Topic: '75 CB550F Family Blast From the Past

[TPColgett]

And  some after, including all the polished bits 





I really need those carb parts so i can finish reassembly and get them back on the bike to see how it runs! Time for a trip to the dealer and the salvage guys tomorrow...

[Zaipai]

Thats a great job on the carbs.. Good idea about the bench grinder.. sure looks like its going to work very well..

.: Scott :.

[TPColgett]

Well its been a while, apparently my carb's have float bowl gaskets made of unobtanium. The stock Honda gaskets were two big and so far three other suppliers have all been off. Now its down to making the gasket from the ones i have, well see how that goes. But I have done a few things in the mean time,

Here was were my tank started at, not as bad as some I've seen on here but definitely not clean or rust free

A few hours later with two bicycle chains, a bottle of The Works, a jug of ATF and a lot of hot water and elbow grease...







Funny thing is that black stripe on the bottom left hand side of the tank is an old patch job my dad did  when the bike developed a leak from sitting. I kinda like it  I have a feeling it will fit my theme when I get more worried about cosmetics...



The front brakes are off and that snap ring in the master cylinder is the only thing currently holding up finishing that rebuild...



While I've been waiting to get the carbs sealed up, my dad has been pulling more and more off to run through a degrease and buff on the wheel. So far the grab bar, rear fender, rear shocks and numerous bits of hardware have all been removed polished and replaced. We hooked up a 12v supply and tested the electronics and are pleasantly surprised that everything works......almost. The electric starter doesn't work. I replaced the right hand control and starter switch and even swapped the solenoid for one that did function on another bike... no dice. The solenoid clicks and will run the starter if jumped, but other wise no luck.

So after scratching my head, being useless at electrical I went back to polishing.



Its not perfect, and doing a piece this big I learned a lot! With out spending the time to wet sand out everything, I'm hoping it  will still look good. Well tomorrow I'm taking the rear Grimeca caliper and master cylinder to the local shop to be rebuilt.... with any luck ill get the carbs sorted to....

Till next time
 

[Zaipai]

Nice job on the tank.. I will have to remember that. Great job on the polish, I am sure it will look great. I feel your pain with the electrical.. You can check the starter button using a continuity tester.. It's more often then not the starter button, however I am always surprised at what can go wrong so..

.: Scott :.

[traveler]

Good job!  Progress is still progress.

~Joe

[TPColgett]

Thanks guys for the encouragement! with the weather only getting better and the bike ending up in  more pieces not less, frustrations been mounting. But progress sure does feel good 

I did get the best of that snap ring and the MC is now rebuilt and ready to go back on. My local shop struck out yet again on float bowl o rings, so they want to try one final SKU before we resort to the hack em up method. Also placed an order at the stealership for intake manifold o rings, exhaust gaskets, and a new intake screen for the petcock since upon removal the original disintegrated 

The starter is driving me nuts. The switch is a brand new unit, but getting the volt meter out looks like it will have to be the next step. My dad did mention  a while back that the bike seemed to go through the solenoids  Ill have to find a method to test the two I have as well.

Monday is the next supposed date for all the parts to arrive.....

[TPColgett]

Having a Macgyver like resourceful master technician father rocks

He opened and repaired one solenoid by filing down the copper rod and connections inside! Re installed and weve got kickover.  Awesome thing is with a spare having the same issue, Ill get to learn the trick hands on as well.

I dropped the Grimeca setup off at the local shop for a full going through and I should have it back at the same time as the carbs.... who knows this thing might just start and stop by the end of next week 

[Holdingfast]

nice work! It'll be awesome when its in less pieces! I mean.. all back together! 

[TPColgett]

Day 4(ish)

WOOT CARBS!


So it was time to get to work, got the manifolds back on, installed carbs and put new boots between he carbs and air box.

Heres the single K&N cleaned oiled and back installed


Well, only thing to do after that is see if we could fire it up...

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That did not sound good, like a coffee can full of bolts when adjusted to proper idle  , time to break out the carb synch gauges



Yep, this was with the idle adjustment screw turned all the way in.... so after many small adjustments and fiddling...



which then easily fixes the idle 



That dramatically cut back the coffee can of death noise
and I'm guessing 38-39lbs of oil pressure at idles not to shabby either 



If theirs one thing ive learned is that a carb synch is a must!

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And the tail light is just the new rear break switch being vibrated loose since i hadn't  finished installing it.

The only downer was trying to reinstall the rear master cylinder. Apparently the shop said they cleaned it out real well in the sonic tank and that it sealed up fine and should be good to go. I was able to bleed the system with it and get positive pressure flow, but with the bleed screw shut, the pads wouldn't even grip the disc. So now to rip it all of and get them to order a rebuild kit so I can do it again myslef!

[Zaipai]

She sounds great.. now with the carbs all sync'd up..

.: Scott :.

[cavebear]

About the wheels. Those are a set of Morris aluminum mags. The rear appears to be an 18 inch wheel which is uncommon. I know because I've been trying to get find one for the last 2 years.
                                         Mike

[fastbroshi]

  What exhaust is that?  Anyone know?  I've been looking for a 4-1 like yours that collects under the oil pan.

[TPColgett]

cavebear - Thanks for the info! Ive been in contact with the shop that originally sold the mags to my father and they weren't even able to identify them.

fastbroshi- The exhaust is a Kerker system, and this ones a bit beat up, two good size dings in the header before the collector. I was trying to find another Kerker header but I had no luck. If you can find a source let me know!

[fastbroshi]

  What did your petcock filter look like?  Reason I ask is if with your tank as clean as it is now and your sock filter is good, isn't three filters a little overkill?  Me, I wouldn't introduce another point of leakage into the fuel circuit.

[TPColgett]

Actually the in tank filter screen was toast, it quite literally fell apart when removed from the tank. That picture of the cabs is misleading though, it turned out there wasn't enough room to run the inline filter so I had to wrestle the lines off and route it again without. I replaced everything with the correct Honda replacement hose so we should be leak free, fingers crossed.

[fastbroshi]

  That sync tool you've got is too cool, the fact that it says Honda on it is badass.  Your video is funny with your dad in the background nagging at you, lol

[TPColgett]

It totally is a great tool! My father is a self proclaimed tool whore so there are all kinds of goodies hanging around. The gauges even have a set of four adapters that screw into the intake inlets, two long and two short so that you conveniently don't get burned on the head 

As far as the nagin, sounds like a typical working session for us lol

Since the rear MC is off getting rebuilt.....AGAIN, i decided to warm up the bike and attempt to diagnose the myriad of assorted oil leaks. I thought it was odd that the oil gauge was pegged at 80lbs and as i bent down to examine it, giving a customary blib on the throttle... i was rewarded with a gauge bounced of my head and a face full of thankfully only warm oil... CRAP. Luckily it looks like one of the old brass elbow fittings gave up the ghost. Shouldn't be to hard to extract the broken bits and replace at the hardware store... but still, if it isn't one thing.