Topic: Danielle CB550K Build - Toyon Moto Club #5

[Blackfin5]

I think I will be seeing you with a couple 550 guys.  SA guys want to go shoping.  Manly men.

[MRieck]

Good shakedown yesterday. Still have drip or two from valve cover after retorquing around spark plug #1.  Rear wheel rubs the seat tray in bumps, but Ikons are at lowest adjustment and rebound/dampening settings.  Front forks are wee bit binding - the fork brace is too tight.

Don't over torque....pull it off and use some sealer like Hylomar etc. Even oring's need help with this old stuff......believe me I know.

[Blackfin5]

Thanks, Mike.  Only torque is using hand wrench - Allen head bolts.  If I were to guess, less than 8 ft lbs.  Was going to pull cover when I change out the filter and break-in oil (Maxima break-in 10/30 petrol).  The drip is very slight.  Thanks for the sealant tip.  I was planning on using the non-curing Permatex Aviation gasket sealant - the brown gooey stuff.  I have Hylomar.  Will try it.  All rubber gaskets and o-rings are new.

Cheers!

[Trad]

Congrats on finishing it up! Such a nice bike man.

[bwaller]

Many of those cover o-rings are barely thick enough to do their job. I usually just wet a new o-ring with rtv on my fingers. Doesn't take much but helps them seal.

[MRieck]

Many of those cover o-rings are barely thick enough to do their job. I usually just wet a new o-ring with rtv on my fingers. Doesn't take much but helps them seal.

Didn't know you messed around with 550's Brent.

[bwaller]

Many of those cover o-rings are barely thick enough to do their job. I usually just wet a new o-ring with rtv on my fingers. Doesn't take much but helps them seal.

Didn't know you messed around with 550's Brent.

Mess around, fiddle about.... yeah a little. Right now I'm up to my elbows in a little Italian number! A 1986 Landini 85F, Mike you want to port a different 4cyl?

[MRieck]

Many of those cover o-rings are barely thick enough to do their job. I usually just wet a new o-ring with rtv on my fingers. Doesn't take much but helps them seal.

Didn't know you messed around with 550's Brent.

Mess around, fiddle about.... yeah a little. Right now I'm up to my elbows in a little Italian number! A 1986 Landini 85F, Mike you want to port a different 4cyl?

I have done Alfa's to Chevy's brother.

[Blackfin5]

RTV, Hylomar... a preference???  Have both.  I used a bit of the Aviation sealant when slapping on the cam cover.  The excess cleaned up nicely with denatured alcohol.  Brent is correct though, those cover rubber gaskets are not as "robust" as the Honda original.

Here is a new addition.  For those with Mac cans, for less than $130 or so, it's a great replacement.  I cannot comment about performance differences, but the sound is much throatier.  I doubt if much of any performance difference, if any.

[MRieck]

That must sound better as every Mac I installed sounded tinny. Watch the ground clearance.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

RTV, Hylomar... a preference???  Have both.  I used a bit of the Aviation sealant when slapping on the cam cover.  The excess cleaned up nicely with denatured alcohol.  Brent is correct though, those cover rubber gaskets are not as "robust" as the Honda original.

Here is a new addition.  For those with Mac cans, for less than $130 or so, it's a great replacement.  I cannot comment about performance differences, but the sound is much throatier.  I doubt if much of any performance difference, if any.

It looks and (I am sure) sounds better than the Mac pipe end.  Watch out for when you "push" hard through a right-hander (a la Marc Marquez) to make sure you don't scrape.   

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Kevin,

Too bad we missed you at the Del Mar Flat Track races Saturday.  Ian says "Hi" anyway!  Traffic absolutely sucked rotten eggs from Long Beach down to Del Mar -- the worst I have seen in ages.  We stopped at Burger Lounge on Via De La Valle after the races and before trekking back up to LA County.

[Blackfin5]

The exhaust in this configuration does "droop" regardless of the tightness of the clamps (2).  The outlet pipe droops down and to the outside at the clamp at the collector.  I will weld the collector into position and also welding a SS bracket on the Cone muffler to tie into the rearset bolt for support.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

The exhaust in this configuration does "droop" regardless of the tightness of the clamps (2).  The outlet pipe droops down and to the outside at the clamp at the collector.  I will weld the collector into position and also welding a SS bracket on the Cone muffler to tie into the rearset bolt for support.

Excellent move as to welding a support bracket.  Many folks neglect to do this and it puts significant stress on the head. 

Kevin, are you going to any of the Mods vs. Rockers 14 events this weekend?  I'm debating whether to go or not.

[Blackfin5]

Not likely, Don.  Have major commitments due on Monday.  The older I get the less time seems to be available for fun stuff.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Good luck with your deadlines. 

I've never been to a MvR event, so I'm not sure what to expect from this one (what the vibe is like, etc.).  I might just try to get in a solid ride.

[Blackfin5]

I spent today trying to reconfigure my rear brake rod so that it pulls the rear drum brake lever instead of pushing it.  I'm using Tarrozi rearsets for the 550.  They have an inner arm on the Tarrozi spindle which connects to the brake rod.  I had this inner arm in down position because with the CMR box swingarm, it would not clear when in the up position.  So when the brake foot lever is depressed down, turning the spindle clockwise (when viewing from the right side of the bike), it forces the brake rod backwards - a pushing action.  Of course, this is not an optimal situation and somewhat unsafe given the tendency of the thin diameter brake rod to bend.  The pic below shows the relative position of the inner arm attached to the brake rod.  There are 2 outer arms - one is for the rearset linkage, the other for the wire spring to activate the brake switch (the lower, smaller outside arm.  The inner arm connected to the rod is in the down position.  You can see as the taller outside arm is pushed forward by depressing the foot lever, the brake rod is "pushed" back.



To make the inner arm fit vertically and clear the swingarm, I had to cut off the brake stop (which I also discovered was interferring with the swingarm down movement) and I then ground off about 3/8" of the inside of the frame tube which houses the brake spindle.  This allows the inner arm to be vertical next to the swingarm so when the foot lever is depressed it "pulls" the brake rod forward.  It barely clears the side of the swingarm with the brake rod attached.



 

At this location of the swingarm, the swingarm box tubes are widening,  and the inner arm will still hit the side of the swingarm if there is too much range of motion.  It's tight.

Like everything else, you clear up one issue and two others pop up.  Since the frame tube housing is now shorter, I need to machine a spacer between the outisde of the tube and the outer Tarrozi spindle.  Not a big deal, really.  Also, the elimination of the brake stop means that the return spring may now cause the foot lever to ride too high.  I won't know until everything is reassembled.  If so, I will need to rig up some alternative stop.  At least now the brake rod pulls the drum brake lever forward as it was designed.

Cheers.

[Blackfin5]

After re-assembly of the rear brake spindle and rod, you can see how close it is to the swingarm.  It clears, but just barely, and I have enough range of motion after taking out a lot of slack by using the rear adjuster nut on the end of the brake rod.  (Ignore the grinding dust - haven't cleaned up yet).







And I re-installed the Mac outlet pipe and Cone muffler.  These pics show max tuck.  It doesn't look so bad in the photos (it's worse than it appears), but I would still be concerned about a hard lean to the right. I have to say that I am not a big fan of the Mac 4-1, but it had to do in a pinch.  When I dry fit the old Kerkers without the interferring stock oil filter housing, the Kerkers tucked more up underneath the bike and looked like they were made for the 550. 

[FunJimmy]

The new angle of attack on the Cone megaphone is perfect.
Now we need a full profile pic.

[Blackfin5]

Break-in update.  My plan was to go through about 5 heat cycles before changing the oil.  I'm using Maxima 10w/30 break-in oil formulated with high zinc concentration.  For break-in, I am pulling fairly hard out of uphill turns in 2nd, 3rd and 4th on 10-15 mile canyon rides.  Yesterday, the 4th session was the strongest as far as increasing the RPMs.   Back at the shop, the bike was leaking oil profusely.  At first I thought the drain plug had loosened, but it was coming from the bottom left side of the sprocket cover.  I have not inspected yet, but I am pretty sure it's the oil pump.  I installed all new rubber o-ring gaskets (the cover, the seat for the oil pump into the case, and the 2 small ones.  There were no leaks up to this point in time.

I drained the oil, then changed out the filter.  Tonight I will remove the sprocket cover and see if I can locate the exact cause of the leak.  The oil drain plug magnet really works...you can see the before and after cleaning. (sorry for poor cell phone pics).  The oil had a cloudy, slightly tan tint to it.  I will be re-filling the case with a Maxima 10w/40 semi-syn oil.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Looks like the Ti Pro-Bolt.  I didn't know they made one that fits the CBs.

Bummer on the leak, Kevin.  Hope its a sidecover gasket issue.

[flatlander]

amazing to see all that stuff on the magnetic plug. you might just have convinced me to get one!
bummer about the incontinence. hope you can fix it soon.

[Blackfin5]

Thanks for concern.  I'm betting it's something to do with the oil pump.  But it's as if something "blew"  because it went from nothing to quite a bit.  I put some stress on the engine yesterday beyond what I have.

Otherwise, the bike is STRONG and pulls nicely. 

I had on the Ikon 12.56" shocks and the rear tire was hitting the bottom of the seat pan once in a while, but enough where it spun off a nut bolting the m-unit on the pan under the seat.  I went to the Ikon made for the 750s, which is 13.35" eye-to-eye.  My front forks are TNKs which are 570mm (about 5mm longer than stock).  I can actually feel the ride height difference and hope I'm not reducing the trail by too much.  By my math calcs, the trail is reduced by about 6mm using the taller Ikons - but I am no longer rubbing over the big bumps.  Doesn't seem like a lot but if my calcs are correct, the trail is now sitting around 97-98mm.  Also, since my front wheel went to a 100/90 (664mm dia.) and my rear to a 120/90 (674 dia.), I believe that the bigger 120/90 on the rear is not affecting trail.  The tire dias. are about the same as stock, I believe.   

In doing a search for the stock trail for a '78 550, I see 4.1", 102.5mm and 105mm.  Does anyone know the exact figure?

Cheers.

[Blackfin5]

Cal, what hydrocarbon spill?  My CB is water cooled and I only use spring water from the Alps.  Besides, that is where a concrete driveway is soon to be poured. 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Don - no gasket on that side cover. If it's not his oil pump leaking, then it's either the oil pressure switch, or worse, the primary shaft seal 

Kev - don't let Gov. moonbeam see that picture! He will certainly tax you for environmental contamination 

Oops. I must have read that wrong. Yep. Hopefully, it's not the primary shaft seal.