Topic: 1976 CB550 Cafe Racer Project - My First Bike Build

[Rocker]

Greetings all and thanks for stopping by. I am starting this thread to share my plans and progress of a cafe racer project that is three and a half years in the making. I first planned to start a build when I found this gem on Craigslist for $350 in 2007:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=23311.msg239657#msg239657

Soon after I bought it my wife and I found out we were pregnant with twins so I sold it and all my other projects.

Fast forward to today...

I've been all over Craigslist, eBay, and this forum trying to find another CB550. I lucked up and got this one on the second posting. The owner reposted it after the initial buyer never showed. I drove 45 minutes in the rain each way to get her.



I disconnected the battery, pulled all the fuses, pulled the side covers, seat was loose so I pulled it as well, deflated the tires a little, stuffed plastic bags in the air cleaner box, loaded her on my trailer, and home I went. She got wet on the ride home but nothing a day or so in a garage won't fix.

She does run but pretty rough. The throttle does not turn very much. I can see the cable trying to open the carbs but it does not move that far. No worries because I plan on rebuilding the carbs anyway.

A little about me..

I am not a mechanic nor do I claim to have all the skills to pull off a bike rebuild. I am an IT guy by education/trade. I've spend countless hours building/rebuilding PC and servers. You give me a pile of PC parts, case, and Windows...and I’ll have you up and running in no time. I have also done telephony support. I cannot tell you how many times I have rewired a phone frame or cross-connected 66, 110, or crone connection. I've even wired every room in my house with Cat6e cable. I also like to tinker and figure out how things work. I've always done basic maintenance on my cars. I once had a 1994 Civic Si hatchback that I wired with power windows/locks. I know the basic layout and stages of an internal combustion engine. I've read through the CB500/550 and CB750 Honda shop manuals and nothing seems Greek to me.

I've ridden motorcycles since I was a kid. My dad used to take me out on his Goldwing Aspencade. My feet would barely touch the pegs. I purchased my first bike in 2002. It was my 1975 CB750 K5. Not a bad first bike huh?

I know I will have a lot of questions, many of which have been answered by SOHC members and/or previous posts. Use the "search" function people...it's your friend.


The Plan

I am still not 100% certain the exact path I will take in the overall design but I know I want to make a cafe racer. I am a stickler for details and cleanliness so whatever I decide on it will be shiny and done right.  I have a lot of work ahead of me with degreasing, cleaning, polishing, and so forth. This will give me ample time to work up the design in my head.

My initial thoughts are I will powder coat the frame, swing arm, and rims black. The tank and seat will be painted white with a thick stripe (either black or red/blue). I am a big fan of retro styling and keeping things minimalistic.

Engine: - I will replace the stock cam with one from a CB650 (using 550 cam gear, 650 tach and tach cable.

Rewire: - I will replace the stock wiring harness with my own wiring, upgrade to the combo regulator/rectifier, replace stock fuse block with ATO fuses/block, move all electrics and battery to seat hump.

Brakes: - I will do a front dual disc conversion

Exhaust: - I am a big fan of the Norton style pea shooter pipes. Will probable end of getting a pair.

[Rocker]

12/01/10

Lets get to the break down. I have lots to do and a long way to the finished product.

A few pics of her before the break down begins:







Let the break down begin:






Starting my parts pile:




12/02/10

More break down:








Like my homemade labeling system?



Because I can:



The parts pile grows:



CB550 says, "One day I hope to grow up and be as nice as you guys."




To be continued..

[BruceDeuce]

Great find, good luck!

[tango911]

lookin good.  i did the same thing with the blue tape ha ha.

steve

[Rocker]

Pulled carbs, tappet, coils, chain:





Starting pulling forward controls, removing wiring harness tie downs, and disconnecting components:



Cleaned gunk off of engine and frame VIN tag:




Parts pile continues to grow:


The motor is free of all connections and will be pulled next.

To be continued..

[brandEn]

Sweet another project to follow along with. Keep the pics coming!

[Rocker]

Removed motor tonight:




Removed electrics and wiring harness



Cobwebs anyone??



Ol' girl got sick. Had to put down a catch pan



...and the parts pile just keeps getting bigger.


She's almost completely broke down. Another night or so of work and we'll be good to go.

[Rocker]

Breakdown complete!




Will start cleaning the frame and remove the center stand brackets. Then I will prep it for powder coating.

Oh yeah and the parts pile has turned into a mountail.



The pipes and wheels are off to the left. I had to leave a path open for the wife. That's her car on the lower right.

[scunny]

subscribed, looks to be a good clean bike. by the way, it's a 650 tach and drive you will need, not speedo.

[Rocker]

subscribed, looks to be a good clean bike. by the way, it's a 650 tach and drive you will need, not speedo.

Got it, thanks.

I am really happy with the overall condition of the bike. It's got road grime, dead bugs, and general muck on it but nothing that will not come off with some good cleaning. I am also amazed with how easy it broke down.

[joshuanagao]

I am really happy with the overall condition of the bike. It's got road grime, dead bugs, and general muck on it but nothing that will not come off with some good cleaning. I am also amazed with how easy it broke down.
[/quote]

Ha I found the same in mine!  Cobwebs, bugs and pure nastyness everywhere!  I'm excited to see where you take the bike!

[BruceDeuce]

Looks like a great start anxious to see where it goes. Good luck.

[Duanob]

Looking good so far. you might want to break out the small boxes and zip lock baggies otherwise you will be scratching your head a lot on putting it all back together a few weeks or months from now.

I also like the pee-shooter pipes. I was thinking of taking just the lower OEM pipe and doing a 2 into 1 on each side. I think that would look pretty sweet, too.

ALso let me know if your going to sell anything, I'm already drooling over some of your pile of stock stuff!

[Rocker]

I will be selling quite a bit of it. I bought some shelves to store the parts on. Will have them better organized this weekend. Will know in a few weeks what for sale.

[tshaw151]

niiice start! im at the same point in my build, im putting her back together to get her running, let us (or me) know how you hook up that rec reg assy, as im having a hell of a time trying to get this thing together and running with a combined rec reg,

[Stev-o]

Nice project bike, odd looking rear tire, haven't seen one like it.

You are off to a good start.

PS. I wouldn't go crazy cleaning the frame if your going to blast and powdercoat it.

[Little_Horse]

If you are planning on doing custom work on the bike to make it a cafe it is too early for the Powder coat, paint and the likes is absolutely last to do things right you tear down partially leaving enough there to make sure things don't interfere with other things. So if you put new bars on that they don't hit the tank for example. Once you have the entire custom bike done and fabbed up everything fits and works then you tear down to the frame like you have and paint and powder, and polish everything as you put it back on the bike. Skipping steps here is like skipping steps for a nice paint job miss ten percent and its the difference between nice and ugly. Just my two cents, I know it is exciting to see things all painted up but its worth the wait.

[Rocker]

Score from eBay! Yes I know you can get the PDFs for free but there is nothing like the real thing.




Not done much work on the bike. Spent most of weekend cleaning up/organizing my garage after dad and I build my work bench. Made it from 25 year old fir 2x4's from my grandfather's barn. Scored the cabinates from my previous office when it closed.





Now I can start back working on the bike.

[Stev-o]

workshop looks good!  No beer frig?!?

[Rocker]

I had one in my garage but had to move it to my basement to make room for everything else. Plus it was 22 degrees here yesterday. Don't need a fridge atm. 

[Buzzy]

I am going to look at a '76 CB550 tomorrow and will probably bring it home if it is not to far gone.  I am going to do the same as you and do a complete teardown and then go from there.  This will be my first build project also.  I told my wife that I needed a project and that I was going to look at a 35 year old motorcycle to rebuild and she said go for it.  I am curious as to where you are located in north Georgia as I am up north of Atlanta (Adairsville).

[Zaipai]

Nice setup you got there. Bike tear down seemed to go smoothly.. Can't wait to see it back together.

.: Scott :.

[Rocker]

I am going to look at a '76 CB550 tomorrow and will probably bring it home if it is not to far gone.  I am going to do the same as you and do a complete teardown and then go from there.  This will be my first build project also.  I told my wife that I needed a project and that I was going to look at a 35 year old motorcycle to rebuild and she said go for it.  I am curious as to where you are located in north Georgia as I am up north of Atlanta (Adairsville).

Live in Canton.

[Stev-o]

I had one in my garage but had to move it to my basement to make room for everything else. Plus it was 22 degrees here yesterday. Don't need a fridge atm. 

Need a frig to keep the beer from freezing!

[Rocker]

Was finally warm (enough) today to degrease the frame.



Turned out well. Most of the gook was on the lower frame and swing arm brackets. I discovered a few rust spots but nothing major.

[Flying J]

Ill watch since there are so many pictures.

[Zaipai]

Turned out well. Most of the gook was on the lower frame and swing arm brackets. I discovered a few rust spots but nothing major.

That seems to always be the case. I guess its true Sh%$ rolls down hill... 

.: Scott :.

[Rocker]

Was finally warm enough to get out in the garage and start working again. I got a Hitachi disc grinder for Christmas and decided to break it in by removing the side cover tabs




To save a double post I wrote up a quick how to here:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=81585.0

[FunJimmy]

Great find and quick start to your Cafe dreams.

Good luck
FJ

[bluesmoke69]

Looking good so far!!

[Rocker]

Made some progress today..but not on my build. I broke down my parts bike. Saved the salvageable parts. Frame was a loss so I took a little off to remove the motor.



Adding to my motor collection



I will use the cut up frame pieces to clean other smaller rusted items with electrolysis.

[Rocker]

Not much progress on the bike over the holidays and the month of January. The weather is been awful here and my little space heater cannot make the garage comfortable enough in the evenings. I have been selling misc parts off of the 550 that I will not need. That pretty much paid for my blasting cabinet. I wrote up a quick doc on the assembly here:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=83050.msg934717#msg934717

Selling more parts to fund a 60 gallon compressor. Then I can really start the cleaning process on my build.

[Doggie]

Hi..I bought a small bench top blasting cabinet and put soda in it so that I can do chrome parts. Works great, but you need a vaccum, filter and a bright light to see what you are doing. I'm lucky to have a walk in media blasting cabinet at work that I can use on breaks and lunch. Keep up the good work...Doug
                                           

[Jt550]

Hey Rocker, you got me on the edge of my seat... Whens the next installment?
It's looking like a really nice build. I'm on my first, and it's cool to see what I'm up against.

O.. FYI... Your kinda in my neck of the woods.. Atlanta/Decatur is where I hang my helmet and I worked at MOTIONS about 3yrs ago...

[Rocker]

The bikes is still apart. I've been sidetracked on a CB360 I recently picked up. I've been working so much lately I've had no time to work on any of my projects. Not too happy about that...