Topic: CB550F '76 - 1st Rebuild

[Johann]

Hi Everyone,

My first post together with it a small introduction...
Very interested in bikes all my life as well as motor sport in general. Thought it would be a good thing to start a project to keep me away from my computer as I'm a programmer. Guess what now I'm back in front of the computer even more, initially searching for a project and now doing research for the restoration.

I was looking at buying a SOHC but could not find one and mid 2017 a CX500 in good condition came up for sale - not what I was looking for but the intention was to do a tracker build. The CX500 is still intact as I am not sure a conversion was such a good idea for a first project. Then in November 2017 I found a 1976 CB550F not in a good condition as it was sitting for a couple of years but I felt that the price was worth it.

Just before Christmas I started fiddling around and managed to start the bike (AWESOME feeling at the time), I think it sounds ok but the carbs definitely need some TLC. The bike was bought without papers and before spending too much I though it would be best to get it running and go through the process of getting it registered in my name. To get it registered it has to pass a roadworthy test and so I listed the stuff that needs to be fixed to pass a roadworthy test.

First up is the front brake. I had a look at the MC, it seems fine although empty with what looks like a leak between the metal pipe and last section of the hose. I decided to try and get to the bottom of the problem rather than just trying to fix something that might not be broken. I added brake fluid and started pumping after a while the pressure stared coming back and I proceeded to bleed the brake. Then one good squeeze on the brake lever and the front wheel / caliper was stuck - without any leaks for the up-side! I then took the caliper off and this is what it looks like:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/158872447@N08/39697001952/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/158872447@N08/39697001912/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/158872447@N08/39728063671/

I'm guessing there is no point in trying to save the caliper and it would be best getting a replacement but I'm no expert and some advise would be much appreciated.
Are the 4into1 replacement sets a good replacement should one be required?


With the rear brake there is also a problem - the rod is against the frame and that is in turn causing the brake not to release instantly as is expected. I had a good look around but with the PB bomb I cannot find a photo of how this should look in order to see where the problem is.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/158872447@N08/39697001872/in/dateposted-public/

Again any advise is much appreciated in order to resolve the problem.

Hope the images come through correctly.

Enjoy!
Johann

EDIT - Added pictures as attachments

[Stev-o]

Welcome from Texas Johann! Are you in S. Africa? I also have a '76 550F.

Your caliper does have a significant amount of corrosion. It is aluminum, have you tried to clean it up?  However, the steel piston does appear to be shot.

Although I havent bought a caliper from 4 into 1, I have been happy with other parts I bought from them.
Are you familiar with DSS?  Would shipping from Europe be better than California?

https://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/CB550F1-SUPER-SPORT-1976/part_161718/

As far as your rear brake, it should be close to the swing arm but not touching it.
You may have to disassemble to determine what is bent?

Lastly, your pics are not showing up but I can click on the link.  Flickr is simple to use, just copy the BB code and paste it...





Mine:

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Aloha, Johann.  Your photos are not showing up.  You can upload them as attachments (see Attachments and other options when you are drafting/modifying your posts).

[flatlander]

hi johann, we 76 550f guys need to stick together

i just searched but don't have a picture of my rear brake. but it's as stev-o says, close but should not be touching the swingarm.

your name sounds dutch. are you in the netherlands?

[Johann]

Welcome from Texas Johann! Are you in S. Africa? I also have a '76 550F.

Your caliper does have a significant amount of corrosion. It is aluminum, have you tried to clean it up?  However, the steel piston does appear to be shot.

Although I havent bought a caliper from 4 into 1, I have been happy with other parts I bought from them.
Are you familiar with DSS?  Would shipping from Europe be better than California?

https://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/CB550F1-SUPER-SPORT-1976/part_161718/

As far as your rear brake, it should be close to the swing arm but not touching it.
You may have to disassemble to determine what is bent?

Lastly, your pics are not showing up but I can click on the link.  Flickr is simple to use, just copy the BB code and paste it...





Mine:

Hi Stev-o,

Thanks for the welcome, nice looking 76 and yes I am in South Africa.

Other than cleaning the caliper I have not tried anything else but now that you mention it that is probably the next logical step. I guess that means some sandpaper and/or a Dremel as the engine cleaner that was used could not get anything more off.

As for the rear brake I will disassemble and check.

I had a look on DSS UK as well as CMSNL but in general the shipping is very expensive so I'll have to look around and see what I need to strike a balance between quality and cost but I'll rather go for the better quality product.

I now see what the problem is with the images and will sort that out thanks.

Enjoy!
Johann

[Johann]

Aloha, Johann.  Your photos are not showing up.  You can upload them as attachments (see Attachments and other options when you are drafting/modifying your posts).

Thanks SOCH4 CRF, maybe I'll do both inline and attach. Inline for a logic layout and attach to a avoid another PB.

Enjoy!
Johann

[Johann]

hi johann, we 76 550f guys need to stick together

i just searched but don't have a picture of my rear brake. but it's as stev-o says, close but should not be touching the swingarm.

your name sounds dutch. are you in the netherlands?

Hi flatlander,

As in my response to stev-o, I will disassemble and have a look if something is not bent and just take it from there.

I'm in South Africa and although it is a very common name here it did originate from the Netherlands.

Enjoy!,
Johann

[flatlander]

ok. i was asking because if you were in the netherlands i could have pointed out some sources for parts. don't know anything in south africa, though.

[Johann]

ok. i was asking because if you were in the netherlands i could have pointed out some sources for parts. don't know anything in south africa, though.

Thus far nothing in SA that I can find except TTR400 which is also sold by 4into1.
I'll have to import via the US or EU with the unknown component of import taxes and if the stuff will actually get to me (if not delivered by a courier company).

[flatlander]

tell me about import duties and taxes... a lot of performance stuff for these bikes is coming from the US and not sold directly here in europe so i've been sponsoring our government quite a bit!

for OEM stuff i use cmsnl.com a lot as they are local and shipping is fast and cheap. that usually makes up for the price difference that may exist for parts, to other shops. in your case you'll have to take shipping into account, tough. then you can also look at david silver spares (they have separate UK and US sites, compare!), or as you say 4into1. it can also be worth trawling ebay.

[Johann]

tell me about import duties and taxes... a lot of performance stuff for these bikes is coming from the US and not sold directly here in europe so i've been sponsoring our government quite a bit!

for OEM stuff i use cmsnl.com a lot as they are local and shipping is fast and cheap. that usually makes up for the price difference that may exist for parts, to other shops. in your case you'll have to take shipping into account, tough. then you can also look at david silver spares (they have separate UK and US sites, compare!), or as you say 4into1. it can also be worth trawling ebay.

Duties from EU countries is 0% and from (almost) anywhere else where parts can be sourced 15%.
Tax is calculated at 14% of total+10% hopefully excl shipping.

I had a list of parts put together on CMSNL and given the above, shipping and tax will be 34% of the goods ordered... I will be having another look at sourcing some parts locally!

DSS US does not ship to ZA and comparing the prices between their US and UK shop it looks like it is cheaper in the US.

[flatlander]

ouch! i hope you can find some local sources.

[mscuiletti]

I know the feeling of wanting to have a project. I am an infrastructure guy myself, and get little to no satisfaction at work. The CB550 I am working on is a nice departure from sitting at my desk staring at monitors all day. Best of luck with your build!

[Johann]

ouch! i hope you can find some local sources.

You took the words right out of my mouth!!

I know the feeling of wanting to have a project. I am an infrastructure guy myself, and get little to no satisfaction at work. The CB550 I am working on is a nice departure from sitting at my desk staring at monitors all day. Best of luck with your build!

I am lucky in that regard that I work as a contractor and get to do a number of different development projects each with their own challenges.


Back to the brakes....

So after having a look at what has been done in the past I got some brake cleaner (non-chlorinated/chemical) and a scotchbrite scratch pad. Attached is the before and after.
The surface is smooth and it does not feel like there are any pit marks.
Although there is some discoloration I do not believe that should have any influence on how it functions.

Enjoy!
Johann

[calj737]

As long as the the square groove is perfectly clean, you will be fine. The piston seal rides in that groove so it needs to be free from debris, grime, or collected gunk to prevent the seal from functioning properly.

[Johann]

As long as the the square groove is perfectly clean, you will be fine. The piston seal rides in that groove so it needs to be free from debris, grime, or collected gunk to prevent the seal from functioning properly.

From what I am able to see it is clean but I'll purchase an inspection mirror to make sure.

[GV1390]

hi johann, we 76 550f guys need to stick together

We sure do!

Welcome to the forum Johann! Are these old sohc's found easily around your parts?

[Smudgemo]

Maybe add a shot of the rear brake.  I'm wondering if you could re-position the arm on the drum which would move the rod away from the swingarm.  Maybe the whole thing is badly assembled.  You can see in this photo that the arm position can be changed.

http://New Shoes by Smudgemo, on Flickr

If I remember correctly, there are two dots that should line up to indicate the proper placement.  Then it's up to the adjusting nut on the rod.  You can also fine-tune where you want the brake pedal to rest before you do the rest by adjusting the stop bolt.

[Johann]

hi johann, we 76 550f guys need to stick together

We sure do!

Welcome to the forum Johann! Are these old sohc's found easily around your parts?

Thanks for the welcome! Not at all or not that I'm aware of.

In the last three months I have only seen four or five SOHC's come up for sale.
1 X CB550 - a resto-mod with premium parts but had a problem within 3 000 km after the rebuild was complete with a rather hefty price tag although he owner stated that he has spent 4x the selling price.
1 X CB350 - a cafe racer which looked very good although personally I did not like the rear cowl.
The others where CB750's IIRC
Before that I have spent about two years on-and-off looking around and could not find what I have now.

Enjoy!
Johann

[Johann]

Maybe add a shot of the rear brake.  I'm wondering if you could re-position the arm on the drum which would move the rod away from the swingarm.  Maybe the whole thing is badly assembled.  You can see in this photo that the arm position can be changed.

If I remember correctly, there are two dots that should line up to indicate the proper placement.  Then it's up to the adjusting nut on the rod.  You can also fine-tune where you want the brake pedal to rest before you do the rest by adjusting the stop bolt.

Hi Smudgemo,

I had a look but as you will also notice on the arm itself you can clearly see the punch mark but on the shaft I do not see anything - I'll have to clean that up and hopefully the punch mark is there.

By the way... That CB550 looks very good! Hopefully I can get mine in the some condition someday.

Enjoy!
Johann

[Smudgemo]

Thanks, it was a lot of fun to rebuild.
I feel like you could reposition the arm more downward and turn the nut in to take up the slack.  I just looked and there are marks to indicate alignment, although if yours are corroded and gone, you'll need to guess, I guess.  Don't forget to pull the bolt all the way out or the lever won't come off.  Sorry if that's terribly obvious.



This is the amount of clearance:

[Johann]

Thanks, it was a lot of fun to rebuild.
I feel like you could reposition the arm more downward and turn the nut in to take up the slack.  I just looked and there are marks to indicate alignment, although if your are corroded and gone, you'll need to guess, I guess.  Don't forget to pull the bolt all the way out or the lever won't come off.  Sorry if that's terribly obvious.

This is the amount of clearance:

Thanks Ryan, really appreciate the pictures!
It is now quite obvious that the arm is too much to the back. First I'll try to turn the nut in and if the clearance is still a problem reposition the arm. At this point nothing can be taken as obvious as I'm very new to this so thanks for the detail.

Enjoy!
Johann

[Johann]

In early January I started tracking down the title holder and was able to find him. He assisted me without any hesitation with the documents I needed and I am very glad to report that as of Monday the bike is registered in my name - so now I can really get going.

I had another very good look and it seems like I will be able to get all the parts needed to do a complete restoration there is however one item which is a problem - the muffler.




It might be possible to repair the pipes so I'm not too worried about that. However, I strongly believe that I will need to replace the muffler but cannot seem to find a sock replacement.

Does anybody know if a muffler is available from a reputable supplier?
EDIT
or are there any non OEM alternatives that are stock replacements available.
/EDIT

Thanks!
Johann

[Stev-o]

If looking for a stock muffler, they have not Ben available for quite some time. Honda did not make the exhaust and it's easily the worst part on the bike, seems all rusted prematurely.   

Occasionally, they come up on eBay ...

[Johann]

If looking for a stock muffler, they have not Ben available for quite some time. Honda did not make the exhaust and it's easily the worst part on the bike, seems all rusted prematurely.   

Occasionally, they come up on eBay ...

Had a look now on eBay and I did not find a muffler but the quality of available items related to the CB550 in general does not look good - maybe I need to rephrase and will update my original post as well.

Are there any non OEM alternatives that are stock replacements? I found the below on www.loudgfastugly.com which look similar but will make an inquiry in due course.