Author Topic: 1976 CB550F - making it good, one step at a time (Read 124813 times)

strynboen · « **Reply #375 on:** October 19, 2016, 07:43:12 AM »

i think the air is more dence"holds more vater/air..and is a bit cooler too..its bind oxigen in the intake air..so the engine breath more burnabel air..a good seson..a shame the road grib is gone at the exatt same time

flatlander · « **Reply #376 on:** October 19, 2016, 12:20:23 PM »

yeah so those who put their money on jetting may be on to something. i need to give this another try in cooler conditions.
won't be able to deal with this very soon now as my partner had a death in her family and is gone now for a week and i'm holding the fort on my own.

Trad · « **Reply #377 on:** October 19, 2016, 07:18:30 PM »

Enjoyed catching up on this one. +1

flatlander · « **Reply #378 on:** October 20, 2016, 01:16:42 PM »

thanks man! i still have your cam here. during the dark and cold season i'll drop it in and see how it does.

ceebee ninja · « **Reply #379 on:** December 01, 2016, 04:55:14 AM »

I can see koni rear shocks - are they older original (pre 79) or newer - if older have you re-built them?

flatlander · « **Reply #380 on:** December 01, 2016, 05:12:27 AM »

they are pre 79. i have not done anything to them yet, they actually work fine. but i'm in touch with ikon to get the internals upgraded to their current standard.

ceebee ninja · « **Reply #381 on:** December 06, 2016, 04:34:24 AM »

I got in touch with IKON for similar with my rear shocks - they could not help as they were too old.

flatlander · « **Reply #382 on:** December 06, 2016, 08:00:04 AM »

was it ikon in australia? i'm in touch with a guy there called geoff who is the boss. he's definitely sorting me out although it takes some time, and he also has another customer for whom he does the same upgrade.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #383 on:** December 06, 2016, 12:49:32 PM »

Geoff is the Ikon Australia parent. Nils, Noblehops on sohc4, became a US distributor for Ikon very recently. It sounds like it might be a set of the non adjustable shocks as he has mentioned they don't have rebuild capabilities for those.

Best of luck sorting it out.

flatlander · « **Reply #384 on:** December 06, 2016, 11:00:28 PM »

what number are they? mine are 76K-1302. they can't be rebuilt with standard, available parts. needs some manufacturing.

flatlander · « **Reply #385 on:** December 10, 2016, 01:58:58 AM »

sent my gauges to marcel at cb750faces.com. now he's taunting with me pictures of how they come together.

the tach had been hanging sometimes around 6k rpm which has gotten worse recently. also, the speedo needle developed a bad jitter, jumping around like crazy. so i sent them off to get them all done up, including some fresh make-up on the needles and redline indication, where the red and orange colours had faded quite a bit.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #386 on:** December 10, 2016, 03:12:50 AM »

Looks nice, but he is a master craftsman with the gauges.
Looking like gold for several years to come.

David

Stev-o · « **Reply #387 on:** December 10, 2016, 07:35:57 AM »

Didn't know Marcell did 5550 gauges too? His work is second to none, had him do some K1 gauges for an upcoming project.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #388 on:** December 10, 2016, 08:07:45 AM »

Amazing. Better than new.

flatlander · « **Reply #389 on:** December 10, 2016, 10:35:36 AM »

it's not on his website yet but he can do 550 gauges now. on mine, the trip meter knob is gone and he doesn't have that one. but apart from that, he can do them.

flatlander · « **Reply #390 on:** February 03, 2017, 11:56:09 PM »

been a bit quiet here lately... so let me just put up some before/after pics of the gauges.

they don't only look good, they also work fine again.

Scott S · « **Reply #391 on:** February 04, 2017, 04:49:45 AM »

I know it's in here somewhere, but can you tell me where you ended up on the jetting for your combo? And needle clip position?

flatlander · « **Reply #392 on:** February 04, 2017, 06:16:40 AM »

at the moment it's stock carb settings for the 550F: 38, 98, 2nd clip position.

if you red some of the last posts, you see that it might be a bit on the rich side and i want to fine-tune it on the dyno. on the other hand, i want to examine my exhaust carefully as i have a suspicion that it might be rusted internally. want to wait with the dyno until i have figured out what i do with the exhaust. will mention in this thread what i'll end up with.

strynboen · « **Reply #393 on:** February 04, 2017, 02:01:07 PM »

the rust can close the small expansion holes..and in some systems make more back pressure..other rust the holes bigger..and then open up the system
both is making problems..but to build some ekstra back pressure..make a insert is easy-..vorse is the bkocked ones.(.i had once glasblasted a system and make ot block it all up..on my 2 stroke scooter)

Scott S · « **Reply #394 on:** February 04, 2017, 05:18:48 PM »

Quote from: flatlander on February 04, 2017, 06:16:40 AM

at the moment it's stock carb settings for the 550F: 38, 98, 2nd clip position.

if you red some of the last posts, you see that it might be a bit on the rich side and i want to fine-tune it on the dyno. on the other hand, i want to examine my exhaust carefully as i have a suspicion that it might be rusted internally. want to wait with the dyno until i have figured out what i do with the exhaust. will mention in this thread what i'll end up with.

I think it's pretty cool that you've got a pretty modified little motor and still run stock jetting.
I ended up nearly stock on a set of "lean burn" PD carbs on a mildly modded motor before. Just goes to show how forgiving these Hondas are.
If you're rich and just can't tune it out, it may be the needles/emulsion tubes. I've had two K bikes like that. Sorta odd....maybe the P.O.'s didn't keep the air filter as clean as it should have been or something? It's gonna be hard to find jet sets (emulsion tubes/needles) for an F model, though.

flatlander · « **Reply #395 on:** February 05, 2017, 12:06:54 AM »

air filter is fine, it's been replaced by me. i've got some jets to play with, but no needles or emulsion tubes.
the stock carb settings are very close to being right, just a tiny bit off. the fact that now, in cold winter temperatures, the hesitation that used to be there in the summer, around 8.5-9k rpm is so much less that you can call it almost gone, makes me thing that on WOT the mix is just a tad rich. when you think about it, the mods really kick in with higher efficiency at higher rpms.

i go today and see what i can figure out about the exhaust. my feeling is i'll be getting a replacement to continue the tuning and have something that buys me time to pull apart the stock pipe and see what state it's really in.

flatlander · « **Reply #396 on:** February 05, 2017, 01:03:02 PM »

well the muffler doesn't come off at all. at least not without risking a certain degree of destruction which i don't want to do right now. but i don't think i can make any definite conclusions from that concerning the internal shape of it.

seems more and more likely that i'll slap on an alternative so that i can take the time to investigate my current one. might be interesting anyway, to see how the bike goes with a different exhaust.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #397 on:** February 05, 2017, 07:33:46 PM »

Quote from: calj737 on February 05, 2017, 03:58:14 PM

Scott S just showed you where to get a sexy replacement...

And it's closer to you than us!

flatlander · « **Reply #398 on:** February 06, 2017, 02:14:38 AM »

you know, those are really tempting me. so far i've been completely partial to the stock 4-1, because of my idea to keep the bike close to stock looks and also because i thing the header design was one of the characteristic elements of the 550F. all that would be lost with any other exhaust but that one... would make up for it in so many ways that i'm getting weak and ready to give up on my principles.

flatlander · « **Reply #399 on:** February 06, 2017, 02:36:37 AM »

yah yah... you guys are the devils that whisper in my ear!

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Author Topic: 1976 CB550F - making it good, one step at a time (Read 124813 times)