the head I went.

Another friend is the head of the service department at the local Honda dealer, which is about a mile from my house. So I was able to borrow a valve spring compressor from his shop. I cleaned up my valves and prepped the top end parts for bead blasting and painting. (I went with Eastwood high temp ceramic engine paint. So far I'm very satisfied with their product. Supposed to be good to 600F.)

I ordered new rings and a gasket set and busied myself with polishing aluminum and chrome parts and got well acquainted with DIY electrolysis and Mother's polish. I also wired in some switches so I can shut off the headlight and taillight/running lights.

[percolate]

It was around this time that I became much more familiar with this forum. And the phenomenal depths of knowledge herein. I stumbled across TinTop's antipod thread. My stock air box was long gone and I was running pods (thanks PO). I wanted a little fancy candy for the bike and TinTop's air cleaner sure looked cool and sounded like it functioned quite well. So happy splurge of a gift to me and my bike. (It was the last 550 kit he had on that production run. Happy me!)

And then one day in August, when my bike was in pieces, an old parts bike followed me home. It's a '77 cb550k, was a total basket case, but had a Shiny Orange tank on it from a '76 SS. My fore mentioned roommate had offered to repaint my tank and covers for me and I was agonizing about color. This seemed like a good time to do it with the bike down for a while. Stock Candy Blue? Red? Black? etc etc. I've had an orange fetish on and off for about 20 years and didn't want to just default to old habits. But when I got the parts bike home and put the orange tank on my bike, the choice was instant and clear. Orange it is!

I took the tank to a Sherwin Williams automotive paint place and found a dead on match. But the guy there was pretty surly and through no fault of my own I was keeping him there a few minutes past closing time. In a moment of panic and duress, I made a rash decision on color and went a couple shades more orange (less reddish) than stock. And for $85 for half a pint I was committed. I literally lost sleep over my decision until I got the parts back from painting. I put them on the bike and they looked awesome! And after a couple of days I didn't even see orange. I simple saw 'mine'. So I think I went with the right color for me.

Everything came together pretty much at the same time. TinTop's filter kit showed up, tank came back from the painter, and I got the engine put back together all in the same week.

Several amusing follies along the way included struggling mightily when trying to remove the head from the parts bike, and reassembling my freshly painted top end. That's a pic of the parts bike literally hanging from the head. We could get it to rock back and forth slightly but could NOT get it to come up off engine. My Honda dealership friend was helping me that night. Turns out you have to remove ALL of the nuts holding the head on; not just 11 of them. 12. Then when I was putting my engine back together and struggling to get the pistons with their new rings to slip into the jugs (I was working solo, no helper), I got them on, and situated on the case, that's when I noticed I had put them on backwards. Whoops!

Anyway, got it all back together and synced up the carbs and thised and thatted and got to ride another 600 miles before it was just too darned cold and winter settled in around us.

[percolate]

So here's how I left it last fall. Nice and orange and shiny and running pretty darned well. Other things that were done along the way include valve adjustment, points of course, new tires, LED bulbs in taillight and all instruments and numerous other things that I forgot or just seem too trivial to mention this afternoon.

I scored some vintage Shoei hard bags that I rigged up for an overnight ride around Halloween.

Turns out I selected pumpkin orange even though the label on the can of paint said something about Mercedes.

[percolate]

I'm just getting back into working on it for this season. No heat in the garage and it's kinda buried in the back corner behind some church pews and some other stuff. Plans for the next month include but are not limited to:

- HondaMan transistorized ignition (just put the check in the mail today)
- Cross drill rotor(s)
- Move ahead with dual disc conversion - have all the parts, just need to do it.
- Fork seal replacement
- Wheel bearings
- Steering bearings
- Swing arm bushings
- Tank and side covers have had reproduction decals applied and they are out getting clear coated, detailed and buffed. Should be back sometime next week. I'm excited. They were going to get clear coated back in december but they had a pretty sizable fire in the paint shop. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt and my tank and covers survived unscathed.
- Blast and paint/powder coat caliper(s), inner part of rotor(s), tripple tree, batter holder, swing arm(?), side stand, center stand
- FrankenFurterbikengr (no disrespect intended to the honorable and presumably kind sir, just like saying your name in funny ways to myself and I guess to others ) clear points cover (another piece of candy down the road... cause it's pretty and fun)

Will try to keep this updated as I progress. This forum has been an absolutely amazing resource and I couldn't have done this without you all. Thanks to all who contribute and make it so special. This is hands down the best forum I've followed on the interwebs. Cheers!

[Retro Rocket]

I like the color....

[jackseattle]

nice rebuild, subscribed

[Stev-o]

Great lookin bike and write up. A '76 550F was also my first SOHC, but was Saffire Blue.

You've come a long way...

[percolate]

Thanks for the props guys! Will keep the updates coming as good (or bad) things happen.

[percolate]

So a good day for me. HondaMan's ignition showed up in the mail and I got my tank and stuff from painterman! They got a couple more layers of clear coat, sealing in the decals. I will let them cure inside for a few more weeks and then wax em up rel gud.

I have started front end rebuild endeavors. Tripple tree, forks, rotor/caliper and swing arm have all been harvested from the '77 parts bike and cleaned up. (I'll eventually be rebuilding the front wheel too but all in good time.) I have new All Balls steering and wheel bearings too, cause that's better right?

All the harvested parts will go out for blasting and powder coating sometime soon - next week or two? I'm planning on painting the calipers myself. That may be a waste of $$ and time. Maybe just throw them in for powder coat too. Hmmmm.

The forks have been all cleaned up and polished with new seals installed. The only difficulty I encountered was the old seals were tough to get out. A couple of days soak with PB then some firey heat + a big slotted screw driver eventually did it. I gouged the aluminum seat for one of the seals a little bit, but it sanded out fine and shouldn't cause any further grief. I slightly tapered a piece of 1-1/2" pvc with some sand paper for a seal install tool. I put the seals in the freezer and gave the forks a little heat prior to installation. They certainly needed pounding with the hammer, but went in as they should.

The inner fork tubes were in near perfect condition. For the outer/lower tubes, 600 wet/dry, 1000 wet/dry, and Mothers made for surprisingly quick work of things once I got the clear coat removed. I was going to take them into work and spend some time on the buffing wheel but the hand rubbed finish worked out just fine. For the clear coat, I did the seal-them-in-a-bucket-with-some-acetone-overnight trick and the clear came off easily with a rag the next day. Now I'm just waiting on new piston rings and snap rings for the fork seals and they can be reassembled, ready to install. (I'm interested in the idea of tapping the top fork nuts, installing shrader valves and making air shocks. I will ask about this in a real thread.)

I've settled on a hole pattern for drilling my rotors. We have a laser cutter at work and I cut out a drilling template from 1/4" acrylic. That seemed much more straightforward and less likely to @$H*& things up in my head than setting up the rotary stuff on the mill etc. (At work, we have a Bridgeport and a Kondia mill as well as a three lathes. And a spray booth, electronics shop, welding shop, and bunch of other stuff. We're free to use the shop off the clock. I'm spoiled.) I have some cobalt bits and other sundries coming from McMaster in a day or two and then I can get drilling. (If you don't know McMaster Carr, check them out! Amazing website and they have great customer support.)

That's it for now. I'll be digging into the donor front wheel next. I've laced countless bicycle wheels but no motorcycle wheels. I wonder where this will lead...

[Gman]

Percolate,
    Just found your thread... Belated welcome from another MN rider (SW Mpls).  There are some great guys in the Cities that I've met from the forum.  We should get together for a ride this summer; I say this summer, because it seems like it is still winter in MN and could be for a while yet.   And, just as importantly, I'm in Switzerland until July. 

I love what you've done with your bike and at some point, I'll buy you a beer if I can pick your brain on some of the mods you've done, as I'm interested in doing similar (twin disk, drilled rotors, etc.). 

Until then, I hope the weather finally comes around for you. Ride safe!

Cheers,
G

[iron_worker]

The inner fork tubes were in near perfect condition. For the outer/lower tubes, 600 wet/dry, 1000 wet/dry, and Mothers made for surprisingly quick work of things once I got the clear coat removed. I was going to take them into work and spend some time on the buffing wheel but the hand rubbed finish worked out just fine. For the clear coat, I did the seal-them-in-a-bucket-with-some-acetone-overnight trick and the clear came off easily with a rag the next day. Now I'm just waiting on new piston rings and snap rings for the fork seals and they can be reassembled, ready to install. (I'm interested in the idea of tapping the top fork nuts, installing shrader valves and making air shocks. I will ask about this in a real thread.)

That's a great trick that should probably go in the tips and tricks section! Do they have to be submerged completley? Or are the fumes enough to do the trick?

Good write up btw. I enjoyed your story. 

IW

[percolate]

Haven't checked in here in a while... just saw these last two posts. Thanks for your kind words fellows.

IW - regarding the acetone-in-a-bucket, no need to submerge. I used maybe half an inch of acetone in the bottom of a 5 gallon pail with a good lid on it. The vapors evaporate and saturate the atmosphere and attack the clear coat (or paint) aromatically. That's definitely not the right word but you get the idea. But it does take time to be effective and thus the overnight part.

Gman - I'd love to get together with some of the locals for a ride and some socializing. I went on a very small vintage honda ride last fall with a couple friends - 1967 Dream, 1974 CB360, and my CB550F. Small on the group but large on the cool. I'd like to do more of that. And once you're back stateside I'd be happy to meet up to offer ideas and opinions; I got plenty of thems. As for the beer, I tried one once and liked it. This just might work out.

It's about time for another sizable update on the bike. I've made good progress and have the front end mostly back together. Just sorting out some brake line issues and I should be able to get back on the road. Assuming we don't get more snow. Not counting tonight's 6"-8" of course. It turns out I'm better at working on the bike than I am at taking pictures and writing about it. But it's good documentation for me, and hopefully someone gleans a tip or two as I have from so many others. More to come soon...

Cheers.