Author Topic: 1975 CB550F ss from parts THREE years in getting closer now (Read 8508 times)

jonda500 · « **on:** June 26, 2015, 09:54:03 PM »

I wanted a ss so bad I decided to make one by buying the parts on ebay - I have taken some pictures on the way and I am now going to start posting them (one at a time though as the computer/web hates me! -it has just swallowed every thing I wrote without posting anything not the first time it's done it either)

Here is the 12/1974 frame I bought + some goodies I had already - the frame came with nothing extra at all except a california numberplate tied to it.

Edit note my intention was to build an unrestored all original good condition daily rider, I always knew that the finished product would be worth far less than the build cost and didn't mind as I can't imagine ever wanting to sell it!

jonda500 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2015, 09:58:43 PM »

Here it is temporarily with 750 twin disc forks/brakes that I had spare -and a 500K swingarm & axle -and a 16" aftermarket mag rear wheel

-and bicycle handle bars!!

jonda500 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2015, 10:08:45 PM »

Was having so much trouble finding/affording a ss tank & seat that I bought an interum tank for $90 which I think was a good buy even though the paint has some bad scratches. I also scored a '74K seat to go with it for $30.

jonda500 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2015, 10:16:41 PM »

The bike that this frame came from ran out of rego in June'95!

jonda500 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2015, 10:23:36 PM »

Picked up CB500 forks and a 550 wheel for it from the local bike wrecker and started hashing out the elecricals - I unravelled all the tape off a 550FourK wiring loom I had and hooked everything up one by one before retaping up the loom.

The side electrical panel holes were too close together to line up with the mounting tabs in my frame unless I removed the grommets - I didn't like this so I found a 75 'F' panel on ebay. But it was the same! I didn't want to modify the frame, so I was about to disassemble them both and cut them both in half and weld together two longer halves to make one that would fit the frame... when I suddenly thought of a much simpler solution- the panel has several right angle bends in it so I just simply 'stretched' it a little by straightening out the right angles slightly!

jonda500 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2015, 10:30:59 PM »

There have been lots of compatibility issues- I was surprized to find the headlight bucket and the headlight I bought were not compatible - I fixed that by grinding away some plastic from the inside of the bucket. The FourK footpegs that I had, however, had to be replaced with ss items.

Finding the correct axle and spacers to go with the ss swingarm I bought turned out to be epic- I now have in my spares collection: 3 axles and I think 4 of the seven different axle spacers used on 500/550's!

jonda500 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 26, 2015, 11:04:41 PM »

Lost a bidding war on a pristine ss grabrail in the last 30 seconds of the auction... so I settled for one that was riddled with extra holes which I filled with whatever I could find that would wedge in tight...

jonda500 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2015, 11:10:49 PM »

...and tacked the bits in using spotwelds with the stick welder, then ground them down smooth and soldered over the cracks best as I could

jonda500 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2015, 11:45:25 PM »

I had this 550K engine and 750 carbs but didn't end up using either - the engine had new rings & seemed to run well in the stand I made for it - and that is the only good thing I can say about it! Damn PO was a moron that shouldn't be allowed to own motorcycles! (dozens of missing/stripped thread/incorrect bolts, missing seals/o rings/gaskets, oil leaking everywhere possible including out of cracks in the clutch cover caused by using the wrong adjuster bolt, cam sprocket held on with glue... err you get the picture I could fill several pages with problems this engine had!)
I found an unmolested 550 engine at the wreckers for $400 and snapped it up (was very broke that fortnight).
I wanted a smooth running, all weather motorbike and the 750 carbs can only be used with pods when fitted to a 550 so I bought a set of 500/550 carbs off ebay seller carburettorkeith (nearly killed me paying for these!)who has been very patient, friendly and helpful with setting up the carbs for my bike.

jonda500 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2015, 11:56:43 PM »

Here it is finally able to be ridden - I was so impatient to ride it I just temporarily put my 500's mystery problem carbs on with the pods stuck on them - it ran ok for a couple of mins only then blubbered and ran super rich- unfortunately that is normal for my 500's carbs and I was just happy to have had my first ride on it!

jonda500 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 27, 2015, 08:41:49 AM »

Took the exhaust off, welded up more rust holes that had appeared, cut the muffler back off and extended it by adding in a new piece of pipe with a bend in it, but I still wasn't totally happy with it. So at a later date I took it back off and cut it up again, braised up still more pin holes, deleted the muffler clamp and welded in a straight section of new pipe with a mount bracket welded to it. Welded a matching mounting bracket to the centre stand stopper which I made from a piece cut out of a chrysler rear axle U bolt.

Edit - I tried hard to mimick the original muffler location but have since realised that the original ones have a generous 'dent' for clearance around the axle nut & split pin, so that's why I couldn't quite get it spot on!

Picked up a nice chrome 750 rear mudguard from the wreckers - the only difference between the early 750 and 500/550 items is that the 750 one has a shorter wiring tunnel and a wiring hole near the front whereas the 500/550 one has the wiring tunnel all the way to the front of the chrome piece and the wires pass through a hole in the plastic mudguard piece.
The chrome tail light bracket was one of many ebay purchases that was not cheap!

I've got two projects running simutaniously and seeing as how the 500's tank restoration is finished and it has a new $800 paint job but the bike still has its mystery carb problem I have been using the 500's tank on the ss.

jonda500 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 27, 2015, 09:37:41 AM »

New tank - finally found one I could afford!

jonda500 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 27, 2015, 09:44:32 AM »

It has a couple of dents, I'd like to try and pull them out but my oxy acetylene welding hoses have perished and I'm broke

and I don't know when I'll be able to afford to put it in to the paint shop...

jonda500 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 27, 2015, 09:47:09 AM »

... so I've decided for now to just fill the dents, hmmm...

It took more filler covering a larger area than I thought it would to fully hide the damage!

jonda500 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 27, 2015, 09:57:39 AM »

doing it this way only because I'm anxious for the bike to get into character now that saddlewise I finally got it right third try and scored a used genuine oem ss F1 seat and a new seat cover is on its way

(feels all wrong wearing the 500's clothing on its back - I don't want to get too used to it!)

jonda500 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 27, 2015, 11:05:43 AM »

back to the shocks - they came from the wreckers and a PO had butchered them with black spray paint.
I made a shock compressor so I could take them apart and clean off all the black paint - they were pretty nice under the paint!

jonda500 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 28, 2015, 04:36:05 AM »

At some point, I can't remember exactly when, I realised that trying to use only 100% original 1975 550F parts(or identical oem parts) was going to make the whole project cost much more and possibly take much longer. I decided it was sensible to allow some compromises - the seat lock was one of many! It is obviously an older model seat lock as it has a single sided key.

jonda500 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 25, 2015, 07:02:20 AM »

Some presents arrived in the mail! I got a good seat lock (with the double sided key!), a sealed beam headlight glass and a correct year model centre stand!

EDIT- I feel stupid - it is an american headlight for driving on the right side - here driving on the left low beam concentrates the light on the right side and blinds oncoming traffic! (I have stolen the lucas sealed beam from my cb500 project bike and used that instead.)

The weather has been terrible here (cold wet winter), but there were a few fine days so I got a bit done:

The centre stand was a bit rusty so I put a wire wheel in my drill and cleaned it back to bare metal.

I sprayed it with etch primer/surfacer then with quick dry gloss enamel.
I sanded back to plastic an old headlight shell and sprayed it with plastic primer, then sanded it again and also hit it with quick dry enamel. I've left them both sitting inside next to the heater to cure properly.

Got some more stripping done on the new tank using the rotary wire wheel again - I wish I knew what Hondas paint secret was as this original honda paint was extremely well bonded to the metal and really hard to get off!!

jonda500 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 20, 2015, 09:30:30 PM »

Update: I put the new centre stand on - only to find the foot lever part was bent so it's left foot didn't even touch the ground when I used the stand. This happens during use when it gets snagged on a post, corner, etc. as you ride past it. I put it on the side stand, removed the left rear blinker and used a 5 foot long piece of four by four hard wood to carefully bash it back to the correct angle (after thoroughly wrapping it in masking tape to protect the new paint!). This worked perfect - you can't tell it was ever bent. Also for this stand I had to extend my bumper that keeps the stand from hitting the chain by adding a spacer on top of the rubber and using a longer bolt - not something I was expecting to have to change!

After putting countless hours into the sidecovers/tank, I have decided to give up on these side covers, get genuine ones and start again. These aftermarket sidecovers are unbelievable! If you can get any sort of paint to actually stick to them they deform shape (top sagged, dents appeared in the surface) and every time you sand them back they present a new different "sun" pattern to the last time (raised circle in the middle with lines running to the outside like spokes). And if that wasn't bad enough now they have developed porousity- I am talking hundreds and hundreds of pin holes that after sanding all the paint off are found to be actually in the plastic!!!

Below is the link to the thread on the new front brakes I got for her:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150393.msg1716132.html#msg1716132

And the carb tuning adventure:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150922.msg1723326.html#msg1723326

And fixing the slipping clutch:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=151475.0

flatlander · « **Reply #19 on:** October 21, 2015, 03:05:43 AM »

just came across this after seeing your clutch/wiring thread.
if you want a close to original 550F, may i ask why not search for a relatively unmolested stock bike in more or less good shape? that must be cheaper and less time consuming than sourcing it from individual parts?

jonda500 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 21, 2015, 05:02:54 AM »

Quote from: flatlander on October 21, 2015, 03:05:43 AM

just came across this after seeing your clutch/wiring thread.
if you want a close to original 550F, may i ask why not search for a relatively unmolested stock bike in more or less good shape? that must be cheaper and less time consuming than sourcing it from individual parts?

Two reasons: -I survive on a small pension and live from fortnite to fortnite, so it is difficult for me to save up a large amount of money. Building a bike from parts costs lots more than buying one, however the money can be spent part by part fortnite by fortnite and the biggest purchase I have made in one fortnite was the rebuilt carbs I think- I chuck out all paypal invoices dockets etc etc as I know it would add up to a surprisingly large sum of money so I don't want to know! The time I know would be better spent saving up but I am not a patient person

.

-Here in Australia these bikes (cb500/550's) are very rarely seen for sale and fetch between $4000 and $9000 AUD! I don't know where to find barn find ones like you see on craigs list - collectors here must have already found them all! I have never seen a 550F supersport for sale in Canberra (this century), a 550K recently sold here in Canberra for $4500, but the seller got seperation anxiety, cancelled the sale and refunded the buyers deposit.

Along the way I have gotten intimate with every part of the bike so I know a lot more about it now which is a big bonus! I have made an annoyingly large number of purchasing mistakes on ebay - I hope I am learning not to do that any more! It has turned into a personal challenge of greater magnitude than I ever imagined!

jonda500 · « **Reply #21 on:** October 21, 2015, 05:12:09 AM »

Quote from: calj737 on October 21, 2015, 03:51:45 AM

Theres a member who makes and sell very high quality side covers... Granted, he is stateside, but at least you buy, receive, paint and ride with them. Time vs Dinero...

Thanks for the info, unfortunately I just blew most of my fortnites income on NOS ones... 2 different colors but never used and without the stickers so perfect for my intentions. How much?- err don't ask - well over double what I wasted on the black plastic aftermarket ones!

Stev-o · « **Reply #22 on:** October 21, 2015, 06:47:22 AM »

Subscribed.

We are so spoiled here in the States, I will not tell you how much I paid for my fairly complete 550F.

flatlander · « **Reply #23 on:** October 21, 2015, 07:01:56 AM »

yes prices in the US seem pretty good.
here in the netherlands it's closer to the australian prices but not quite as high. for the equivalent of 4000 AUD (ca. 2500 EUR) you could get a pretty stock bike in running condition. if you take your time to search you could find one for less.

i guess i'm lucky that i got one that was in good shape so that i could concentrate on improvements rather than building it from scratch from a parts puzzle, one part every 2 weeks. john you must be a patient man!

jonda500 · « **Reply #24 on:** October 21, 2015, 06:14:38 PM »

At least I had some outstanding luck with my 1st 500 (in my avitar),- back in 2005, I found it advertised in the local paper for $1600 - it turned out to be a 3 owners from new, nearly completely original bike, for which I payed the nice gentleman $1400. A bargain I think as a few weeks later I was offered $3500 for it - I seriously doubt I will ever sell it though!!

My 2nd 500 my next door neighbour lined up for me back in 2007 - he knew a guy that had one which he'd started parting out but then decided he didn't want to get stuck with it - I scored it for $200 but with all the missing parts now replaced, a new paint job done on the tank & covers and the carbs rebuilt, I am quite sure it owes me far more money than my 1st one!

I think I'd have had a lot more trouble with this project if I didn't have 2 cb500 fours to use for reference, diagnosis(by switching parts back and forth), and to borrow parts off while waiting for the latest ebay part to arrive. I have been very careful along the way not to lose track of which part originally belonged to which bike and as soon as possible I always return the part(s) to the bike they belong to. (Well nearly always - I have muddled up some of the rear brake parts and the headlight buckets for example and have no way of knowing which bike they originally belonged to - they don't really matter to me, but I am more careful since then!)

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Author Topic: 1975 CB550F ss from parts THREE years in getting closer now (Read 8508 times)