Topic: What did you do to your bike today ?

[CycleRanger]

Nice job on those Yammie covers, what's your process?

mystic_1

+1. Please share

Thanks guys.
Well, there's certainly smarter, faster, easier, and better ways but I stripped off the remaining clear coat with aircraft stripper then I wet sanded with 600 (probably should have started with 400) then moved up to 800 and then 1000.
Then on to the HF buffing wheel with white compound, then blue, and finally Mothers Mag polish.
(Cleaned the pieces with solvent between compounds and a separate wheel for each compound.)
The round alternator cover I wet sanded up to 1000 with no buffing. I like the contrast.
I'm going to clear coat the cover after I clean it up.
The rest of the aluminum I don't clear coat. Although one of these days I may buy a paint gun.

The aluminum on my 750 took much less work.
Honda's had a better finish from the factory (imho)and probably had better clear coat as well.
(....and were just better bikes.)   

The XS650 fork lowers are particularly bad. Only the outsides were really polished.
The insides are pretty rough.
I've already spent a lot of time on them and I'm still not happy.
Polishing really sucks. I really hate it. But I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it better.

[BomberMann650]

Since Steve-O busted my chops for mounting the shocks enfield GT style, I took em off and had the local race car shop set the nitrogen pressures before putting em on right side up.

Next to do, rockerbox replacement.  Then onto fork service and head bearing replacement.

[Stev-o]

Since Steve-O busted my chops for mounting the shocks enfield GT style

Busted chops?....ha!  the writing was upside down!!

[BomberMann650]

Busted chops?....ha!  the writing was upside down!!

Lol, so was the arrow on the body of the shock under the coil. 

[Davez134]

Got a chain guard finally. Had it powder coated in a fine texture black because it had some rust pitting that would have showed if done in smooth gloss.



Actually matches the texture of my motor pretty good!



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[Bankerdanny]

Installed the front fender from my '77 550F basket case on my new '75 550F. Adjusted the rear brake pedal and the brake itself so that the lever is even with the peg and the brake actually works. Then took it for a short ride. I am really impressed. Even with the pods and the Kerker it fires right up, quickly gets off choke, idles rock solid and pulls steady from all RPM's. The PPO clearly knew how to tune.

The exhaust sounds fantastic, reminds me of the Mach 5 as it rev's up and it has a nice burble on the way down. Oil was nice and clean and the level was fine. Pressure gauge shows 40 psi at idle and about 66 at higher RPM's when fully warmed up.

I am thinking that I am going to ride it to work tomorrow.

[evanphi]

I had a fun day yesterday...

I was getting lots more rattle than normal at idle, so I decided to check my timing and do a vac sync. Simple, right?

This is how my day went:

Static check of timing. 1-4 OK, 2-3 too far advanced. OK, adjust it! It was already at the end of the adjustment plate so I have to close the gap slightly to get it just right. Turns out the reason it had slipped for where I had it perfect before was because the hole for the little screw to tighten the points was STRIPPED. DAHHH. Easy fix though... drilled out old hole, tapped to M5, cut a nice short M5 bolt, and snugged up. Nice fix. Proud of that one. I'll get another points plate eventually. Timing is now bang on.

On to the vac sync...

Everything hooked up all set to go. I noticed as I made adjustments that the vac gauges didn't change very much, and #2 didn't change AT ALL. Started poking at the #2 rubber boot, and upon further investigation and DISASSEMBLY...




All the boots were at least somewhat damaged, two of them looked like this.

These stainless band clamps are great, but I stupidly used a socket and ratchet to tighten them instead of just a screwdriver. Tightening too much pulled the super soft rubber off the spigots and started breaking the rubber.

After reinstalling the OLD, slightly hard boots, everything vac synced perfectly. Bike runs better, too, with no big sucking vac leaks!

LESSON OF THE DAY... DON'T OVERTIGHTEN #$%*.

Also I love my wife and how understanding she is...

[Bankerdanny]

Beautiful morning, but supposed to rain later so I didn't ride to work.  Installed the a front fender last night. Big improvement I think.

[horrorbiz]

I upgraded my electrical system and installed Carpy's gauge bracket and a mini-speedo to try to clean up my front end. I'm still in the process of relocating my ignition for this setup. 

[BomberMann650]

With all the guidance and discussions here on Sohc4, I'm on my way to becoming a proper vintage honda tech!

My first foray into a cam swap.  Since the oval'd out rockerbox left uneven wear on the camshaft, I put my spare cams in, and even got the timing chain on at the right notch!

If this were xbox I'd have a 25G achievement unlocked!

[Terry in Australia]

Beautiful morning, but supposed to rain later so I didn't ride to work.  Installed the a front fender last night. Big improvement I think.

Me too Danny, and I like the seat, looks comfy! Cheers, Terry.

[Bankerdanny]

The seat isn't bad, but being of a similar size as you I need neither the lower seat height nor the limited ability to slide my butt back.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, fair enough mate, so you're going to put a stock seat back on it?

[Bankerdanny]

Possibly. I have a '78 K seat, which will work with the tank, but I have to see if the hinge/lock setup will work.

If I can't do that I will see about sourcing an original seat or buying something like this: http://www.motorcycleseatsdirect.com/1975-1978-Honda-cb550f-supersport-cafe-motorcycle-seat-metal-pan/

[ekpent]

Evanphi--  Were those damaged rubber manifolds some aftermarket brand or stock Honda oem units ?

[evanphi]

Evanphi--  Were those damaged rubber manifolds some aftermarket brand or stock Honda oem units ?

Aftermarket from vintagecb750.com

I wouldn't be surprised if they come from the same chinesium rubber stock as the cam chain tensioners.

[ekpent]

Evanphi--  Were those damaged rubber manifolds some aftermarket brand or stock Honda oem units ?

Aftermarket from vintagecb750.com

I wouldn't be surprised if they come from the same chinesium rubber stock as the cam chain tensioners.

I think there have been some negative reviews of those.

[evanphi]

Evanphi--  Were those damaged rubber manifolds some aftermarket brand or stock Honda oem units ?

Aftermarket from vintagecb750.com

I wouldn't be surprised if they come from the same chinesium rubber stock as the cam chain tensioners.

I think there have been some negative reviews of those.

I don't know if the ones I put back on are original or not... but they look the same as the aftermarket ones (same rubber casting marks).

Question, though: There is a difference in the part numbers for K0-K1 insulators vs the ones up to K6. Are they longer or shorter? Thicker material? The K1 use the original insulators up to FRAME SN 1044805.

[CycleRanger]

Delivery day! 
Got some points plates and advance units.

Got the IRC GS-11 tires for the XS650 - Steve-o, these tires better not suck!

Got 50lbs of fine glass bead media for the blasting cabinet. 

[Terry in Australia]

IRC = "Is Really Crap".

[spotty]

IRC = "Is Really Crap".

I used to work for the importer and it was well accepted that IRC actually stands for Inferior Rubber Company (and KBC helmets are actually made by the Korean Bucket Company)

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, there used to be an advertising campaign for helmets back in the 1970's with a slogan that went, "If you've got a 10 dollar head, buy a 10 dollar helmet". I often scratch my head in wonderment at guys who work hard to build nice bikes, then put the crappiest tyres possible on them. Still, as long as they're fitted with steering dampers, they'll be fine.........

[Bankerdanny]

Got drenched on it. Tried to beat the rain home last night, but didn't. Spend about 40 fun filled minutes in a steady downpour and another 20 or so hiding on lower Randolph until the worst had blown by. On the positive side, the bike ran beautifully except during the worst of the rain when I did experience some hesitation and bogging. I think I need to cut my plug wire ends and make sure the plug caps are sealing properly.

[CycleRanger]

Got drenched on it. Tried to beat the rain home last night, but didn't. Spend about 40 fun filled minutes in a steady downpour and another 20 or so hiding on lower Randolph until the worst had blown by. On the positive side, the bike ran beautifully except during the worst of the rain when I did experience some hesitation and bogging. I think I need to cut my plug wire ends and make sure the plug caps are sealing properly.

Ohm out the caps while you're there. They may need replacing.

[flybox1]

Delivery day! 
Got some points plates and advance units.

ahhhh....you YOU'RE the lucky one who scored that ebay listing