Topic: Source for good exhaust guides for 550

[Tim.]

So, as my luck would have it, my local Honda dealer decides to go belly up immediately after I pre-pay an order for my 4 new exhaust guides for the CB550F I'm rebuilding.

This was no fly-by-night dealer - been around for 100 years, and I could walk there from the house.  Going to miss them.

Anyhow - I'll get my money from VISA one way or the other, but in the meantime I need to get my bloody guides.  Figure I might as well take advantage of the situation and see if I can buy better than stock guides anywhere - can I get bronze guides for the 550?

Point me in the right direction!  I paid US$12 or so for each Honda OEM guide, and if fancy ones are much more I won't bother.

[bryanj]

Only sugestion i got is good old Dave Silver, He even had some NOS heads at £150 GBP that come complete with guides but not valves, etc.

[Tim.]

I can order brand new OEM guides from Honda for $12 each, but figured if there were bronze ones or something like that available, I might as well go that route.

I'll just go ahead and re-order my guides from another Honda dealer and hope they don't go bankrupt too!

[bwaller]

You might check with Kibblewhite, they may offer guides for the 500.

[MRieck]

You might check with Kibblewhite, they may offer guides for the 500.

Yes they do.

[Tim.]

Yes, they do - dumb question - I presume they would be identical to the 550?  The product sheet is kind of confusing - where can I buy these from myself?  Doesn't appear to be an order option at www.blackdiamondvalves.com or any pricing.  Any rough guesses as to the price?

I've ordered another set of stock guides for $13 each, and frankly will likely just use them.  But, if I can get Kibble's for not a lot more, I'm happy to drop the $$$.

[Tommy Neimeyer]

Just curious, are you able to install the guides yourself?  I have several heads from different bikes that could use guides but I don't know who to send them to for replacement.

One last question, how did you determine the existing guides needed replacing?

Cheers, Tom

[jtb]

Just curious, are you able to install the guides yourself? I have several heads from different bikes that could use guides but I don't know who to send them to for replacement.

One last question, how did you determine the existing guides needed replacing?

Cheers, Tom

Tom, Mike Rieck is the "head" man.  He just did the head on my 750F2 which I hope to fire up this weekend.  Changed all the valve guides, replaced the valves and ported the head.  Great job.

John

[MRieck]

Yes, they do - dumb question - I presume they would be identical to the 550?  The product sheet is kind of confusing - where can I buy these from myself?  Doesn't appear to be an order option at www.blackdiamondvalves.com or any pricing.  Any rough guesses as to the price?

I've ordered another set of stock guides for $13 each, and frankly will likely just use them.  But, if I can get Kibble's for not a lot more, I'm happy to drop the $$$.

I'll be ordering some guides in a week or 2. I'll get you a price on the Kibblewhite. One thing to keep in mind is the bronze guides shed heat faster.

[MRieck]

Just curious, are you able to install the guides yourself?  I have several heads from different bikes that could use guides but I don't know who to send them to for replacement.

One last question, how did you determine the existing guides needed replacing?

Cheers, Tom

You can use a simple delection test or measure the ID of the guide with a ball gauge and compare it to the stem OD. Remember....you need to do a valve job after new guides as the valve will no longer be centered on the seat.

[Tim.]

I'll be ordering some guides in a week or 2. I'll get you a price on the Kibblewhite. One thing to keep in mind is the bronze guides shed heat faster.

Yeah, that's why I figured I'd look into bronze instead of the OEM Honda's.  When I had the valves done last year, the guy who did it put bronze liners in two of the exhaust guides.  Not sure why he didn't do all 4.  Those are apparantly just fine - not the best idea I suppose, and only 2000 miles on the liners, but it appears to be relatively common practice in the automotive industry.

Anyhow, like I say I'm not racing the bike, and I'm sure the Honda guides will do the trick - let me know the price on the Kibblewhites anyhow, as I may pick up a set for the next time around.