Topic: Here I go again - '77 CB550F Rebuild #2

[FunJimmy]

Great post. Thanks for documenting all this.

I've been considering upgrading from a 650 cam to something a bit hotter too.
What Webcam profile are you using?

Cheers
FJ

[psykod]

I've been considering upgrading from a 650 cam to something a bit hotter too.
What Webcam profile are you using?

I just did the 58a Grind which I guess is what they call their "Hot Street" grind.  I don't even know if it's any hotter than a 650 cam.  .330 lift and 280deg. duration.

[psykod]

I removed the head for inspection last night and didn't see anything glaring out at me.  

I filled the head chambers with gas and let them sit....no leaks after an hour.
I reversed and filled the intake and then the exhaust ports with gas and let them sit...still no leaks after an hour.

I put a bit of oil into each cylinder and didn't detect that #3 was leaking.  And certainly not any more than the other cylinders.

So now I'm stumped...perhaps a leaking head gasket?  As per my previous entries, I was concerned that I had to remove and re-installed the head gasket so many times when I was fly-cutting the pistons.

The only thing different that I noticed about #3 was that the piston was much cleaner (and much easier to clean), than the other pistons.  The carbon deposits basically wiped off while the other pistons were much more hardened.  In fact, I noticed that the stuff on top of the #3 piston was a little gummy where #1, #2, and #4 were more like the standard piston top.

I'll post pics up later tonight.

[psykod]

Here are the pics of the head and cylinders.  Cylinder #3 is the one I'm most concerned about.

[psykod]

Hooray!  I replaced the head gasket and My cylinders are all the same now at 150 psi! 

I guess removing and reinstalling the head gasket so many times while I was checking the piston to valve clearance did cause a problem.  I have new coils and wires on the way plus a Morgan carb tune (I was syncing my carbs with a home made job). 

That will just about wrap it up for this bike, save some new shocks and springs I'm thinking about.

[traveler]

Did the 58A cam require any piston clearancing?

Thanks.

~Joe

[psykod]

Did the 58A cam require any piston clearancing?

I think the reason I had piston to valve clearance problems was more related to having the head shaved twice due to the buffoon who sand blasted instead of soda blasted it.  That combined with the new cam caused a problem. 

I don't believe the cam itself would be a problem.

[bwaller]

That 58a will work in a stock engine without problems.

But unless you bought the bike new and know the engine history, always check for clearance issues.

[psykod]

A few updates since my last post.  

I got my dyna coils and wires in and installed.  I wired the coils up directly to the battery thru a relay that is fused at a spare slot on my fuse block.

The mess of wires in the first pic was during testing.  They were cleaned up after I made sure everything was working.

Of course, I bought the 3ohm coils thinking I would be lucky and not have charging problems but alas, my battery discharged on my first ride.  So I installed a set of 2 ohm resistors and am going again.

I have a bead on someone who might be able to rewire my alternator coils for more output so I'm looking in to that option to get rid of the resistors.

[psykod]

Just a quick pic of my dual brake setup.  I don't have a full bike pic yet.

[psykod]

Ok, more pics of the dual disc conversion: