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

[MickB]

Dave it looks great, a bit of paint will hide your welds, and it goes under the seat, no one will see it.

[DaveBarbier]

Dave it looks great, a bit of paint will hide your welds, and it goes under the seat, no one will see it.

Thanks Mick. Yeah before I paint it I plan on doing a bit of touch up work with an angle grinder. Just a little to soften some of the crazy slug looking welds, haha. Even if it sucks I'm proud. Welds only a mother could love I guess.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[Tews19]

Put some kind of insulator between the electrical pan and the electronics. You don't want to fry anything.

[DaveBarbier]

Put some kind of insulator between the electrical pan and the electronics. You don't want to fry anything.

That's exactly my plan. After painting I'm going to glue in a thin rubber mat on the bottom and sides. In hindsight it may have been nice to make a plastic tray instead but not sure if that would've worked.

But now I have a question...in my haste I cut off my new regulator/rectifier's plastic connection and just thought of something. There are three yellow wires that go to the alternator. Does it matter which yellow wires go to which yellow wires? I'm thinking yes, but also thinking no. Yes because there are obviously separate wires and no because they would have colored them differently.

I'm not talking about the yellow points wire. That solely goes to a coil.

I'm going to look around for what I can find.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Ok, while doing some research it seems the yellow wires are interchangeable.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

That is 100% correct

Good to hear. I'd hate to have to try and figure it out based on how the snipped ends in the connecter look compared to the reg/rec.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Question on extending starter wire. I've looked at a number of posts and it seems the best solution is to put terminal ends on both sides and then bolt them together. Is there really no other option? Something a little more graceful? Would it be possible to notch out the wires like the picture below, solder and then crimp and heat shrink?



I'd love to just replace the entire wire right down to the starter but I hear that they're hard wired in and I haven't seen a post where someone successfully did that. Anyone familiar with the '78 550K starter? I'm not with the bike and can't see how that wire is attached. 


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1978 Honda CB550K

[Vinhead1957]

That would not be a good mechanical connection solder would hold it some what. There has to be a butt splice connector out there available for that sized  wire. A sleeve with Allen screws would hold better. We need an electricians solution. I replaced starter and all

[oldhatt45]

Dave,

There are 2 basic things to remember in dealing with electrical connections.
Mechanical Strength and Electrical Strength.
Solder, contrary to popular belief does not provide Mechanical Strength.  It provides electrical strength.
A Crimp or bolt through 2 ends if done correctly provides the mechanical and possibly the electrical strength.

If you just solder the connection, and then the current handled goes up, so does the heat of the conductor.
If high enough for long enough, solder will melt.

Charlie

[DaveBarbier]

I did mention a crimp, so I guess that would provide the mechanical connection. I guess it is as easy at using a crimping butt splice connector. Almost all other posts I saw people were saying it's not a good solution. I don't really see why, though. I was hoping a butt connector would work just fine. If I can find one with allen grub screws then that'd be even better.

Thanks guys


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Did the butt connector. Seemed to work just fine. Here are a couple soldered connections I made. Ground wire and the joint from the starter to solenoid. Thanks for the help. Now just a matter of connecting all my wires.

Ground wire frame lug.


Don't have a crimper but I smashed it in my vice and hit it with a punch and hammer. Felt very strong. I also made sure the wire ends are touching each other then filled with solder.


Heatshrinked (heatshrunk?)


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1978 Honda CB550K

[oldhatt45]

Dave,

To me it sounds (& looks) like you made a good connection.
Mechanical & Electrical!

Charlie

[DaveBarbier]

Dave,

To me it sounds (& looks) like you made a good connection.
Mechanical & Electrical!

Charlie

Oh good, haha. Thanks Charlie!


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Finished the wiring. There will be a top to this box made out of black ABS plastic. I do think it looks a little like a rats nest...I could try to shorten the wires so there's not that much slack but I didn't want anything to be taught. All I have to do is get rubber battery and starter terminal boots. Anyone have a good resource for them that have different angles and such?










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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Made a new seat latching mechanism and rolled the bike out on Christmas to take a couple pictures. Pretty cool to see how a bike progresses and to know that I did a lot of work myself. In terms of both engine work and aesthetics. Here's how it is right now.



Also, any posts about grandmas on cafe racers? Haha




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1978 Honda CB550K

[oldhatt45]

Dave,
Bike is looking Good.
Grandma looks like she's up for stylin' on the 550
But the problem is, as i'm sure she told you, that the bike needs rear-sets, cause the current position is not too comfortable.

Charlie

[Tews19]

That picture of grandma is awesome!

[DaveBarbier]

Thanks guys, haha. And yes, Charlie, rear sets are in the future! Plan on making a custom set from scratch not unlike the rear sets that the builder Kott makes for his bikes. Simple, clean and unobtrusive.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[oldhatt45]

Dave,
I think you just made Grandma Happy!
Merry Christmas and That's a Picture you really need to Frame!!!!

Charlie

[DaveBarbier]

Maybe even put tennis balls on the bar ends or on the bottom of the forks to finish off the look, haha.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

These are the rear sets that I'm going to somewhat replicate. At least the concept. Anyone know exactly how the peg is secured to the plate as to let the lever move freely?

Could buy them from Kott but $400 is a little steep for me. Although I'd love to have some of his work on my bike.




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1978 Honda CB550K

[oldhatt45]

Fuzzy Dice hanging from the Forks would do it. 

Whaat calj737 said. 
As far as how the peg are secured to the plates, it looks like there is a brass or maybe bronze bushing between the plate and the moving parts.  If so then it would likely be a bolt (maybe stainless) going through the whole thing.  It appears as though the foot peg part is hollow, so it could have been done like that.

This is just a guess based on the picture, but maybe.

Charlie

[DaveBarbier]

As far as how the peg are secured to the plates, it looks like there is a brass or maybe bronze bushing between the plate and the moving parts.  If so then it would likely be a bolt (maybe stainless) going through the whole thing.  It appears as though the foot peg part is hollow, so it could have been done like that.

This is just a guess based on the picture, but maybe.

Charlie

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking. Just trying to figure out what the easiest, strongest and most practical way of doing it would be. When I come up with something I'll report back.

Thanks


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

Usually the peg is threaded internally and screw/bolt comes in from backside. There's a bushing between peg and heel plate to allow peg to spin as needed. Pretty simple. I have a similar set at home not installed I can deconstruct to show you some pics if needed.

Totally missed this post. I think I got it but if you're so inclined to deconstruct your set it could only help. I have seen these pegs before and as far as I know they are not threaded. A bolt goes from the outside into the bike. Same concept I'd imagine. I would just need to tap the plate.


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1978 Honda CB550K

[DaveBarbier]

It's threaded from one direction or the other. Either the bolt enters from behind the plate and threads into the sleeve that the peg is attached to, or, the bolt threads from the peg side into the plate. The way the pegs are chamfered underneath, suggests the bolt might come from outside in. The bronze bushings are there to allow the linkage plate to operate without binding or galling. Probably its a 3 piece unit, with 2 bushing: the plate with a sleeve attached, the bushing pushed onto that sleeve, an outer linkage sleeve, bushing, then the peg.

I'd bet the operate like butter with those bushings. The sets I have are very smooth because of the bushings, but they are also able to be indexed (rotating the linkage clockwise to achieve best alignment). Not as elegant a design as Kott's, but same functional pieces.

Two other obsessions about that picture: the units shown are "upside down". The toe pegs indicate this. The unit on the right is the brake side, and the unit on the left is the shifter side. The pegs are smaller for shifting. The other observation is the long shifter rod doesn't show a thread on one end. I wonder how you would attach the rod end to it?

I'm sure the orientation of these doesn't matter, and that its all for "presentation" not illustrative for installation. But it's not an observation...

I noticed those two things too. This picture is just a picture and not, as you said, an illustrative for installation.

The only thing I'll have to spend more time thinking about is how the first sleeve is attached to the plate. But...as I type this it doesn't have to be attached. The bolt, once tightened, will hold it all in place. Never mind, haha, figured it out.

I'll post my set once I build them. Already ordered the pegs.
Thanks guys


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1978 Honda CB550K