Hey everyone. I just wrapped up a long and meticulous rebuild of a 77 CB550F. Rebuilt the top end, which included new pistons, rings, soda blasted engine castings, honed cylinders, lapped valves, new gaskets etc. Followed various instruction videos to a tee. Reassembled everything with a fair amount of assembly lube before closing it up.
Finally got it up and running and inspected, and rode Friday and all day Saturday without any major issues. Tried to start it up Sunday, and got it fired up but puttered out while warming up. Not too unusual, as I still need to properly tune the carbs and idle mixture. But when I went to try starting it up again, it almost seemed to make a rough, possibly scraping sound. hard to describe, but I could tell it was struggling and stopped what I was doing. I checked the oil level, and it still seemed to be at or slightly above the oil line. I did accidentally fill it a touch over the line.
I have a few theories, but I am new to this so I thought I would ask for some advice and guidance. I pulled the Cylinder 1 plug, and it was definitely fouled, meaning I was running too rich. Being so black in such a short amount of time, I am wondering if hydrolock could be a potential cause? I did forget to turn the petcock off after riding, could it be possible that the cylinders are flooded? I will take the plugs out and check tonight to test this theory.
I wondered if it could be that the oil pump failed, but my oil indicator light never came on. Also, I noticed a slight oil leak coming from the cylinder head side covers, which would lead me to believe that oil was indeed circulating, if it's leaking out of the very top of the engine (just a little bit).
Could it be the starter motor?
Apologies for the lengthy post. I will take any advice to make sure my rebuilt engine doesn't seize up on me. Although, I may be overly paranoid.
