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

[flatlander]

my first thought was dielectric grease of which i'm not too big a friend as it does attract dirt as strynboen says. i wasn't even considering its "voltage resistance". we're talking here about the input to the coils, however, which is 12V.

stev-o came up with the suggestion to use shrink wrap which sounded better for the longer term and less messy. it survived the first test and looks like it won't give up very soon. of course, time will tell...

[RAFster122s]

I thought the solution was to shrink wrap the electrical connections on the coils, not the high tension plug wire connections.  I am not a big fan of dielectric grease but it can sometimes work.
I was suggesting that the wires from points to coil connections have a bit of dielectric grease to keep moisture out of that quick disconnect terminal.
David

[flatlander]

RAF you are right, it's the input to the coils from points or in my case, CDI unit - not the HT wire connections. i shrink-wrapped these, an only put a tiny bit of grease at the end of the shrink wrap where it touches the body of the coils.
i think i'll take some pictures, that will make it more clear.

[RAFster122s]

Death Valley in the US is also below sea level.
It is hot and dry there
Holland isn't quite so hot, being so far north.

Beautiful bike.  Love that blue, imagine ladies will also compliment it.

[flatlander]

ok here's what i did.

here's the right-hand coils, 12V in on the left, and HT out on the right. the HT wires that came with the ignition kit, came with boots that keep the connections dry. the 12V connections didn't have any protection. in the picture, the shrink-wrap is already installed.


view from top


after shrink-wrapping the connectors i slid a piece of un-shrunk shrink-wrap over them.
the un-shrunk bit can be slid over the part where the connector leaves a small gap to the coil body, to protect it better from humidity.
then i called a shrink to de-shrink my shrunken mind.





like this, everything seems to stay nice and dry.


RAF i spent one night in death valley. couldn't sleep as the heat didn't leave even during the night, i was just lying there sweating!
that blue is the original colour - or at least as close to it as possible. i got it repainted as some OP had changed it to a muddy brown.

[Stev-o]

I cannot see pics, just a large "-" with a circle around it. Odd....

[flatlander]

oops i guess i messed up the links. will fix it later when back home.

[Restoration Fan]

I cannot see pics, just a large "-" with a circle around it. Odd....

+1

[flatlander]

the pictures should be fixed now. can you see them?

[Stev-o]

the pictures should be fixed now. can you see them?

Yes, nice job on the wrap. What the shrink say?!

[flatlander]

after some further shrink-wrapping, shrink said i'm so shrunked-up that she had to go get a good shrinking herself!

[Stev-o]

...shrink said i'm so shrunked-up that she had to go get a good shrinking herself!

I wonder if she said that after seeing you emerge from the shower? 

Shrinkage?!

[RAFster122s]

Sometimes I get that issue trying to view a thread and your browser will not have enough memory to display the photos.

[flatlander]

there was some trouble with the photo hosting site i used, making most pictures disappear.
i restored now what i could. unfortunately some got lost completely but most of them are back.

[strynboen]

have you poliresed the coils korrekt.
..i have that idea that negative koil konnektion, must go to breakers=frame=negativ to frame
..like the battery..
looks like you have the( Black posetive suply vire from bike vireness ) on minus on the coil..it is a positiv kurrent..and must go on the positive coil konnektion...
if it are konnekted vrong....the spark springs from frame to elektrode..and not from elektrode to frame.(in sparkplug).and the volframe elektrode is not make its nice vork....it jump better the right vay araund...in mine teori...and eats not material of the plug,, so fast

[flatlander]

hi strynboen, here's the best picture i have of he wiring:



the black wire going into (-) on the right hand coil, is actually blue. you can see the blue piece of insulation tape that i marked it with.

and here the schematics that came with the boyer instructions:



on mine, the yellow wire is the one connecting the coils with each other.
my "blue" (black cable) goes into (-) of my right hand coil, which fires 1 and 4.
black/white goes into (+) of my left hand coil which fires 2 and 3.

so i reversed the left/right coils compared to stock and also compared to the schematics, because it was easier to wire them up this way: shorter linkage between the (+) and (-) of the two coils, with the yellow wire.
i hope this makes sense. should be ok, right?

[strynboen]

ve have lost the Photos..... ....

[Stev-o]

ve have lost the Photos..... ....

+1

[strynboen]

 both collored yellow/blue  goes on negative. via points/or ign box..and both Black(/vhite).( power suply).goes on posetive..on the coils... ..
  most importment is that power(ignision key power) goes inn the positive marked on both coil..?they are parelell konnekted from the ignision power suply..that Black vires spleises aut from one vire

looks like the yellow vire goes on posetive konnektor on the coil..
EDIT  boyer use a speciel vay to konnekt the coils..its done korrekt

[flatlander]

ok i think now you should be able to see the images.

this is driving me crazy: i'm using google photos and it seems like i can't directly link an image, i need to put it in an album first otherwise it is not visible.

[strynboen]

just leave it as it is..you are korrekt..
its just strange...vay to do it..but dont care..its made after the book...alles klar...(..but dont do that vay on a stock bike)

i have the same problems on a moped forum.(.i have been banned/or somthing??)..so have to put the Photos on a galleri.( on forum).that is not bloked..and then i can easy move them to the main forum...

[flatlander]

thanks for confirming. i'm glad about your electrical expertise!
huh, i hope i'm not banned or something 

[strynboen]

yea..."somthing" can be real bad and scary...

[flatlander]

"something" is much more scary than banned... much more scary than anything!

[flatlander]

remember that valve spring retainer that got damaged by a tappet adjust screw that went loose?
looked like this:



as part of some winter work i decided to replace it. not sure if it was needed but makes me feel better.
i tried to do it with the head in the frame which needed a bit of improvisation: a wire spanner, 6mm bolt, tyre iron, piece of tubing and a rope all helped together to create a make-shift valve spring compressor.



here we go - all good again:



while the cover was off i also retarded the cam a couple of degrees.
when installing it i advanced it a tiny bit, about 1.5 degrees or so (give or take some measuring tolerances). because i wanted to make sure i got as much mid-range power as possible. but now, after seeing how much torque this engine config produces, it turned out to be unnecessary and i could reverse that precaution.

there was also a stripped thread on one of the bolts for the cam cover that i fixed with a helicoil.

so now we're almost ready for spring. although, i do want to revisit the clutch mod that i skipped last year.