Topic: Patina Hyena - 550/650 674cc Hybrid Cafe Build

[Maurice]

You will (not 'might' or 'may') only have to synch after touching the needles... Or if you separate the carbs.

No need when swapping jets. Actually on these PD carbs (maybe others) you can swap mains on the bike if you want.

What does the bike do at WOT? Sputters, falls flat, pulls strong all the way to redline (pick a safe place to check that, eh)? But read the carb faq if you haven't already.

[DaveBarbier]

You will (not 'might' or 'may') only have to synch after touching the needles... Or if you separate the carbs.

No need when swapping jets. Actually on these PD carbs (maybe others) you can swap mains on the bike if you want.

What does the bike do at WOT? Sputters, falls flat, pulls strong all the way to redline (pick a safe place to check that, eh)? But read the carb faq if you haven't already.

That's what I figured. And yeah, I've noticed I can swap the jets with just taking off the bowls while they're still on the bike.

I have been reading the FAQ on carbs a lot. That's why it's a little weird, it smokes and smells very rich at WOT but it pulls strong and smooth...in a straight, flat, cop-less stretch of road.

Like you said earlier though, one thing at a time. I think I'll focus on the idle then worry about the mains and needle position. I'll be doing plug chops soon enough hopefully.

Speaking of which. Plug chopping at idle, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and WOT is enough right? And I've seen on YouTube people doing it with the bike still. But on the FAQ it suggests doing it while riding so it's under load. Big difference in the two?


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1978 Honda CB550K

[Maurice]

Can you post a video of what idle is like after warmed up? How low it can go, return to idle after blip, things like that. It is very surprising that it runs rich with pods. Is there a dead rat in your exhaust or something? Also running rich at idle it will want to bog down and die, not scream up into the RPMs.

No plug chops at idle. Otherwise yes it's preferable under load. Worry about it when you get there.

[DaveBarbier]

Wait, you guys don't keep your dead rats in your muffler?! Where else am I supposed to put him?

I can post a video maybe tomorrow. Right now I just decided to pull the carbs again because I remember I never made sure the IMS were installed properly. As far as I know the guy put them in backwards. But for #$%*s I removed the OEM 42 slow jets. I saw this before and it never occurred to me. This is why it's running rich.



I'm holding the stock 42 and an aftermarket 45 slow jet. Guess which is which...wrong! The left is the 42. What gives? Was this drilled out by the PO? He did other questionable things like electrical tape the leaking front brake line so I wouldn't be surprised.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[Maurice]

Doh! You got PO'd.

It's a wonder it ran at all. I bet with the 45 jets it will run much better straight away.

[DaveBarbier]

Doh! You got PO'd.

It's a wonder it ran at all. I bet with the 45 jets it will run much better straight away.

I'd rather get KO'd than PO'd. But too bad I can't run it right now. It's raining and I probably won't be able to test it until maybe Friday or Saturday. Keep you guys posted. Jeepers creepers I hope this fixes something.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Ok, big update. I was working with my family friend and the bike seems now to be running really well! The drilled out pilot jet really screwed me. It was drilled out as you can see in the above picture to about double the size of the 45 slow jet. We put in real 42's again, IMS 1 turn out from seated and kept the 110 mains. After adjusting the timing again and a good carb sync it idles at a hair over 1000 and revs quick and drops right back down. It's 45° F and I'm out riding. So far so good. I'll post back if it all goes to #$%* again.

Thanks for all the help guys.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[dave500]

good one.

[MickB]

Great to hear Dave.

Got a picture of the bike on the side stand with the front wheel on opposite lock.
Weather here in Sydney is a balmy 90F. Mick

[DaveBarbier]

Great to hear Dave.

Got a picture of the bike on the side stand with the front wheel on opposite lock.
Weather here in Sydney is a balmy 90F. Mick

Haha, I'm not a real hot weather guy so I think I'd take 45 over a balmy 90. But today is going to be a scorcher...55°F and sunny! I'll be sure to post a picture with the bike striking that pose today.

Thanks for the help Mick


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Out and about. This is perfect riding weather in my opinion. 57° and sunny.








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1978 Honda CB550K

[Tews19]

I like the leather seat! Now we need a video of it running!

[DaveBarbier]

I like the leather seat! Now we need a video of it running!

Here's just a quick little walk around this afternoon before I went riding. Thanks, the seat took me about a week but made it from scratch with leather from Ebay. Also, fuel was spilled on it recently...you can see the stain in the video. I'm not too upset, it actually fits the theme, haha.

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1978 Honda CB550K

[Maurice]

Excellent, great work, enjoy the riding now! This morning was 29 here and it felt great.

[MickB]

Like it, it's got that rat bike look, cool.

[MickB]

Seat looks great, so hard you can't fart.

[DaveBarbier]

Seat looks great, so hard you can't fart.

You're telling me!

Thanks Mick.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Relocated my choke knob. Was looking around for a way to switch these PD46C carbs to a lever operated instead of cable operated choke. Didn't find anything. So I shortened the cable and installed it right under the steering neck where the coils are. Seems to work very well there and isn't intrusive. My choke knob has always been a little hard to pull. Anyone else? It's always been routed fine and the little adjustment thing on the knob is loose. Seems like the butterflies are what's giving the resistance. They function smoothly but it seems like maybe a spring coil is wound once too many. Maybe I'll check that out.

**Edit: Not the butterflies. Must just be the routing. Oh well.

Hacksawed and drilled out the cable.


Cut the cable, sheathing and inner spring coil to length. And then re-crimmped the metal cap. It's full of flux and I'm about to solder it back in.


Soldered.


It's about a foot and a half long.


Made a little bracket.


This is where it's going. What are these threaded holes for originally?


In place.





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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Another project I'm doing this winter is making the ever popular empty triangle under the seat. That means re-routing the wiring. I'm not going to re-wire the entire bike, but just extend the wires to reach comfortably up to a tray under my seat. I'm going to use 18ga for most and I think 14ga for the extra shielded red power wires. Also something more robust for the battery cables.

My question is structure related. I was planning on drilling 4 holes in the frame under my seat and tapping them to be able to bolt on my tray. Will that make the frame a lot weaker? Is that a big no-no? I don't have a welder so I can't weld little tabs in.

Thanks


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

What are threadserts? Just a sleeve that I press into the frame that has threads inside? These holes will probably be something like M6 1.00 pitch.

Oh, and my seat is attached just by a wingnut in the back with two locator dowels up front. You're, right, no need to go nuts, haha. I'm asking for the electronics tray.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Great, thanks.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Yup, exactly that (Threadserts).

Thanks for the recommendation. Threadserts are awesome.






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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Nice and discreet too. Now you can use a button head socket screw so you can carry the Allen key in your tool kit should it need to come off roadside.

Totally. My plan exactly. Now it's just a matter of running the wires up there and maybe eliminating the block connectors to save space. Maybe I'll do bullet connectors, undecided if that'll actually shrink the overall size of the harness.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Just a little update. After I made the electronic box I'm starting on wiring. It looks like I won't actually need to lengthen the wires at all, which is good because it'll cut down on soldering and rigid connections. I bought some flexible marine 4awg wire for the battery and starter but when I got it it just seems too big. So instead I ordered 6awg. Hopefully that'll be a little more flexible. Seems like really good quality stuff though; got it from Ebay.







Was going to start soldering yesterday but saw and felt that I needed a new tip on my old Weller soldering iron, so I just got a new iron instead. 40W instead of 25W. Also went on to cycleterminal.com and got bullet connectors and heat shrink. So far this site seems really reasonable and it was a pleasure to order from. I saw people mentioning vintageconnections.com but at the time they didn't have the 3 way 3.5mm connectors I wanted.

Anyone have any recommendations on wiring? Tips for organization or anything? What's going in this box is my battery, starter solenoid, blinker and ignition relays, 4 way fuse block, and the little "silicon" thing that I have no idea what it is or does. How should I mount that stuff in there? I was planning on welding little tabs to hold the rubber mounts for the starter solenoid and silicon. (By the way, got a little MIG welder. Lincoln Handy MIG for like $320.) As for the battery, relays and fuse block I was going to weld on nuts to the floor of the pan and just bolt them down. With rubber on the battery for vibration reduction. Any other methods? I don't want any screws or bolts sticking out the bottom of the pan.

Oh, and the new reg/rec is being mounted under the battery outside the pan so it's exposed completely to air.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Ok, another update.

Check out my welded box! Terrible welds but for my first time I'm psyched. Nothing in there is structural so it's strong enough.



Currently wiring up the box. While I was looking at the mess of wires it got a little overwhelming but I just disregarded that and worked directly from the wiring diagram. Much much easier for me.



All connections are crimped and soldered.





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1978 Honda CB550K