Topic: Danielle CB550K Build - Toyon Moto Club #5

[Blackfin5]

Went with the KPMI black diamond - 28.5/24mm from Buzz.

[Tews19]

Doing a 550 build myself... I went with the 61.5 pistons... Still waiting to take the engine head off to send to MR.. Great guy who will take his time to explain what may be the best route to go.

BTW, great work and SUBSCRIBED!!!!

[Blackfin5]

Pleasant surprise this morning.  First, my shop (boats and bikes) and house is in Santa Ysabel, just off Hiway 78E in the back country of San Diego.  For me and my buddies it is a portal to hundreds of miles of scenic mountain roads - all one lane each way, leading to Lake Cuyamaca, Julian, Salton Sea, Mt. Laguna, Temecula, Descanso, etc.  CB Four heaven.  The closest gas station to my house is a couple miles west.  This morning I saw a VP Racing Fuel truck and learned that the station sells VP "leaded" fuel in 101, 102, 105, 110 & 112 octane in min. 5 gal. units.  Kinda pricey though.  I have a poly-something 200 gal. fuel tank on a trailer so I'm thinking I could load up 50 gals or so and have my own fueling station (notwithstanding County regs).  I was a bit worried about being able to find only 91 octance etahnol fuel here in So.Cal.  I think I need to talk to someone more knowledgeable than I about which octane to use, if any, for the 10.5 CR pistons and, hopefully, a Stage III +1 head from M.Rieck, and new CR "race" carbs.  The 101 leaded may be too rich - don't really know.  If anyone wants to chime in, I'm all ears.

[Blackfin5]

Crap.  Now I've gone and done it.  I liked Tweakin's and Branden's  750F builds soooo much I picked up a 76 750F.  The good news, I guess, MRieck will be getting lots more work; bad news my Harley buddies are all buying 550s for the twistys here based on riding my Orange Monster (no -not named after BrandEn's avatar) and they are going to question my 550 loyalties.  So far 2 of the guys found 550s and 3 more actively looking.  It will be the "Toyon Moto Club", so I adding this name to the build thread title.  All bikes will be kept on the ranch in a couple weatherized Seatrains with each guy having his own high school locker for gear and have carte blanche to my workshop and tools.  Only rule is they each have to be a different metal flake color - orange, turquoise, white, silver, purple and copper spoken for.  Bit gay but fun.

Some of the guys leaving the ranch.  There's one Victory in the crew.



Another shot of the Orange Monster.  This photo really over-accentuates the gold flake in the direct sunlight.

[Blackfin5]

A bit of a pause for concern.  I've never dealt with APE before, but this turkey week planning on shipping them the crank, rods and cylinder for boring to 61mm for the JE pistons.  I called for an intro and to touch base. During the ensuing conversation when I mentioned the pistons, the APE guy said I didn't need to send the new pistons.  I'm calling back tomorrow, but even the guy answering the phone should be more knowledgeable than that, right?

[Blackfin5]

Good news - the frame is finished - finally.  Rob North detabbed the frame, welded in the seat hoop and a bit of bracing and hangers for rearsets.  He says it is a strong unit.  I am picking it up from his shop on Tuesday and heading straight to the PC.  Decided on gloss black instead of silver given the amount of polished aluminum and chrome going on this build.

Also, hubs/rims are spoked and trued with polished SS oversize spokes and nipples.  Those were shipped back to me by Buchanans together with the new Sun rims for the 750F.  They were delivered by the man in brown yesterday afternoon.  I wasn't there at the time and are sitting in my office still in boxes.  Pics later.

Case halves, oil pan, filter cover, cyclinder and head are back from PC.  These pics really dont's show the beauty of these pieces taken indoors.  Quality work - meticulous masking job by the PC.  No overrun spots on the mating faces or bolt holes.  But!! - The PC guy, who is a friend of mine, did not remove the masking tape, and blow out all the media before the PC and baking.  He should have re-masked after the blasting phase.  Thus, the garnet media stuck to the tape turned into gunk inside the cases like concrete after the baking.  It was a tedious, cuss-filled time getting all the gunk out.   I've flushed out all the oil passages, thoroughly cleaned the inside of the cases (there were still bits of media which dripped down into the cases during the baking), and cleaned out and oiled the bolt threads with gun CLP.  New engine oil seals arrived and I can begin re-assembly with the tranny - can finish buttoning up once the crank, rotor and rods are APE'd.

 





All engine covers have been polished and the fender brace, starter cover and points cover came back from the chromer.  I use a guy in TJ who moved his business from San Diego so he didn't have have to comply with all the EPA and state regs.  So, I guess this bike is not a very "green" build.

[Blackfin5]

Frame is being powder coated.  Here's after test fit with tank and seat before leaving.
Detabbing completed.  Frame checked for trueness.  Seat hoop welded.  Some hangers for rear sets fit to my size.  Some gusseting compliments of Rob North.

[Blackfin5]

Tires mounted and balanced on the Excels.  100 front - 120 rear.

[Blackfin5]

I've been working on re-assembling the transmission and sourcing parts.  Biggest challenge has been locating a box-style swingarm.  Think I'll get an OEM one for now off ebay so I can get a roller going.

As mentioned, I had hangers welded for the Tarozzi rearsets, the ends are circular to correspond with the backside of the Tarozzi frames, and are threaded.  Neat set up.



What I didn't realize when I ordered the Tarozzis is that they do not fit 550Fs or 550 77-78 Ks.  The frame sleeve for the brake spindle is too long, as shown in the below pic.  To their credit, Fastfromthepast does gives fitment on their web site.



It's an easy enough fix, just trim off some of the sleeve.  However, and I'm not sure about this because we only have 77 or 78s 550s in the shop and I can't picture it in my mind, I think that the brake switch spring for the Tarozzi kits are designed to run down from the outer side of the frame (CB500s and K1s and K2s), whereas I believe the brake switch spring for the 77 and 78 550s runs down along the inner side of the frame.  So I may have to alter the set up for the spring on the Tarozzis.

[seanbarney41]

Frame is being powder coated.  Here's after test fit with tank and seat before leaving.
Detabbing completed.  Frame checked for trueness.  Seat hoop welded.  Some hangers for rear sets fit to my size.  Some gusseting compliments of Rob North.

really could care less about the body work sitting on there hiding exactly what and where Mr. North modded that frame...hows about some more pics without the tank and seat?

[bwaller]

Blackfin5, pm sent about swingarm.

[Blackfin5]

Brent:  Thanks again.  Got the swingarm rolling.

Sean:  Rob North took a minimalist approach with the frame.  When I first brought him the project, we discussed gussets and pyramid bracing.  He ended up making sure the frame was correct and straight as an arrow, detabbed and cleaned up the raw frame, welded up a hairline crack I didn't even see, strengthened some welds, added 2 gussets, seat loop and hangers.  Visually, there is nothing really substantial.  He says go with it and I'll be happy.

Just arrived back from the powder coater.  We did two runs.  There was a little outgasing in a couple spots so it was lightly sanded then hit for another coating.  The added thickness very much softened the roughness of some of the original welds.

Threw in tapered head bearings and put the front end together.  The new tubes have the RaceTech springs and emulators.

 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Brent:  Thanks again.  Got the swingarm rolling.

Sean:  Rob North took a minimalist approach with the frame.  When I first brought him the project, we discussed gussets and pyramid bracing.  He ended up making sure the frame was correct and straight as an arrow, detabbed and cleaned up the raw frame, welded up a hairline crack I didn't even see, strengthened some welds, added 2 gussets, seat loop and hangers.  Visually, there is nothing really substantial.  He says go with it and I'll be happy.

Just arrived back from the powder coater.  We did two runs.  There was a little outgasing in a couple spots so it was lightly sanded then hit for another coating.  The added thickness very much softened the roughness of some of the original welds.

Threw in tapered head bearings and put the front end together.  The new tubes have the RaceTech springs and emulators.

 

Sexy

[Blackfin5]

Body parts are back from paint.  The finish quality is beyond expectations.  I went with a very fine House of Kolor metal flake. Thank you, Manny.  These photos were taken at night under florescents.  The color is actually a topaz electric blue -  it's compleyely different in the daylight. 

[fisdan]

#$%*ing super super Nice


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[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I like the pattern of the turned gold leaf. Great paint, too!

[Just4fun]

Looks really good, I am looking forward to seeing both the tank and seat on the bike.


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[riverfever]

That's different. Looks really good.

[fisdan]

Hey

Where has you purchased the seat pan?

Its looking super Nice :-)


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[Blackfin5]

Fisdan - its a Benjie, fliperboi.

Thank you for the compliments.  I'm working in reassembling the cases and waiting on a custom swingarm.  Thanks again, Brent.

[Blackfin5]

[Blackfin5]

Still a long way off, but I have some time to work on this 550 since my Blaster 750F is about completed.  The CMR swingarm build is completed.  It's at the powder coater and picking up tomorrow so I can at least work on getting a roller over the long weekend.




I added some bling accents to the build to compliment the gold "5" on the tail.





Still waiting for my crank and rods to come back from APE....it's been awhile.

On my buddy's 550, I milled down the drive sprocket outer face by about about 1/8th and machined a spacer of the exact thickness in order to accomodate a 530 D.I.D. o-ring chain.  The chain now clears the case by about an 1/8th inch.  The standard chain was leaving rub marks due to the side wiggle of the drive sprocket, but did not eat through the case.


And yes, his chain is gold.....

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Still a long way off, but I have some time to work on this 550 since my Blaster 750F is about completed.  The CMR swingarm build is completed.  It's at the powder coater and picking up tomorrow so I can at least work on getting a roller over the long weekend.




I added some bling accents to the build to compliment the gold "5" on the tail.





Still waiting for my crank and rods to come back from APE....it's been awhile.

On my buddy's 550, I milled down the drive sprocket outer face by about about 1/8th and machined a spacer of the exact thickness in order to accomodate a 530 D.I.D. o-ring chain.  The chain now clears the case by about an 1/8th inch.  The standard chain was leaving rub marks due to the side wiggle of the drive sprocket, but did not eat through the case.


And yes, his chain is gold.....

Gotta love Denis Curtis' work.  That swingarm is a beautiful piece of performance art -- literally!  Pricey but awesome!

[Blackfin5]

Happy Memorial Day to all our veterans and servicemen and women - past and present.  Thank you for serving our Country.







DING!  DING!  DING!  I finally have a roller.  It looks low in front because there is no fork oil in the tubes.  Those are Ikon shocks - 12.56".  Stock is 12.75 but according to Ikon, the springs are stiffer than stock so it rides at or very near the same level as stock.  The rear does look a tad low to me.  I'm 190 lbs and hope the 120/90 rear tire doesn't hit the underside of the seat/hoop.

[riverfever]

A lot to like about that right there.