Topic: First Project - '76 550F refresh

[ryanj]

After spending the better part of the last couple of months reading hundreds of posts on this forum, I've finally been able to dedicate a bit of time to working on my 1976 550F that I bought early this spring.  It started out as a PO's abandoned project and so far I've replaced or reassembled the controls and reattached them to the bars; disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the carbs; de-rusted the tank; swapped out the painted fenders for chrome; rebuilt the front caliper; painted the tank and side covers.

Here's the bike when I first got it


Here's the rust inside the tank


This is the industrial toilet cleaner I used (20-40% phosphoric acid.)  Since I couldn't find Prep & Etch here (in Canada) I was able to get this stuff from a janitorial supply company for only about $4 per bottle, dumped a couple litres in and shook it up every 10 minutes or so.  It's super sticky stuff so it hangs onto the sides of the tank pretty well.


This is after 45 minutes or an hour, drained, rinsed, and fogged with a light oil.


This weekend I finished the clear coat (Spraymax 2K) after painting the tank and side covers with acrylic enamel a couple weeks ago and putting on the new decals.


So that's where I'm at right now.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be getting a call from Acklands-Grainger to let me know that my tube of Dow High Vacuum Grease is in so I can lube up the front brake, reinstall, and bleed it.  Then I suppose it'll be time to set the fire extinguisher close by, put some fuel to it and cross my fingers.  When I momentarily hooked up the battery and turned the ignition on (just to see if anything would light up) everything seemed to work so hopefully all my connections are good.  I've done all the 3000 mile maintenance stuff and I guess once I (try to) fire it up I'll be able to see what other issues I have.

Anyway, in the meantime, I thought I'd finally contribute something here but mostly I just wanted to thank everyone for unknowingly helping me, this place is truly invaluable.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Very nice.  I was hoping for a better color when I first saw the faded yellow paint in the post. 

[ryanj]

Thanks! I hated the yellow so it had to go.  I could see around the fuel opening that this bike was originally blue (which I really like) but I had to go black since it's my favourite and I'm not trying to do a perfect restoration (partly because I would probably fail miserably and also because I really can't wait to actually ride this thing.)  It turned out pretty well, though, considering my lack of painting experience/equipment/facilities...  Either way, shiny black with chrome fenders just makes sense to me.  Also, I checked out your projects and they're stunning, I really dig both your 750 and 550.  Thanks for the encouragement.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Thanks! I hated the yellow so it had to go.  I could see around the fuel opening that this bike was originally blue (which I really like) but I had to go black since it's my favourite and I'm not trying to do a perfect restoration (partly because I would probably fail miserably and also because I really can't wait to actually ride this thing.)  It turned out pretty well, though, considering my lack of painting experience/equipment/facilities...  Either way, shiny black with chrome fenders just makes sense to me.  Also, I checked out your projects and they're stunning, I really dig both your 750 and 550.  Thanks for the encouragement.

Thanks for the nice words, Ryan.  Black is no easy color to paint - it is very unforgiving, and yours turned out looking great.

[Tews19]

Nice job on the paint. Subscribed and good luck on the first start up.

[ryanj]

Thanks, Tews. Got my brakes all sorted out today and picked up some 7/32" fuel line so I can hook up the tank off the bike and try to fire it up tomorrow. The clutch seems to be stuck (hopefully just because the bike has been sitting for a couple years) so I'm hoping once I get some oil pressure and temperature I'll be able to jolt it free. Anyway, thanks again for checking this out, I'll keep the updates coming.

[ryanj]

Aaaaaand, she's a runner! Put some fuel in the old gal and she fired right up! The peacock/fuel tap was leaking so I took it apart and cleaned it up, seems all good now. The clutch didn't pose too much of a problem either, rocked the bike back and forth a couple times and then adjusted everything. I went for a little up and down the street rip (since I don't have plates or insurance on this thing yet) and everything worked as it should. My cheeks are a bit sore from smiling, though... I can't wait to get the safety done and get out on the road f'real!

And now the bad... I seem to have a little fuel dripping from the #3 carb (of course it's an inside one...) so I'm really hoping once things cool off that I can just tighten the bowl screws and everything sorts itself out, I really don't wanna pull the carbs again.

The other situation is my lack of headlight and horn. All the turn signals work (front and rear) and so does the brake light, but I've got no beam and no beep. Time to dust off the old multimeter (and the instruction book...)

The final thing I've got to keep an eye on is the blue-ish smoke I've encountered. I'm not sure if it's just from the oil I used to coat the tank after I de-rusted it burning off or if it's something more serious. Here's hoping it's the former.

So that's that. Carry on.

[Tews19]

If you have an angled screw driver you should access the carb bowl with them on the bike still. Most likely a stuck float or not properly leveled.  Smack it a few times before you open her up.

[ryanj]

Headlight and horn are sorted out.  All I needed to do was spray a little electrical cleaner inside the left hand switch and toggle everything a bit and things came to life.  As for my drippy carb, I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and take the rack off again and recheck my float heights and o-ring condition, it's a small price to pay for peace of mind and not starting a blaze betwixt my legs.

All in all I'm super happy with how everything is coming together.  I've got a bit of a hanging idle situation that I'm hoping will be sorted out when I vacuum sync the carbs on Wednesday.  It is definitely not anything to do with the throttle cables as everything is clear and snappy, so hopefully a proper sync will iron that out.  I've got my safety inspection scheduled for Thursday and, barring any catastrophes, I should have this little scoot all legal and legit soon after that.

Thanks again for having a peek at my progress.

[flatlander]

hey, just came across this thread. good to see you finally got started on the bike.
curious too see where this will go. it could be a twin sister of mine: same year, same model, same original colour (no not the yellow).

[ryanj]

Hey Flatlander, thanks for checking this out.

I really gotta hand it to the folks who meticulously document their projects. In between doing all the work and fearing it'd be too mundane to share, I really didn't take as many pictures as I could have. Ah well.

So last night I pulled the rack again and sorted out my fuel leak. Verified the float height on the leaky carb, reinstalled the o ring and tightened it up. Seems all good now, no more drip. Today I hooked up my spankin' new carb sync gauges, parked a fan in front of this little furnace, and took a swing at syncing up these carbs. Everything went fairly smoothly, I only really had to adjust two a small amount to bring them in line with the other two. This seemed to help sort out my hanging idle situation also, although with a tiny turn of the idle screw I'm right back into it. It seems really sensitive. Where I have it set right now is okay but if I turn it just a hair to raise the idle a bit, I get the same old issue of it not settling back down after revving it up. I dunno, I'm not going to dick around with it, it's working fine.

I think that's all the new developments until I got for the safety inspection tomorrow. Thanks again.

[flatlander]

sounds like a busy night. fingers crossed for your inspection!

[ryanj]

Damn... I forgot to update this.

I have a good excuse, though.  The bike passed its safety inspection no problem, except the shop had to tighten the chain (duh... can't believe in all I've been doing I neglected that... ah well, it's done now).  So I finally got it plated and on the road.  I gotta say, this thing is wicked.  I really love riding it around.  I used to get approached by all kinds of people when I had my '65 Chrysler and it seems that this old Honda is just as popular.  In between conversations, though, it's a really fun ride!

Finally being able to put some miles on I'm exposing little things I'll need to address.  I'm still not convinced it's running as well as it could be, riding around is all good but the idle is still a bit inconsistent.  The other situation I'll have to look into (maybe this winter) is the seat.  I appear to have the original seat pan but it's definitely been recovered at some point.  The problem I have is that the old foam isn't really firm enough for my liking.  It's probably just a bit worn out from nearly 40 years of butts, so I'll have to sort something out.  I'm also a pretty long-legged 6' 2" so I can use all the height I can get to stay comfortably fitted on this bike.

I'll try to remember to post some pictures now that I'm out in public!