Topic: CB550 Engine Rebuild

[thebearded1]

Hello all. This site has been a great wealth of knowledge and appreciate the help. The bike is a 1975 CB550 mostly stock except for seat and a set of old Jardine 4into2 pipes. I have it in good working order now but she does smoke and leak but hey what 40 year old doesn't. I'm looking to remove the head and cylinders while leaving the motor in the frame so I can replace the rings, valve seals and all gaskets in between.  I have been looking at the Versah $102 and NE Brand $50 gasket sets. I'm leaning towards the Versah set as I assume they are better quality. Any experience from anyone?  I know these sets typically do not include the rubber pucks between the head and valve cover so I will be sure to add those.  Any recommendations for rings? Would it be a good idea to use a ball hone on the cylinders too? Not sure how easy this would be to do in the frame.  Any other suggestions of things to look over or seals to replace while I'm elbows deep in this engine? Anything I should be careful of? Any tips or tricks yall have learned along the way? I do have the original Honda Service Manual and a Haynes.

Thanks in advanced
Gene

[MandEms]

Member Bochnak has a video on a 550 top end rebuild that I purchased and it's very good.  Here's the link:

https://www.howtomotorcyclerepair.com/cb550topend/

And here's a link to a compression leak down thread that Bochnak posted also:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,152902.msg1747988.html#msg1747988

As far as the best seal kit to purchase, I will let others answer.

[mrfish2]

The Vesrah kit will be your best bet, it's a lot better quality than the NE kit. And you are correct that you'll need the rubber pucks, 4into1.com has these for a fair price last time I looked.

On the subject of rings: look up ebay user cruzinimage (pretty sure that's how it's spelled). They sell a complete set of rings for around $50 shipped for the 550. I've got around 1500 miles on the set i bought from them and nothing wrong so far.

The great thing about the 550 is that a complete top end rebuild can be done with the engine still in the frame. With all the right tools and parts gathered you can easily accomplish this in a Saturday.

[bochnak]

Looks like you received good information from the responses above.

I've used NE kits twice with no issues. I buy the pucks from Honda, since there is a dealer close to me and they get me parts next day. I haven't been happy with 4into1 parts. They seem both inexpensive and low quality to me. I've had a solenoid and petcock fail in short order.

Yes you can leave the engine in frame.

The hardest part of the job is scraping the old gaskets off and cleaning all the carbon off.

My video was linked above and I also link to all the tools you will need here:
https://www.howtomotorcyclerepair.com/cb550topend/

Thanks,
Matt

[sammermpc]

My Versah set for a CB500 (got it through 4into1) came with a set of the rubber pucks. I was surprised, as I'd heard otherwise as well.

I rebuilt my top-end outside of the case, and took the opportunity to repaint the cases and replace the cylinder studs (regret that). Anyhow, the engine is not particularly heavy (I could lift it in and out myself, and I'm ~150lb), so it's not a huge deal if you decide to go that route.

I got rings through DSS, which were not OEM, but Made in Japan.

[Frostyboy]

Any tips or tricks yall have learned along the way? I do have the original Honda Service Manual and a Haynes.

Be sure to read the caution in the Honda manual about installing the rockers so as not to bend valves. There's a number of posts on here about using rubber bands to hold the rockers up when installing the cover.

My Versah set for a CB500 (got it through 4into1) came with a set of the rubber pucks. I was surprised, as I'd heard otherwise as well.

I rebuilt my top-end outside of the case, and took the opportunity to repaint the cases and replace the cylinder studs (regret that). Anyhow, the engine is not particularly heavy (I could lift it in and out myself, and I'm ~150lb), so it's not a huge deal if you decide to go that route.

Sammer, I'm curious as to why you regret replacing the studs. Were they the heavy duty ones?

[thebearded1]

Thanks for all the tips and  I will definitely go with the Versah kit.

I'm interested too in why you regret replacing the studs? The motor is going to be stock, I have no idea how many miles are on the actual motor. Should I replace the studs?

[flatlander]

not necessary if they're not badly corroded or otherwise damaged.

[sammermpc]

I don't regret the new studs — I regret how much time and money I spent trying to get the damn things out. I ended up snapping a few, having to get them drilled out, etc., etc. A real pain.

As flatlander says, I didn't need to replace them to begin with. There's some talk about studs stretching over time, and not being able to hold torque as well, but I think if you're just doing a clean-up and gasket replacement, and not doing a high-compression over-bore or something, it's pretty much a non-issue. Just my thoughts if I were to do it again.

[thebearded1]

Thanks yall! looks like I will hold off on studs then. Looks like 4into1 is out of stock of piston rings and the Vesrah kit but Dynoman Performance has them.

For those of you that have used the Vesrah kit...
Is there anything else it doesn't include besides the rubber pucks?
Does it come with valve guide seals too?
    If so should I still just buy the Pure Viton Red ones Dynoman sells?
    In another post Hondaman mentioned Buna seals were better sealing than Viton seals but no one ever said where to get them and I can't find anything on the web. Anyone have any experience finding these?

All this concern over the burning of oil, plugs have been wet and black should I replace the valve stem guides too? They are pretty pricey though maybe better off to see how tings look once I get the head off.

Piston rings: I see David Silver Spares sells a standard size set and a .25mm oversize set. I assume the oversize set was a oversized set of pistons NOT oversized rings for worn out cylinders, right?

Thanks again for everyone's help. I'd like to do this right the first time as well as have a better understanding for rebuilding the motor rather than taking it to someone.

[mrfish2]

Trust me, get these piston rings:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-CB550F-CB550K-Standard-Piston-Rings-Set-58-5mm-4-rings-Include-CB550FPR-/141755370958?hash=item2101474dce:m:m1I5fN_IGp6btodiGWYuQsg&vxp=mtr

A lot of people have run their big bore kits as well with no complaints.

[thebearded1]

I had pulled those up and added them to the list.  The reason I brought up the DSS rings was the question of the different sizes but I kinda answered my own question as to which size to use.