Topic: Honda CB 550 F - First Build First Bike

[Sledgehammer]

Its been a while so I figure a short intro would be good.

Bought this


Stripped it down to this and got the engine out to be cleaned and painted.


I took of the center stand assembly and dont plan on keeping it. I disassembled the rear and front tire and took out the forks. Basically got it down to the bare frame minus the steering assembly that I want to take off and repaint.

Here is a photo of my carbs when I first took them apart.


Then after I took them apart I cleaned them in this Yamaha carb cleaning solution that you mix two parts solution to one part h20


This was before I found out my neighbor had this chemical bath he uses to restore all his motorcycle parts et cetera, here is a photo of the bath


And of the carbs after the bath


Then I polished the float bowls with a Baldor 1/2 hp buffer grinder.


Put new carb kits in them from Z1 enterprises, and put on my velocity stacks from Steel Dragon Performance


But I broke this bolt in one of the carbs, I figure it isnt that bad as long as it stays right  ? Probably not so I guess Im just naive.


So I took off the swingarm and disassembled it thinking I would send it off to Hondaman cos I read he does some nice rebuilds of these things, it was annoying getting those old steel bushings or sleeves out.


This is a picture of various parts I bought for this build.


I was going to put this yamaha r6 front end but All Balls told me their conversion kit is out of stock until June, so I am currently collecting parts to do that dual front brake caliper conversion for these 550s.
Pretty cool it came with dual front brake calipers and both clip ons.

Here is a Dresda swingarm I thought would fit, bought it off ebay, bought it before the seller could tell me the dimensions of this thing. This Dresda swingarm is for a 650, guess I was being naive again and was hoping it would fit.


Here is a foto of the swingarm not fitting 


Its because it is not wide enough


But this 86 gsxr swingarm fits like a glove, except neither mounting bolt is compatible AND the dunlop swingarm is longer than the stock 550 swingarm, this needs to be cut down to match the same length.


And so while I am looking for parts for that dual disc conversion...I decided to take out the forks and I found little to no fork fluid in both with small trace amounts of h20.




This is what came out of BOTH forks


So I know that rust in the fork travel area is bad. Both forks looked like this, and only had rust where the headlight ears used to be.



What should I use to remove this rust? I could take it to my neighbors chemical bath and clean every part from the fork assembly or any other suggestions?

So this is where I am currently at right now. I still need to finish cleaning the engine, mount it to my engine stand and paint it. I will prolly polish some parts of the engine too.

I will most likely put up that Dresda swingarm up for sale later today or tomorrow. So best to wait for that post in the appropriate section.
 

[RContino]

The bike looks clean, nice project. I'm not sure how far into the engine you are, but my parts bike was also seized. After pulling the motor I read that it's best to try to break the pistons free by rocking the bike back and forth while in gear... looks like you're also too late for that one.

When you get to the cam shaft you may have to cut the chain because it won't be able to move. I struggled for a while to cut the cam chain sprocket bolts, just to find that I had to also cut the chain anyway. It'll depend on the angle of the sprocket and position of the bolts. I've read a lot of recommendations to replace the cam chain during a rebuild anyway because they take a lot of abuse.




 

[fergie]

As far as the engine being stuck have you tried penetrating oil down the spark plug holes.

[scooter1]

I used some auto transmission fluid. down the plug holes...let it sit over night and it worked great!!!!!

[dRoc]

Inspiration fotos of what I like. Thank you Inspiration Thread and members who posted following pictures.

Welcome aboard!

Four of those five inspirational bikes are among the pics I saved when beginning my project

Good luck with the rebuild!

[UPHOTO]

Great looking project.

Pretty funny......that gold flake manx style 550 is my friends bike.  Beautiful bike.

[Sledgehammer]

Finally updating this topic, I have been spending time buying parts, and chipping away at everything learning as I am going.

[Greggo]

Wow, that was a nice looking bike to begin with!  Can't wait to see some more pictures.  Are you sticking with the stock colors?

[Sledgehammer]

Wow, that was a nice looking bike to begin with!  Can't wait to see some more pictures.  Are you sticking with the stock colors?

If you are referring to the stock frame and swingarm paint I am, I am going to take off all the rust and hit it all with some clearcoat that is anti rust. The tank color I will stick with until I make or find something better. I mean like you said it is in nice shape. X)

[Sledgehammer]

So yesterday I noticed that my forks have this odd spot towards the bottom of the fork shaft.


The metal is uneven here, and its a perfect circle too. Almost like someone squeezed the fork and made an indentation.


Its hard to see because of the photo, its a little blurry, but do you notice how the oil just sits in that little recess?

I have no idea why this would be here or what caused it. Maybe its just wear? I just hope it doesnt mean that I need new forks so if anyone could help me out figuring out what this is and if its anything to worry about I would be greatly appreciative.

Look forward to hearing from you.

[MasterChief750]

pretty sure it should b there

[SanDogDewey]

I have no idea why this would be here or what caused it. Maybe its just wear? I just hope it doesnt mean that I need new forks so if anyone could help me out figuring out what this is and if its anything to worry about I would be greatly appreciative.
Look forward to hearing from you.

The groove is supposed to be there, but you need new fork tubes. You can clean up the rust, but the pitting will eat up fork seals. Recommend you can hunt around for a used set or get new ones.

[Sledgehammer]

Thanks for the advice SanDog and MasterChief,

Ummm, so I just hit these fork tubes with some steel wool and some brass brushes but all I accomplished was exposing all the pitting that the rust did and in most spots the rust is really on there. So I will look for new fork tubes.



I took out the steering assembly except for the races, they are hard to get out. any good tips how to get those races out? I will research this in the meantime.




Until then, search for fork tubes, and oh yeah! Is there a special tool to get those fork oil seals out of my fork lowers?

See ya

[fastbroshi]

Wooh those bearings look really dry.  As far as a special tool, you can use a big screwdriver if you're really careful, but a seal puller is usually the way to go.  They usually have a long handle and two hooks facing away from each other.

[Sledgehammer]

Wooh those bearings look really dry.  As far as a special tool, you can use a big screwdriver if you're really careful, but a seal puller is usually the way to go.  They usually have a long handle and two hooks facing away from each other.

I remember seeing someone use a really big flathead screwdriver now that you said that. Here: http://youtu.be/pV5ZkIBtrns

I got a new tapered bearing set from all balls to install. I just gotta get those races out now.

[Sledgehammer]

I plan to move the battery and electronics under the seat, so I plan on removing some tabs and grinding them down nice and clean like. I took pictures of tabs that I want to cut. Just want to make sure I am not cutting anything that shouldnt be cut. The red arrows indicate what I want to cut, green arrows indicate what I am going to leave on there.









I want to leave the passenger foot rests there because I´ve seen some builds that utilize those to place rearsets so I figure I could do that too.

[fastbroshi]

It's a different posture with your feet back there, more laid out like Superman.   You probably won't be able to hug the tank with your knees like that though.

[Sledgehammer]

It's a different posture with your feet back there, more laid out like Superman.   You probably won't be able to hug the tank with your knees like that though.

Just only place your chin on the tank though maybe . Well I figure I would leave those to see if I like it, if not I guess I can get a seat that accommodates two persons X) .

[Sledgehammer]

Today I cleaned the engine some and used the following items.


Some photos of the engine.







In some spots the original engine paint is in real good shape and others its coming off. I want to have a black engine paint scheme with some parts polished.

I took out the races today too, my uncle lucio wanted to get in on the action so he sledged them out, then after we had some beers and talked about old fords like this one.


I used pvc to take out the races, a friend told me about this.




And thats about it. Tomorrow I want to cut those tabs and start taping off everything I don´t want to be powdercoated. Today I also received my new front brake caliper, thanks Apex_Seeking!

[Sledgehammer]

Forks by Frank, has anyone purchased fork tubes for a 550? Price?

[Bakeoff]

Not sure, but I know Dime City has fork tubes on their website. 

[Greggo]

Forks by Frank, has anyone purchased fork tubes for a 550? Price?

I have not used them myself, but while inquiring about them I found nothing but extremely positive comments about Frank, and his forks..IIRC, they're about 250 for the tubes.

[Sledgehammer]

Forks by Frank, has anyone purchased fork tubes for a 550? Price?

I have not used them myself, but while inquiring about them I found nothing but extremely positive comments about Frank, and his forks..IIRC, they're about 250 for the tubes.

Okay, thank you for the info. yeah you reminded me to call them right now, earlier i got a busy signal but I spoke with an older lady, she told me 250 and 23 to ship to CA. So if anyone else has been curious, thats what they go for, and it takes about 3 to 4 days she told me.

[Sledgehammer]

Saturday I cut the tabs off the frame.

Here are the tools I used:



Dont forget eye protection and longsleeve shirt or hoodie helps too.

Here is a pic of the seat mount bracket chopped off and the frame.



It was my first time cutting tabs off of anything so I went slow, took my time. I am interested in any suggestions regarding grinding the welds down a tad, some of the tighter corners are hard to get into and I want to minimize any knicks to the frame. Thank you.

I also bought aircraft remover:


I saw on Staggerlees build thread he mentioned he used aircraft stripper, and to anyone else who have used this, what was the best method of application? just use a chemical resistant brush of sorts and go at it? And after that, what do you use to get the stuff off? acetone? At any rate, it was expensive, more than Jasco Paint Remover, but I figure I would use what everyone else primarily uses.

See ya.

[Sledgehammer]

Not sure, but I know Dime City has fork tubes on their website. 

Hi Bakeoff, I like your build thread, in particular the vented rear drum brake: what did you use to do this? And those shocks are killer, look forward to seeing where it ends up. And thanks for the heads up about the fork tubes, i will check it out.