Topic: CB550 Rebuild Project for Beginner

[ieism]

That could have been me that made the white gauge. A lot of other guys have done it too.



If you tell me how Kottkehead got the carbs to look so nice and shiny, i'll explain the revcounter:

You grind a little slot in the ring that holds the two halves of the revcounter together. Carefully take off the ring, you"ll need it again.
Take the revcounter apart untill you have the faceplate apart.
I made the design in Adobe Illustrator, if you give me your emailadress (use the PM function on this site)I can send it to you . I don"t have a design for the speedo as I don't run one, but anybody with decent Illustrator skills can make this.

Print a copy out on regular paper to see if the size is the same as the faceplate. If it's not you can scale the design a few % untill it fits perfectly.

Then print it out on the best inkjetprinter you can find on good thick semigloss paper. I then sprayed it with picture varnish to make it more durable, but it's not essential. Cut it out and punch the holes for the srews and middle. Spray the faceplate with glue (I used 3m spraymount because i had it at work) and stick it on there.

Put the revcounter back together and glue on the metal ring with JB-weld so that it is airtight. I taped it round while the JB was drying. Finished!

Good luck with your project, I have the same thing with the cold garage and not wanting to work on the bike now. Thank god I can drive the bike inside on sunday when nobody is there were I work> Here's my buildtread:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=39887.0


Ivar

[Heironymous Josh]

Sounds like you have little experience painting metal.  I'd say the highly irregular surface of a motorcycle frame is not going to lend itself well to sanding, except if you're doing some spot touch-ups.  Sanding by hand will take forever and you'll probably go thru way too much paper as it gets caught up and torn on seams, brackets, and other sharp edges.  I would personally never consider sanding a stock frame down (maybe a custom tube frame like on a mountain bike) and would opt for sand or bead blasting.  Aircraft or other chemical paint strippers would be a messy, toxic, but viable option as well.

Also, you'll want to consider your end finish.  Have you decided on either paint or powdercoat? I'd look into the pluses and minuses of either and go from there. 

Given your level of knowledge on some of this stuff I would not recommend taking this bike down to its bare elements and back again on your own - keep things bite-sized and within your abilities for now. I'd farm out work as appropriate and act as more of an "assembler" and get a handle on working on the maintenance and mechanics overall as a complete motorcycle.   Hand the bodywork to someone and tell them to paint it a certain color.  Same with the frame.  Send the wheels out to be built by someone else. Of course all this is going to be limited by budget but by having to become an expert on painting, an expert on spoke wheel assembly and truing, an expert on polishing metal, an expert on engines, etc. you run an extremely high risk of losing motivation and abandoning your project. 

Although you may be right - after all, hundreds of 'cafe projects' are sold on craigslist daily - I think your overall tone is awfully pessimistic.  Everyone of us in this forum owned a first bike and we can all agree there's only one good way to learn this stuff.  I taught myself fiberglass fabrication over the course of the last six months.  My tutor was primarily trial and error and I got a lot of help from this forum, other forums around the net and the guys at my local composites shop.  My first attempt at a seat pan looked like hammered dog poop.  My second attempt looked like your typical dog poop and the last three seats I've made have been immaculate.

My advice to the poster - Do any of the work you can, if your willing to learn to do it right.  Re-Do as much as necessary to make it perfect in your eyes.  If you get stuck, ask for help.  This ain't no concourse sandcast, so don't worry about messing stuff up.  You'd be hard-pressed to irreversibly eff up.  Dump your girlfriend and/or wife because she'll probably leave you anyway, if it gets in your blood there's no turning back.  Long and short, let it all hang out and have some fun.

[Frankenkit]

+1

Are you going for a project you can look at and say "I did that!" or a spotless garage piece that you had professionally done?  My point being, it may not be perfect, but if you prep things decently (scuff sand,tack cloth, prep spray/wipe, etch primer, bondo and paint!) you will get a result you can be proud of anyway. 

[ev0lve]

And of course, you may end up buying replacement parts to fix the ones you mangled while learning. Wish I could tell you how to avoid that but I'm still figuring it out myself   

[Klark Kent]

what did we do to deserve you kit?
+3

I am at the beginning of a new learning curve right now with my Guzzi, and motivation is everything.  there's a lot i don;t know about right now and "do you want it to be perfect or do you want to learn something" is a question i ask myself multiple times a day.  the answer is rarely perfect.  the thing is, i am putting more time and less money than i can afford into my only means of transportation just being a runner for the sake of the knowledge gained by doing it myself.  I dont need to get around very much for the time being, but there is no real excuse other than my true motivation for owning/riding/wrenching 30+ year old motorbikes- i want to learn something, and these old bastards are simple enough to teach me. 

[FunJimmy]

Although you may be right - after all, hundreds of 'cafe projects' are sold on craigslist daily - I think your overall tone is awfully pessimistic.  Everyone of us in this forum owned a first bike and we can all agree there's only one good way to learn this stuff.  I taught myself fiberglass fabrication over the course of the last six months.  My tutor was primarily trial and error and I got a lot of help from this forum, other forums around the net and the guys at my local composites shop.  My first attempt at a seat pan looked like hammered dog poop.  My second attempt looked like your typical dog poop and the last three seats I've made have been immaculate.

My advice to the poster - Do any of the work you can, if your willing to learn to do it right.  Re-Do as much as necessary to make it perfect in your eyes.  If you get stuck, ask for help.  This ain't no concourse sandcast, so don't worry about messing stuff up.  You'd be hard-pressed to irreversibly eff up.  Dump your girlfriend and/or wife because she'll probably leave you anyway, if it gets in your blood there's no turning back.  Long and short, let it all hang out and have some fun.

+2
I totally agree with you. Pride of workmanship is what drives us to try and to improve as we learn. It should always be about YOU and not that custom fabricator down the road. There’s lots of old bikes to try your hand at and it won’t take long before Buddy is bringing his bike to you.

Cheers
FJ

[ieism]

Dude, if I can finish a cafeproject anyone can. I'm not great at working with my hands. Had no experience with metalwork, electronics or paint. And i'm extremely lazy. All it takes is a little obsession and stuburness (i'm not sure if that's an actual word).

I advice you to do as much as possible yourself, or things will get very expensive. Besides, most of the time you can do just as good as a "proffessional", it just takes time to learn.

[seaweb11]

    4 years ago I knew sh*t about these things................

        4 years later I have 4 bikes, and I still know sh t

     OK, I have learned a few things along the way

You asked about bringing some stuff inside. 
A) All the aluminum pieces....if you want to wet sand them down to 1000 while it snows
    Shiny bits for the Spring,

[Koonendez]

thanks for all the advice, tips, and motivation.

I think i will try and tackle much of the work needed for this bike. As for some of your questions...I don't need perfect(although I'm sure nearly all of us want perfect) but I do want to do things right the first time no matter how long it takes. I never planned on this project to be finished anytime soon when I decided to start. This is going to be my first piece(hopefully not my last) that I want to stand over when complete and know that I put in the elbow grease and my heart into the bike.

I might just end up having to wait for better weather to get anything started, it's been sub-zero in Chicago for the past few days

[Spikeybike]

i've found that setting a date keeps me motivated,    tell yourself  "i gotta get this done by May, for Mods vs Rockers"   see ya then 

[Frankenkit]

what did we do to deserve you kit?

I dunno, but it can't have been good.

[scartail]

Hey thomasoh44... I'm rooting for you. I too am a beginner at this.

I've got an old Suzuki T20 that I am working on. There has been slow times, and times of good progress. I've been at it for over a year, and it's now in pieces. It's a good milestone. I told myself that I will get her running first... Then after that was achieved, I told myself I'm going to do a mile on it. After that was achieved, I told myself I'm going to make her look good. That's the point I'm at.

Keep up the fight!

[Koonendez]

Hey guys...hope you haven't given up on me just yet. I know its been a very long time and yes I've been stupid and neglected this project far too long already.

I need a pump start on this project as...I'll be honest...I feel overwhelmed when I look at my bike in its many pieces.
I contacted CM Werks in Chicago again as they quoted me $400 for sandblasting and powdercoat. Much more than I had anticipated.

Other than that...i really feel like i don't know where exactly to start. I discussed with my friend what I should do first and he swayed me from opening up the head for cleaning. he thinks i should just throw the engine back on as is(after minor cleaning of course) and get the bike back together piece by piece.

For some reason I feel compelled(since the engine is already off) to do a thorough inspection and cleaning/replacing of engine parts inside. any thoughts?

[lone*X]

Hey, I know what you are going through with a delayed project.  Mine got set back by a hurricane and the required house restoration.  Wife thinks the house is more important than an old bike for some reason 

A suggestion.  If the engine isn't frozen and will turn over I wouldn't tear it down further at this time unless you know it has problems.  These motors are durable and can amaze most people with how long they will run.  No sense tearing it down if there is no need.

Break the project down into bite sized pieces.  Take some time and make a list of the things that need to get done to start your reassembly.  Refine the list to get tasks in a logical order.   Then take things one item at at time, top to bottom on your list until your bike is back in one piece.

If prep and powder coat is too much for the budget then clean and rattle can your frame.  There are some good paints out there like the VHT products.  Once you have a frame to hang parts on things will pick up speed.
 
Start putting things back together and as you see progress you will get the bug again and it becomes fun.

[joec3613]

I feel for you bro. I just started my first bike a 74 CB550 and I am going to cut the frame, and make into something fun for me. I had posted that I was going to send my carbs out to be rebuilt by a professional and someone went on and on about how i should do it myself and be familiar with them.... BS, I don't anything about carbs so why should I waste my time and money to just pull my hair out when they don't work right? It was funny cause when I read his posts his bike still isn't running right because of carb problems! Do what you want how you want. Save money where you can, but spend it when you need to. Just my 2 cents..... Good luck!

[Koonendez]

thanks for the encouragement and the advice. I will definitely consider paying out for labor on certain parts of my bike...especially my brakes. not taking chances on my stopping power. And I really like the list idea...I'll spend some free time at work putting together a short list for now of immediate needs and go from there. thanks again..and i'll keep everyone updated as this project surely move along faster now

[dagersh]

Thomas,

The brakes are very simple to work on.  Save your hard earned $$ for stuff like a good powdercoat. 

Take a look at this link - yes, its a Goldwing, but the parts are very similar, and so is the process.  Read over the post, it makes things very clear.

http://www.nakedgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2717

Keep it up and keep your head up.  Even if you do only one hour a week on the bike and parts, it will add up and inspire you to jump back in.

Gersh

[Spikeybike]

+1 

brakes are a piece a cake ....  put that money towards a valve job or tire mounting ... that's stuff that just makes more sense to have someone else do

[Jaredl2055]

make a list of what you want to do and take lots of pictures be very organized i dont know if you are but im not. If you do take the motor apart or anything else on the bike the pictures will help when you jump back into it after the next two month delay.

[steamnjn23]

Thomas,  you do have a shop manual right? 
read it and re-read it. 
something will jump out at you that you can do right now to start seeing progress.
 
with your personality style,  you need to see progress.  do something that will give you a sense of progress and you'll find the motivation brewing inside.

[Koonendez]

It's been a long long time, but the project has finally been revived. Working full time in the restaurant industry simply doesn't allow me the time to build this on my own. Thanks to a buddy's referral I've sourced out most of the build to a local guy here. Parts are on the way and the goal is to get it up and running first. Touching it up will be my job once we get it running. Pictures to come....finally! Better late than never.

[steamnjn23]

isnt it interesting how much time can pass between the start and finish of a project. glad to hear that you're getting going again 

[Koonendez]

Absolutely. Thanks buddy hope to be riding before Chicago summer ends. Don't really care how she looks for now, as long as she runs well.

[steamnjn23]

of course, i got my bike running, and running well, then just pushed it to the rear of the garage where it has sat for a couple years now. i have a friend that keeps encouraging me to finish it...maybe soon...maybe soon