Around 6 years ago, my brother gave me a freebie 1978 CB550K that someone had given him. Supposedly the bike ran fine, but had some wiring issues, and ended up parked for an extended period of time. Around the time I got it, I had replaced the bad ignition switch, and rebuilt the carbs to try and get it running. I screwed up the float settings in two of the carbs, and the project got shelved, and it's been sitting on my patio ever since. My sons are older now, and were showing interest in turning wrenches, so we pulled out the Honda, and decided to go through it front to back with a fine tooth comb, and teach them something about how vehicles work.
The bike is a 1978 Honda CB550K. The stock airbox was missing, replaced with pods when I got it. Other modifications that were done by the PO include replacing the stock 4 into 4 exhaust with a 4 into 1 from a CB550F, and installing a set of carbs from a '74-'76 CB550. I replaced the seat with an earlier model, as the original seat pan was a rusted mess (the replacement seat still needs recovering).
To date, we have accomplished the following:
1.) Tracked down and a replaced bad ignition switch, replaced a bad starter solenoid, replaced a melted fuse box, fixed two corroded grounds, replaced the handlebar controls to fix two broken switches, and cleaned up the mess in the headlight bucket so that all electrics work properly.
2.) Rebuilt the front brake whose fluid had crystalized into something other than fluid, including rebuilding the master cylinder & caliper.
3.) Replaced the front wheel bearings.
4.) Cleaned and packed the headset bearings.
5.) Rebuilt the forks.
6.) Rebuilt the rear brakes, replaced rear wheel bearings.
7.) Replaced the swing arm bushings.
8.) Pulled the engine, and completely disassembled it.
Next steps:
1.) Replace the primary chain & cam chain.
2.) Replace the piston rings.
3.) Hone the cylinders.
4.) Clean / lap the valves.
5.) New points / condensers.
6.) Reclean carbs.
7.) Put it all back together.
8.) Go through the charging system.
9.) Hopefully locate a stock airbox.
10.) Get it running, and tune it.
11.) Replace the tires (this is last on the list in case this project ends up on extended hiatus again)
