Topic: My $300 77 CB550F Project

[chesterburnet111]

I wanted to post a closeup of this because I think it looks cool. My welder decided it needs a frame under the seat in case someone decides to try and pick the bike up by the plastic fender section. The mock up is pretty much done. The tank, seat, lower rear fender, the foot pegs and the electronics trays all look stock. Most people will never have any idea how much is changed on this motorcycle. I'm going to take it back apart and Derek is going to fill in the tack welds. Then it goes to the powder coater and gets sand blasted and then I'll pick it up and use JB Weld filler to clean up a few imperfections and then back to powder coater. I've ended up having a productive summer. The rebuilt motor has been sitting wrapped in plastic for 2 years and when I get the frame back from powdercoat, everything get final installation.

[calj737]

I'm not trying to solve a problem. Just wanting to get ahead of it and see what best practices are. Some people do really nice job with stuff like this and I'm trying to see if I can use that to do a better job than being left to my own devices. I went through the Motogadget threads and only saw a few pictures.

That section is really for questions not “build” pictures. Or so it goes. You’d have to look at the project sections for some of those posters to see how they laid out their components.

In your last reply, the picture appears to show a second “tray” or “bucket” ahead of the seat cowl. Is that where you determined to install your battery? The layout of the primary tray really only deals with the mUnit and any primary fuse if your battery is not also in that tray. I would discourage you from putting the RR in the tray as it wants circulating air to help cool it. I’ve seen some folks install the starter solenoid in their tray too; that’s fine. Lastly there was a member who rigged up a separate ground bar and had that in his, but “eh, whatever” as it’s not necessary.

[chesterburnet111]

Ithrough the Motogadget threads and only saw a few pictures.

That section is really for questions not “build” pictures. Or so it goes. You’d have to look at the project sections for some of those posters to see how they laid out their components.

In your last reply, the picture appears to show a second “tray” or “bucket” ahead of the seat cowl. Is that where you determined to install your battery? The layout of the primary tray really only deals with the mUnit and any primary fuse if your battery is not also in that tray. I would discourage you from putting the RR in the tray as it wants circulating air to help cool it. I’ve seen some folks install the starter solenoid in their tray too; that’s fine. Lastly there was a member who rigged up a separate ground bar and had that in his, but “eh, whatever” as it’s not necessary.

I think it's going to go pretty much as you are suggesting. I'm assuming RR refers to regulator. It's not going in the tray but I'm not sure where yet. I bought the Motogaget grounding block. The second tray has a sunken battery box ( which I built per your advice) and we're going to put a plate in back of it to seal it off when the seat is on.

I was also wondering if I made a list of the components I'm using that you might see if you had a similar wiring diagram in your library. You've already made some suggestions that I'm incorporating such as not using the Lithium battery while setting up and testing. 

[calj737]

I certainly might, and if not, I can help you tweak the one's I have. To do so, tell me:
Stock indicators?
Gauges? Brand, model and which (tach and speedo, or integrated)
Control switches left and right? Brand, model, stock, etc
RegRec model
mUnit (which version?)
mLock?
Ignition? Points condensers, electronic, brand???

The more details and specifics, the easier to help.

By the way, I'm right down the road in Richmond. So welding (TIG, MIG stainless, carbon or ally) and wiring are pretty easy tasks to help you with. Anything you'd pay someone for, I ask you to donate to the site instead of paying me.

[chesterburnet111]

The bike is a 1977 CB550F with Murray's Carbs.

Unfortunately I'm in Massachusetts and don't get down to eastern VA too often. I have donated to this site and will continue to. It's a very cool site and I'd like to see it survive long term. I think this Motogadget stuff is seriously cool. I have some electrical skills and have a brother and friend that are way more advanced than I am. With your input I think I'm in good shape. Thanks for your help.
This is my parts list:
M-Unit Blue
Mo.Unit ground distributor
Motoscope Pro with a pushbutton control
Motogadget 3 button left - 2 button right.
About 2006 Honda clutch and front brake controls with switches
Mo.lock NFC with Mo.Lock NFC wire harness
Oil pressure switch and rear brake switch
Rick's Rectifier
Charlie's Place electronic ignition
TST rear LED signals
Mo.Blase Pin front signals
mo.unit cable kit
Breakout Box
M Unit battery cable
Motogadget Speedo and air temperature units
LED headlight

[calj737]

Yeah, thought you were a different member from NoVa. My bad-

[chesterburnet111]

Yeah, thought you were a different member from NoVa. My bad-

Not really a"bad".

[chesterburnet111]

I certainly might, and if not, I can help you tweak the one's I have. To do so, tell me:
Stock indicators?
Gauges? Brand, model and which (tach and speedo, or integrated)
Control switches left and right? Brand, model, stock, etc
RegRec model
mUnit (which version?)
mLock?
Ignition? Points condensers, electronic, brand???

The more details and specifics, the easier to help.

By the way, I'm right down the road in Richmond. So welding (TIG, MIG stainless, carbon or ally) and wiring are pretty easy tasks to help you with. Anything you'd pay someone for, I ask you to donate to the site instead of paying me.

Any luck finding a wiring diagram that's close to my list of components?

[calj737]

Did you ever look at this?
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,195557.msg2295448.html#msg2295448

[chesterburnet111]

Yes. I guess I'll work on putting my own together. I've found better ones on revival's site and other forums. thanks.

[chesterburnet111]

1977 CB550F with Murray's Carbs.

This is my parts list:
M-Unit Blue
Mo.Unit ground distributor
Motoscope Pro with a pushbutton control
Motogadget 3 button left - 2 button right.
About 2006 Honda clutch and front brake controls with switches
Mo.lock NFC with Mo.Lock NFC wire harness
Oil pressure switch and rear brake switch
Rick's Rectifier
Charlie's Place electronic ignition
TST rear LED signals
Mo.Blase Pin front signals
mo.unit cable kit
Breakout Box
M Unit battery cable
Motogadget Speedo and air temperature units
LED headlight

Is there anyone else that might have a wiring diagram that they've done that is similar to my parts list?

[chesterburnet111]

I guess I'm left to my own devices.

[bassboy3313]

I guess I'm left to my own devices.

Best way to learn imo.

[chesterburnet111]

yeh right

[chesterburnet111]

I've had a lot of stuff going on and hadn't touched the Honda in over 2 months. I finally got back to it this past weekend. I had to send out the tank, front fender and seal / tailpiece earlier than I was really ready to do because my painter lives in Florida from Sept to May. I reused the front fender because it has the built in brace. I cut it down and then bent the bracket because it's designed to work on a single caliper front end. I did it the night before I gave it to the painter. He actually cleaned up the edges and prep. I was worried because it didn't fit straight and I was hoping with new grommets and spacers I could get it right. In the end I got it to fit pretty nicely. I did the holders for the front brake lines and the mock up is complete.
I have 2 small brackets to remove from the frame and then send it over to my welder to fill in the parts that are only tacked and hopefully get it over to my powder coater. I laid the tank and the tailpiece up so I could see how everything looks. You ultimately never know until you get it to this point. I'm happy with the results so far. I've never done a build like this before and it's taking so much longer than I thought. You don't account for it taking an entire weekend working together with my welder to come up with a good / reliable way to mount the seat and gas tank or a full day modifying the foot pegs. Even just making brackets for the brake lines took a couple of hours. I'm not complaining because I love doing this stuff, just commenting on how much I miscalculated on how long it takes to do things. Here's couple of pictures of my progress.

[Godffery]

 Look'n Good Man!
 Custom Fab work time is pretty much always underestimated. It also includes a good amount of recherche and development along the way.

[chesterburnet111]

Look'n Good Man!
 Custom Fab work time is pretty much always underestimated. It also includes a good amount of recherche and development along the way.

I'm learning that but the process has been very satisfying. I've had some great advice along the way too.

[Godffery]

Look'n Good Man!
 Custom Fab work time is pretty much always underestimated. It also includes a good amount of recherche and development along the way.

I'm learning that but the process has been very satisfying. I've had some great advice along the way too.

  That's what it's all about.  If your in a hurry, it'll suck the fun out of it.

[Oddjob]

You may have gone the wrong way with the extra caliper mounting. Due to the hub placement the extra disc sits much further in the the original. That means the caliper needs to sit further in as well, fitting the brace behind the caliper mount actually helps to space it away from the fork slider and even then it requires some additional spacing. The lower caliper bolt (the 8mm one) needs spacing as well, around 5-6mm IIRC. If you don't space it you'll find the brake pads are sitting at an angle to the disc, braking from the disc will be very poor until the pads started to wear to accommodate the angle, they'll chamfer like hell. Best way to test this is to retract the pads inside the caliper, remove the mounting bolts from the fork slider and press the caliper against the disc from the outside, watch where the mounting holes move to, you should see them sitting in the air around 5-6mm away from the fork slider, that's how much you need to space them away.

If you doubt this info look at pics of everyone who's done this mod and you'll find the brace behind the caliper mount to help space it out.

The other way is to space the disc away from the hub BUT that tends to leave no space for the speedo drive to fit, not a big problem if you've come up with an alternative way to running the speedo.

Do like the way you've run the brake lines, might not work so well on a standard bike but on a custom job like this, yeah it works.

[chesterburnet111]

I do appreciate your input. I didn't see any mention of this in any of the research I did but then after your alert I found it immediately within this forum. I noticed that the new disc / caliper was kind of weird fitting. I have the speedometer deleted so there's no issue there. The parts used to blank it out match the spacing of the original parts for the wheel. The problem is that I bent the fender bracket to fit it prior to painting and it will only mount on the outside of the caliper. It's finish painted and can't be re-bent without destroying the paint.So I guess this means I have to space out the disc. Any suggestions on what to use to space the disc out. It's happening at an opportune time as I had bought 110 mm bolts to go through the hub and they are not grabbing enough of the nut so I just picked up 6 120 mm bolts which I have to install.  Do you think a stack of washers would work reliably? Am I correct in understanding that they'd have to be spaced 5 - 6 mm from the hub?

Thanks

[Oddjob]

Odd, 110mm bolts are usually ok, it's what everyone seems to use.

As for spacing, do like I suggested with the caliper and see how large the gap is between the mounts and the slider, measure that and see what that turns out as, there can be as much as a mm between different bikes for some reason. Then I'd find a large piece of metal the same thickness and cut a disc out of it using the disc as a template. I've not heard of anyone going this way TBH as the mounting flange for the extra disc isn't that thick so you may space the disc out too much to get a good engagement, I can't remember TBH, it's been 50 years since I did mine.

You'll need to find a larger adjusting bolt for the caliper, it needs a locknut on it, also a longer spring as the original won't be strong enough to return the caliper carrier.

Fitting an extra disc isn't without it's problems.