Author Topic: Nicklopic's CB650 cafe thing (Top end build with modern suspension) (Read 20440 times)

Nicklopic · « **Reply #25 on:** May 24, 2019, 09:05:54 AM »

I've gotten a little bit done lately. Nothing crazy.
Made another crossbar under the seat for the reg/rec. I also got a koso multifunction gauge, it's a tach speedo and indicator lights all in one. Nice little unit but it's a bit smaller that I expected but I like it. Made a little mount out of some twisted 1/8"
After 2 months of waiting the rearsets finally showed from cognito. Kind of wish I got the brackets black. I am a little ticked off with them though. The wholes for the shifter arm and the master cylinder bracket weren't fully tapped. And bother weren't tapped on the side I needed to start the bolt on so sending the bolt home wasn't an option. I waited a long while and they aren't cheap and there I am trying not to damage the brackets in my vise. Needless to say there was plenty of cursing going on lol

Nicklopic · « **Reply #26 on:** May 28, 2019, 08:29:34 AM »

Figured out what to do for a taillight. It's an LED piece from morimoto. 5 red LEDs in a nice little aluminum housing. I have it mounted to the back of the electronics tray which keeps things clean and I think makes the tray look more practical from the side. Forgot to save a picture of it but despite being under the tail it should be superrrrr bright and visible.
Cleaned up all my visible welds so they're mostly smooth. And removed the rest of the brackets from the center stand.
I have also pulled the rest of the motor from the frame, forks, and swing arm. I degreased and pressure washed the frame in prep for sanding and paint. Cleaned the swing arm quickly just so it was semi clean. My brother is harping on me that he wants to be the one to paint the frame so we'll see. I'm doing a bunch of coats of filler primer, then using VHT epoxy paint over it. Used it on a lot of stuff on my Jeep, diff covers, skid plates, axles, etc and I like the finish and durability of it. The filler will hopefully smooth some of my imperfections out but it is what it is.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #27 on:** May 28, 2019, 08:38:49 AM »

File size limits are definitely a little annoying. I have to lower the resolution on my phones camera I guess.
I have a few more photos of this stuff but there's nothing interesting so I won't bother to make 4 different posts to show some boring stuff

Gurp · « **Reply #28 on:** May 29, 2019, 06:27:33 PM »

If im taking a pic for the forum I take it in FB msgr.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #29 on:** June 03, 2019, 06:42:11 PM »

So my brother has gone a littleeeeeeee overboard painting the frame. He's primed, sanded, painted, wet sanded, painted more, wet sanded again. He's ridiculous. I thought it looked great after a few coats of paint, the epoxy paint lays down really nice I think. Since I really can't do anything to the bike right now I'll just let him do his thing I guess.
I did take some time to clean and tap the headbolt holes in the block because they were FULL of crud of course and a little chewed. The threads we're decent and I figured it was safer not to mess with them and possibly make it worse or dump debris into the motor.
My deadline came and went which sucks butttt I feel like I'm in the home stretch basically. My new goal is the first day of summer. I just want to get some actual riding done this year.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #30 on:** July 29, 2019, 06:40:15 PM »

I have had zero updates in so long because I have no been able to really do a damn thing.
I've been waiting on my cylinder head to be able to reassemble anything so I haven't bothered to touch anything. The frame needs to be repainted as my brother went sanded through the paint repeatedly and then lost interest, plus there's plenty of super smooth, and also plenty of unsanded spots. It was a waste honestly.
Hopefully I can get space cleaned up in the garage again to work on things and be able to start wrenching this weekend, maybe the next.
Who knows maybe I'll be able to ride it one time before it snows if I'm lucky.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #31 on:** August 07, 2019, 12:16:06 PM »

So I got the head back from JMR. I think it looks fantastic. All new valves, new springs, stage 2.5 porting and backcut intake valves and a bunch of heli coils because of the previous owner lol
Got all excited to start assembly only to notice after honing a bunch of pitting in 3/4 cylinders. I really wish I would have looked at them closer during disassembly and saved my self the waste of time. I probably could have just ran it but I thought that would be a little hacky to put it together like that. I ordered a set of 1mm oversized from cruzinimage to correct the issue and I'm trying to find a machine shop locally to handle it. We'll see what happens.
It probably won't be rideable until spring. Big let down but it is what it is.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #32 on:** August 07, 2019, 12:47:25 PM »

Here's the pitting also because idk why not share

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #33 on:** August 08, 2019, 08:06:50 AM »

I know that costs can be a slippery slope, but given your significant investment in the JMR head, why not go for a Dynoman 674cc higher compression kit and/or 126-20 cam. Check out the numbers that Dave Barbier is making with his engine using this spec. His bike is close to a 836cc motor in a 550 weight package.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #34 on:** August 08, 2019, 02:19:08 PM »

I follow dave's build. Really impressive numbers especially when compared to stock.
I think the 674 kit would have been nice but I really wasn't interested in shelling out the extra 400 ish. I probably should have but I just didn't feel like it. Same for the cam, they're all hardwelded which would mean id need my rockers hardwelded to match and boom prices go even higher. I couldn't find anything about PTV clearance with other cams and it just was a little farther out of my wheel house than I was willing to shoot for. This is actually the first time I've really even broken a motor down so I wasn't trying to push it.
Plus I blew the motor in my WRX, damn subarus and their ringland failures lol, so I've been trying to keep other project to minimum.

Unrelated the motors, I ordered an SRAD gsxr 600 wheel to go with my swing arm. The TL uses a 6.0" wide wheel which may have caused some clearance issues with the chain. the SRAD 600 wheel is 5.5 and a direct swap giving me some more wiggle room and letting me run a smaller tire like a 160 or 170 wide. Factory TL's were a 180 and it look a little out of place on such a small bike if you ask me.

MRieck · « **Reply #35 on:** August 09, 2019, 08:01:02 AM »

The 126-20 cam won't work with the original CB650 guides.....they are to tall. You can swap the guides for 550 pieces but you need more spring. Kibblewhite CB550 springs will work but they need a lot of shim.....like a real lot.

I should ask Kibblewhite to see if they can cross reference another spring that won't require so many shims.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #36 on:** August 09, 2019, 09:20:42 AM »

Quote from: MRieck on August 09, 2019, 08:01:02 AM

The 126-20 cam won't work with the original CB650 guides.....they are to tall. You can swap the guides for 550 pieces but you need more spring. Kibblewhite CB550 springs will work but they need a lot of shim.....like a real lot. I should ask Kibblewhite to see if they can cross reference another spring that won't require so many shims.

Yes, thanks for chiming in, Mike. Dave and I had Mike do this mod to our heads to run the 126-20.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #37 on:** August 09, 2019, 09:22:42 AM »

I would go no larger than a 160 rear tire. Otherwise, it will affect turning and look like a big-wheel Busa.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #38 on:** August 09, 2019, 11:30:06 AM »

If I wanted to do a cam I definitely would have needed to tell mike before hand. I think what I have will suit my needs well enough. If need some more power ill just steal my brothers gsxr lol

170 tires are super popular to step down to on TLs for better turn in and handling. I think a 160 would put it very close to the width of the front which would be nice... although I cant remember at all the tire I have up front. I'm really trying to avoid that drag bike look.

Also the machine shop my dad's shop deals with cannot do bores this small, waiting on a call back from another place. Something tells me ill be driving an hour plus away or mailing it some place.

DaveBarbier · « **Reply #39 on:** August 09, 2019, 02:57:12 PM »

Hope that rear wheel won’t eat up too much HP. I stuck with a 110. Yes, it looks like a bicycle compared to yours but it’s light.

If you’re going to ship it out for boring, might as well send to MRieck again

. Shipping will be cheap from NY to MA.

Where in NY are you?

Nicklopic · « **Reply #40 on:** August 09, 2019, 04:02:37 PM »

My bike originally had comstars which seem to be pretty damn heavy so hopefully a modern alloy wheel helps offset that extra rotational mass... Maybe. If not atleast it'll look cool hahaha
It's crazy how quick things got up there and back, standard shipping had my head there the next day. I may have to go that route lol
I'm from Long island, basically right in the middle of Suffolk on the north shore. Guessing you're upstate right? I was looking up that shop you took your bike to have it dyno'd and figured you must be from up North haha

DaveBarbier · « **Reply #41 on:** August 09, 2019, 05:52:12 PM »

I’m in southern CT actually. Fairfield county. Took about 3 hours to drive up there. Not bad, I recommend it. You could take the ferry and head there yourself from Bridgeport

Nicklopic · « **Reply #42 on:** August 09, 2019, 06:22:33 PM »

Okay so I was a little off, not sure how I thought you were from NY, I guess I just assumed for some reason
Once it's a runner I'll see how much I hate trying to tune it. I enjoy trying to do things on my own whenever I can even with all the aggravation haha
I literally live like 3 towns over from port Jeff so it really wouldn't be too bad to just have that dude do it

Nicklopic · « **Reply #43 on:** August 13, 2019, 08:08:35 PM »

So I'm pretty sure my local post office has lost my pistons...
They've been out for delivery since Monday morning. 2am I got an email that eBay thinks it's been delivered. Current status is "awaiting delivery scan" since midnight.

I guess this is what I get for not just buying the 674 pistons lol

DaveBarbier · « **Reply #44 on:** August 14, 2019, 02:16:48 AM »

Call them up. I’ve had packages in the same situation and they turn up. Theres still hope, it’s only been a couple days.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #45 on:** August 14, 2019, 07:15:42 AM »

Gottemmmmmmmm

I swung by the past office to ask if there was anything that was undeliverable. My mailman was loading up at the time and had it. He had forgotten it and was going to bring it today. I got a little nervous because I rarely ever get anything international from eBay and stuff.
The pistons themselves look decent.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #46 on:** August 18, 2019, 12:17:00 PM »

So the eBay seller I bought my SRAD wheel from refunded my money without shipping anything or any explanation. Weird. Didn't respond when I asked what happened either. Ordered one off of someone else that looked to be in better shape with a decent tire which will help me mock things up.

The next machine shop I tried for boring asked for pictures to see if he could hold the jugs in his machine, never replied to the pictures I sent (which even had a tape measure in there for size comparison lol) then had me drop the stuff off to look at it in person after asking about it a few days later. Then had the stuff for a week without answer and then told me "I don't know, I can probably do it. I haven't checked yet." I deal with him at work too so it's not like I was some random Joe blow off the street.
I gave up trying local and just sent them to Mike. At least I know the #$%* will be done correctly without worry.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #47 on:** September 18, 2019, 08:01:56 PM »

Updates hurrayyyyy.
So cylinders went to Mike, got them back real quick which was sweettttt. Bored 1mm over to match the pistons and .007 off the deck. I wanted a bit off to bring the compression close to the 10:1 threshold and apparently the deck needed it badly too so that's a win win. I have to play around with calculators to figure out where I'll be, but it should be right at or a touch under 10.

Found some motivation to work again got some space recleared in the garage to work. Got the rings gapped and on the pistons. I should be able to have the motor assembled by Monday hopefully. Maybe have the frame repainted by then.

All the top rings are between .012" and .014" second rings are right around .017 on most. I screwed up #2 and got carried away and hit .022 by mistake. I'm not terribly concerned as I don't feel like it should be a hugeeeee issue. With my math from wiesco, they should have been .010 on top and .013 for the second. Out of the package the tops were larger so I left them and opened the seconds up to correspond. At least I won't have to worry about a ringland cracking like it did on my WRX.
Sorry for rambling, I'll get to the picture now because that's always what I like to see. Oh, and my SRAD 600 wheel showed up from a good eBay seller lol

DaveBarbier · « **Reply #48 on:** September 19, 2019, 04:38:55 AM »

Very nice, feels good get parts in. As for the larger ring gap, maybe MRieck can chime in. I know dynoman’s kit says .011” and .012”.

Nicklopic · « **Reply #49 on:** September 21, 2019, 08:14:31 AM »

Top end is finally going back together. Jugs and head are back on. I've done 2 cycles of torquing the head to be sure the HG is fully compressed before I continue to assemble. One last night, once this morning and I'll hit it again tonight before I put the rocker cover on. It feels so great to see the it start coming together.
Made some ring compressors out of some PVC and hose clamps which worked beautifully. As for that one ring, the FSM lists the service limit at .030" for the stock stuff. Add a couple thou for the increased position size, I probably have .010 before it would be at what Honda considers bad. It'll be fine I think.
I mighttttt have a roller again by Monday.

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Author Topic: Nicklopic's CB650 cafe thing (Top end build with modern suspension) (Read 20440 times)