Topic: Project Screaming Eagle ...75' CB550 (getting pic heavy!)

[phrige]

Sounds fancy, yet its a bit of a project. Very early stages.  Its a 1975 Honda CB550K. I picked it up from a guy in Pennsylvania and it had some mods/upgrades to it. Namely the coils and ignition. So +1 there.

 I've been doing minor things up until this point. Changed out the Ape Hanger bars, and have been working on the wiring. I have new tires and tubes in the garage not yet on the bike. I'd like to get it in good running shape before I put on the new wheels.

Which brings me to the first of what will surely be a ton of questions.

When I replaced the rectifier today, since the bike wasn't holding a charge last time I had it running and the old one was in really beat up shape. raw wires etc.  I took out the airbox to get a better hold on the female plug and I noticed there to be one loose female spade plug. Green wire so i'm guessing its ground. I have a feeling this could be the X factor to my turn signals not working. Praying.

 Here's a picture if anyone can help me figure it out. and by the zip tie on this other unknown piece I think the previous owner may have Gerry rigged this. So any clues to what these parts do would be a real help.





Thanks guys, I appreciate any advice.

[KB02]

most of these bikes had three wires that lead to two spades on the turn signal relay. It's possible that the PO plugged in the wring "Two." Worth a shot anyway, right?

What else do you have planned for the bike?

[phrige]

I'd like to get it up and running proper. Then work on modifying bits, definitely change out the tail light setup. Better suspension. give it an over all more sporty look. while being able to ride it pretty much daily.

 Then depending on how things go, maybe a year from now break it all down, get the frame painted, really shine up all the parts. juice up the motor with some nice odds and ends. I'm thinking of going kick start only but that's TBD. give it a good going over. That may also be a good time to refresh the whole electrical system, and give this bike a new life. I think it would like that.

Final product somewhere between Classic Honda, Street Tracker and Cafe Racer. I want it to be respectable and sleek. Nice lines through out. I'm still working out color schemes in my head. I'd like a nice Green, chrome and Black combo. 

I'm still unsure about Rearsets. I like them in theory, but realistically I'd like to ride a bike that has them to really get a feel for them. Hopefully its more comfortable than I imagine, worst case scene. you cant beat the upright seating position.


   Thanks for the info on that part, I didn't realize that was the turn signal relay. I'm going to experiment with that a bit, I think just grounding that green wire to nearby frame may do it. but again if anyone else knows better, im open to it.


 I'm looking forward to posting my progress up here.

[phrige]

I dug up an original picture. All the others are on my now deceased phone  ..  freakin cell phone cameras.

I'll grab a current picture too. Post that up next.




More on the way!

[phrige]

So cleaned it up a bit, tried to wash away all the surface gunge, pollen and any waste grease/oil.




I did also notice my front forks, where they connect to the frame are looking pretty rusty.
I took a few pics, it seems like its just surface rust but I'll put it up for any suggestions. The forks seem to be working fine, but of course the bike is currently parked and not ridden.




So as I strive to get this thing on the road, next steps include getting new screws for the handle bar controls, as well as new throttle and clutch cables. Then down to getting it wired up 100%.
How much of a priority do you guys think that fork rust is?

[Doctor_D]

Very clean platform to start from. Congratulations.

As for the rust, it'd take 10 years for that rust to compromise the integrity f the bottom triple tree.  However, the steering head bearings likely haven't been lubed since the bike was new - so pulling the trees to maintain or replace the bearings is a good idea. (All Balls Tapered Bearings are a common and worthwhile upgrade.)

While the trees are off, blasting them and painting them is a piece of cake.  Finally, I bought SS fasteners off someone on the boards who had a kit for the front end of a CB750.  They might have one for a 550 as well.  Think it was in the "Where to buy" section of the FAQ. (FWIW, sanding the writing off the bolt heads and polishing them to a mirror-like finish will make you a happier man, guaranteed.)

[kpier883]

I can't answer the question about the green wire, (although I suspect it is supposed to be there to act as a ground for accessories that one might add), but I would encourage you to try to find some proper length fuses, as those don't make total contact with the holder prongs and will lead to damage over time. 

[phrige]

Thanks!
 Thanks for the tip doc, Yea arnt kidding that would certainly make me a happy man. I'm thinking of doing just that blasting and painting, and bearings is a good idea.

Yea I'm going to have to find a ground for that one wire, or look into a new turn signal relay, which is more applicable to this type of bike. For now I'm going to see if it will work as is, w/ some proper grounding. Thank you for the fuse tip kpier. I was a little ticked they didnt fit right, but thought there was enough contact. I'm adding new ones to my to-do list.


I was playing around in photoshop earlier both cafeing and bobbing out the bike. I never really considered bobbing until just last week. Since it is my first bike, and i'm more interested in cruise type riding, I'll wait before I add speed into the equation (cafe). Though looking at the pictures it really is tough to imagine putting the cutter to this at all. Since I sold my car, Having that extra seat space on the stock setup seems very valuable. How else am i ganna transport girls? Id knickname the bob project, "the Bachelor" or "One Bad Boyfriend". 

 That, though, is a concern for the future I just want to ride the thing right now!

Anyone had experience doing minor rake adjustments or bobbing out a 550? tips/guidance? lol and how it effected your love life would be interesting to hear too.

[akershsa]

My 78K has a "spare" ground by my reklekshun many 70's honda do  and that 550 is very clean!!

[Doctor_D]

...and how it effected your love life would be interesting to hear too.

Heh, never thought about it that way.

Thinking about it, my show-pony S'Nort is my wife's best pal -- and mine.  We can spend hours together on it, and never say a word.  After 16 years together, pure bliss in my book.  And all the looks we get seem to tickle her jealous/competitive instinct, when ridden in moderation -- of course.

The CX for getting around town when I don't want to ride my bicycle or drive the cage, and it shows. No conjugal bonus there.

The CB750 won't be 2-up capable, which is causing marital stress due to the budget and time commitment.

As they say, "Choose wisely, young padawan."  

[phrige]

thanks, akershsa.Thats good to know about the ground, I was ready to call it the bane of my turnsignal woes. There maybe a bad ground somewhere else in the system, or more likely my rears are burnt out. Here comes the multimeter.

Good to know Dr D
I've read ona few forums members jokingly forbidding the younger guys to single seat their cafe etc.. I've always been curious as to how tricky it is to live with. I'm sure where theres a will theres a way, haha. Seems like you got a good set up goin.
 Its certainly a tricky decision if im going to be using one bike for my main ride, and thats it. I'll have to either look into skinny girls or just two it up for a while. 
 Maybe come up with some other seat setup like bob seat and an extra seperate seat a little further back. I think older ww2 era bikes had that thing goin on.


 Pete

[RAFster122s]

The Emgo turn signal flasher is an automotive one and it will work fine if it is wired correctly.
Check your turn signal flasher wiring to make sure it is connected to the correct wires. If the stock wiring used 3 wires P.O. may not have put wires on the correct terminals.
Understand?
Your wiring diagram will tell you what color wires went to the turn signal flasher and following them to the  turn signals will tell you the colors involved...
If the flasher is needing ground and not getting it, then that's your problem.
Should be simple enough to pull the flasher and find out what the signal is connected to... The flasher wiring generally will have marked on the base or on the package it  comes in the std wiring. It's been a while since I messed with flashers but I thought you had to ground one of the terminals.

David

[phrige]

Thanks Dave. I appreciate your help, Hopefully I'll have some time in the next few days to dig into that.

 Today I replaced the faces on my speedo and Tach.. The tach looks awsome, really killer. Unfortunatley when I was pulling up the needle from my speedo the metal base came up with it. that little metal post it sat on. How I'm not quite sure, it must of resulted from some uneven pressure pulling on it, since I'm no behemoth He-Man.

I was was mistakenly sent a Speedo Drive from a CB450 a while back, now that my speedo's presumably in the grave, Would I need a 450Speedo to be able to properly read the 450 drive? Any big problems with it being on a 550. I read up on this a while ago, brain is blanking now. If anyone knows off hand itd be a help.


Thanks,

[phrige]

So today got my new throttle and clutch cables on! feels so nice and smooth.

 If anyone's interested in my old set they weren't in the worst shape and might be able to be refurbished. The set of throttle cables seem stock length, and in ok shape. Maybe need to be lubed or light refurbish.
The Clutch cable frayed at the handlebar, but still is holding onto the metal ball by a few threads. For anyone with any salt in soldering this shouldn't be too bad since the cable is an extra foot longer than stock. Guessing P.O. used to accommodate the former ape hangers.
P.M. me if your interested and we can do some reasonable deal through paypal. I'll send detailed pics.



Anyone know anything about speedo drive from previous post?

[phrige]

Now I'm having trouble figuring out my turn signal set up.
There is full power to the turn signal relay, no matter what I've tried thus far I'm not getting anything to the rear turn signals. Anything I should look for, the bulbs seem good the grounds at the rear signal seem alright.

Front signals do light middle position has running lights, to the right The left signal lights up and turn to the left the Right signal glows.
Ive tried to check the grounds, and rechecked all the connections. Short of something being wrong in the handlebar control...



Oh and previous question on speedo drive I answered myself. Thought it was busted, but now I see it was just part of the speedo cable that was stuck in there, now its right as rain, just need a new cable. I do have that CB450 speedo drive if anyone wants it.



Thanks,
Pete

[phrige]

Hope I'm not over posting, partially journaling and partially looking for help and support from any of you knowledgeable folks scrolling by.


Found one potential problem, an obvious over sight, I believe there should be a third ground wire coming out of these stock front signals which is absent. From looking online at stock cb550 front turn signals all that I've seen are two wire jobbies, No ground I believe, while my schematic shows green coming from signals and connecting in headlight bucket. Help? lol.

The backwards left activating right and vice versa I found was a miss labeling of the wires. I'm guessing the previous owner changed the turn signal cables to black wires with colored bands on them.

They may have had some tinkering on the internals from the P.O. they are dual filament bulbs on the front, but like I mentioned no ground wire coming out. I'm going to pull them out, where can I solder up a ground wire if its completely gone? or does it just ground itself in the signal?

Thanks

[traveler]

..........need.......pics.........

[phrige]

Sure thing!

The front a missing ground maybe causing the lack of power to the rear? I know relay is getting full voltage so there must be a break somewhere further up.

These are the only two wires coming out of my front signal, is that right? Grounded inside the signal?

[phrige]

So after much digging i've straighten out my turn signal issues. Still have a few things on the to do list in order to get a comfortably moving bike.

As far as work completed since the last post are:

I ran an extra ground from where my coils ground to the headlight bucket as was suggested by popwood and a few other people on this forum in another post.

I replaced my formerly melted fusebox with a new blade unit (Thanks Accolay)



I also relized that since i'm running non stock handlebar controls I needed to jump a Black into the Brown/white circuit due to the lack of the headlight on / off switch.



Then on a whim I got a new Turnsignal relay, while my old one never 'clicked' i figured it wasn't recieving proper power. Turns out the grey out wasn't getting proper power since the relay  was shot while black wire had proper voltage. Thanks to Hondaman's post on another thread for specifying which plug goes where on the new relay. The one i picked up from R.S. Strauss is a Bussman regular automotive unit, the Black wire goes to (X), Grey wire plugs into (L) and green hangs free. Then I turned my ignition on and behold. A sight that I have never seen on my bike. Working turn signals. what a marvelous clicking noise, i'm thinkin of releaseing one of those soothing sounds CD's for gear heads, this one titled Moto Noobs, track12 is just 15 mins of the turn signal relay clicking. liner notes for the track read 'to those who've been struggling with simple electronic circuitry, but your own greenness led you on a self defeating wild goose chase. Sit down in your musty garage on your favorite stool, and just listen to the sound of a properly working turn signal curcuit. release and let the knowledge come to you in your meditation.'   .... 

I also am temporarily running a new kill switch since my old one did not have proper continuity a la my multimeter.



Hope to clean it up at a future time.



Also in the mean time I've changed out the faceplate on my gauges, thanks to CountChocula, He can be reached at drav1@embarqmail.com  for custom faceplates, nicely laser etched. They turned out brighter then stock but not blinding. (unfortunately i broke the speedo trying to replace mine. I pulled up the metal post along with the needle. Major suck but at least the Tach's looking good, the speedo cable was busted anyway. ...)














Hopefully i can have info posted that will help anyone with their build. I did a few non stock alterations like handlebar controls, and if anyone has any questions feel free. I've noticed a ton of electrical issue posts on the other side of the board. Maybe when I get a chance I'll get some pics posted on how I wired the right hand control from a 1976 CB360T

[phrige]

So now that i've tested my bike and yes it starts and runs, I'll post how the wiring of a non stock control worked out. Out of the '76 Cb360T right hand control the only wires I did not plug in were the Yellow / Red stripe as well as the Black / Red stripe. The other wires that were connected are (1) Black/white stripe and (2) Black. One of the black gets paired with the Black/white stripe in the kill switch, the second goes to the horn. You can test continuity to see which ones which (turning kill switch on and off). That's about all you need on the throttle side.

 Question: Upon starting, first time in a long time nearly a year and though I've cleaned out the carbs earlier in the week, I was getting very soft pressure out of 2 of the 4 exhaust pipes. The Right most cylinder started light but increased in pressure as the bike ran. The left most (from overhead perspective) still is running a little light in pressure. What should I check on?

 Also I'm going to be researching good ways to balance the bike when I remove the tires. I have a new set of rubber going on (Avon RoadRiders). The bike will be balanced on the center stand. I'm interested in hearing what people do to keep it steady.

[traveler]

"Screaming Eagle"....has kind of a Harley ring to it.....

[phrige]

haha,

hoping not to got down that road! 

[phrige]

So it's been a long time since my last post but progress progresses.

Thanks to the help of the peeps on this board in connecting me to buying a good chain and sprockets. I got a wierd setup which I'll expound upon once its all set up.

I've dug in, today finally fixed a leaked oil seal on the shifter shaft.
That leak had me worried for sooo long, I'd see the little drip of oil hanging off the tip of the shifter. Dreading to think of what it looks like on the other side of the case.
My main concern was that the P.O. had put an O-ring chain and it busted the case. Maybe just my paranoia since I don't even know if this is what it would result it, just my worrying.

Eitherway after cleaning ALL The gunk that was in there. Which was a Ton. The leak sped up big time. Glad to have it replaced. The bike is currently minus oil, ganna refill it tomorrow. Yuck the oil filter was GUNGY and Rock Solid. It's definitely been in there a long time. THe oil was gross too. Will have to change it again in the next 1,000. Maybe replace the filter too?

Ghetto Rigged my kill switch.

Cleaned out Carbs Again.

Rebuilding the Brake Master Cylinder.

Gatta Take off the Tires, Put on the new rubber. Change out the Wheel bearings. Then get the chain set up.
Finally I gatta get a new brake line to the front disc. The current one is a little too long.


I've been trying to make sure I fix it all up. All the odds and ends to make sure the bike runs pretty when I finally get it on the street. Any other recommendations on things to check?

[RAFster122s]

So, the filter was really sludged up?
And you pulled the seal on the shifter and got lots of similar gunky sludge behind it?
Does the motor kick over easy? 
Because if there was lots of sludge...
Have you pulled the oil pan? If not, I'd recommend that be your next course of action as your transmission gears might be covered in the same sludge you found elsewhere and I would bet that is the case.

If they are resting in a crankcase full of sludge/tarry oil, then I personally would be pulling the motor apart rather than risk an oil passage getting clogged up and trashing a Cam from oil starvation.

You can inspect the gears with some good mirrors and bright lights after you've dropped the pan from the bottom of the motor.
But dropping the pan you'll know if you have a case full of sludge.

David

[phrige]

Sorry Caught this message way after you posted.

 The shifter seal had a lot of sludge before it, all around the shifter shaft.
After i cleaned that area up the oil leak that was trickling slowly before started to speed up big time.
When I took the seal out it seemed clean inside, replaced it and the leaking stopped.

The oil was dark, not chunky but it wasn't great looking. Filter just looked like It hadn't been changed in a long time. But being unfamiliar with this bike and filter, cant say how many changes/time must have passed.

 Once i finish with some of the very big repairs and changes I mentioned, I'll have to pull the pan. Thanks for the advice. This winter I'm certainly ganna go a bit deeper into engine work. I hope to check the valves, perfect the timing and all that other good stuff I don't know yet how to do.
 

[DEDX]

Great job so far and very clean bike!

One question, where did you find the shifter seal? Mine is pouring on my '74 550F and I've yet to find one available outside of an engine rebuild kit. Thanks!