Topic: Trad's 74 CB550 K0

[Trad]

Thanks Stev-o. Trademark pending. haha

It's a 68 Cuda, Formula S Fast Back. My pop owned it from new. We track the car too. Just pulled out the roll cage and took off the slicks. Going back to a street car. We were close to braking into the 10's last year.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Great Car. You could drive it everyday here in SoCal!

[Stev-o]

Thanks Stev-o. Trademark pending. haha

It's a 68 Cuda, Formula S Fast Back. My pop owned it from new. We track the car too. Just pulled out the roll cage and took off the slicks. Going back to a street car. We were close to braking into the 10's last year.

Fantastic car!  I had a '70 Barracuda years ago, but was nothing like that [had 318 w/3 speed]

Post a couple pics if you have em handy.

[Restoration Fan]

Trad,
Really nice work on that design for the cross brace.  Functional and aesthetic as well.

Ron

[calj737]

Hey Trad - next time instead of having to cut and weld those bends, just score the cut line, heat with MAPP gas, then it will bend straight over. Saves you from having to use a brake to make these bends.

It is a very elegant solution for all 3 purposes. 

[Trad]

Don, you keep throwing the "YOU"RE FROZEN IN CANADA" in my face. haha

Steve-o, I'll get some good ones next I'm in the garage. It needs to be repainted at some point as it's starting to show it's age. it runs like a beast though, engine shots for sure.

Ron, thanks for the compliment. I just sent it and a bunch of other small bits to the powder coater this morning. Hopefully I'll have it back and installed by the end of next week.

Cal, Thanks man. We have a decent sheer so it was easy as pie to cut. I've never done it by scoring and heating. How much heat before it folds?

[calj737]

Depends entirely upon the thickness, but several seconds to a short bit. Scoring allows it to fold without a radiuses bend for a clean look. Also, pre-heating aluminum makes it much easier to weld if the material has any thickness to it.

[Trad]

Depends entirely upon the thickness, but several seconds to a short bit. Scoring allows it to fold without a radiuses bend for a clean look. Also, pre-heating aluminum makes it much easier to weld if the material has any thickness to it.

Good to know, I'm going to try that. This was 1/4 inch stainless so it's a bit easier to weld than aluminum.

[calj737]

Yup, sorry missed that aspect.

[754]

I was thinking more ..put it in a made up die... Press once.. Done...

Depends tho how many you want to make..

[Trad]

Well, it's 4:37am and I'm uploading photos; For some reason I couldn't fall asleep. I had a couple of front wheels sitting in my apartment that I trued up yesterday at work. Boredom got the best of me and I ended up installing the speedometer drive blanking spacer I bought from member, Godffery a few weeks back. It's subtle but that's one more thing simplified on this bike. Damn, thats a lot of raw metal on this wheel.

Wheels Raw by Jared Chilko, on Flickr

Godffery Speedometer blank by Jared Chilko, on Flickr

Rotor Side by Jared Chilko, on Flickr

Oh, and I got another Kijji score and picked up this polished up 78 terd for 300 bucks! Cold compression was about 135psi across the board and the tank is clean and dent free. Happy Camper. Not sure what the plan is for this one yet.

Project 3 by Jared Chilko, on Flickr

[Trad]

double post........

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

$300 CAN for all that!? Score!!!!

[Trad]

$300 CAN for all that!? Score!!!!

And........the wheels, tires, carbs, clocks, and seat that aren't pictured. Lucked out! Someone needed this stuff out of their basement and basically paid me to haul it out myself.

[Trad]

Well, here's a few updates.

I have a bunch of bits at the powdercoater's still. I forgot a few at home so I'm thinking I'll need to do a round 2 with them unfortunately.

I ended up buying all OEM Honda oil seals and o-rings for the bottom end. I found this thread which was extremely helpful. http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=82355.0

I also have spent a lot of time stripping a bunch of gloss black powder coated engine covers I had. My fingers are riddled in blisters but I have the shifter cover, stator cover, and points covers all sanded from 220-320-400-Scotchbrite scuffing all the same direction to a nice, uniform brushed finish. I took all the casting marks out with a high speed. The clutch cover had a lot of gouges hiding under the powder so it's slowly coming along. I got fed up and quite for the day.

In addition to all the crankcase parts I also ordered a Diamond Performance 102 link drive chain, NOS clutch cover lever adjustment arm (the threaded head on mine was stripped), as well as the 6 genuine Honda clutch friction disks and the one "B" disk which goes in last.

The Hagon 2810 shocks are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow! Christina at Hagon USA was one of the best sales people I've ever dealt with. I went with black bodies, chrome (Non-slimline) springs, and 16KG springs which are 90lbs progressive. I should really be able to take advantage of the 10 click dampening adjustement with that spring. I also got the 18KG spring just in case

I'll get some photos once all the parts arrive and the clutch cover is finished.

This build is putting me in the poor house. 

Lastly, Mark is almost done buttoning up the GME 550 build so my crank case is up next.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

What's Mark (HM) doing to the crank - balance, knife-edge?

[Trad]

What's Mark (HM) doing to the crank - balance, knife-edge?

He's replacing the Primary and Cam chains with NOS pieces I have along with all the oil seals and o-rings. Basically go over the whole crankcasel with a fine tooth comb and let his OCD rome. haha.

Once that's back I'll be installing the top end and degreeing the Webcam. I can't friggin wait.

[Trad]

A little update; more parts to the horde.

The Hagon 2810 shocks came in. I decided to get the both the 16KG spring (90-110lbs progressive) and the 18kg springs (110-130lbs progressive). I'm kind of in between so I thought I'd try out both. I should be able to get the most of the 10 click dampening adjustment with the 16kg's. Going to start there and see how it feels. Christina is a great sales rep over at Hagon USA. The Wideline springs are now discontinued and she was able to have the last pair air shipped from the UK for me at no extra cost. I can't say enough good things about her.

I was debating between these and the Ikon 7610 shocks. I only went with the Hagon's because they were a 335mm length as opposed to the 228mm of the Ikon. I want all the rear tire clearance as I can. Christina's customer service also helped sway me too.

Next is the Diamond 530 chain in 102 length (part number 530102). I've heard nothing but good things about these so opted to give it a shot. The whole chain is shot peened; I guess all the extra strength you can get the better.

Lastly, a new old stock clutch adjustment arm. Mine looked worse for wear so I figured there's no point in cheeping out at this point. Hopefully I can get some time in on the bike soon. I've been away from home so much lately I haven't touched it in over a month.

The clutch cover is about half way through being refinished. I took out all the nicks and casting marks and been going up from there. I'll stop at 600 then brush finish it with red scotchbrite. This will finish match the other engine covers and the seat.

More PArts to the horde by Jared Chilko, on Flickr

[Trad]

I've been weighing on this a bit and figured I'd try to get some opinions from you guys who've been here before of similar. It's regarding the top end components for this bike. Here's the rundown, my options, and the dilemma.

Cylinder Head: Rebuilt by Mike Rieck (valve job, porting, stock valves, guides, HD valve springs, 5thou milled of the deck)

Cylinder/Pistons: JE 572cc Forged pistons (10-1 Compression), Piston to Wall Clearance to 2.8 thou all done by Mikes machinist. Cylinder decked 5 thou.

Rocker Cover: 77-78 pinned style with all NOS Rocker arms and components.

Camshaft: Here's the dilemma. I have a really nice CB650 cam. (It's used so it shows some normal wear, but it's of the cleanest I've seen). I also have a brand new Webcam 358a.

I've done penalty of top end rebuilds and CB650 cam swaps. Just pop them in on the stock timing marks and go. You know what you're getting. My worry is I've never used a used cam with new rockers. I like to grab the matching rockers to the cam. Should I be worried about wiping a cam lobe here?

I can use the Webcam, but I've heard stories of them being quite out as far as TDC on the stock timing marks and cam notch. I've never degreed a cam and almost feel like it's a lot of pissing around.

I feel safer using the 650 cam but feel the Webcam would be the more proper way to go, especially after dumping so much coin into this engine.

[calj737]

I can use the Webcam, but I've heard stories of them being quite out as far as TDC on the stock timing marks and cam notch. I've never degreed a cam and almost feel like it's over my head.

Time to learn, Buddy. Sell the 650 cams and pocket the $ for your build budgets. Its not as hard as you think it is, but it takes a few minutes to learn. Just gotta print out or buy a degree wheel.

[flatlander]

why stock valves? go oversize to fill those cylinders!

if you go with the webcam make sure you get hardweld rockers also. the 650 cam is optimised for emission control and not for performance. i'm pretty sure webcam will make you happier (unless you are very concerned about clean air).
you'll have to degree it in and to be honest, it will be a bit fiddly and it will take time so don't rush it. but it's completely doable. go for it!

[Trad]

Hey Cal,

I know it's doable but I looks like a really PITA. You need to cut up an old valve cover so you can adjust the cam sprocket and I don't really want to wreck any of my spares. Ah well, I should just learn it.

[Trad]

why stock valves? go oversize to fill those cylinders!

if you go with the webcam make sure you get hardweld rockers also. the 650 cam is optimised for emission control and not for performance. i'm pretty sure webcam will make you happier (unless you are very concerned about clean air).
you'll have to degree it in and to be honest, it will be a bit fiddly and it will take time so don't rush it. but it's completely doable. go for it!

I've been told my multiple sources including Buzz at Dynoman that the NOS rocker arms will be just fine with the Webcam. New with new. It's when you drop the new hardwelded cam in with used rockers, that you start to see a problems. 

It's the fiddly part I'm dreading. 

[flatlander]

i missed the fact that you had new rocker arms. still... it would give me a better feeling to use parts with matching hardness, just seems to make sense to prevent uneven wear. but maybe somebody with more knowledge can comment?

even i could do the fiddly part and i consider myself quite an amateur wrencher compared to some others on this site. if i can do it so can you 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I think Buzz probably qualifies, but perhaps you are looking for the logic behind his answer, right?