Topic: retore/touch up over winter

[cb550fnewb]

Winter project started on CB550 1976

goals touch up rust and lots of cleaning along with:

change all wheel bearings
stem bearing to tapered all balls
replace front rim (old ones bent a little)
new rear tire
and lost of cleaning, painting and polishing

limited on funds so spring front and back can wait until my summer work picks up debating on swing arm bushings still


before deconstruction

[cb550fnewb]

about two weeks in already
engine cleaned
framed touched up with brush painting
carbs taken off and cleaned by hand
and new front rim and wheel bearings installed as of today

[dhall57]

Nice to do list Should keep you busy most of the winter. I had the same bike back in the 70's except mine had the original pipes. Very good bikes, hold on to it

[Stev-o]

Nice plan.  Did you reuse the spokes?

[cb550fnewb]

i did re use the spokes they seemed pretty good after a some sanding


I will be holding on to bike took it off my father in-laws hands to free him up so garage space and give me alternative summer transportation.  If i ever get rid of it, he will get it back he's the second owner and bought it in '80. 

Can the pipes be stock for a k model? If they are not the original owner switched them in the 70s  Think everything is stock except side saddle cases which will be put back on when I get finished.  they were installed when the bike was new and I like the look compared to any newer bags I could install

[Stev-o]

Oh no, those pipes are far from stock. The originals were four into four pipes, it was a common mod back then to change them to something "cool".
And now, the originals are highly sought after.

[cb550fnewb]

ok thanks fine don't mind the look of them and bike has seen more use last summer than probably last 15 yrs so they will do for a driver. 

Any tips for sorting out the rats nest of wiring behind the headlight.  I end up numbering them all with masking tape but still seems like a disaster

[brooze72]

OK you have inspired me to make my own winter to do list, unfortunately it must wait until spring as the garage is too damn cold until then.  Doesn't matter, list is still good:

Drain oil , do 3K tune up
Pull clutch basket & actuator, check reason for grabby clutch when hot, replace clutch cable too
Remove front tire, replace tube & rebalance
Inspect & replace chain/sprockets?
Remove 4/1 exhaust & install purchased 4/4 (order gaskets & tube connectors)
Install replacement headlight bucket  & fork ears
Cleaning & polishing of said replacement parts (not my favorite past time)
Refill oil & have everything ready for May vintage rally in Ganaraska!

[Stev-o]

Any tips for sorting out the rats nest of wiring behind the headlight.  I end up numbering them all with masking tape but still seems like a disaster

Ha!   No tips but I wish you luck...

[cb550fnewb]

i figured with the wiring just glad i labeled them

[brooze72]

i figured with the wiring just glad i labeled them

Yea, that's a good start, they are all pretty ugly in there, don' t worry too much about it & download a wiring diagram so you have the color codes to work with too.

[cb550fnewb]

all balls tapered bearing in stem

used cold icy water to help but don't even think I needed too.  If anyone is doing a 550 the thinner washer is the correct one at least for my '76.  Only issue is that I thought that i didn't need a washer and frame stopped any possibly turning when tight and had to pound the brand new bearing back off. Then I tried the thicker washer and couldn't reach threads with the cap but the thinner one it was perfect. 

Just my luck.

next is cleaning the rear tire, install new wheel bearings and truing it up a bit.

Then cleaning and putting the rear back together piece by piece.

[cb550fnewb]

first pic is obviously just sitting there before I pounded it in

[cb550fnewb]

forks back on after a week break.  I sanded them abit but wasnt looking for a polished look so left them clean but a little rough

touched up so pant on head light and the gauges will install tomorrow

[attachment deleted by admin]

[cb550fnewb]

got swing arm cleaned up and painted and head light/ gauges installed.  Just need to do the scary wiring that is stuffed be hind the headlight

next on my list is install rear wheel. I cleaned it yesterday and was surprised someone had replaced the bearings and them seemed ok so I decide to save my all balls for another year or bike.

Then i need to clean the rear fender/polish up a bit and the exhaust and truing the wheels and she should be ready for summer

[cb550fnewb]

here's pics

[Stev-o]

here's pics

Where?!

[cb550fnewb]

not sure what happen to pics I will try again when internet is acting better.

I just wired bike and think I have an issue

When I turn key to run I get headlight and no parking lights in front (also I have no lights hooked up in the rear with fender off and side saddle bags removed so haven't checked those yet)

When I turn key to park I do get parking lights with no headlight which I believe is correct and if I hit turn singal,  one goes out like normal when not under power.

This is all with bike not started (I have no exhaust or tank on)

Where can I find a diagram (with colors listed if possible for bike) for wiring?  Bike does turn over and in the next couple of days I will check tail lights once they are installed.

[cb550fnewb]

found wire chart by color looks like it will be helpful

[cb550fnewb]

I ran into some carb issues and broke a exhaust stud but thanks to this forum and members I think I figured it out. It was leaking out the bowls bad gaskets and float tube issues. Then I got the carbs sync and was running great until I found a resistor cap that was sparking on the engine and investigation I found a cracked also wire. I have placed amazon order for 5k resistor caps and one new wire and a splice from NGK and should be here monday alone with a exhaust stud from partzilla. 

If anyone has opinion on if I should switch to 5k resistor plugs to make my total resistance to factory 10k(believe that is how it works after reading 20 or so differing forums, but at least for now I am going to stick to the plugs I have think they are d7es but think they will work my coils hard over time compared to with 10k resistor caps

also would it be over kill for me sync carbs again after fixing stud (sure I have a small exhaust leak on #4 where stud is broken and replacing resistor caps and wire.

here's so overdue photo of swing arm

[cb550fnewb]

here is my homemade sync device (extra hose if bc i was making a 4 bottle one but turned out to hard to track which carb was higher in vacuum) did 1 & 2 then match 4 t0 2 then 4 to 3 and then check 1 against 4 and it worked great sounds much better than all last summer 

[cb550fnewb]

things left to do:
-waiting for axle to come (getting one from another member and should be here sometime next week)
- have new tube and used tired installed back on rim after truing
-install new wire and resistor caps
-new exhaust stud
-possibly sync carbs again (might what my summer home is about 1500 ft lower than my current winter home of 6000ft)
-take for a cold winter test drive.
-if i find a deal on a seat cover might grab it

here's photo: I did get some cb550 cover from a guy makes them from molds and they look great but will just pop the old cracked ones back on until I have money to paint tank and them (probably next winter, but I am very impressed with the new ones(from Fb-stuff.com)

[goldarrow]

Tank looks too nice to get a paint job, are there any rust and dings/dents?

[cb550fnewb]

whole top is streaked green from gas getting on it(no evenly faded or I wouldnt mind it).  It is in great shape other than that the pin stripes could be fixed up missing a few pieces that wore off over time and the trim on bottom could be replaced.  Think I will end up having it painted but again that in the future last thing i will do. Unless any knows how i can fade it more evenly not sure I want to rub gasoline/thinner on the top and possibly make it worse

Also has a scratch on tank from seat hitting it.  The first owner bought the bike and added fiberglass side saddle bags (per 1980 when my father-in-law purchased) but put them 1/2" too high so to open the seat they pulled the one pin out of it so it would swivel more and unfortunately was hitting the tank.  I move fiberglass side saddle bags down so now with the lid off I can use the seat with two pins.

I did repaint tank emblems which make it look much better.

Here's best picture I can get of top of tank in my poorly lit garage (a lot of it came process of lining the inside of the tank that was done just before it was given to me) I have had the bike for about a year. Scratch is much worse than picture just couldn't get a good picture

[Stev-o]

Tank looks too nice to get a paint job, are there any rust and dings/dents?

But the newly painted side covers won't match the old tank.  I did this once and regretted it. 
Could keep that tank and buy another to paint....