Topic: What did you do to your bike today ?

[grcamna2]

That engine would serve well in my little Honda Acty!

Yeah ! 

[MauiK3]

Got my windows tinted, keeps out some heat, the new products are quite impressive.

[dave500]

good job Terry and Spotty,thats a lotta bike!

[Terry in Australia]

That engine would serve well in my little Honda Acty!

It sure would Steve, They make 140BHP and 147 foot pounds of torque at the back wheel, way more torque than even a Hayabusa engine, that a lot of people are retro-fitting into small cars. With drop in cams, a better exhaust, the Ramair intake system and an Ozclaw (air scoop made here in Oz) I've seen dyno figures of 194 BHP and around 180 foot pounds of torque. Not bad for an engine with stock head and pistons. Of course if you want to go mad and install a turbo or blower, 300+ BHP isn't out of the question.

I may go with the cams soon, as the engine doesn't need to come out again to install them. Totally unnecessary of course, but really scary fun. I watched a Youtube video of Guy Martin riding a twin Rocket III engined bike on the salt flats recently, both engines are blown, and it produces around 1000 BHP.

https://laidlawmotorsportservices.com.au/lms-performance-products/triumph-rocket-iii/

[Terry in Australia]

Anyway, yesterday Spotty and I got the Rocket III 90% back together. We were chasing our tails with an electrical issue, sometime when we put the frame back on to the engine we'd trapped just one wire somewhere and couldn't find it. Considering the amount of vacant power sockets on the OEM harness one little wire didn't make much difference until I accidentally plugged it into a live 12V wire and the engine started cranking!

All we'd had when we hit the button was a soft click from the starter relay, so I'd driven to the auto parts store twice to buy some new relays (3 in total, that will come in handy one day) so I hotwired the little lone unimportant looking black wire (which turned out to be the signal wire from the relay to the starter motor) to the accessory pole on the relay. We turned the ignition on, pressed the button, and it cranked the engine, so we quickly installed the tank, and fired it up. Yay! Just a few small things left to do now, and waiting for some parts to arrive from the US, and it's back on the road again. (and I know how to hotwire Rocket III's, if I ever become a career motorcycle thief..)

[MauiK3]

Wonderful stuff, what a beast of an engine!!

[Terry in Australia]

Wonderful stuff, what a beast of an engine!!

Thanks Steve, I’m really pleased to have it back, there are so many options for much more power for these things that it’ll be a continual project. In its current state of (unknown) tune it’s probably pumping out around 140 BHP and a few more foot pounds of torque, but with the “Ozclaw” scoop coupled to the Ramair filter setup and a pair of drop in cams and the Jardine exhaust and an ECU re-flash it’s going to take it up to close to 200 at the back wheel.

On top of that there’s the 2500cc stroker crank, higher compression pistons, turbo kits, blower kits, porting, etc etc. there are guys on the R3 sites with bikes reliably producing well over 300 BHP, which is insane, but I’ll keep playing with it until I decide that it’s about as scary as I want it to be.

[Kelly E]

Wonderful stuff, what a beast of an engine!!

Thanks Steve, I’m really pleased to have it back, there are so many options for much more power for these things that it’ll be a continual project. In its current state of (unknown) tune it’s probably pumping out around 140 BHP and a few more foot pounds of torque, but with the “Ozclaw” scoop coupled to the Ramair filter setup and a pair of drop in cams and the Jardine exhaust and an ECU re-flash it’s going to take it up to close to 200 at the back wheel.

On top of that there’s the 2500cc stroker crank, higher compression pistons, turbo kits, blower kits, porting, etc etc. there are guys on the R3 sites with bikes reliably producing well over 300 BHP, which is insane, but I’ll keep playing with it until I decide that it’s about as scary as I want it to be.

Okay some of the bikes I ride don't really know I'm there because at 125lbs I weigh about as much as the chrome trim on a decked out Harley. Riding a 300hp bike might be pushing my luck too far, or maybe not.

[Really?]

Cleaned off the cobwebs and dust.  :O

[Stev-o]

Cleaned off the cobwebs and dust.  :O

Really?!    Mama's bike?  How long has it been since you rode it?

[Really?]

Hah!  What's up Stev-o!

I may have rode it around the block a couple times since the rally.  Sold my big bike and kept staring at momma's bike and it was begging to be cleaned up.  She still looks good!

Now it's itching at me to buy a new battery, clean the carbs/tank, change the oil and ride it a couple more times only to clean it up again in 7-10 years.   

[Stev-o]

Hah!  What's up Stev-o!

I may have rode it around the block a couple times since the rally.

That was a fun time!!  Hope all is well...

[Terry in Australia]

Wonderful stuff, what a beast of an engine!!

Thanks Steve, I’m really pleased to have it back, there are so many options for much more power for these things that it’ll be a continual project. In its current state of (unknown) tune it’s probably pumping out around 140 BHP and a few more foot pounds of torque, but with the “Ozclaw” scoop coupled to the Ramair filter setup and a pair of drop in cams and the Jardine exhaust and an ECU re-flash it’s going to take it up to close to 200 at the back wheel.

On top of that there’s the 2500cc stroker crank, higher compression pistons, turbo kits, blower kits, porting, etc etc. there are guys on the R3 sites with bikes reliably producing well over 300 BHP, which is insane, but I’ll keep playing with it until I decide that it’s about as scary as I want it to be.

Okay some of the bikes I ride don't really know I'm there because at 125lbs I weigh about as much as the chrome trim on a decked out Harley. Riding a 300hp bike might be pushing my luck too far, or maybe not.

You’d love it mate, at 125 pounds you’d probably beat the 2.7 seconds from 0-60 that a stock Rocket will do, (which pisses off a lot os sports bike riders) and would enjoy cruising at 60 MPH @ 2000 Rpm without needing to change down to overtake slower moving vehicles.

Spotty and I put most of the bits back on it last night so we just need to install shorter front brake hoses (the PO had 18 inch apehangers on it) and replace the sidecovers that he’d painted matt black and drilled a hole in one for an ignition switch, replace the headlight bracket and install the NOS chrome trim that covers the horn, and it’s back on the road again. We drained the old diff oil out and refilled it, and my only concern now is he charging system is weak, so I ordered a new rec/reg last night which hopefully will fix that.

[Kelly E]

Wonderful stuff, what a beast of an engine!!

Thanks Steve, I’m really pleased to have it back, there are so many options for much more power for these things that it’ll be a continual project. In its current state of (unknown) tune it’s probably pumping out around 140 BHP and a few more foot pounds of torque, but with the “Ozclaw” scoop coupled to the Ramair filter setup and a pair of drop in cams and the Jardine exhaust and an ECU re-flash it’s going to take it up to close to 200 at the back wheel.

On top of that there’s the 2500cc stroker crank, higher compression pistons, turbo kits, blower kits, porting, etc etc. there are guys on the R3 sites with bikes reliably producing well over 300 BHP, which is insane, but I’ll keep playing with it until I decide that it’s about as scary as I want it to be.

Okay some of the bikes I ride don't really know I'm there because at 125lbs I weigh about as much as the chrome trim on a decked out Harley. Riding a 300hp bike might be pushing my luck too far, or maybe not.

You’d love it mate, at 125 pounds you’d probably beat the 2.7 seconds from 0-60 that a stock Rocket will do, (which pisses off a lot os sports bike riders) and would enjoy cruising at 60 MPH @ 2000 Rpm without needing to change down to overtake slower moving vehicles.

Spotty and I put most of the bits back on it last night so we just need to install shorter front brake hoses (the PO had 18 inch apehangers on it) and replace the sidecovers that he’d painted matt black and drilled a hole in one for an ignition switch, replace the headlight bracket and install the NOS chrome trim that covers the horn, and it’s back on the road again. We drained the old diff oil out and refilled it, and my only concern now is he charging system is weak, so I ordered a new rec/reg last night which hopefully will fix that.

Cool, I'll have to try one out if I get the chance. The weight does make quite a difference, Paul and I have done a few runs comparing some of our different bikes. Like him on the 82' CB 900F and me on the 79' CB 750F. He is a little over 100lbs heavier than me and it's always a close finish.

[Doobie]

Put pipes on it.

[grcamna2]

They look good    Busso ?

The complete bike looks Excellent 

[Doobie]

They look good    Busso ?

David Silver Spares

[BenelliSEI]

They look good    Busso ?

David Silver Spares

Very Nice!

[Kelly E]

Today we got the cam cover installed and the valves adjusted. But not before the last bolt on the cam cover being tightened stripped out the threads. It was the end bolt on the right side of the cam cover that holds the bracket for the end cover. We had to pull off the cam cover, seal up the area, drill, tap and install a 6mm Helicoil. Luckily I have 6mm Helicoils on hand. We made a mini nozzle for the shop vac and got the repair done without getting any swarf in the system.

It's been so long since this low compression issue happened that the test ride will be like the first test ride all over again.

We've talked about selling this bike, if we fixed the issues it might be hard to sell it. It's my first custom build and I'm kinda attached to it. It's a early CB 550 K0, #449 and I didn't alter the frame to build it. I tried to make it look like it was built in the late 70's. It was only holding 63psi in #3 due to low spots on the head. We got the bike with the top end in boxes and it turned out that the PO used a spinning disc to remove the old head gasket. It was difficult to see the low spots and we missed it. My buddy took .004" off the head and .002" off the top of the cylinders to true it up to solve the problem.

It has a lot of upgrades like a needle bearing swingarm conversion, tapered roller bearings in the steering head, Hagon shocks, custom seat on the stock seat pan using the original hinges and latch. It handles effortlessly, it's so easy it's a flick of an eyebrow to put it in a corner.
We'll see how I feel when it's time to list it, I'm weak and really don't want to sell anything especially the first custom I built. I kinda want an 2000 to 2003 Sportster single seater to play with.

[RAFster122s]

550 is a fun bike, hard to beat of you are a lightweight rider, but fun no matter your size of you can be comfortable riding it.

[bryanj]

Make sure you have a soft alloy washer between those steel end brackets and cam cover or you will get an oil leak, the camshaft oil feed comes up the ends

[Kelly E]

Today I finished buttoning up the 74' CB 550 K0 motor. I had to go to town for some more copper and aluminum washers. I got lost on the way home and covered 73 miles.
Of course I found my bag of copper washers after I got home and installed the new ones.

[grcamna2]

Today I finished buttoning up the 74' CB 550 K0 motor. I had to go to town for some more copper and aluminum washers. I got lost on the way home and covered 73 miles.
Of course I found my bag of copper washers after I got home and installed the new ones.

Test ride soon

[Stev-o]

On Tuesday afternoon we had a rare August "cold" front roll through, woke up yesterday and it was a glorious 73 degrees. The last ride I went on, the temp was 104!

Rolled some of the bikes out and decided to take the little Kaw 500 for a ride...






 

[newday777]

On Tuesday afternoon we had a rare August "cold" front roll through, woke up yesterday and it was a glorious 73 degrees. The last ride I went on, the temp was 104!

Rolled some of the bikes out and decided to take the little Kaw 500 for a ride...

A nice break from the heat!