Topic: 1976 CB550F - making it good, one step at a time

[flatlander]

back to the forkbrace:
i took it to a local shop and had the 'legs' of the cross bar machined off. this increased clearance to the top by about 6mm. it sits now very close above the fender. will just about fit a (thin) cloth through there for cleaning.

no more incidents with the banjo bots since the, no more leaking brake fluid.



and i planned and measured out everything for inserting that relay for powering the coils directly from the battery, not via the start/stop switch. believe it or not, it will be the biggest electrical operation i will have done so far and i've never trusted myself with this stuff so i'm a bit nervous.

[flatlander]

next to my electrical adventures here some more updates:

for the engine breather scavenging in the airbox, i cut a filter (a.k.a. "element" according to honda partslist - love this super descriptive name!) out of a piece of scotchbrite and lightly applied some air filter oil.



almost looks like it belongs there:



after removing all the gunk that had accumulated down there (man, these engines have bad breath  ) i dropped it back in and am interested to see how it will do its job.


next was the tank/petcock. last year i installed an inline fuel filter as i had the carbs peeing fuel through the overflow tubes repeatedly, due to debris making the floats stuck. after doing some research i found out about the filters that honda had over the petcock tubes inside the tank. that seemed like a better idea, than waiting for the stuff to make its way through the petcock and potentially clogging it. so i ordered one for my bike model (note: for my "bike" model) and went to insert it.

here you see the crap that came out of the tank with the last bit of fuel.



bits of the coating that had come loose. no wonder the floats got stuck, and no wonder the inline filter cured that.

so then, here's the OEM filter i bought for my 1976 550F. next to the petcock that it does not fit 



so that sucks, i had bought the wrong part not knowing that the petcock didn't match the model/year of the bike.
here some more shots of the petcock:





after comparing it with some more diagrams it looks to me like the petcock is from a 500, not 550. if that's true then the filter i would need is honda part no. 16952-388-015 (not the 16952-341-671 that i got).
can anyone confirm that?

put the tank back together and on the bike. should be able to exchange that filter, then it's just a matter of draining the tank again. at least i get another chance to remove more stuff that might be left in there.

while at it i also drained and dropped the carb bowls to clean them out. they actually didn't look bad at all but better safe than sorry.


then, call me pathetic but these corroded nuts on the instruments have been hurting my eyes for ages.



finally replaced them with some new shiny bling-bling, the correct "honda style" ones with the low cap.



that's it for the moment. a couple of things done and a few new loose ends to tie up another time...

[strynboen]

hey. i think.there are no problem.. hope anyvay....the filter are suposed to fit inside the tank studs.. not on the petcook..english????bensinhane on danish...it are a fine press inn fit up in the hole..so it line up vith the bottom of the studs,,,,then stick the reserve/normal tube,,,vho goes a vay up in the tank,and turn the autside  runner to fit the parts together

[flatlander]

the filter for the 550f that i bought comes with the gas tubes inside, filter and tubes are glued together to one unit that gets inserted in the petcock and locked down with a nut. it does not fit my petcock at all. it's the one in this schematic:
http://images.cmsnl.com/img/partslists/honda-cb550f1-super-sport-550-four-1976-general-export-kph-fuel-tank_big00026127f12_21cc.gif

my petcock and gas tube are together and need a filter that goes over them, like in this picture for the 500:
http://images.cmsnl.com/img/partslists/honda-cb500k3-four-european-direct-sales-fuel-tank_bigma000085f12_4b56.gif

there is no place for a nut (apart from the one that's there already) and it looks like the filter will be held in place only by the o-ring. actually, what you describe is how it would work with my petcock but not with the filter i bought.
that's why i think it must be the gas tank and petcock from a 500, dressed up as a 550f. at least that's what it looks like, to me.

bensinehane = petcock
i don't really speak danish but lived in sweden for a while. close enough 

[strynboen]

on my 550 the number3 part (the filter) are pressed up in the tank. and fit so it not move.and have not direkt kontakt to the o ring..also nr 3..

[flatlander]

yes right. on the picture yours looks the same as mine. and that's a different filter than the one i bought (no. 3 in my first link, the 500f diagram).
it seems like the 550k had the same as 500 which was different than 550f. so someone at some point must have put a 500 or 550k tank on my 550f, just to mess me up 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

yes right. on the picture yours looks the same as mine. and that's a different filter than the one i bought (no. 3 in my first link, the 500f diagram).
it seems like the 550k had the same as 500 which was different than 550f. so someone at some point must have put a 500 or 550k tank on my 550f, just to mess me up 

The 1975 and 1976 CB550K and CB550F use the same petcock -- a dual channel petcock -- Honda Part #16951-374-671

They are a pain in the butt to source.  This guy has the geniune Honda petcock:  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&vxp=mtr&item=301236797067#ht_41wt_1362

In addition, DSS sells the upper strainer set.

[flatlander]

thanks for the info! mine's definitely the single channel one, so not correct for the model/year of my bike but hopefully less of a pain in the butt.
comparing the drawings on cmsnl it looks like they even have different petcocks in the same year models between US and europe. not sure i always understand japanese logic...

lesson learnt: don't buy parts without checking first if they will fit the random agglomeration of stuff that's already on the bike.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

thanks for the info! mine's definitely the single channel one, so not correct for the model/year of my bike but hopefully less of a pain in the butt.
comparing the drawings on cmsnl it looks like they even have different petcocks in the same year models between US and europe. not sure i always understand japanese logic...

lesson learnt: don't buy parts without checking first if they will fit the random agglomeration of stuff that's already on the bike.

The single channel petcock is easier to source even as a genuine Honda part.

[Stev-o]

yes right. on the picture yours looks the same as mine. and that's a different filter than the one i bought (no. 3 in my first link, the 500f diagram).
it seems like the 550k had the same as 500 which was different than 550f. so someone at some point must have put a 500 or 550k tank on my 550f, just to mess me up 

The 1975 and 1976 CB550K and CB550F use the same petcock -- a dual channel petcock -- Honda Part #16951-374-671

My '77 550 has a single outlet petcock, I am in need of one too.  I'm weary of the cheap  $18 eBay petcocks but don't want to spend $94...


http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-CB550F-CB750F-SUPER-SPORT-CB550-CB750-CRUISER-PETCOCK-FUEL-TAP-FUEL-VALVE-/291123136587?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43c84a884b&vxp=mtr

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

yes right. on the picture yours looks the same as mine. and that's a different filter than the one i bought (no. 3 in my first link, the 500f diagram).
it seems like the 550k had the same as 500 which was different than 550f. so someone at some point must have put a 500 or 550k tank on my 550f, just to mess me up 

The 1975 and 1976 CB550K and CB550F use the same petcock -- a dual channel petcock -- Honda Part #16951-374-671

My '77 550 has a single outlet petcock, I am in need of one too.  I'm weary of the cheap  $18 eBay petcocks but don't want to spend $94...


http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-CB550F-CB750F-SUPER-SPORT-CB550-CB750-CRUISER-PETCOCK-FUEL-TAP-FUEL-VALVE-/291123136587?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43c84a884b&vxp=mtr

Yeah, I wouldn't trust that either.

[flatlander]

ok then, back to the electrical stuff. the relay, to be precise.
i've been poring over the diagrams, tracing my wires, fiddling with a tape measure... even borrowed a friend's multimeter to check what's what and finally mustered enough courage to do what strynboen suggested: use the relay to power the coils straight from the battery.

here's what i did:

red wire going into 15A fuse
split and insert connector so that there's 1 female bullet available.

like this


it was the wire going into the lower fuse clip on mine but this needs to be verified with the multimeter.
the spare connection will be used to provide power to the coils, through the relay.

then the cables that will be attached to the relay:

red wire with inline fuse
male bullet connector to go into the above female connector for live power.
flat connector to relay 30.
made this 25cm long incl. fuse holder.

instead of hooking this up to the spare 15A fuse in the existing holder i decided to use a separate, inline fuse as this way, i can keep the spare one "just in case".

black/white wire from safety switch
male bullet - this will go into the double female connector of the black/white wire currently powering the coils.
flat into relay 86.
made this 92cm long.

here's where it will be inserted, with the 2 male black/white ones that go to each of the coils disconnected


black/white wire to coils
1-into-2 female connector - the 2 male ones going to the coils will be inserted here
flat to relay 87.
this is also 92cm long.

i tape the two black/white wires together as they will be attached to the main harness.

green wire to ground
male bullet to the connection grounding the tail lights.
flat into relay 85.
made this 45cm long.

under the seat on the mudguard there is this connector for the wires grounding the tail light and rear indicators. it has a spare female bullet where the green cable from the relay can be plugged in.


here's the relay with all the wires attached. first time i made anything like this. it took a while but i'm actually pretty proud that it looks sort of real and actually works!



and everything hooked up under the left side cover. sorry for the slightly shaky picture - the garage lighting is not like a photo studio.


looking at this, what do you think: should i put some water protection around the flat connectors at the relay?

here the black/white wires going along the harness, to the coils.



i did it this way as if the relay fails, all i'll need to do is re-connect the black/white wires at the coils to their original configuration and it's all back to stock setup. the only hack to the original wires is in the red cable from battery to fuse.

so what does it do? while i had the multimeter to play with, i used it to do a comparison.

without relay (original setup), @3100 rpm approx.
at battery: 13.5V
at coils with
- lights off: 13.25V
- headlight low: 13.2V
- headlight high: 12.9V

with relay (after modification), @3100 rpm approx.
at battery: 13.5V
at coils with
- lights off: 13.5V
- headlight low: 13.5V
- headlight high: 13.5V

while the difference is not dramatic, it's clear that the relay makes the coils get the full power that the battery has available. and maybe most important: i learned a lot along the way.

strynboen, thanks again for your support - i couldn't have done this without you 

[flatlander]

one addition: the relay is attached to a 6mm bolt while its eyelet is 5mm so it had to be drilled up slightly.

[strynboen]

hey ,,it looks fine...think there vill be bigger diference a kold rayni day..at vinter...   at hot summer all this old vires and konnektors vork almost as new..but still you have a small lose in volt....think the relæ vill be teight at side mont..not komplet vater teight..but inside the sidecover there be dry..

[flatlander]

thank you! yes i think it usually stays pretty dry under the side cover. well i'll find out soon enough, when the cold and rainy season starts.

[flatlander]

just an update after i spent riding about 3hrs through constant rain including 3 (!) thunderstorms: all the electrics stayed nice and dry and worked flawlessly. they survived this unplanned "test" better than i did!

[flatlander]

back to the fuel filter story:
i managed to swap the one i bought against the correct one for my petcock. the only unexpected thing was that it didn't go into the hole in the tank because the guy who painted and coated the tank, also coated the inside of that outlet part. eejit!

took quite some scraping to get the tough coating off but then the filter fit like a glove. now the inline filter is gone and it's all good. if that makes any noticeable change has yet to be seen but fuel is definitely flowing better now.

[flatlander]

bikes over 30 years old used to pay no road tax here in the netherlands because they could be registered as oldtimers. as it is, they change the regulations and now it has to be 40 years to be an oldtimer. to ease the pain for those that used to fall under the oldtimer rule but no longer do, they invented some compromise meaning you pay a greatly reduced tax and are not allowed to ride the bike in december, january and february. as my 550 is too young by 1 year to be an oldtimer according to the new rules she's off the street now...

ok, and why would this be of any interest? well because this gives me 3 months to cuddle her in the garage! time to tear into the topend, take off the head and cylinder for an overhaul and do a few other jobs that i've been putting off while it was still good riding weather.

tank and exhaust came off in a breeze. then the carbs - different story. it's the first time i take them off and man, there's not much space. unbolted the airbox which gave the plenum a bit more wiggle room but it still took me quite while to coax them out, the buggers.



eventually they came off which felt like a small victory.

then the tach cable. the bolt holding it was tight as hell. tapped it with a hammer on the head of the screwdriver, used wd-40 - not budging. finally i soaked it with wd-40 and left it while going to work. back in the evening, it still didn't move.



getting more desperate i unbolted the housing, turned it upside-down and applied more wd-40 to the bottom of the bolt. then i went to have dinner.



came back thinking that if this doesn't work then i just take it off together with the housing and all, and deal with it later by drilling it out. but using an electric screwdriver that i leaned on with as much weight as i could without pushing the bike over, it finally gave up struggling and came out!



i'll be replacing this basterd with an allen head for sure.

to finish the first part i removed the breather cover which went without further incidents.



so far so good.
i read there are 2 types of the rocker covers: the earlier ones where the rocker shafts are loose and can rotate, and later ones where the shafts are locked down by some additional bolts. by the look of it i guess that mine's the earlier model - is that right?

so the preps are done, tomorrow i'll take her head off.
that's it for now - time for a beer.

[goldarrow]

What rule is this that the bike can't be on the road for 3 months?

[flatlander]

What rule is this that the bike can't be on the road for 3 months?

a stupid one!
i live in the netherlands where they seem to become quite creative when it comes to taxation.

old rule: bike over 30 years = oldtimer rule applies, pays no road tax
new rule: bike over 40 years = oldtimer rule applies, pays no road tax
"transition rule" for bikes between 30-40 years = reduced road tax, but not allowed to be on the road dec-feb

i guess the transition rule was invented to ease the pain for those that used to fall under the old rule but don't yet qualify as oldtimer with the new rule.
and this whole idea came about to weed out opportunists who bought an older vehicle just to dodge tax. the taxman probably figured that not even a tax dodger would run a 40 year old vehicle unless he's a real enthusiast.

[flatlander]

continued today...
first the rocker cover which posed no problems but i noticed that whoever was in there before me, forgot a few washers. a few of the bolts were also over-torqued.

there it is - looks quite decent to me.


next the camshaft and sprocket. i think they also look ok.

the cam sprocket was attached with 2 different type bolts. between that and the missing washers, somebody had not been completely up to scratch there... but so far i didn't come across anything alarming.

cam bearings are also nice and smooth.


now to get the head off... this is where i found out that those bloody nuts are not only quite deep, but there's also not much space around them. had to nip out to buy a thin-walled no.12 bit that would fit in there.
after this small intermission the brand new bit indeed fit perfectly. cracking the nuts loose took a bit of effort but after that it was plain sailing. also here, someone seems to have thought that washers are not always needed. getting little bit worried now but so far i did not detect any damage.
after a few knocks with a wooden mallet the head didn't put up any struggle and i could even lift off the gasket in one piece.

some slight scratching on the surface, probably from the brute who overtorqued those rocker cover bolts and doesn't have much respect for washers. but also here, nothing to be too worried about. so far so good.


here's the surface of the cam chain tensioner. slightly worn in - but i guess that's to be expected and no big deal, right?




cylinder and pistons...


... pistons without cylinder...


... and cylinder without pistons. the bores look quite smooth.


so that was that.
next i'll clean everything a bit. then i'll ship the head off to the infamous mr. rieck for some porting magic. but that's only going to happen after the x-mas rush is over, so plenty of time to investigate all the parts in more detail.

[strynboen]

i have been there.

.thek the piston tops..one of mine has been hot and dommed dovn..almost melted..one kaburettor must been run lean.

.but all yours.. looks fine,,,thek the valve train..you  modell have not fixed the 4 rocker arm shafts...so they runs in the main head cast...and can easy worn aut..it gives unstabile valve adjusting...if you have any problems..just bay a k3 top it fits direkt..and are a great upgrade(not to been seen)


be care to bay a GOOD gasket set..mine leakes..it just hold for fev weeks..then it leaked ..i have even gived it some bond araund the oil lines

[flatlander]

i checked the rocker shafts. the bearing of one is really worn, it has a lot of play. too bad because the rest seem good still.
well i guess i will start looking for one of those later covers, with the fixed shafts as you suggest.

[flatlander]

started cleaning the stuff. my partner is at her work's christmas do tonight so i put up a desk in the livingroom, crank up the music, open a beer and get busy. she's very tolerant of these things, i'm really lucky there but i know the smell of turpentine in the room would not make her happy so i do it while she's not here and air out the place before she's back 

here's the camshaft and the rockers


ready to be exchanged for hardweld ones. there's some pitting going on, on the side where the bloody rocker cover was worn out. hope that won't be a problem.



intake manifolds, freed of crud.



and that's it for now... to be continued.

[Stev-o]

Might be a good time to drop a 650 cam in there?