Topic: Pain's CB550F Project Build

[Radam]

Looking real good! I'm anxious to see how your engine turns out.

[hyde7278]

Very nice. Sucks to hear about the issues with the Benjies parts seams like your not the only one. I love his designs and was going to order a seat and tank in carbon fiber but am having a hard time spending $1400 on a what seams to be a sub par product that takes forever to receive.

[Pain]

yeah... i've been busy lately... didn't get any more polishing done. did get to head out to vintage days...







can you even say which one of those cbx's you like better?

anyway, i've decided that i'm going to have my tank split and pressed for the 60's style honda tank badges. i think that's gonna look bad ass. i've also decided that i'm going to have mr. rieck get involved with a stage 3 head job.

and best goes last...

[Pain]

wow. i've been gone for awhile. ready to get some stuff done though. i ordered a few small parts that can get me moving forward..

since when were fork gaiters worth their weight in gold?

trying to get this front hub polished. bench buffer wasn't doing good enough. i remember reading about someone using a drill press. i don't have a press so i improvised. we'll see if it works..

[Vreihenmotor6]

I'd love to see how this turns out

[Pain]

my drill idea was a semi failure.. it may still work, but i need a better drill with a legit chuck. the drill i used was cheap and the chuck won't stay tight anymore. other than that it works.

i painted my tach needle, put the red zone sticker on, and clear coated it. big difference in before and after.





i also got a tach base plate in the mail..



now i'm stuck again because i polished the outter shell and found that it oxidizes too quickly. i'm not sure if that's a battle i want to keep fighting. i may rough it up with some sand paper and paint it back to the original black, if anyone knows what type of paint to use to match the original.. maybe after that i'll put a chrome tach cover on it anyway. also, i have no idea where i put the rubber ring that goes between the tach base plate the rest of the tach.. hmmm.



i also got some 60's era tank badges in the mail that i'm going to get heat pressed into my tank.



slow and steady..

[rocketritch]

Good progress "D". I always suspected your gender now I know. 

[Pain]

got the tach back together. just waiting on a nos rubber seal for between the base plate.

i used vht gloss black to paint the case. i roughed it up with 600 grit first.



after it dried completely i used some painters tape to tape off a pair of pliers so i could cramp the ring back down without scratching it. i also put tape around the case and base of the tach so i wouldn't scratch the paint or the base metal, if it even matters.









the rubber seal for the base plate should be here thursday so i should be able to have it completely back together by then..

[dagersh]

Nice job Pain!  Very clean on the crimping and painting.

[LesterPiglet]

and best goes last...

Some great tunes playing there.

[fastbroshi]

Good progress "D". I always suspected your gender now I know. 

That was random. 

[Pain]

taxes done. time to make some moves.. $$$$$$$

[Pain]

finished the tach...

i found a few pictures of what it originally looked like..





here's the final product..

[Vbled1]

I just polished my forks also, what did you do on the bottom section where the axle bolts up? Cant get mine to look like the rest of it.

[SohRon]

Pain, that tach looks suhweeeet!    Excellent job on the restoration, especially on not fudging up the metal ring clamp holding the halves together.

The only bummer is that you will now have to pull apart the speedo just to freshen up that needle tip!

Good work.

[Pain]

vbled - i'm not sure what you mean.. i'll try to get a pic up soon of the bottom of my forks. i know i started with a super low grit though, so parts of the fork that had writing stamped in are now gone and its just a smooth mirrored surface.

sohron - thanks man, u have no idea what went into it too. after i got it all back together i discovered the face plate was on upside down.. so i had to tear it all back down over night, scratched the paint.. repainted it.. crimped it all back down again. holy shyt i wanted to kill myself.. as for the speedo, i'm going to hide an electronic one somewhere. too much bulk going on with those old honda cases.

[Pain]

new parts in.. fork tubes and rear shocks.

fork tubes were from frank. he raised his prices $10. also, if you buy off him he only takes cashier's check or money orders that you have to give to the ups guy when the package arrives.



rear shocks were from z1900 on ebay. i'm impressed. they have their ebay set up kinda funny though. you can either buy them now for $125, or bid on them starting at $119. i plan to take the covers off and swap the springs with my old set that i had powder coated. message me if interested in them.



i'm gonna try to have a rolling chassis by the end of the month.

[rocketritch]

Looking good. I am going to go with mini gauges on mine. The guy that bartered me the bike had one in the box he gave me.

[valvolux]

hey pain, looking good, still following ya build thread with interest. Glad the project hasnt stalled and you are now full steam ahead. Thats a beefy engine set-up you have got going on there. I cant wait for you to rebuild the engine with those high comp pistons, i'll be interested to see how that pans out. What bout valves, rockers, retainers? Are you doing just a top end rebuild or are you looking at the crank/rods to? im suprised you have settled for those rear shocks from ebay when all the rest of ya gear is top notch. I expected some ohlins with gas shocks haha

[Pain]

valv - i'm getting the stage 3 top end with kibble white's. probably won't have funding for 2-3 months. but it's definitely happening. i'm not gonna mess with rods and my rockers are fine enough, especially with the engines mileage. settling for those shocks wasn't too bad. i jus don't want anything on the bike that doesn't fit the era. i tried to disassemble them to swap the springs out with black ones over the weekend and it turned into a science experiment. first, the shocks look identical to stock, but they don't have the original locking rings on top, instead they're more like nighthawk shocks where the spring needs to be compressed to reveal a hex nut. sooo i ended up scratching the shyt out of everything and now my springs are at a powder coat shop again. i also sent my frame, triple trees, and anything else that's slipping my mind right now, so that i can have a rolling chassis here soon. i've also been shopping around for a fabricator to set these tank badges in. i was playing around with some duck tape for where i should put it. i think this might be ok.













i'm emailing benjie to get me the other gas cap. i really don't think i like this one anymore, and i'm not sure why i received it anyway. also keep in mind that the tank isn't polished yet, and when it is i'm going to have a brushed triple racing stripe down the middle of it and the tail section, similar to this shelby cobra - where i stole the idea.

[rocketritch]

Did you find somebody to do your rotors? Here is what I did this weekend.....

[Pain]

no one to do my rotor yet. frame is done though. gets picked up tomorrow. your #$%* looks real good.

[RAFster122s]

Curious what the new fork tubes cost...mind sharing?
David

[Pain]

new tubes are 269 plus 23 shipping.

i had a small set back during the powder coat process...

[dagersh]