Topic: overdue introduction of a cb550k1 owner

[carlsboss550kay1]

well, i've been peering through the forums ever since my (possibly moronic) purchase last week.  she's a 1975 cb550k1, 39k miles.  obvious (now they are, anyway!) issues has she, but thats what you cats are for, right?

i'm decidedly from the tim-in-ohio school of mechanical knowledge (no really....where do you put the air in the tires?!?  j/k...i got that much...can even change the oil properly!  and i'll have to, and often!), so this is going to be quite the odd-essy.  at least tim has some basic things, like tools....or a workspace...

immediate goals are to just get her okay for running through the season without causing any more potential damage.  she's definitely needing a top end rebuild, but that will have to wait for wintertime, unfortunately. 

i was raised as a mo-tard, by a mo-tard.  so if i have questions that seem truly idiotic, just remember...there are no idiotic questions, just idiots with questions.  i am that idiot, and i beg your pardon when i'm questioning things. 
more than anything, i want to learn...and by learn, i really mean "understand".  from what i can see here, from all that i've read so far...it would seem i am in good hands.  black-stained, oily hands...but that just makes them that much better!!!

here's a pic of me on top of my girl (ahem...lady!).  she's rough, and thats fine.  i'll worry about making her "pretty" later.



i'm something of a photography enthusiast as well, so any pics that aren't diagnosis oriented will probably be a little artsyfartsy.  what can i say?  its what i do...

anyway, hi to all, and thanks for being here!  i can tell i'm going to be more than a little obsessed...since finding this forum, i haven't even looked at a single p0rn site!!

wish me luck, folks....the old girl and i will need it!

[mystic_1]

Welcome.  Grainy black-and-white print seems appropos for a 34 year old bike

Bike looks to be in good shape, better than some people here have started with.  Why do you say it needs a top end rebuild?  Oil leaks?

mystic_1

[carlsboss550kay1]

well, there are certainly a few leaky gaskets along the topside, yes.  i'm the 3rd owner (that i know of!), and PO was not too interested in the wherefore and whatnots of what was causing the leaks...

my mech buddy says i can tighten her down a bit and make it through the riding season, then we can tear into her over the wintertime.  he's got a '74 cb500 he wants to cafe (though he may bob it...he's undecided, and martino's murdercycle has him intrigued by possibilities), so he figured helping me with mine would be a good way to get more familiar with the hondas (a lifelong harley man, is he)...

my short list of "get me through til winter" fixes involves new points plate assembly (due by the end of the week), new plugs, proper valve adjustment, proper timing, new chain (again, a "get me through" jobbie before winter's new x-ring and sprockets)...all of which should be going down next weekend.  gods willing, thats all it will take to get me through til winter!

then again, if the detroit red wings win the cup again this year, i'll have a trip home to detroit to worry over...

anyway, yeah...starting slow, just getting by for now.  i'd love to do a proper resto (with a few "modern conveniences"), but who knows how it will pan out...

she does look fairly good for a pile of neglect, doesn't she?  thank gods for grainy b&w!!!

one day, she'll carry me all the way to montreal, where my true love waits for me...

[TwoTired]

oring and xring 530 chains are too wide for the Cb550.  Unless, you think it acceptable to grind on the engine cases.   

If you grind an offset into the front sprocket, you can make wider chains work.  Or, if you change chain and sprocket to 520 width, oring/xring chains will work OK.


Leaks don't effect how the 550 runs, usually.  I have some that have been leaking/weeping for 15 years.  Runs too good to take it apart for what is a cosmetic issue. IMO

[carlsboss550kay1]

yeah, even just the new plugs helped tremendously...points assembly should be here sometime next week, so i figure getting all of that set up and done should leave me pretty well off for a while.  cosmetics can be thought about come winter...(i did win some tank badges for like $20 shipped, so i couldn't resist!)

i did come across an alarming potential issue on the bottom case, where the left rear bolt for the oil pan goes in...seems to be a bit of it broken off.  here's a pic to show what i mean...follow the thin black (oil seepage) line...


i don't think its too terribly big of a deal (at least, thats what my mech buddy says...says i should be able to drop the oil pan, clean up the break and jb weld it without having to remove the engine.  is he right?), and between that spot and the seepage in the top end, i'm not losing much oil at all.  then again, i haven't ridden her but 12 miles since the new plugs (again, waiting for those new points), so i don't really know for sure.  however, when i rode her home from indy (a good 60 miles), she wasn't too far from the top of the dipstick, and it had just been topped to full before that ride.  i'd guess at most 1/3qt...

so for now, she'll just be set to run as a daily rider...running well enough.  it'll let me focus on cleaning up the little things, while building confidence that when the time comes to truly get in there and fix something, i can at least come back here and say "i effed this up, how do i fix it?" instead of "it glowered at me with that rusty metal gaze, and i think it said it would eat my tools if i came near it"!
seriously though...i feel like if i'm gonna trust this machine to take me any distance beyond an hour each way, i'd like to know that i can trust myself to fix her should something happen along the way.  or at least know whats wrong with her before i go paying someone else to do god knows what.  its a sentiment i've found peppered throughout this forum, and one of the things which made me comfortable here right away.  that, along with the ready helpfulness of its members with nuggets of wisdom (good info on that o & x ring chain!  520 it is!!), reassures me that i'm in good hands, and will be taught much.
thats what it really comes down to for me...i seek not to restore, or even rebuild, so much as i seek to understand my machine.  already i've learned much, just from reading and sharing other people's experiences.  now, i want to physically apply that knowledge, and gain the experience and understanding that only the practical application of what i've learned can teach...

but first things first...get her in proper tune and see how she is from there.  at this point, i'll be happy when she stops backfiring when decelerating! 

[TwoTired]

I don't understand, why the insistence on an oring or xring chain.  Allergic to chain lube?  You still have to lube an oring chain, although the interval should be greater.  I haven't found once a week or every 2-300 miles to be much of a hardship.   Have you figured out how long it will take to get the 520 conversion parts?

What you are calling a crack is a normal casting protrusion/flash on CB550s.  Take off the sprocket cover and find out where the oil is coming from.  There is a shifter seal, oil pressure sender, and an oil pump seal that can leak behind there.
 Clean it all off and let it dry.  Spray foot powder on suspect areas and run the motor a bit.  The powder will wet where it is leaking.

I've alway been able to file/recondition points to work properly, at least for the short term.  Why are yours beyond hope?  Are you replacing the condensers, too?

Backfire from exhaust or intake on decell?  If exhaust, check for head pipe gasket leaks.  If intake, that could be timing or valve adjust.  Bad Carb sync can make exhaust backfire in 4 into 1 systems.

[kghost]

Welcome.

Twotired is the expert 

[carlsboss550kay1]

I don't understand, why the insistence on an oring or xring chain.  Allergic to chain lube?  You still have to lube an oring chain, although the interval should be greater.  I haven't found once a week or every 2-300 miles to be much of a hardship.   Have you figured out how long it will take to get the 520 conversion parts?

What you are calling a crack is a normal casting protrusion/flash on CB550s.  Take off the sprocket cover and find out where the oil is coming from.  There is a shifter seal, oil pressure sender, and an oil pump seal that can leak behind there.
 Clean it all off and let it dry.  Spray foot powder on suspect areas and run the motor a bit.  The powder will wet where it is leaking.

I've alway been able to file/recondition points to work properly, at least for the short term.  Why are yours beyond hope?  Are you replacing the condensers, too?

Backfire from exhaust or intake on decell?  If exhaust, check for head pipe gasket leaks.  If intake, that could be timing or valve adjust.  Bad Carb sync can make exhaust backfire in 4 into 1 systems.

1.  see, thats why i need you experts around!  i've just heard around the campfire that o or x ring is best, so i believed it.  knowing your opinions now will seriously inform my purchase decision in the future! 
2.  thanks for the tip about my "case crack"....i'm relieved to know its normal!  will follow your procedure to discover leak area.
3.  yeah, these points were beyond bad.  filing helped nothing...might be original to the bike.  i got the whole new assembly (points, plate, condensers), making sure not to get any cheap chinese junk.  looking forward to doing that, along with the...
4.  valve and timing adjustment just waiting for points plate to arrive.  figured get it all done, in proper order, on a single day.  head pipe/exhaust in general is my next project (head pipe is pretty rusty, trumpet pipe will def need cleaned/repacked or replaced), so if thats my backfire culprit i guess i get started on that project sooner rather than later!  carbs?  now there is an alchemy i seek to understand!!!

carbs, carbs and syncing them...guys who could strip a motor and put it back together in less than an hour suffer small strokes when asked about syncing carbs.  i've heard it called "black magic", while still others insist its easy as lindsay lohan on a bender!  heck, even our member-brother hush will adopt tones akin to his screenname when discussing this dark art, happily leaving it to "experts".  so yeah...anything that strikes fear and terror into the hearts of grown men, believe me...i wanna learn it! 

leader of scary biker gang:  "that guy's on a honda?  lets kick his ass!!"
second in command, to leader:  "dude, lay back.  that guy once synced his own carbs in less than an hour!"
leader:  "carb sync?  that thing has at least 4 carbs on it!!!  and in less than an hour?"
second guy:  "yeah, man."  (makes that face that says "don't do it man...i'm not ready to lead our gang")
leader:  "should we offer him a beer?  or maybe not...i heard those carb guys drink their own used cleaner."  *shudders in fear, walks away*

its funny...i'm actually kind of hoping its my carbs, because then i have an excuse to buy the tool and get to learning!  necessity, she's a fine teacher too...
plus, that way i can justify paying out for the sync tool!

[Do0ki3 PWNS]

welcome.

[TwoTired]

You do need four manometers to do a vacuum carbs sync.  But, you only have to adjust three carbs to one reference carb, just to make the vacuum equal on all intake runners.
It isn't that difficult, really.  Do it after the rest of the tune up items are addressed, though.

[carlsboss550kay1]

You do need four manometers to do a vacuum carbs sync.  But, you only have to adjust three carbs to one reference carb, just to make the vacuum equal on all intake runners.
It isn't that difficult, really.  Do it after the rest of the tune up items are addressed, though.

yeah, i'm looking at a few sync tools, but i'm also looking at a few of the "make it yourself" plans out there...it really doesn't seem too difficult or involved to construct.  i found a pretty nice set on fleebay for $110-ish, though, that has both 5 & 6mm adapters so i can do other people's bikes as well (i'm a giver, especially if it gets me fresh paint and a fixed side cover tab!).  my mech buddy is thinking of going halvsies with me, since he's about to tear into his cb500 project too.

does this strike you as a nice one?  i admit, the case dazzled the consumer in me (as surely it was meant to)...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Carburetor-Synchronizer-carb-sync-Gauge-GL-1000-1100_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZQ7c301Q3a0Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a30QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em14Q2el1262QQhashZitem4ce975302aQQitemZ330334285866QQptZMotorsQ5fAutomotiveQ5fTools

i like that its toteable, not tied to a bench.  and from what i understand, i'd spend that much on 2 sync jobs if i had someone else do it, so its not like the cost isn't somewhat justified. 

in other news...the bars on this bike are a bit too forward for my natural stance, and it causes me to crouch in ways that my 6 foot frame just doesn't find comfortable to ride with, so i rustled up some new bars with more pullback and a little more height.  mech buddy had given me a set i liked, but they just had too much lift to fit without extending the cables, so i found something in between that should work out great.  the footpegs may still be a little too back for my feet, but thats what highway pegs are for...
my right front signal/running light housing is a bit smooshed from P-PO dropping it the day PO bought it (great salesmanship, eh?), but i'm hoping i can mush it back into shape so a lens will fit properly again.  if not, time for new fronts.  question...my flash rate is awfully slow.  is that the regulator doohickey...the one you have to replace if you go LED?

[TwoTired]

The sync gauges look like they could work fine.  I'm not experienced with that particular set or the seller, though.

If you have a stock flasher, Flash rate is controlled by the battery voltage, and the lamp load.    Change the bulb type and it can effect the flash rate.  It is common for people to replace the stock 1034/1073 front rear set to 1157/1156 found at most discount auto stores.  The later will change your flash rate.
Also when the engine is running and charging the battery the system voltage rises and makes the flashers work at proper rate.
Some people are annoyed with this and replace the stock flasher with and automotive type that is voltage and load independent.

I found handle bar set backs for some of my bikes that move the bar mount points back two inches.  This still allows for stock cable use.  Mine say ACK cast into them.  But, I don't know where to get them these days.

If you want feet forward operation a la cruiser style, be aware of the safety detriment, if you don't also add forward controls.  You won't be able to use the rear brake quickly nor will you be able to down shift quickly.    Both these operations are needed for survival on roads populated by auto drivers intent on smashing you to bits.  You will find that engine power and brake are quite handy (even essential) to foil their plans.  It's only about one in 10 (maybe 100) that wish to kill you.  But, you have only one life to risk.
The 550 needs RPM to make power.   A simple throttle twist won't make it squirt away from danger.  Go down two or three gears and it's in a go-fast mode.
Alternately, two or three seconds delay on the brake pedal can make about 25-50 feet longer stopping distance.

You must learn to drive a bike with a different attitude from a car.  Your epidermis makes a poor bumper for engaging 2000lb (and up) belligerent objects.

Additionally, rider position also effects bike weight distribution on the tires (traction), and handling characteristics during evasive or extreme maneuvers.  You might consider adapting your position to the bike, rather than creating the easy chair position for the bike, where you at the mercy of other motorists.  At least, try it before you change it.

You HAVE taken or scheduled a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course for yourself, right?
http://www.msf-usa.org/

[carlsboss550kay1]

lol, yes....i've taken the safety course!  just took it again at the start of may, since i knew i was getting this bike soon, to be "fresh".  aced it, written and road!

i'm very much the safety nut (i even wore full gear when i was only tooling around on a little 50cc moped!), and it is my plan to take the rider safety course sets (beginner and advanced) every couple years, just to keep my head in a safety state of mind...

yeah, i've looked at moving the forward controls, but it looks pretty unfeasable, so i'll just keep my legs tucked back.  better safe than splattered!!
its actually a safety thing that lead me to get the new bars...less to do with comfort, more to do with having enough slack in my elbows to allow for the safe completion of the aforementioned "evasive maneuvers"...the current ones just have me waay too far forward.  i figure, for $35...if they work better, great.  if not, i can always re-sell them.

i think you were right....one in ten wants to kill you.  here in bloomington, its more like 1 in 5!  thats why i don't mind that my bike is a little on the "loud" side...even if they "never saw me", they sure as hell heard me!!

[Ecosse]

ha haaa another 550 owner! time to bump the 550 registry. 

welcome!