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Author Topic: 76 CB550 Cafe build  (Read 85949 times)

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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #200 on: March 04, 2018, 01:45:50 PM »
Starting to look like a real tail section



3d print of my spacer is waiting for me in the printer at work, so I'll be able to test fit it to check my measurements. Surprising to me that there are no listings anywhere (that I can find at least) of the taper angles for various bikes.  I measured the taper of the cb550 crank at 5.5 degrees and the taper of the cbr600rr rotor at 5.3 degrees.  I'm working now to set up a taper turning apparatus to get me the .1 degree accuracy I think I need on my lathe.
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Offline DurangoCB

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #201 on: March 05, 2018, 07:10:11 AM »
Subbed!  Looking good. 
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1971 CB500 Four- current project http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,170622.0.html
1978 CX500- next in line

Offline SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #202 on: March 05, 2018, 08:55:21 AM »
Nice job shaping the seat.
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1975 CB550K1 "Blue" Stockish Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=135005.0)
1975 CB550F1 frame/CB650 engine hybrid "The Hot Mess" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150220.0.html)
2008 Triumph Thruxton (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,190956.0.html)
2014 MV Agusta Brutale Dragster 800
2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,186861.0.html)

"There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them — but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one.... Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba." Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature, Cycle World, March 1995.  (http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1995/3/1/song-of-the-sausage-creature)

Sold/Emeritus
1973 CB750K2 "Bionic Mongrel" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=132734.0) - Sold
1977 CB750K7 "Nine Lives" Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=50490.0) - Sold
2005 RVT1000RR RC51-SP2 "El Diablo" - Sold
2016+ Triumph Thruxton 1200 R (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,170198.0.html) - Sold

Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #203 on: March 09, 2018, 02:49:32 PM »
Got the 3d printed taper spacer done.  Fit is really good, so I'm going to use my measurements and try turning one on the lathe.

Can anyone speak to the material I should use?  I'm thinking aluminum just because if the fit isn't quite perfect when I crank down the retaining bolt the taper spacer will be the thing to deform.  Thoughts?





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Offline DurangoCB

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #204 on: March 20, 2018, 09:21:12 PM »
Wish I had something for you with that last question. Hope you got it figured out.

How’s it coming?
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1971 CB500 Four- current project http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,170622.0.html
1978 CX500- next in line

Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #205 on: March 21, 2018, 07:50:37 AM »
Going to go with steel for the adapter.  To get a good check on my measurements I've been turning each face separately out of aluminum to make sure my measurements are really accurate.  I've got the fit onto the stock shaft perfect, so next I have to cut that out of steel rod.  Then do aluminum turns to fit into the CBR rotor before transferring that angle onto the steel rod.  For the final interference  fit I saw that people will use a little valve grinding compound and just spin the parts against each other.

Working a lot on the seat.  Almost done with fiberglass, then on to bondo (which is heavy as hell, that's why I want to get it really close with 'glass).

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Offline bambuhiphop

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #206 on: March 21, 2018, 09:02:55 AM »
I may have missed it, but what year is the rotor from the CB600rr off of? Whats the plan for the stator side?
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75' CB550K -- Still in pieces but it rolls again!!!!

Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #207 on: March 21, 2018, 09:07:21 AM »
2008 CBR600rr.  Going to get the same stator, but they are $100 on ebay and the rotor is only $30.  Wanted to make sure I could make it work before I bought the stator :)

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Offline bambuhiphop

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #208 on: March 21, 2018, 09:13:41 AM »
Quote from: tshrey on March 21, 2018, 09:07:21 AM
2008 CBR600rr.  Going to get the same stator, but they are $100 on ebay and the rotor is only $30.  Wanted to make sure I could make it work before I bought the stator :)

Sweet. I'm really interested in this myself. Looks to be going really well. Nicely done.
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75' CB550K -- Still in pieces but it rolls again!!!!

Offline SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #209 on: March 21, 2018, 09:27:18 AM »
Quote from: bambuhiphop on March 21, 2018, 09:13:41 AM
Quote from: tshrey on March 21, 2018, 09:07:21 AM
2008 CBR600rr.  Going to get the same stator, but they are $100 on ebay and the rotor is only $30.  Wanted to make sure I could make it work before I bought the stator :)

Sweet. I'm really interested in this myself. Looks to be going really well. Nicely done.

Me, too!
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1975 CB550K1 "Blue" Stockish Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=135005.0)
1975 CB550F1 frame/CB650 engine hybrid "The Hot Mess" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,150220.0.html)
2008 Triumph Thruxton (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,190956.0.html)
2014 MV Agusta Brutale Dragster 800
2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,186861.0.html)

"There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them — but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one.... Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba." Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature, Cycle World, March 1995.  (http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1995/3/1/song-of-the-sausage-creature)

Sold/Emeritus
1973 CB750K2 "Bionic Mongrel" (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=132734.0) - Sold
1977 CB750K7 "Nine Lives" Restomod (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=50490.0) - Sold
2005 RVT1000RR RC51-SP2 "El Diablo" - Sold
2016+ Triumph Thruxton 1200 R (http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,170198.0.html) - Sold

Offline flatlander

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #210 on: March 22, 2018, 03:48:08 AM »
i'll be watching from a distance how this is going. looks really promising so far.
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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #211 on: March 22, 2018, 10:10:11 AM »
Got my layout down for the outside of the taper spacer.  Not sure I've ever machined something with this perfect of a fit, there is zero slop.  Next step is the steel rod and transferring this cut to it




And the seat/rear hump is close enough in fiberglass now that I'm bondoing it today. I may have had to clear off a bunch of heavy snow from the driveway, but at least Toby got me a day off work to hang out in the garage.

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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #212 on: March 22, 2018, 02:24:50 PM »
More lathe work.  Cutting the internal taper will suck as I fiddle with stuff if I have to keep pulling the rod out to test fit it on the crankshaft (and then re-zero the rod in my 4 jaw chuck each time), so I repeated the above for the stock rotor to get an image of the crankshaft taper.  Now I have a plug to check the internal cut against.  Setting that up is next.

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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #213 on: April 08, 2018, 02:41:00 PM »
Spent the last two weeks doing nothing but adding layers of fiberglass and sanding them down.  If I go a few years without doing any more glass work I will be very happy.  Thought the tail hump would be the challenge, but it was the little lip in the front that sucked.  Lots of work getting a small uniform gap between the lip and the tank.  Ready for a skim coat of bondo now.

The smart move would be to prime the tail and leave the tank and tail alone until I'm done building everything but there is no way I'm restrained enough to do that.  I have a feeling once I see the color coat on the bodywork I will have a lot more drive to get this thing done.





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Offline calj737

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #214 on: April 08, 2018, 04:48:17 PM »
You might need more gap between the tank and lip if you plan to wrap the cowl with upholstery. Think that part through on your final finish before you spray color.
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'74 550 Build http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=126401.0
'73 500 Build http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=132935.0

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of it's victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis

Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #215 on: April 08, 2018, 07:17:29 PM »
What you see won't get upholstered.  The base for the seat is HPDE (think plastic cutting board) that bolts onto the body work of the tail section.  Foam over that base, alcantara and leather over that.  The HPDE works well as a base because you can use uphostery staples in it.

I'm thinking I will use a thin piece of adhesive weatherstrip foam on the underside of that lip to be a little cushion between the fiberglass and the paint on the tank.  Either way you're right, it is still a really tight fit.  But if I've learned anything doing this it's that it is easier to sand stuff down than to build it up with resin and mat in a precise shape.
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Offline Camrector

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #216 on: April 08, 2018, 08:08:53 PM »
How did your forks change color!!??? ;D ;D ;D
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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #217 on: April 08, 2018, 09:07:46 PM »
You armchair builders don't miss anything :)

Didn't really want the gold, found a pair of 750 forks that were black and sold the gold ones for a profit.
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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #218 on: April 15, 2018, 03:22:36 PM »
Bondo work is done.  Mounted rubber between the body work and frame rails and installed nutserts into the wood that makes up the support under the seat and drilled some holes in the frame to mount the body/seat.  Skimming the whole thing with glazing putty today to fill in all the scratches from the 60 grit paper I used.




Decided to add a 1/4" high lip all around the seat - that way the upholstery will flow out over that lip and you won't see any gap at all on the bottom of the seat.  Going to send the body and seat pan to Mac's Upholstery in Seattle.  Anyone ever use them?  I've seen some of their work and they are as picky as I am.  1" of black leather around the sides of the seat stitched to black alcantara fabric with a diamond stitch using grey thread.

Got a little distracted yesterday since it was the first nice day in five months and got to go for a ride...

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Offline jtm_sea

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #219 on: April 18, 2018, 02:31:14 PM »
Excellent thread, thanks for all the in-depth posts and photos.
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Offline riverfever

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #220 on: April 20, 2018, 04:47:52 PM »
Very impressed and jealous of that seat. I'd really like to do this to mine.
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Offline bambuhiphop

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #221 on: April 26, 2018, 11:49:59 AM »
Hey man! How's the flywheel machining going?
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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #222 on: April 26, 2018, 12:18:01 PM »
Life keeps getting in my way. I have an all new compound slide and carbide cutting tools as well as the steel rod. Now I just need some time.

I cut out the stock cross brace under the seat and made my own and then ran out of gas. Blew a damn hole right in one of the frame rails before I realized what was going on so I need to repair that next. Finishing up the floor where my machining tools are today, so maybe this weekend I can get back at it.

Also working on the seat base, ordered a huge 1/2" thick cutting board to use. I can do it twice in case I botch the first.
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Offline bambuhiphop

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #223 on: April 26, 2018, 12:40:23 PM »
Quote from: tshrey on April 26, 2018, 12:18:01 PM
Life keeps getting in my way. I have an all new compound slide and carbide cutting tools as well as the steel rod. Now I just need some time.

I cut out the stock cross brace under the seat and made my own and then ran out of gas. Blew a damn hole right in one of the frame rails before I realized what was going on so I need to repair that next. Finishing up the floor where my machining tools are today, so maybe this weekend I can get back at it.

Also working on the seat base, ordered a huge 1/2" thick cutting board to use. I can do it twice in case I botch the first.

Ah, pesky ole life. I know the feeling! haha
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Offline tshrey

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Re: 76 CB550 Cafe build
« Reply #224 on: April 29, 2018, 05:39:52 PM »
It's exciting whenever I manage to get anything actually done on this bike.  I welded in the cross braces I made, found that I am an abysmal TIG welder, swapped out my TIG nozzle to a gas lens that I got for Xmas and forgot about and discovered I'm actually just a below average TIG welder :)  Amazing what some good gas coverage gets you. I also cut and bent up an electronics tray for between the frame rails and then installed nutserts into the seat so that everything bolts together.



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