Topic: Possible CB550 Big Bore kit

[Flying J]

There seems to be a little interest in a CB550 big bore kit around here, myself included. A friend of mine who builds cobra engines put me in contact with a guy he knows. He works for a piston company and they are looking for more small run projects. I am only in the beginning stage of this project. I am still looking for information needed to build the piston. If you can contribute the needed info you can post here: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=85967.0
Otherwise this is the thread i will be using for discussion and updates. Right now Im shooting for around $400 for a set. Any more then that and its just not worth it. What do you think any serious interest at that price?

[Greggo]

I'd definitely like to hear more details, but you've piqued my interest.

[Motoguy23]

I would be interested in something like this.  Get the new style rings in there and maybe a slight increase in compression.  I think that would be a fair price too considering it wouldn't be mass production.

[HondaMan]

Just a thought:
There's a LOT of good used stock 750 pistons out there, both in "K" and "F" styles. With minor mods, they make nice (real) big bore pistons, too. If someone were to collect a bunch of them and modify them en masse, then select balanced sets and kit them, there should be a sizable market for that, too? They need valve flycuts, new piston pins and rings, and voila! a used/new piston kit.

(can you tell just how cheap I am? If not, ask my wife...).

[Flying J]

Cheap, heck i have a set of moded 750 pistons i was/am going to use. Talking about that is how this came up. Nobody is doing the 750 mod and to have a machine shop do it would likely come close to the price im shooting for on a new set of pistons. Thats the logic behind this project. If it pans out, way to good, if not, ill be running 750 pistons.

[RAFster122s]

The big bore is appealing but you need new liners and the liners need bored to fit the pistons and the liners need to be decked properly as well as pinned in place so they don't drop and ruin your day when they heat up a bit.

I bought a Henry Abe 605 kit that had a liner drop on the guy so he threw in the towel on it.

A spare cylinder set opens options on returning to stock if you do it with a spare.

Modern ring design sounds appealing...whether it be machined on used 750 pistons or not.

Off the shelf kit as it were would be appealing for many I would wager.  Sourcing all the pieces needed to do it right gets expensive when you add up all the shipping costs if you are doing it yourself.

David

[Flying J]

with the 61mm you dont need new liners.