Author Topic: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build  (Read 52873 times)

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Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #125 on: March 26, 2010, 07:53:02 AM »
Oh, and I got my license plate mount made up:


Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #126 on: March 26, 2010, 09:05:23 AM »
I went to show my wife the awesome HID headlight (she was nice enough to pretend to find it awesome) and it refused to shut off. I turned it on with my switch, but once it was on it wouldn't turn off unless I turned the key off. Once I turned the key back on, the light turned on too, even though the key was off. I do NOT look forward to cracking the headlight bucket open again.

Offline The_Crippler

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #127 on: March 26, 2010, 11:00:33 AM »
Ouch...especially since "crack" seems to be the operative word with your headlight bucket...

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #128 on: March 27, 2010, 07:26:23 PM »
So close...

I spent yesterday and today getting the paint done.

Here they are with a few coats of the silver:



Masked:



Black applied:





The texture of the "hammered" paint:



Masking removed:



Pinstripes applied:





Unfortunately, the painter's tape didn't treat the silver paint very well, so the stripes have a few spots that look bad. We'll see how much it bugs me. I'm still thinking about doing a clear coat, but I'm not sure how much that would ruin the texture of the hammered paint.

Mocked up on the bike (keep in mind the tank and seat aren't secured down like they will be, so they're not perfectly straight):









I'm fairly okay with how they turned out. I'm not in love, but it works for now. I'm also thinking that a red pinstripe instead of the silver might look pretty sharp. We'll see.

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #129 on: April 04, 2010, 08:37:16 AM »
I picked up a set of gauges from a Ninja for the electronic tach, so I can put those guts in the stock housing. I have a set of 80mm LED rings on the way from Hong Kong for gauge lighting. I picked up a clutch cable made for a CX500. The sheath is the perfect length for clubmans but the inner cable is too long and the cable end is the wrong shape for the CB550, so I'll have to put a new end on the cable.

The seat is currently getting upholstered, the plan is black vinyl/leather with silver stripes continued from the tank to the cowl.

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #130 on: April 04, 2010, 09:03:33 AM »
Looks good!  Progress is being made.

I resurrectred your 750 post...never knew about it, until just now.

Cool stuff!

~Joe

Offline Gregorymoto

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #131 on: April 04, 2010, 09:20:23 AM »
Wow that is allot of bondo.
Yep, i have issues with this sort of stuff.

Offline HavocTurbo

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #132 on: April 05, 2010, 03:39:43 PM »
Looking good Lam...

Almost on the road!!
'48 HD Panhead - Exxon Valdez
'78 CB550K - Fokker CB.3
'78 Honda CB750K - Mavrik
'80 Yamaha XS850G - Kanibalistik
09 XL883L - No Name

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #133 on: April 18, 2010, 07:18:36 PM »
The seat cover is made and the seat is upholstered, I just need to pick it up. I turned my attention to the gauges, as I think it will be nice to have a tach while I ride. I'm blatantly ripping off Industrial Cafe's idea of using LED rings to backlight the gauges. I ordered my rings a couple weeks ago, and am still waiting for them to arrive from China. In the meantime I cracked open the gauges, and went to work.

Here you can see all of the disassembled bits, and I've started sanding off the paint on the tach:







The gauge faceplate itself is translucent blue/green plastic. There's a layer of white paint, then a second layer of green paint that lets the white letters and tick marks show through. Both layers of paint were sanded off to get to the bare plastic.





My initial idea was to have my friend cut out some vinyl overlays that I can just stick on to the gauges:



Unfortunately, we had a limited amount of time and his vinyl cutter was freaking out at my DXF files, so the cutting wasn't complete, quite a few lines were missing, which made it not work out so well. So I went back to using my previous design printed off on paper. I think they look good.



I ripped out the tach element from the Ninja gauges. It should be a perfect fit inside of the stock tach bucket, so one that gets wired up I'll have an electronic tach. I need to figure out a way to plug the tach hole in the valve cover since I'll no longer need the tach cable.

On a sidenote, I noticed the front tire went completely flat. It appears that the tube is leaking somewhere around the valve stem. I'll be taking the wheel back to the Honda dealership to have them take care of it. I've had good experiences with them in the past so here's hoping they take responsibility for it, since the bike has done nothing but sit ever since the wheel was installed.

I'm leaving town again at the end of this week so we'll see if I actually get to take it for a ride before I leave.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2010, 08:30:19 PM by Laminar »

Offline The_Crippler

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #134 on: April 21, 2010, 07:04:06 AM »
Welcome to the forums, Feyden.  It's a great place with a lot of knowledgeable people.

I think the best thing for you to do right now is to start a build thread for your bike.  Sounds like you have one already elsewhere (can't view MySpace from work, so I haven't checked your link) so it shouldn't be much trouble to transfer it over. 

This way, people can give you advice and guidance on your project without threadjacking someone else's project log (which is generally considered bad form.)

Again, welcome to the forums!

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #135 on: April 21, 2010, 07:08:17 AM »
Yeah, for some reason the "Report to Moderator" link isn't working.

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #136 on: April 22, 2010, 07:15:03 PM »
Here's where it sits as of today.



















I actually got to take it for a ride, but one of the carbs is overflowing and all four cylinders are running altogether too rich. I think pulling a steel wire through my slow jets enlarged them too much, and the 115 mains are just too much anyway. I might have to pick up all new jets.

Here's a video of me driving by. I took it out and did a few miles and the bike did okay, then parked and let it idle while I set up the camera. After it sat for a while, it stopped hitting on four cylinders and went down to three or so. I'm assuming in the time I let it idle, one of the carbs filled up too much and stopped firing, and I didn't ride enough to suck out the extra fuel from the carb. After shutting the bike off, pipe #1 measured about 30% cooler than the other three, which were all pretty equal. Plugs one and four were both very sooty.



Offline markac

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #137 on: April 24, 2010, 11:24:26 AM »
How do you open the gauges without cutting the pressed bands keeping them together?
I tried cleaning up a set once and cut the bands, the thing never wanted to fit back together.

Is there a trick to it?

I have a set of gauges form a 71, cb750 in sad shape but functional. I'd like to use them as they have the warning lights inside them as i want to try clip-ons.

thx for your project post, I'm enjoying following it.

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #138 on: April 24, 2010, 01:18:16 PM »
How do you open the gauges without cutting the pressed bands keeping them together?
I tried cleaning up a set once and cut the bands, the thing never wanted to fit back together.

Is there a trick to it?

I have a set of gauges form a 71, cb750 in sad shape but functional. I'd like to use them as they have the warning lights inside them as i want to try clip-ons.

thx for your project post, I'm enjoying following it.

On the first gauge, I wedged a paint can opener into the metal ring and pried it apart until I could pop the gauges apart. I read about doing that somewhere on here. On the second one, I decided that took too much time so I just Dremeled the ring apart.

Offline markac

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #139 on: April 24, 2010, 02:57:34 PM »
How are you gonna put the one you cut back together?

I did the same on my other 750 and tried to solder the band, but it came apart few weeks later due to vibrations.
I'd like to be able to fix them for good.

I got inspired and got the gauges apart today, took ma about an hour. I used a stubby and really wide flathead to bend the rim up and slide it off without breaking it. I'm quite pleased and pissed I did not do it this way on the other gauges.

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #140 on: April 24, 2010, 04:23:58 PM »
How are you gonna put the one you cut back together?

Rumor has it that JB Weld with a hose clamp to hold it until it dries is the standard procedure.

Offline markac

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #141 on: April 24, 2010, 07:55:26 PM »
yeah
I heard that as well, but i was hoping for a more permanent solution.

On your headlight? the H4, did you run new wiring?
I heard that the extra current drawn could prematurely damage your wires, or melt connectors.

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #142 on: April 24, 2010, 07:59:48 PM »
yeah
I heard that as well, but i was hoping for a more permanent solution.

On your headlight? the H4, did you run new wiring?
I heard that the extra current drawn could prematurely damage your wires, or melt connectors.

I'm running an HID ballast/bulb that actually pulls less current than the stock bulb.

The HID kit came with a wiring harness that pulls power directly from the battery.

Offline markac

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #143 on: April 24, 2010, 08:53:33 PM »
Nice, I'd like to upgrade to a brighter headlight.
Can you share the company or make of the Hid system you used?

Offline Laminar

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #144 on: April 24, 2010, 09:06:47 PM »

Offline Zaipai

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #145 on: April 24, 2010, 10:31:46 PM »
Nice ride. Love the way it sounds. I don't know if you clear coated the tank etc.. or not however if you check the can of silver paint I believe it will state that if you use clear coat it will actually dull the silver.. At least it says that on mine..

GL..

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traveler

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #146 on: April 24, 2010, 10:46:41 PM »
Skip the clear, if in doubt.

~Joe

Offline Zaipai

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #147 on: April 25, 2010, 08:00:32 AM »
Quote
I need to figure out a way to plug the tach hole in the valve cover since I'll no longer need the tach cable.
This may work and its not real pricey at 16.00, however if you call them they can tell you if it works or not and weather they would be willing to mill one for the 550...



Website product page:
http://www.jokermachine.com/itemcafe2004.asp?ItemID=713&CategoryID=85&Placeholder=

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traveler

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #148 on: April 25, 2010, 10:11:03 AM »
MAN....I'm diggin' the valve lash adjuster covers! :o


EDIT $150 BUCKS!  :(

~Joe
« Last Edit: April 25, 2010, 10:12:39 AM by traveler »

Offline Zaipai

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Re: Laminar's CB550 Cafe Build
« Reply #149 on: April 25, 2010, 10:11:56 AM »
MAN....I'm diggin' the valve lash adjuster covers! :o

~Joe

They would probably make some for you if you asked!!! ;)

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