Author Topic: First Bike Build CB550k (Read 13368 times)

jiggliemon · « **on:** December 28, 2010, 02:17:37 AM »

I bought a CB550k back in September 2010 as my first motorcycle to own and to build. I used to build cars and trucks in my younger days - mainly mini-trucks and a few classic cars. I lost most of my tools over the years, so this build will also help me acquire some much needed tools, as well as help bone up on my fabrication skills.

I bought the bike for $1500 from a guy who had it in his backyard for little under a year. This guy bought the bike from some old man who kept it in his garage for years in Palm Springs. Basically - it was a vehicle for some dude at his vacation home. Everything on it is original. Original Bridgestone tires, tool-kit under the seat, seat cover, emblems - everything. I wouldn't be suppressed if the oil was original. Being that it was used at a vacation home, it acquired very little milage - 6500 original miles when I bought it.

The bike hasn't been registered since 1985. So I have to assume it has just sat in one way shape or form for 25 years. Surprisingly when I purchased it from Owner 2 - it was running - very poorly - but running. However when I took it home, getting her to start up was much more difficult.

I took off the carbs to spray some #$%* on the jets and do a superficial cleaning - which is when i discovered the extent of sitting this bike has done. There was gunk and old gas residue in the floats a millimeter thick, and the jets and needle were covered with the same. So i got a few gallons of carb cleaner and let the carbs soak for a couple days in slightly diluted carb cleaner. After all the gunk was off, I was able to take a wire-brush to the housings, and free up all the slides. A full rebuild kit and a brief polishing later I had myself some clean carbs.

With the carbs cleaned and semi-dialed, the bike was able to run, I could take it up and down the street, however it still ran like #$%*. But I couldn't tune the carbs cause my exhaust - the original 4-4 pipes were rusted to all hell. The steel was so rusted, that the chrome was the only thing holding the bottom seam together. Attempts to patch were un-successful.

Now I have the bike in 3-4 pieces, waiting for some exhaust to be completed so I'll be able to tune the carbs and get this sucker running.

fastbroshi · « **Reply #1 on:** December 28, 2010, 03:05:44 AM »

Probably wasn't jetted at all after they put those pods on there. Did you happen to get what size jets were in the carbs?

kck3 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 28, 2010, 12:18:17 PM »

If I were you, I would track down a factory air box for her. I have the same bike, similar mileage and love it. Fun bike to ride.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #3 on:** December 28, 2010, 02:10:01 PM »

I actually took the stock airbox off and put those K&N's on there. When I talked to Chris about getting the exhaust, I also asked if he'd be able tune up the carbs and get it back to running smooth again. He asked me if I had the stock airbox, or stacks. With the airbox - the work costs over twice as much (having taken off and put back on the airbox myself 2-3 times, I understand why). The way I look at it, if I'm going to run performance pipes, it only makes sense to have performance intake.

@TwoTired: The OG aluminum parts with the original coating are/were cracking and flaking due to their age and lack of attention. They'll eventually get a coat of clear when the paint is applied. I hope Chris taked care of all that vacum sync/jetting business when he does the tune-up.

@fastbroshi: Im sure they're what ever came with the 77's. When I took carbs apart, aside from being gunked up they were in perfect condition, no corrosion or pitting. So I just put everything back.

I've never been very good at restoring anything. My drive to cut and fabricate always wins out. Although I might pick up a #$%*ty 550 to hack. It feels really dirty permanently an all original bike with such low miles and in such good condition.

kck3 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 28, 2010, 06:12:53 PM »

That stock air box helps the bike breathe better than any add on you can find. It was might for the bike-the pods can be very fussy things to deal with.

FrankenFrankenstuff · « **Reply #5 on:** December 28, 2010, 06:17:17 PM »

What would you like for those old stock pipes?

englishwheeler · « **Reply #6 on:** December 28, 2010, 06:54:04 PM »

Take your time, tune your carbs with the pods and you'll be fine.
There's work involved, but you'll get it.

I've never had any issue with any bike I've made. Put brand new Mikuni carbs on my last XS650, and pod filters. I also made the exhaust system. Bolted on the carbs, kicked it twice...fired right up....ran great. Never touched a thing.

I haven't seen many stock air systems on racing bikes lately.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #7 on:** December 28, 2010, 08:50:57 PM »

@Frankenstuff: You'll have to believe me when I say they're too far gone. I was poking factory seam weld with filler rod poking holes all the way up. Also w/ the tig, as soon as the torch hit the muffler - the pipe burned like paper.

So I cut the mufflers off to have a better look and they were 90% rust.

I did however save the headers... A couple are pretty shot but we'll see if a custom exhaust can be made later.

fastbroshi · « **Reply #8 on:** December 29, 2010, 01:33:44 AM »

Quote from: englishwheeler on December 28, 2010, 06:54:04 PM

I haven't seen many stock air systems on racing bikes lately.

Actually most, if not all, modern racing bikes carb'ed or injected use airboxes.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #9 on:** December 31, 2010, 05:23:37 PM »

Who was the genius that decided Philips head screws was a good choice for all the engine covers? I'd like to write him an angry letter.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #10 on:** August 09, 2011, 02:13:54 PM »

I've finally got my exhaust from Chris (not his fault, he was fast and great to work with, it took forever to get paid for a job that I was waiting on). And he did me a solid of tuning the carbs for the new exhaust and looked over the engine a bit. I can't stress enough how good Chris was to work with, take your bikes to him (motogpwerks.com).

I've been cleaning and painting the factory emblems, it's taken some trial and error to get the right procedure down but I think I got it. I've bought a bunch of gold leaf to test with, and first tried using that spray adhesive to apply the leaf to the emblems - That's not the right thing to do. There's this other sizing that you need to get and that goes on very smooth. I recently stripped the emblems of the old paint, and re-painted them with lacquer based paint. I'll be applying the leaf later tonight.

I've also been soaking all my rusted parts in Diet Cola - this seems to be working very well, I was able to get some deep rust off of an old rim I bought off ebay. Prior to the soaking, a wire brush wasn't moving the rust. However after it seems to flake right off. I'm dipping my front fender in there to clean it up before I start chopping it down.

I've bought some spare forks as well, and have been putting new seals in em and sanding/re-finishing the aluminum. I'm prob not going use these forks long term, as Im getting some GSXR forks, but they'll be good for some bike eventually.

I'll post up some more work in progress images shortly.

fastbroshi · « **Reply #11 on:** August 09, 2011, 02:23:24 PM »

What length are the springs for the brackets? Mine didn't come with them and I've been having a hard time getting a hold of him. Thanks.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #12 on:** December 03, 2011, 10:57:31 PM »

I recently shot peened all my covers. Then I put a light clear coat over them to prevent all the corrosion and discoloration.

I actually really like this finish.

Besides aesthetics, this bike has been having some electrical issues. The battery won't hold a charge, so I've been troubleshooting for shorts and parts that might effect the battery. I tested the Alternator parts, and replaced the rectifier, however it still appears to have a drain somewhere. One thing I just noticed this morning is that when I turn the bike on, the battery (or something near it) makes a pseudo-boiling or hissing noise. Is this normal?

I think I'm going to take it to this old-timer and have him do an experienced search for the short, as I seem to have no idea what parts to check, or what is the norm.

Scott S · « **Reply #13 on:** December 04, 2011, 07:14:05 AM »

I'm digging that finish. How about some engine pics?
How did the emblems turn out?

jiggliemon · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2012, 07:44:10 PM »

Well the emblems came out really crappy. I think I need to approach them differently, like covering the entire emblem w/ gold flake, then painting black on the areas I don't want gold. I thought it would be easier the other way around, however the gold flake has proven to be more difficult to work w/ than I initially thought.

There has been this problem where the battery will drain if I ride it for a long time. It's really annoying since there's no telling where it will die. I took it to this old timer and he did everything he could think of, points, valve adjustments, checked the electrical and all, yet couldn't find any issue w/ the charging system.

After I got it back from him w/ a new Battery, I figured I'd give it another go. Yet it died once more on my way home from work. I noticed after an hour of being stranded that the 15a fuse was blown/broken (the fuse was still good, but the glass broke apart), and even more annoying the float on the #1 carb was stuck, she was pissing gas all over the place.

After leaving it parked at a church for a couple nights, I picked it up last night and just disassembled it this morning. I believe I've found the root cause of the fuse (maybe) and the battery drainage:

The ground wire on the harness is completely toasted. I had seen the rectifier earlier with the ground wire melted coming off of it. I replaced the rectifier.

I'm cleaning the carbs also, the float bounced fine, so I hope it just needed a nudge.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #15 on:** January 21, 2012, 11:29:29 PM »

After discovering that that harness issue, I just decided to tear down the bike and actually find what kind of state this thing is actually in. So far all I've found is a lot of dirt and oil.

Also I started a few days ago to design the frame I'm gonna bend up. The design is actually just an imperial version of the stock frame, using bends and lengths that I have at my availability to bend/cut. The lower frame tubing is 1" Chromoly, and the top tube is a 2" Chromoly tube going into a 1.25" Chromoly seat tube. All the 1" bends are a 5.5" radius at the center (5" inside radius), and the 1.25" tubing is a 6.5" center radius. The top tube as layed out is a 40" radius, but that will more than likely be eye-balled.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #16 on:** January 22, 2012, 08:08:43 PM »

I pulled the engine out. Took the rear tire off, and dis-assembled the head. It looks like a mess. How come the intake is copper colored like that?

jiggliemon · « **Reply #17 on:** May 20, 2012, 09:47:30 PM »

So I gave up on trying to keep this thing being able to return to stock, That means I started cutting into the frame

Im going to have a lot of original stuff for sale very soon.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #18 on:** May 22, 2012, 02:51:34 PM »

Got the hoop tacked in.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #19 on:** May 24, 2012, 09:08:03 PM »

I've put up some of my un-needed parts for sale on this thread:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=107426.msg1202457

There's plenty more parts im not going to use, most of them actually. I've got the center stand, the stock air-box handle bars... you name it really.

Next is ebay.

Flying J · « **Reply #20 on:** May 24, 2012, 09:46:49 PM »

~~Did you ever get exhaust for your bike?~~ Nice 4-1. Chris does nice work. Are you near him?
What carbs are you going to run?

jiggliemon · « **Reply #21 on:** May 24, 2012, 10:06:15 PM »

Quote from: ffJMoore on May 24, 2012, 09:46:49 PM

Nice 4-1. Chris does nice work. Are you near him?
What carbs are you going to run?

I saw you were at chris's shop as well! I was eyeballing those 4-4 pipes you picked up pretty hard. They looked awesome, and you got em for a great price as well. I live just south of Riverside, CA in a small city named Menifee. He's just about 30min away.

Re the carbs im getting:
There's this old timers about 10min north of me that builds the 750's on a regular basis. He's rebuilding my engine && putting the earlier (less lean) carbs on it (rebuilt of course) for under $700. He does awesome work && I would recommend this guy build anyone's engine (he's not that fast, so be sure to not be in a rush).

When I get the stuff back you bet I'll have a few pictures of the engine && carbs mounted to the modified frame.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #22 on:** May 27, 2012, 11:49:06 PM »

So my frame is trapped at the shop over the long weekend, and all I have to work on at the house is the rear swing arm and what ever is laying around for parts. So I decided it was time to section the front fender and turn it into a rear fender. This gave me an opportunity to get some serious flash burn and a lot of metal shards in my skin from grinding all the tabs off the swingarm.

I'll need to hit it w/ the planishing hammer and english wheel for a few min, but the shape is there.

Next I'll be making a bracket that will hold the fender mounted to the swingarm. Also, I'll need to make some mounts to hold my new shocks (i also wanted to make a way for the bike to go on one of those super stands - since the one I have doesn't hook into the axel. The shock mounts will have a swivel rod to catch the stands hooks.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #23 on:** May 31, 2012, 03:22:24 PM »

I finally finished the initial electrical bracket, and mounting the under plate for all the electrical components. It' only holds the Regulator and the fuse box, Im thinking about also mounting the starter solenoid to this Frankenstein.

jiggliemon · « **Reply #24 on:** June 01, 2012, 11:43:14 AM »

Stripped the paint off the tank, this is going to be quite a bit of work - mounting and modifying the tank.
This isn't really work im looking forward to, it's not quick && progress is slow to watch.

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Author Topic: First Bike Build CB550k (Read 13368 times)