Ok a little background on the bike.. I picked it up about 5 years ago, the day after I parked it in the garage, my back went out and I was bed ridden for almost 2 the whole year. Then 2 years of therapy and 3 shots to the spine I was shaping up. It was last summer that I figured out I could actually start working on it. So in October, I took over the garage (Wifes care parked out side most of the winter.. sorry hon) and started taking it apart. It was daunting, see I only ever had one other bike of my own, that was a 72 CB750K and it was a beautiful bike, oh sure not much to look at however boy she ran. I rescued her from a barn that had fallen on top of her, she was sunbust orange and so faded it was almost white. So I got her home and cleaned her up and repainted it blue and road all that summer. The next spring I was getting a divorce so the bike was the one true friend I had that I could count on. When I got my own place it was parked in the living room with me, see I was on a first floor apartment and there were no garages.. Well after she died, and I could not afford to fix it and I had no place where I could pull the motor I reluctantly sold her. Boy I miss that bike. Well I saw this 550 on Ebay and snatched it up. So this being my first build I googled for help, that is when I found this forum! So I took it apart piece by piece cleaning up each screw, each wire each nook and cranny. I removed the motor and any thing that was removable. Well I had a very tight budget, so powder coating is out, an air gun and compressor is out.. Forget having a shop paint the frame etc.. So I painted the frame and the tank (Special thanks to Spikeybike for the custom tank) and side covers after taking off all other paint etc I used only 3 coats of Rustoliem primer, then 3 coats of paint then 3 coats of gloss clear coat. I used Nevr-dull and Colonel Brassy chrome polish for the chrome bits. Then I sanded all of the aluminum parts using 320 and 600 grit sand paper. I then figured out what parts I wanted to polish and used 1000 and 1,500 grit on those after the 320 and 600.. Then used a polish wheel kit and a hand drill to shine them up. I received some polished parts from Spikey.. Thanks! I then took the rear hub and added the 16" Harley drop center rim (Thanks IC!!!) and with help from some forum members, I managed to lace the rim to the hub and get the tire mounted. I then painted the engine using Metallic Charcoal High Heat Automotive Spray Paint from here
http://www.hightempenginepaint.com/ then started putting things back together. However when putting back the motor in the frame I through my back out again. However I was not going to let that slow me down (tho it did some) and I pushed forward. before I started putting it back together I put each painted part (including frame) out in the full sun for entire day to help cure the paint. After 6 months of mostly weekends, the picture you see below is the end result. Not exactly a show stopper, however she is clean, painted and all mine.. I have been riding her every chance I can and enjoying every minute of it. I did not do a great job documenting the build because, I really did not do any thing that had not been done before and is better documented by others.
If you have any questions let me know I will be happy to answer..
P.S. I had a 1,000 budget to do it all with.. And I made the budget.. so..
Thanks,
.: Scott :.
