Topic: **Updated 5/20/13** In over MY head 1975 cb550 cafe. thanks...Dave500, Twotired

[xsmooth69x]

1. If you push the start button and starter spin, but bike won't start, the your problem may be something else and not starter

2. I didnt read your page 7, but You don't have to put kick stand or side stand down to kick start. Shut off engine and turn off key if you get stuck in traffic for extended period of time

1. starter spins but bike wont start and yes i know its something else...... so hopefully maybe something "loosened" up in the motor after i rod it for a summer and the only time i tested the starter is when i unburied this motor

2...... i need to put the kick stand down also the extended period of time is like 3 min then move forward 20 feet then stop and 3 min and then 20 feet then stop and 3 min and 20 feet...... an electric start would be amazing!!!

[Bankerdanny]

ya the job is definitely all that i wanted and expected it to be. i almost took a position at lockheed martin for a active field logistics manager and go back to florida (LM orlando location) but cargill made me a better offer (which come to think about it of course they had to have payed me more to live in this freezing ass state). energy trading was my focus when i was getting my degree so this position was perfect anyways the LM one i probably wouldnt have loved as much. i work in 3 time zones now and i dont get much sleep but its a rush and very fun when things ramp up. ill probably stay here in the states for a couple more years then do an international assignment to Singapore for 2-4 years (then i can buy a skyline R34 probably 2 and ship them back on the company dime maybe sell one for some quick $$$$$).

It's good to have a plan, LOL

[Stev-o]

That's a very ambitious plan

[xsmooth69x]

ah gday xman your back,good job on all that study crap and securing a decent job,good work on the bike aswell,youll find those type of bars are fine on race tracks but in the real world of the normal public imperfect roads bumps will be harder to control with them being quite narrow,a damper will help.

yes the clip ons i must say are a royal pain in the butt. i have like zero turning radius. the 750 will not have clip on handlebars on it. atleast the 550 i can still push around ok.

im deff buying a dampener for it so you'll probably see a thread soon about why is this one 39.99 and this one 599.99?........

Other than low-speed turning, the turning radius is fairly irrelevant.  Countersteering and lean angle allows you to turn at speed.

sorry i shouldve been more  specific i was talking about pushing it around like out of a parking space or pushing it around with my tippy toes

[xsmooth69x]

That's a very ambitious plan

na its totally doable only if i dont get married, have kids or get tricked into getting a love child puppy/animal with some chick.

it happened with a pair of gerbil..... she didnt pay child support -_- they apparently liked to live too since they lived till they where 6 y/o....... even had to take them to the vet; $80+ $20 meds vet bill for 2 gerbils worth $30. lucky i had an stretched 80 gallon fish tank with 3 levels of living areas so they lived like kings!

^ valuable lesson of the day right there, write that down

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I hope my last post didn't come off the wrong way. Most modern sport bikes have a very limited turn radius. You can also pivot the bike on its kickstand but I prefer not to put that much repeated stress on it especially on an old bike.

[xsmooth69x]

I hope my last post didn't come off the wrong way. Most modern sport bikes have a very limited turn radius. You can also pivot the bike on its kickstand but I prefer not to put that much repeated stress on it especially on an old bike.

no not at all i re-read what i posted before and after reading it a second time it sounded like i did know how to lean when turning 

ow ya my kick stand is already bent or i have to bend it more so my bike doesn't sit so vertically. table vice and a big hammer

[xsmooth69x]

gonna be rebuilding one of the 550 motors......

the motor i have now the bottom end is all kinds of @#?%#^

first i broke the kicker return numb or whatever off the case..... didnt get it welded btw and the liquid weld epoxy didnt hold. but ive been fine without it.

also mentioned in the thread was in regards to my electric starter spinning but not turning the motor over. i have come to the conclusion something is broken with probably some kind of syncro safety thing in regards to the electric starter. something  probably kicks or disengages the starter motor when the engine turns over or prevents the starter from blowing up if the user hits the starter when the bike is running because it disengaged? well whatever it is, it has to be stuck in the disengage position because it wont turn the motor over. also the kicker and starter motor might be on the same kind of shared safety thing because maybe since i broke that return stopper thing off my case that i damaged this linkage syncro or something. because when i fiddle with the kicker sometimes i will get the starter motor to engage the motor. something is F'ed up and to get to where i need to go from what i understand i have to take the whole freakin motor apart. apparently the 750 actually have a side access panel or some kind of awesome convenience that the 550 dosnt have?

also when i was re syncing my carbs when everything seems perfect i would throttle the bike up but cylinder 3 really dips down and all the other gauges are at the same level. i checked the compression and it had 120 psi.

i might have to pull the carbs off re bench sync them with the drill bit and then re sync with the gauges? or since i have the gauges i dont have to do the drill bit thing?

the carb boots look good on either ends of cylinder 3 so it cant be that. switched out the lines and stuff on my carb sync guages and no leaks and same results..... im kinda stumped.

either way if i need to get this bottom end fixed. i have to rebuild the motor dont I?

[dave500]

just use the guages for syncing,taking them off for a pre vacuum "bench sync" is a step backwards as your only making work for yourself,be sure the ignition is set perfectly,use a strobe to check the 1/4-2/3 timing,if they are slightly out with each other the vacuum sync will be hard to do and any bench sync wont be worth a damn,,adjust the main idle screw untill its threads just come away from the lever it pushes then wind it back in a turn or two,,then with the sync adjusting screws wind them one by one letting the throttles drop slowly untill they stop,once each one is down turn those screws one turn to lift them again a little and restart your vacuum syncing,,youll have to fiddle with the throttle to keep it running and the idle screw will need tinkering with.

[xsmooth69x]

just use the guages for syncing,taking them off for a pre vacuum "bench sync" is a step backwards as your only making work for yourself,be sure the ignition is set perfectly,use a strobe to check the 1/4-2/3 timing,if they are slightly out with each other the vacuum sync will be hard to do and any bench sync wont be worth a damn,,adjust the main idle screw untill its threads just come away from the lever it pushes then wind it back in a turn or two,,then with the sync adjusting screws wind them one by one letting the throttles drop slowly untill they stop,once each one is down turn those screws one turn to lift them again a little and restart your vacuum syncing,,youll have to fiddle with the throttle to keep it running and the idle screw will need tinkering with.

ow thank god i dont have to take the carbs off!!!!

ya i made a make shift timing light out of a flashlight and have leads i connect to the points and point plate to get the timing right. btw how often do you check or re adjust the timing? if its was set perfect and no points where changed out no tappets where adjusted or anything to do with the timing it should still be good right...... or should i just re check it -_-

----------------------

wait im confused about the initial start settings to sync the carbs......

so you back out the idle screw all the way so its not touching the lever> then screw it in until it touches the lever> then screw it in another 2 turns > then sync carbs

so that is exactly what i did last time

am i supposed to slowly keep going so that the idle screw ends up somewhere in the middle of the rack?

because i did exactly this my first time but when the bike would get hotter and hotter the idle would start to climb. only having 2 turns to drop the bikes idle wasn't enough and ive had to back it out so far that it didn't even touch the lever anymore and it still idled high when the bike got really hot.

[Lefthook]

raw interesting, no paint means less weight.
tank paint see above. just kidding I always have a hard time deciding how to do my tins.
If you are about 6 feet tall as I am, I think you will be happy with clip-ons (they are the most confortable bars I've ever rode with).
As for lighting, on cafe's I like to incorporate my lights into my seat.

im 5"10 but im still going to rock the clip ons im sure it will be comfortable. since its a 550 the tank is smaller than the 750 so i should be straight

as for the tail light im either going to cut and weld a little part of the stock fender on the back to put on a tail light butttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

i will probably end up getting the 1 foot integratoz premium flexible light strip from radientz and making a replica tron tail light. (the tail light on the ducatti) or what fleda sells for 300..... but i can make the same for $120

the tank im thinking about grinding it down. leaving it kinda raw making it look distressed and ill tag the rising sun image (since im half japanese) on the tank more graffiti style. then clear coating it

I talked to JC Matsuura of JCPak Bikes and the FLEDA array is a lot cheaper than 300 for us because you'll probably be building your own enclosure for the light.  JC was an awesome guy btw.

The FLEDA has yellow LED's in between the red, which I was pretty stoked on.  So your turn signals will be yellow.  There are limitations on the array and I can't find my notes that I was taking as I talked to JC about sizes but now that I have the design figured out and we are mocking it up in foam, it should be easy to measure and figure out what we are looking at for size.  His turnaround time was short as well.

[xsmooth69x]

thank you for that update and reading though my thread. ya the cost of out right building a single unit as an exact replica will probably cost more. it was just an interesting idea at the time and maybe someone would have chimed in and had a connection or knows in interweb source that sells those kinds of flex micro led light trips cheap idk it was just one of those idea moments

[vma03]

ya the job is definitely all that i wanted and expected it to be. i almost took a position at lockheed martin for a active field logistics manager and go back to florida (LM orlando location) but cargill made me a better offer (which come to think about it of course they had to have payed me more to live in this freezing ass state). energy trading was my focus when i was getting my degree so this position was perfect anyways the LM one i probably wouldnt have loved as much. i work in 3 time zones now and i dont get much sleep but its a rush and very fun when things ramp up. ill probably stay here in the states for a couple more years then do an international assignment to Singapore for 2-4 years (then i can buy a skyline R34 probably 2 and ship them back on the company dime maybe sell one for some quick $$$$$).

I've just spent the past hour reading your thread from the first page. Awesome build. Before I start to tackle my 500/550 (500 frame, 550 engine) and tear everything off I need to at least try to fire it up. Electronics sorted (check), carbs cleaned and rebuilt (in progress)...so we'll see. But your thread has given me a lot of ideas and good instructions.

By the way, I have a good friend in Singapore and flipping a car for profit might not work. Over there, you have to apply and pay for a car license (not the same as a drivers license), it's a certification for the "privilege" of owning a car. You can't buy a car unless you are granted this license. Price of the said license...approximately $50,000 USD. So a "cheap" car will end up costing well over $100,000 there.

Maybe they'll let you buy it for export. I've been told that in the US, you can get around paying for registration and sales tax if you export it directly.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing your 750 build when you get it to it. I know that the gerbils have priority right now.

[jdtim]

Just found this build thread. I can honestly say, I am very excited to read through your build! I, too, am from the Twin Cities. I'm also looking to find a cb550, as it seems fitting for a dude my size (5'7" 155lbs).

Seeing that I JUST found this thread and haven't had time to comb through it yet, I'll just ask a few general questions:

-How do you like the cb550?
-How was your buying experience with SportWheels? I've been lurking on CL and other sites for months, and am in the same boat you were in. Either they're chopped up or immaculate...Looking for something in between!
-How does SportWheels fair with bargaining/negotiating?
-I'm looking for my first bike and project too. Was it a tough task?

Thanks for your time in advance!!!
-tim

[dave500]

Q 1,I #$%*en love em!im only 5/4 and 168 pounds.

[LesterPiglet]

+1.  5'4"
Fits like a glove.

[Untold]

6'5"  215lbs.   I also fit just fine and it's got enough power for me.