Author Topic: 1976 CB500/550 Project "Squirrel" (Read 280962 times)

riverfever · « **Reply #75 on:** November 04, 2013, 04:16:01 PM »

I just dropped the tank off so we'll see what it looks like in a few days. I would still like to fix those holes on my own. I've read of people brazing with lead or brass and welding. I know I could hose out that tank enough and use soap like you suggested and blow it out real well but how would I truly know if it was safe to put a torch near? There would be a high pucker factor.

rb550four · « **Reply #76 on:** November 04, 2013, 05:45:01 PM »

I would guess a nose in the tank would tell you if there is residue and fumes. Then I found this
http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=11349.10;wap2
and
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/archive/index.php/t-1190268.html

riverfever · « **Reply #77 on:** November 04, 2013, 05:50:18 PM »

Hahaha. That was funny.

rb550four · « **Reply #78 on:** November 04, 2013, 06:17:32 PM »

I was surprised to see that many people want to weld a tank. I like the wash out and run an exhaust pipe in the tank for a half hour better than some of the other ideas, at least it's heating it up to evaporate the residue with already burned fuel and air, shouldn't be much left in it to explode or flash after that.right?

Mcwilliams570 · « **Reply #79 on:** November 04, 2013, 07:19:10 PM »

I use dishsoap rinse a few times but yeah there still is a pucker factor

Matt

calj737 · « **Reply #80 on:** November 05, 2013, 06:20:20 PM »

You'd be well served to use Aircraft Stripper on your tank. You can get it a good auto parts store. Paint it on, chemically strips tank in minutes. Rinse with water after wards. Then, wipe down the metal with a light coat of WD-40. Prevents rusting while you work on it.

OR, have it sandblasted to bare metal and then powder coated in flat black. Use that as a primer coat for final paint (lightly sand or do body work on it). You can rough it up a bit, bondo, then paint to massage your indents to a smooth look.

Depending on size of holes, Caswell liner will probably seal them and line the tank completely.

FWIW, I did the chemicals trip, blast, PC, Caswell then paint on my tank. Had several pin holes from rust around emblems. Came out great. Liner fully cured and holding strong!

riverfever · « **Reply #81 on:** November 08, 2013, 05:57:02 PM »

Well I've been at 6th grade camp for all of this week as well so I haven't gotten much done on the cafe project. I was able to pick up the tank tonight though and I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I spent maybe an hour with a ball peen hammer going over small high spots on the right side. I'm very happy with this side.

I'm not as thrilled with this side right now but I think it will be ok with a bit more massaging. There really wasn't much body filler but it does look like the tank was dropped on the left side. I still need to repair both of the small holes. The shop that did the blasting still quoted me 150 to pull out the dent a bit and weld up both holes. Not sure yet if I'm going to let them do it or try it myself.

The underside of the tank is in excellent shape. No rust at all. I took apart the petcock valve again and am soaking it to clean it up. Unfortunately, there are 2 o rings in that thing. One of them would have a circular cross section and the other is flat (kind of like a rubber band). The flat one broke in half. This one goes underneath the lever to switch from off, to on to reserve. I have not seen these anywhere other than some guy in the UK (Dave Silver Spares?). Has anyone in the states ordered from him before?

riverfever · « **Reply #82 on:** November 08, 2013, 06:50:11 PM »

Well now I see that there is also a David Silver in Pennsylvania too.

riverfever · « **Reply #83 on:** November 08, 2013, 07:22:07 PM »

I know I don't necessarily need the pre-filter but this kit from David Silver would give me the d shaped gasket and a new o ring.

http://www.davidsilverspares.com/CB550K-1976-USA/part_70857/

And this looks a whole like the flat style o ring that I need for under the cutoff lever.

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-bobber-brat-chopper-custom-motorcycle-fuel-tank-parts-honda-cb125-cb200-cb350-cb360-cb450-rubber-petcock-grommet-16956-283-000.html

riverfever · « **Reply #84 on:** November 09, 2013, 12:06:31 PM »

This morning I started to clean the inside of the tank. First I just plugged the bottom, threw a hose in, turned it on and let it run for an hour and a half.

Then I put quite a bit of dish soap inside and repeated this process. I then blew it all out with compressed air.

My gas cap seal came yesterday so I pulled the cap apart and installed it.

I also cleaned the vent hole while I was there.

The cap looked like crap and then I realized that whoever had the tank before me had clear coated over it, the latch, the spring was painted. Who clears over chrome?

Much better now.

So here it sits now. There's not much else I can do until I get the dent pulled and the holes repaired. The tank still has a hint of a fuel smell so I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.

riverfever · « **Reply #85 on:** November 14, 2013, 06:50:31 PM »

I finally was able to get the holes in the tank welded up. I also got the majority of the dent pulled out of the left side and then re-worked the leading edge of the knee dent.

It's so hard to get a good picture of these things.

I'm trying to decide if the next step is body work or cleaning the inside of the tank? I'm leaning towards cleaning the tank because it's getting cold up here and I'd like to get it done. I know the body work will be dusty but I was hoping I could just tape off the holes and keep that out. I'm open to guidance. As I'm looking at the tank, I think it might be wise for me to start with the top of the tank and get the filler sanded out and that area done before moving on to the curves. I was planning on saving the knee dents for last. Again...open to input. One question I have is how to approach this area by the filler neck. It's only raised on the right side. Trying to figure out if I should put filler there and make it smooth like the left side or leave it as is? Seems like it might be a tricky spot but I'm sure the knee dents will be way more time consuming.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #86 on:** November 14, 2013, 08:52:34 PM »

I would clean it out first, coat it and then cover up the holes for the body work.

rb550four · « **Reply #87 on:** November 15, 2013, 02:59:45 PM »

If it's rusty inside, and you want to try the toilet bowl cleaner that is on your lower shelf on the work bench, I would do that first too. If it flash rusts on the out side , it's an easy light sand.... Both bondo and sandable primer are porous , you don't want acid or water on that.
Body putty is lots of fun, can't worry too much about technique just lay it on close but heavy, the real test of skill will be your sanding ability anyways.
Keep us posted.

riverfever · « **Reply #88 on:** November 16, 2013, 12:54:48 PM »

Thanks for the direction guys. I cleaned the inside this morning. I used 2 bottles of The Works and a pot of boiling water. Sloshed it around, and let it sit (repeated this several times) for about 45 minutes. Then drained it. Flushed with hot water and baking soda. More hot water. More hot water. Blew it out real well. Then put a bottle of Heet and a small bottle of 2 stroke oil in and sloshed that around. Drained it. Then put in some gas and sloshed that around. Drained it. Then a bit more gas. No flash rust and the tank looks brand new. Super pleased. I'll start body work soon.

rb550four · « **Reply #89 on:** November 16, 2013, 03:17:05 PM »

Excellent!

riverfever · « **Reply #90 on:** November 16, 2013, 06:02:27 PM »

This project is becoming all consuming. I'm kinda of at a stand still now until I can do the body work. But today I got to looking at things and just don't care for the clutter around the handlebars. I am planning on doing some 2.5" gauges sometime this winter and I'd like to keep things clutter free. Right now I don't have anything for controls. Low beam comes on with the ignition but I have no high beam. I've been thinking about doing a simple toggle switch on the headlight bucket for that but I have no clue how to do the wiring. I need a horn so that will end up being some simple button on the bar. I hate the bracket on top of the triple tree that the PO owner installed that houses the ignition and start button. So...tonight I started making something out of aluminum that will hide those more. I have to cut/splice the ignition to reach the new location but that shouldn't be an issue. I'll finish it up tomorrow and post pictures.

rb550four · « **Reply #91 on:** November 16, 2013, 08:59:30 PM »

I have bought machines with this problem .Don't cut the wires, please don't cut the wires, They unplug, and you can re route the ignition from the F model ignition( 5 wires) placement ( between the speedo and tach) to the K model( 4wires) under the tank placement ( or anyplace else that you may find handy) with either spade connectors and plug connectors, extending the wires that way or inline connectors in the middle of the 5 ignition wires between the plug and ignition switch. note : the F ignition won't fit in the stock K ignition mount under the tank .Please don't cut he harness.
Light switch, horn button,blinkers and dimmer switch was intentionally located on the bars for easablity , so you don't have to take your eyes off the road to find the proper toggle switch to operate said components, are you sure you would want to change that? I've seen both L and R controls on E bay recently, but of course it's your choice.

rb550four · « **Reply #92 on:** November 16, 2013, 09:09:13 PM »

I am assuming that you have a 76 F wiring harness on the 500 , and of course , I could be wrong.

riverfever · « **Reply #93 on:** November 17, 2013, 08:29:38 AM »

Thought I had posted a good picture of where the ignition currently is when I installed the Clubman bars but I didn't. I don't know if the harness is a K or an F yet but I'll find out soon enough. The bracket the PO used mounts just above where the bars mount. It's ugly because the ignition wires just come up from below the tank and are all exposed. I need to remove the tank and see if there's room for the harness to extend further a bit or not.

I don't really have an issue with having controls on the left side but I just can't find what I want yet (just controls for start/kill, headlights, and horn is really all I want). The ones I've found have turn sigs too. I suppose it wouldn't be that big of a deal to have those there and just be dummies. It certainly would be safer though.

riverfever · « **Reply #94 on:** November 17, 2013, 08:32:45 AM »

Also...I was able to find an o ring that fit underneath the petcock valve lever that controls fuel flow. Seems like it will be fine but time will tell. If it leaks then I'll need to go with a different style valve. I still need to order the strainer kit from David Silver Spares but I suppose I could reinstall the valve and actually start the bike and see how things run with the freshly rebuilt carbs? Any issue with doing this?

rb550four · « **Reply #95 on:** November 17, 2013, 01:11:29 PM »

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-HONDA-CB550-4-LEFT-SIDE-LH-CONTROL-SWITCH-PERCH-W-CLUTCH-LEVER-H758-/231079832604?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35cd6e6c1c&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-honda-cb550-cb-550-four-sohc-h451-throttle-/250946659564?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a6d9624ec&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-HONDA-CB550-4-RIGHT-SIDE-RH-CONTROL-SWITCH-THROTTLE-H758-/350908106811?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51b3c0c83b&vxp=mtr

rb550four · « **Reply #96 on:** November 17, 2013, 01:20:10 PM »

perhaps this petcock is in good shape, could contact seller, ask, maybe cheaper to buy the whole business than just the petcock.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-cb550-gas-tank-with-pet-cock-and-cap-/131047638397?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e830c457d&vxp=mtr
Does your petcock take one of these?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Honda-Gas-Fuel-Tank-Petcock-Gasket-CB72-CL160-CB750-CB500-CB350-CB550-GL1000-/261327746087?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cd858f427&vxp=mtr

riverfever · « **Reply #97 on:** November 17, 2013, 06:45:17 PM »

It was a long day of working on the bike but it ended really well. I was able to gain a few extra inches out of the ignition wires and so I decided to make a bracket up out of aluminum to mount it and a starter button down in the triple tree area. I'm much happier with how this cleaned up the area where they were previously mounted. Although now the crappy paint on the triple tree really sticks out but that's ok.

From this:

To this:

This is the bracket.

After this was done, I started thinking about trying to start the bike. I put the petcock valve back on the tank, and filled the tank up with a gallon of gas. It took a while for the carbs to get some gas but eventually it started. It idles perfectly at 1100 and seems to rev way better than before. What a difference rebuilding those carbs made. I took a quick video of it running but it's really poor because it was getting dark. I was even able to kick start it with my hand and before the rebuild I couldn't do it with my foot. Thanks for all the help and encouragement everyone. Can't wait to get started on the body work.

rb550four · « **Reply #98 on:** November 17, 2013, 07:17:28 PM »

Congrats! That sounds good. Doesn't sound like it's laboring much at all. Must have gotten close on the bench sync, are you planning a vacuum sync too? It really does make a difference. Will we be getting video of it going through the gears soon?
That ignition mount....nice,..... clean... Like lots.
It just occurred to me that in previous discussion , you may have been talking about deleting idiot lights ,not controls... Ohhhh. sorry I didn't get it. The whole gauge area looks allot cleaner without them but how will you know when the oil pressure is down,high beam , and blinkers are on. This sounds familiar, I'll bet that's what you meant ,right?
Putting a small light for high beam on the bucket sounds easy enough, is there enough room on your new ignition mount for the oil pump light and perhaps the other to handle the blinkers ( just to remind you that they are on)?
My bad, I'll just try and watch your progress quietly.
I think you're doing a great job.

riverfever · « **Reply #99 on:** November 17, 2013, 07:34:19 PM »

Thank you. I am planning on doing a vacuum sync as well but it'll be a while. It's getting too cold to ride anymore than just around the neighborhood up here. The ignition mount came out nicely. I actually made 2 and wasn't happy with the first one so I got a smaller start button from Radio Shack and started over.

This bike didn't come with the factory idiot lights or blinkers. I'm ok with no blinkers but I do want to come up with a clean way to have a high beam switch, horn, and an LED for high beam and oil would be nice. There might be enough room on the bracket for the LED's or I may try to put them in the head light bucket. I don't have blinkers so I don't need a control for that.

And no...you were right so don't just sit and watch. Feel free to question because I don't know what I'm doing here really.

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Author Topic: 1976 CB500/550 Project "Squirrel" (Read 280962 times)