Topic: A total beginner's CB550F resurrection...

[bzr]

Took care of the bolt problem, and I've been working on other things. So far I've:

-finished installing the rear wheel
-installed rear shocks
-installed the chainguard, and fiddled with some clearance issues with the massive Progressive shocks
-new chain and sprockets
-powdercoated the regulator panel, rebuilt, and installed
-reinstalled carburetors. Realized that i bought the wrong-size bands for the rubber parts and will have to go buy 8 more...I'm selling the previous set of 8 if you're interested.

Borrowed my friend's motorcycle stand (he's a lifesaver, saved me $70 for a new one from Harbor Freight) and I plan on installing the front forks today. So I'm not dead yet!

[bzr]

The results of my handiwork today. I had tried some paint stripper on half the tank but it didn't do too much. So I ended up sanding the entire coat of ratty flat black paint off. I got to the primer in some places, and bare metal in others.







That's a lot of bondo.  



Took about 3 hours of sanding, first 60 grit to remove the paint, then 100 and 220 grits to smooth it out a little - I swear, I could hear the blisters forming...

I'll be getting the filler area sandblasted and maybe the underside.

[bzr]

Progress.






And pampadori's excellent, perfectly-fitting brake hoses. Though I'm doubtful on whether or not that kink is safe...the angled banjo bolt on top confuses the hell out of me.

[sportlux]

This thread is quite inspiring...good work!

[bzr]

^ Thanks! Glad I could be of use to at least one person.

I bought a shorty exhaust tip from a cycle yard for 30 bucks, it's almost an inch wider in diameter than my headers but the chrome is in excellent shape and my friend (who works at a weld shop) agreed to fab up an adapter for me. It promises to be loud as hell - I hope my bike sets off freaking car alarms.

Reminds me of the following conversation I once had at work with a girl:

rrrrrrrBRAAAPBRAPBRAPBRAPBRAPRRrrrrrrrrr.
“Uh, could you shut the window please?”
“It IS shut.”
“No, not the one in front of you…wait…”
“Nope, they’re all shut. That’s just a really, really loud bike.”
*awestruck*

[mcpuffett]

Nice work your doing on your bike  , keep it up look forward to more instalments  , cheers Mick.

[Aaron Richard]

what kind of tires are those?

[bzr]

Front is Dunlop D404F, rear is Avenger.

[Aaron Richard]

Front is Dunlop D404F, rear is Avenger.

avenger is the brand? or is it a dunlop avenger? it has a nice vintage tread

[bzr]

Front is Dunlop D404F, rear is Avenger.

avenger is the brand? or is it a dunlop avenger? it has a nice vintage tread

It just says Avenger in huge letters apparently; I'll get another picture tomorrow.

Planning to heat wrap my headers to cover up a few ugly dents. It's mostly for cosmetic reasons, but will there be any difference wrapping just the headers and not the entire thing?

[lone*X]

Front is Dunlop D404F, rear is Avenger.

avenger is the brand? or is it a dunlop avenger? it has a nice vintage tread

I'm pretty sure Avenger bike tires were sold in the Sears Automotive catalog some time back.  Don't have any idea who made them.   If I remember correctly the story line was that they got good mileage but were a bit hard.  If it is old it will probably be very hard by now.

[Thor's Hammer!]

Great restore man!  I know sometimes it seems like you're typing out the concerns and processes you're going through and don't always get a lot of feedback...but your build is looking great and you have every reason to be proud of it dude.

 

[Dave-and-his-550]

Nice to see you still working on this! I know between school, work and friends it's hard to stay focused on a build. That's how I'm feeling with mine anyway. Who did you get your break hoses from? I'd like to know cause I too have a 550 and also installed clubman bars! I will be needing new lines soon.

[bzr]

The tire just says AVENGER on it in huge letters, no other information other than max load pressure and psi info and whatnot. The tread looks fine and there aren't any cracks.

Great restore man!  I know sometimes it seems like you're typing out the concerns and processes you're going through and don't always get a lot of feedback...but your build is looking great and you have every reason to be proud of it dude.

Nice to see you still working on this! I know between school, work and friends it's hard to stay focused on a build. That's how I'm feeling with mine anyway. Who did you get your break hoses from? I'd like to know cause I too have a 550 and also installed clubman bars! I will be needing new lines soon.

Thanks for the positive support! To be honest I get really nervous as I know that the day I start her up is rapidly approaching...and I'm paranoid that something's going to melt or catch on fire or shoot out of the crankcase at 14,000 RPM into my forehead, undoing 3 years of work and money. I'm glad I have this forum and a bunch of knowledgable friends

Dave, I got the hoses from pampadori, his thread can be found here.

Also, the throttle is sticking and the clutch cable feels loose. I've rerouted the cable so they go around the frame and past the headlight, which improved things somewhat, but the carb spring won't return the throttle back down. (I'm completely tired of loosening, disconnecting, greasing, and reinstalling throttle cables, and if I have to undo my hand controls one more time I'm going to set myself on fire.)

[Dave-and-his-550]

lol, man I have all those same paranoia's. So much stuff is taken apart, not only am I afraid about all the things you are, I'm also afraid I'll have no idea how the thing gets assembled back together.

Question: Did you install new tapered bearings in your steering column? I think I'll be doing that, and was curious how that went for ya.

[bzr]

lol, man I have all those same paranoia's. So much stuff is taken apart, not only am I afraid about all the things you are, I'm also afraid I'll have no idea how the thing gets assembled back together.

Question: Did you install new tapered bearings in your steering column? I think I'll be doing that, and was curious how that went for ya.

I installed a set of bearings from All Balls, they were cheap and the job went through pretty easily. It's a pretty straightforward process, you just find a length of piping that's approx. the same diameter as the bearings and hammer them down onto the triple tree. My post on them is here.

[Scotty J]

Glad I bumped into you at your post for the Larz Andersen show.  Just read your build report cover-to-cover (slow day at work) and can't wait to see the finished product.  My man, you've got balls with such an in-depth resto project first time out.  All I did was buy a 750 from an older gentleman who did most of the ugly work himself, leaving me to cafe it with the usual bit's n' pieces and plans for massive polishing over the winter.

I look forward to meeting your bike (oh, and it's builder, too) at Larz Andersen.  And don't forget about Rice-O-Rama, Sept. 13 in N. Brookfield!

And +1 on Pampadori's brake lines.  I picked up a set from him for my dual-disc conversion, and he threw in one lower hard line (I was missing that) for SHORT money!

[bzr]

Thanks a lot Scotty! Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to Rice-O-Rama because I'll be back at school in upstate NY. But I'm looking forward to some SOHC reppin' this weekend.

Just installed the new battery and got the wiring sorted: the idiot lights all work, as well as the horn, turn signals, neutral light and hi-beam. What doesn't work is the lo-beam and the brake light. Any ideas?

[Scotty J]

Brake light or running light and brake light?  And if it's the brake light, does it fail to come on for both the front and rear brakes?  Too many questions...

As for the low beam: could be the lamp, could be the switch.  Looks like you may get to take your controls off again!  Just run through the problem areas with a multimeter & check continuity.  Electrical problems (on old bikes, anyways) always wind up being something smaller than first suspected.

[bzr]

Ok, so I just tested it with my snazzy new Cycle X taillight - it comes on only when the key is in the park position and I press down on the rear brake lever.

So many questions, indeed. Is the light supposed to come on with the key in the On position as well? Does the front master cylinder need to be filled with brake fluid for the front brake switch to work? And is the taillight supposed to stay on at all times with the key in the On or Park position?

[Laminar]

Ok, so I just tested it with my snazzy new Cycle X taillight - it comes on only when the key is in the park position and I press down on the rear brake lever.

So many questions, indeed. Is the light supposed to come on with the key in the On position as well? Does the front master cylinder need to be filled with brake fluid for the front brake switch to work? And is the taillight supposed to stay on at all times with the key in the On or Park position?

If your front brake switch is a pressure switch, then you need fluid installed to build up enough pressure to trigger the switch. I know my '76 CB550K has a pressure switch. The taillight comes on when the key is in the on or park position.

[bzr]

So my friend Mike and I fixed the brake light issue: turns out I was missing the ground wire the entire time. I've rerouted one on there already. Interestingly, the brake light when the brakes are applied is baaaaarely brighter than the parking light.

The front brake does work at clamping the front tire to a stop, but the caliper is extremely tight on the pad. We'll be bleeding the front brake tomorrow and installing more brake fluid (which hopefully won't end up in my eye like it did today).

Also on the agenda: Marvel Mystery Oil down the spark plug holes and a compression test. Oh, and the ghetto-rigged chrome muffler on my newly heat-wrapped headers (something I'm real proud of). Pics to come soon!

[bzr]

Well, I'm gutted. The bike won't start and it looks like I won't be able to make it to the Jap Motorcycle Show tomorrow.

Since the last update, I've run a compression test, and the figures are 150, 135, 135, and 150 on the cylinders. I've also rewired the electric start so that it actually works now, added motor oil and patched up the front brake to get rid of the leak.

But now the bike won't start with the fuel tank installed and everything. I suspect bad plug wires...but it wouldn't kick start, either.

Also, I had a brief meltdown in my Rustoleum thread, and for good reason too: my attempt at applying clearcoat to a wet sidecover ended in a miserable failure and now I'm stuck removing 7 coats of paint to smooth everything out. The tank looks a bit better since I wet sanded almost all of the ridges and runs, and applied one extra thin coat of Rustoleum to the top. I'm going to bite my tongue (I'm a very impatient person - what, you haven't noticed?  ) and wait till Monday to do any more work on that. At least the rear fender looks snazzy enough.

I may go to the show tomorrow regardless, or I may not. My gf is visiting and I don't want our second date to be at yet another car show.  (Our first one was at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance...)

Here's how it stands as of now:





Heat-wrapped exhaust.




Exhaust mockup with the shorty muffler I picked up from Sky Salvage in Fitchburg a few weeks ago.



How it stands now with the headlight installed. This is when my impatience is going to get me again...

[cafeconleche]

BZR, what kind of clear coat are you using?

[Dave-and-his-550]

I'm thinkin of doing heat wrap as well. My headers are rusty and slightly dented up also. Might do black though. Question: Did you buy new throttle cables? I'm a few steps away from installing my clubman bars and I'm thinking perhaps I should replace the throttle cables with something new...