Topic: Fuel clip position 550F1

[Frostyboy]

Can somebody remind me of the standard clip position please. Is it the second slot from the top or the bottom?
I'm going to heed advice & refit the original brass bits in the carbs & just want to be sure things are set right.
Cheers.

[lucky]

CB550F1? Maybe CB550F? No F1 listed.


It is not a "fuel clip" it is a slide needle clip.
Position is counted from the top.
What year?

75-77   Slide needle clip position #2 (from the top)

[Frostyboy]

#2 from the top it is then.
Thanks for being your pedantic self there Lucky.
No F1? David Silver Spares must have it wrong then?

[Deltarider]

Honda gives clip positions from the top (not from the tip).

[TwoTired]

1975 CB550 F0
1976 CB550 F1
1977 CB550 F2

Honda motorcycle Identification Guide and Honda Cb500/550 Shop manual.

All used the same carb and set up 069A.
Slide needle/ jet needle clipped at 2nd position from the top.

Cheers,

[Deltarider]

All used the same carb and set up 069A.

All used the same carbs. Correct, but somehow I have the suspicion the set up for the F2 - at least in Europe - may have differed. Like the K3, that had a different type of carbs btw, the F2 too in test was critisised for having a poor driveability compared to earlier models. I have the suspicion the F2 (like the K3) had to meet certain emission demands and the F(0) and F1 not. I don't rule out Honda has changed the set up for the F2 without changing the carbnumber 069a (that would have been an exception if it concerned the position of the needle). Or maybe they had simply changed the position of the airscrew and thus the carbs could still have the 069A number or... (?).

[TwoTired]

I have each U.S. model of Cb550F.   I've had the carbs apart for each of them, and the internals are no different among them.  They are all 069A carbs.

The EPA mandate was a request before 1978.  The F model could not meet the 1978 requirements and so was dropped from US distribution.  I have nothing to document a carb change for bikes outside of the U.S.

My F2  sure seems like it is the fastest of my Cb550 F models, and is all stock apart from a windshield and tail rack.  I have not track timed them or dyno'd them.  But, it sure is noticeable going from the 76 to the 77.  I have no explanation for it.

There used to be a saying that you wanted a production model from a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday production when it was all routine.  You didn't want a Monday machne as the workers were all grumpy.  And Friday machines had the workers thinking about the weekend instead of their jobs.  There is also the production tolerance variances to consider.  Not all the parts are in the middle of the specification range, yet they can still be made into a good machine.  However, every few examples can just happen to be put together with parts at the extreme end acceptance.  While not exactly a lemon, it doesn't produce the best machine and may not operate like the average machine.  Conversely, it is possible to have a machine assembled with just the right parts tolerances, making it exceptional among the production run.
My 77CB550 F2 (see current avatar), just may be one of those machines, as it seems to be faster and have more power than any of my other 550's, which all behave more or less the same as each other.  I'm not taking it apart to find out, I just enjoy what it is.  I wonder about the cam profile, though.