Topic: 76 CB550 Cafe build

[tshrey]

Got a few hours all to myself today in the garage.  Got the HPDE cut and mounted for the upholstery base.  Still have to weld the two pieces together before sending it out to get done.  Also remade the electronics tray out of aluminum instead of steel.



Also got some time to work on the lathe.  Having never turned anything other than aluminum before I can tell you that steel simply sucks.  Can't take big whacks out of it like aluminum so I had to turn down 1.25" rod to .7125" to fit through the hole in the CBR600 flywheel and then cut the taper.  Next step will be to mount that thinner section (which you can't see in this pic) back into the lathe, ream the center hole and then cut the internal taper.  To go from 1.25" rod to the piece in this picture took me about 90 minutes.

[calj737]

Next time start with .750 rod  Turning steel one time will teach you all the lesson you ever need about starting thickness-

[tshrey]

But the 'big end' of the taper needs to be 1.2".

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[calj737]

But the 'big end' of the taper needs to be 1.2".

Pardon me, misread that.

If you think turning steel sucks (especially compared to AL) then try a piece of Ti in your lathe.

[flatlander]

if it's of any consolation: it does look good! and once you have the bike running with it you won't remember or regret those 90mins anyway.

[aaguilar3]

Neat build

[Flanker08]

Awesome project! I'm starting a similar endeavor... thanks for the pictures and informative posts!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

But the 'big end' of the taper needs to be 1.2".

Pardon me, misread that.

If you think turning steel sucks (especially compared to AL) then try a piece of Ti in your lathe.

 

[RAFster122s]

The thoughts of a nice charging system with excess capacity is very attractive, so...sounds like it might be a good idea to crank out several of those taper adapters while you are setup.  So, where do I send the money?

David

[RAFster122s]

Will you need to go by the upholstery person's place with the bike and seat mounted to show them current clearance so they can tell you how much space they need for the nose if you are having leather or vinyl wrap around that front part?
I would rather have an 1/8" gap there than a part that rubbed under certain conditions if the tank deflects with you rounding a corner with a knee against the side of the tank.  Paintwork is just too expensive and rubbing parts, even leather or vinyl will cut through a clear and color coat before you realize it. Especially if it has not hardened up completely.
A gap that is even won't look bad.

Are you going to shoot a urethane clear over your paintwork or go with a 2k urethane on the whole thing?

I don't recall if you previously talked about the final color scheme in your head for the bike?

[tshrey]

I'm sending them the entire tail section so that they can get the seat upholstered correctly to the tail. The upholstered part will be foam and leather/alcantara over the blue base in the pics above.  When that comes back the tail and the tank get painted the same Red Velvet from a 2017 Jeep (there is a pic of the color somewhere above).  The clearance between the tank and the nose of the tail comes from me and how I've mounted the tail, there will be about 1/8" and there will be a layer of foam rubber between the parts.

The clear will be a 2 part epoxy urethane.

I've made very little progress on the adapter simply because I've been working on my lathe/mill for the last several days.  Removed and cleaned most of the parts to remove old gummed up oil, blast and powdercoat a bunch of things that just had crappy paint on them from the factory and reset all my backlashes.  I also picked up a DRO and got that mounted so I can be very reproducible.  Once I make the first one and verify everything works I will consider making more; while I hate charging people money for stuff that I make I won't have a choice on this because each taper spacer will take a couple hours of time to cut.

[tshrey]

Little update, Mike has the head now for some stage 2 loving.  I might actually get the engine assembled this year.

I filled in some more little dings in the frame that I made when grinding off various unnecessary tabs with weld last night.  I think I'm actually ready to send the frame and swingarm off to get powdercoated. 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

As I recall, you went with a 592cc kit and upped the compression.  Which cam are you going to use?  126-20, 650 or something else?

[tshrey]

Stock cam. I've been looking for a 650 one but have come up empty.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Stock cam. I've been looking for a 650 one but have come up empty.

With the upgrades to the head and higher compression pistons, it makes sense to upgrade the cam.  The 650 cam is a very sensible choice, since you will not need to upgrade the rockers (as you would if you go with a hard-weld cam).  They are harder to find but out there.  Check the for sale board here.  I'll PM you with another source. 

[Godffery]

Stock cam. I've been looking for a 650 one but have come up empty.

With the upgrades to the head and higher compression pistons, it makes sense to upgrade the cam.  The 650 cam is a very sensible choice, since you will not need to upgrade the rockers (as you would if you go with a hard-weld cam).  They are harder to find but out there.  Check the for sale board here.  I'll PM you with another source.

I may have one available for you.

[tshrey]

Please let me know if you do. Thanks!

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[Godffery]

Please let me know if you do. Thanks!

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Okay; Well... I don't have a loose 650 Cam but I do have another good motor I could pull one from. What's it worth to you?
Also; will you wanting a Tach & drive unit to go with it? (Your 550 one will not work with the 650 cams)

[tshrey]

PM sent

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Please let me know if you do. Thanks!

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Okay; Well... I don't have a loose 650 Cam but I do have another good motor I could pull one from. What's it worth to you?
Also; will you wanting a Tach & drive unit to go with it? (Your 550 one will not work with the 650 cams)

Good point.  I'm not sure that you will need the change the tach, but if you are using a cable-driven tach, you will need the 650 drive.

[tshrey]

So I have a 650 cam coming now. Mike has my head, so engine work is close to done.

Was getting ready to take the frame and swingarm for powdercoat and realized I don't have any rear spring mounts   I'm sure the Cognito kit is great, but I would rather spend an hour in the garage than pay another $100 for something I can easily make myself.  Cut the flat pieces last night and chucked up 1" steel rod in the lathe to turn the mounts themselves this morning.  Forgot to take pics, just have to cut threads on the ends of the mounts and then weld everything up.  With powder and a motor ready this is going to get very exciting!

As an aside for you welding experts...  I read that one can TIG stainless to mild steel using ER308 filler.  I tried it last night; kind of scary results.  As soon as I struck the arc I started getting this really weird fast pulsing 'wahwahwahwah' sound like something from a Transformers movie and my Tungsten instantly started glowing for the full length it was exposed.  I had all my settings per the book for stainless.  Any ideas?

Cal is going to respond in minutes and tell me why I'm an idiot

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Cal is going to respond in minutes and tell me why I'm an idiot

It's coming, I'm sure.

[calj737]

I read that one can TIG stainless to mild steel using ER308 filler.

Close. 309 for stainless to carbon.  You forgot the little piggy that went to market...

308 will work. Its just that 309 is better for mixing the metals. As for the "wah-wah-wah" it might have been your machine playing "What a Fool I am in the background  Kidding of course.

Stainless requires 70% the heat of carbon. So if your settings were based upon 1/8" carbon (using 125 amps as an example) you'd probably be good at 90 amps for stainless. Marrying the two metals means you ratchet down and focus on the impact of the stainless as it will melt and flow more quickly to the carbon than the carbon will melt. Its tricky. And the stainless will distort heavily during welding.

You absolutely want a little pre-flow, ample CFH while welding, and at least 1 sec per 10 amps of post flow. Hover over the weld, and wash slowly backwards with stainless. This prevents the oxidation, and helps cool the welds.

* a couple shots of some stainless flat stock I welded Sunday. 11 Gauge sheet, 304 Mill Finish.

[tshrey]

Thanks.  All that sounds like good advice, but I never even got that far.  As soon as I struck the arc things went sideways.  Maybe I'll try to get a video of it.

[calj737]

Any chance you were running on AC? Had a large magnet nearby? Didn’t have the gas turned on?

Magnets and TIG welding are incompatible. The magnetic field disrupts the arc and it makes it goes crazy, like sideways crazy.