Topic: 1975 CB550K1 - Stock-ish Restomod - More Mods

[rtbmrgl]

Well, I took the 550 out for a longer ride, which revealed another trouble area -- electrical.  She appears to have a short that is taxing the electrical system.  Worse yet, it appears that the battery is draining with the key off.  This happened a week or so ago, but I thought I might have left the key in the ignition on "on."  I just managed to drain the charge overnight on a lithium battery with the key definitely out.  I quick charged it, started the bike, let it sit a most of the day and it had drained the battery again.

I have a replica wiring harness for it, a blade fuseblock and a regulator/rectifier already sourced, so I plan to swap out the old for the new in the coming weeks -- maybe while the tank gets repaired and painted.

Here you can see the gas stains and fade in the tank and the dimple.  Nothing a little paint won't fix.

Bummer about the short, was wondering when the key is out and no are on, may the ignition is powered. just a thought.

I wish the tank I'm working on now was as good as shape as yours. mine looks like it went through a hail storm.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

The bike managed to kill the lithium ion battery. Or perhaps the battery was defective. I placed it on a balanced charger and it was still charging after 7 hours. I sent it back to the manufacturer for an exchange.

That said, the bike also killed a standard battery with a parasitic drain (power off) so something appears to be wonky with the wiring.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I decided to swap out the old harness with the replica OEM, solid state regulator/rectifier and blade fuse block.

I'm also going to try a baffle in the 4-1 to make it more civilized and hopefully gain some additional mid-range torque with the added back pressure.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

464632_10151122177362186_180829445_o_zpsbd338549 by Donald Leonhardt, on Flickr

Another mod on the list.  I'm hoping to make an improvement to the front with a Tarozzi fork brace.

22-0014_alt2_zps8a7e9dc0 by Donald Leonhardt, on Flickr

22-0014_alt1_zpsea3bb43a by Donald Leonhardt, on Flickr

[dagersh]

Sorry Fan, but I just downloaded the WWSD!

Awesome!

Gersh

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Sorry Fan, but I just downloaded the WWSD!

Awesome!

Gersh

I want it on a t-shirt!

[dagersh]

I am in for one of those!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Hah!  I just made one on Cafe Press!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Hah!  I just made one on Cafe Press!

Bummer. Cafe Press rejected the design.

[tweakin]

+1, would have made a cool shirt.

Hah!  I just made one on Cafe Press!

Bummer. Cafe Press rejected the design.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I decided to skip the repro and have a wire harness made from scratch (like the one on my 750 Nine Lives bike).  It came out ultra tidy, and its fitted to the new solid state regulator/rectifier (likely the parasitic drain culprit) and new blade-style fuse block.  I'm still waiting on a baffle for the 4-1 Yosh exhaust, and the tank just went to my painter.  Unfortunately, the candy is completely faded off in spots to the blue base coat (yes, a blue base with a green candy overlay).  So, the stock tank will get stripped, repaired and re-sprayed stock colors and then fitted with repro decals and badges.  My FrankenFrankenStuff sidecovers are also getting painted and fitted with repro badges.  I'm hoping to have the bike road ready in less than 2 weeks.

My cool Tarozzi fork brace arrived, but I didn't take into account the front fender, which mounts at almost the same exact height.  There's only room for one.  Has anyone run into this problem and worked out a solution to mount the fender and Tarozzi fork brace on a 550K??

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Also slipped on a new set of Avons that came with my 2nd 550K.

[2strokeTrush]

Where did you get your new MC? and does it work well? I like how condensed it is.  I may be replacing mine on the 500f I just picked up. 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Where did you get your new MC? and does it work well? I like how condensed it is.  I may be replacing mine on the 500f I just picked up.

It is a Braking (brand) 16 radial master cylinder.  They no longer make the Braking 16 and Braking 18 MC with the style of integrated square master cylinder.  They come up every now and again on ebay.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

After more poking around, it appears that there is no simple mod available to adapt my existing fender to fit alongside my Tarozzi fork brace.  Some folks have mounted other fenders by bolting them to the four verticle bolts holding the brace together, but this will not work with the existing fender.  Another suggestion was to mount a 750F front end to the bike, buy a new Tarozzi brace and mount that stock fender which will fit with the brace installed.  To me that's too much of a modification to the stock bike. 

I've come to the present conclusion that it's either the brace and no fender or the fender and no brace.  I am not sure IF Telefix makes a brace that is compatible with the stock fender, but I don't want to roll the dice.  For now, I will shelf the brace, and maybe rebuild the fork internals (new springs) to improve the handling.  I'm not sure IF the stock fork dampers allow for installation of Race Tech's gold valve emulators.  If not, I will just go with progressive springs, new seals and new oil.

[dagersh]

Fan,

I would love to figure out the Race Techs for these bikes.  I just have not yet had the head to figure it out.  I think I saw it done on one of the builds  - I thought it was Tintop's gorgeous build,  but now I cannot find it.

There has to be way to get them to work....  Maybe we can do a Sticky!

Gersh

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Gersh,

After some more poking around, it appears that my 550K1 forks ARE indeed compatible with the Race Tech emulators and springs.  You need to install their emulator adapters to the existing fork dampers and then the emulators, then the straight rate springs, oil, and seals.  The only obstacle for me is the coin, since I have more bikes I would like to build up.  I wanted to keep this bike as stock as possible, but it's my one 2-up rider and I want it to be as safe as possible (brake-wise and handling-wise).  I'll have to prioritize.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I found a nice NOS Stator Cover to replace my boogered up dented cover.  Why do I sweat these things?

cover_zpsb970fb72 by Donald Leonhardt, on Flickr

[rtbmrgl]

I found a nice NOS Stator Cover to replace my boogered up dented cover.  Why do I sweat these things?

A work of art, nice

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

After more poking around, it appears that there is no simple mod available to adapt my existing fender to fit alongside my Tarozzi fork brace.  Some folks have mounted other fenders by bolting them to the four verticle bolts holding the brace together, but this will not work with the existing fender.  Another suggestion was to mount a 750F front end to the bike, buy a new Tarozzi brace and mount that stock fender which will fit with the brace installed.  To me that's too much of a modification to the stock bike. 

I've come to the present conclusion that it's either the brace and no fender or the fender and no brace.  I am not sure IF Telefix makes a brace that is compatible with the stock fender, but I don't want to roll the dice.  For now, I will shelf the brace, and maybe rebuild the fork internals (new springs) to improve the handling.  I'm not sure IF the stock fork dampers allow for installation of Race Tech's gold valve emulators.  If not, I will just go with progressive springs, new seals and new oil.

I had a great suggestion about the fork brace fender issue from Goddfrey and Cal.  Goddfrey has mounted a fender to the bottom of a Tarozzi brace by drilling and tapping the bottom of the brace and bolting in a fender.  I also found a nice looking aluminum bobbed fender that might make for a good candidate to mount up to the bottom of the brace.  $55 from 7 metal west:

4_inch_wide_cafe_front_smooth_zpsfe996e3a by Donald Leonhardt, on Flickr

This looks even cleaner than my bobbed stock fender:

image_zps8c42a33c by Donald Leonhardt, on Flickr

[flatlander]

looks like i may be a bit late to the party but in case you want to go back to the stock fender, this guy could make a fitting fork brace for you: http://tkat.com/forkbrace.html
haven't used him (yet) myself but he's been recommended by others on here.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

looks like i may be a bit late to the party but in case you want to go back to the stock fender, this guy could make a fitting fork brace for you: http://tkat.com/forkbrace.html
haven't used him (yet) myself but he's been recommended by others on here.

Hmmmm.  Thanks.  That's a pretty good alternative.  I'll look into it.

[riverfever]

Damn. Your 750 is incredible and now you're starting on a 550 that is rapidly taking form? Jealous.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Got the new lithium battery in and Jay completed the baffle.  It looks great.  Now, I'm just waiting on the tank and covers to be painted, decals applied, cleared, and badges installed.  Bondo says about 1 week.  The tank just got sandblasted, and I'm going to Caswell coat the interior just to keep it rust free.

The plan is to ride it until I have all of the parts ready to install the dual drilled disc set up and fork internals.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Definitely going to hold off any any Joker Machine triple swap for now (I'll keep the parts on ice), as I would need to alter the idiot lights (a look I kind of like on this bike).  Also the JM tree handlebar clamps are all set for 1" bars, so it would force me to clipons.  For now, I'm going to stick with the stock trees.  After the tank is done and I've had some fun riding the bike, I will undertake rebuilding the fork internals, converting to dual disc and bracing either with the Tarozzi or looking into the Tkat brace.