Author Topic: Flying J CB550 Cafe Racer Magazine. (Read 182740 times)

Flying J · « **on:** May 22, 2009, 06:02:48 PM »

:(Well here we go i have been collecting parts for this bike for a little while.

Bought the bike not running with a lean title. Have not decided what to do with it yet.

As of right now i am just trying to get it streetable so my girlfriend can learn to ride on it as well as a few friends. I dont want them jacking up my cafe bike so ill let them ride this one and then once they have the hang of it we will see what happens.

It has a 16 rear. Good for my girl she is short. I have a new rim and spokes ready to go for the rear. First, it and a front wheel, need to be PC black. Eventually I will either go with a smaller front tire or a bigger rear tire. Depends if i go cafe again or do the brat style. Im digging the brat style.
Here

Flying J · « **Reply #1 on:** May 22, 2009, 06:09:54 PM »

I stripped it down painted it and put it back together.

I used OSH black enamel and clear. Looks real good. Like its still wet. Bought a harbor freight Buffer and polished up the aluminum. turned out ok.

Im going to try and machine slots in the side cover like Dougs bike

Flying J · « **Reply #2 on:** May 22, 2009, 06:20:28 PM »

I got it all back together as a roller and tried to fire it up. I ran pretty good. Carbs leaked bad so i have to readjust the floats. The forks are a little long. The only good looking set i had were of a 750F so they are 1 inch over.

Im pretty satisfied with todays work. I will pull the carbs, finish the electrical. Im rebuilding some switches from a few different sets. Get the chain on and hopefully my new seat will show up so i dont have that ugly one on there.

so thats it for now nothing to impressive i know but its a build. Future plans are 650 cam, port heads, dual disk, dynoman ignition, smaller front rim. and hopefully some shorter forks. Anybody got a nice set?

moham · « **Reply #3 on:** May 22, 2009, 07:19:02 PM »

It only took me a couple weeks of scouting eBay to find a later set of 550 forks. I wanted
To lose the gaitors and I found a 77 set for pretty cheap. Was planning to rebuild anyway...

DaytonGuy · « **Reply #4 on:** May 23, 2009, 06:39:10 AM »

Dude...that seat ROCKS! Gives the bike some nostalgia......

It's soooo big. Looks like a car seat slapped on there.

Do0ki3 PWNS · « **Reply #5 on:** May 27, 2009, 09:16:46 PM »

any updates?

Flying J · « **Reply #6 on:** May 27, 2009, 10:10:03 PM »

got a stock seat put on and im working out some problems with the carbs. My list of to do's for tomorow is.
get the carbs to stop leaking
get the chain on
get the breaks on
prep the spare wheels for Powder coat
work on switches and headlight.
well see how much gets done
ill post pics with the new seat.

Flying J · « **Reply #7 on:** May 28, 2009, 09:30:38 AM »

the carbs are working now but it needs to be choked idle. And when i rev it up it stays reved and takes a while to return to idle. Not a cable problem either. Im going to adjust the points and valves, replace my plugs and then see what happens. Wont be for a few days. I thought id have all day today, but other things are more important then the bike. Here is my new seat.

Flying J · « **Reply #8 on:** May 31, 2009, 03:40:52 PM »

ok got a little done. Ill tell you where im at and any help will be greatly appreciated.
The carbs still leak on and off out of the over flow. Im thinking float needles
The bike runs but is not moving since i have no brakes and the chain is off.
The exhaust is on but is leaky. I havent put in the new gaskets yet in anticipation of taking the exhaust off again.
It fires up pretty easy without choke.
Im running a kerker 4-1 and Emglo foam pods. And 110 mains.
When i rev it up it hangs there for awhile before it comes back down.
A little poping from the carbs on deceleration.
Number 2 does not get very hot.
No black smoke from the exhaust.
Bogs when you first get on the throttle but revs good at higher RPMs.
Surges at idle like 1 cylinder keeps kicking in and out.
I know this is not great info because this is just reving the bike in the driveway and there is no load on it. Here is a pic of my plugs after running it in the driveway for 10 min, as well as my dry compression test, done while cold.

Main question being do you think new float neddles will help with the overflowing?
am i running lean or rich?

I did the valves but i will do it again, im getting new tapets. I static timed and its maybe 1* advanced. When i get the brakes and chain on ill run it on the street and give more results.

Flying J · « **Reply #9 on:** June 06, 2009, 10:42:21 AM »

ok not much change. I got the exhaust on all the way now. Ran the bike around the block and boy it sounds good.
when i rev it it stays reved for a bit. the throttle response returning to idle is slow. Bogs in low rpms. rode around the block twice then it died. would not start back up. fired it back up this morning. Over heating?
Any help would be awesome.
TwoTired if you are reading this just pretend i didnt put the pods on. I know you hate that.

110 mains, kerker, uni pods

FunJimmy · « **Reply #10 on:** June 06, 2009, 11:35:01 AM »

Hope you get some answers as my 550 is slow to idle down too.

Flying J · « **Reply #11 on:** June 06, 2009, 02:50:46 PM »

i was playing with the bike in the garage and what i found was. As i roll the throttle on slowly, instead of slowly raising the RPMs it stutters up to a point and then the RPMs jump way up. So.... is it possible that my 1/4 - 1-2 throttle controlled by the needle clip position is on the lean side? It is in the stock position, second to last clip from the bottom. Should i raise the needle up one more position to richen it up? Am i thinking along the right lines?

Flying J · « **Reply #12 on:** June 06, 2009, 03:07:52 PM »

here are my sparkplugs after going around the block a few times. #3 looked almost like it had never been used.

scooter1 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 06, 2009, 04:29:37 PM »

number 2/3 run off the same coil....it might be a spark problem, they both look like they are not firing or running way too lean.

Flying J · « **Reply #14 on:** June 06, 2009, 05:46:04 PM »

good eye. i checked and they were getting spark but i will go pull the caps when its running and see if anything cganges

Flying J · « **Reply #15 on:** June 06, 2009, 06:46:03 PM »

pulled the #3 and the motor rpms dropped. Pulled the #2 and didnt notice much. So i put a plug in it and and its got spark and the header got hot. I rhode it around the block and its doing better but still stays reved and doesnt retur to fast.

FunJimmy · « **Reply #16 on:** June 06, 2009, 09:12:10 PM »

Have you synched the carbs yet?

Flying J · « **Reply #17 on:** June 07, 2009, 01:19:19 AM »

that is my next step, i bench synced but my friend has my syncorometer.

moham · « **Reply #18 on:** June 07, 2009, 06:23:04 AM »

Have you gone in order through the tuning steps according to the manual? Every time you change somethin and get a different result, go back and begin at the beginning. You'll get it sorted eventually.

Flying J · « **Reply #19 on:** June 07, 2009, 09:33:38 AM »

i rode it around the block a few times and it seems to be running better and starting easier. When i sync the carbs then we'll see what else is wrong.

Flying J · « **Reply #20 on:** June 08, 2009, 08:40:19 PM »

Still havent synced the carbs but it fired up fairly easily so i rode to my parents house. About a block away. Shut it down hung out for 5 min then headed back. On the way back i got on the throttle. A turn or 2 later it began to sputter and lost power. I tried to keep it running but any load would bog it down and then it just died. 100' from my house. Wont start.
What happened? Am i over heating from running lean. To correct the situation should i jump straight to bigger mains and raise the needle or is there something else i should do first?

moham · « **Reply #21 on:** June 08, 2009, 11:43:59 PM »

Have you installed new plug caps or are you running with olde shyte? From your plugs before, looked like 2-3 were weak. Now it looks like 1-3 aren't hitting. Put new caps on or at least trim some of the wire back where the caps screw in. If you've already done all of this then ignore the last couple sentences. Its either weak spark or no gas getting in or a combo of both, in my lowly estimation. Whats stock mains for a 76 550, is it 90? I can't remember. Did you rebuild carbs or just clean? Maybe not clean enough. If nothing else, put a strobe on that bad boy and see what's up.

Flying J · « **Reply #22 on:** June 09, 2009, 01:40:13 PM »

I fixed the fuel delivery problem. Drained the tank and cleared the screen. It flows fuel fine now. so i rode it around the neighborhood for a half hour or so. When i came back and parked it my roommate asked me what was smoking. I assume its just old oil burning off but i did find some fresh oil. Ill pull the plugs again when it cools off and take some pictures. I have a feeling its still lean. If im not getting good spark would that cause me to run lean or rich?

Flying J · « **Reply #23 on:** June 09, 2009, 05:27:44 PM »

well i think my plugs are looking better. what do you think? Im still going to pull the carbs and move the needles. Is there an easy way to do this or do i have to pull the carbs and seperate the rack? that oil leak is worrying me.

Toxic · « **Reply #24 on:** June 09, 2009, 05:46:20 PM »

Going back to the begining of your post, how does your gear shifter work in that position?
Shouldn't the linkage be shortened so the part that attaches at the engine ( sorry I know there is a specific name for it ) is either straight up or down, not horizontal.

Nice build.

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Author Topic: Flying J CB550 Cafe Racer Magazine. (Read 182740 times)

Do0ki3 PWNS