Topic: first bike, first Cb550 project

[Elniniomuchachos]

]My first bike and first project. I have been wanting one for about a year and a half now, and finally found two at a descent price. I have been reading up on other projects, and their stories. I plan on taking this thing around the country when I complete it.   Picked them up a couple days ago, one is 76' the other 77'.
The one I am working on is the 76'.

Today I took all the wiring, speedometer,tachometer, what was left of the seat, and rear fender off. Hopefully I'll have the motor out by this weekend.

I can tell putting that wiring harness, back in its place is going to be a pain in the ass. I want to have minimum wiring. Any suggestions on what how to do this would be great, or should I just do my own, with the help of the more wise (Dad, and Grandpa).

I want this bike to be as simple as possible, I will probably make my own seat, I really like the look of cafe racers, the simplicity.

Is this the right way for removing the speedo, and tachometer?
Either way it's off.  
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29672777@N08/4349475871/in/set-72157623288200089/

What would you recommend removing next? The motor, front end, or rear wheel?

What's the best way to post photos, when I use the html it doesn't work, I have just been posting the link.


Here's the link to what I have done so far.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29672777@N08/sets/72157623288200089/

[coheed]

HTML codes dont work on most forums. On the row above the smilies when your writing your post the button thats 3rd from the left gives you [img][ /img] codes. You put the address of the actual picture inbetween the middle 2 brackets. Not really familiar with flickr, so idk if they give you those codes.

As for what to remove next it really depends on what all your planning to do to the bike. Personally I removed the wiring harness/ electrical stuff first. That way you have more room to work. Then I removed the motor to rebuild/ evaluate it. What all are you planning on doing?

[Elniniomuchachos]

HTML codes dont work on most forums. On the row above the smilies when your writing your post the button thats 3rd from the left gives you codes. Not really familiar with flickr, so idk if they give you those codes.

As for what to remove next it really depends on what all your planning to do to the bike. Personally I removed the wiring harness/ electrical stuff first. That way you have more room to work. Then I removed the motor to rebuild/ evaluate it. What all are you planning on doing?

Well I plan on taking the motor out to clean it really well, along with the carbs, and look everything over. I want to clean everything, get rid of any rust, and gunk.

Will probably end up swapping forks from the 77'. The forks on the 76' are looking pretty bad.

I'm not going to try to get more horsepower or anything, I just want to get it running good, so I can ride it.

I was just wondering which to do first,( if taking the front end is easier for taking the motor out).

[coheed]

If you are gonna swap the forks, what I would do first is take the forks and rear swingarm off. You said your gonna clean up the motor and I'm guessing you'll be replacing a few seals and such. Taking the suspension off will make it alot easier to get the engine out. Prior to taking the engine out take the carbs, exhaust, chain and oil filter and housing off of it. That way you can actually get it out of the frame.
Read everything in this thread. http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=49551.0
Do the opposite of what he did when he put his in to take your engine out and you'll be fine.

[Elniniomuchachos]

I am about to remove the rear suspension, swing arm, and wheel. Should I have a crate of some kind under the frame to balance it?

[SohRon]

I am about to remove the rear suspension, swing arm, and wheel. Should I have a crate of some kind under the frame to balance it?

You can take all of that off with the bike on the center stand. Once you've done that, it's a lot easier to lift the bike onto your crate and remove the front wheel and forks; just make sure whatever you have will support the weight of the engine and the frame. There are lots of good ideas for how to do this on this forum if you do some research.

If you don't have a CS then, yes, you'll need your crate to go any further.

To post images, it's easiest to just paste your url address , then highlight it and click on the "Insert Image" button above the message field.

Good luck, and I'll be watching this one!

Ron

[Elniniomuchachos]

Well, today I stripped the entire bike. I started with the rear, and worked my way forward. Took off the rear wheel, and swing arm. Then the carbs, motor, and front end. So far it has been really fun, and good learning experience. My dad helped me get the engine out. In the process of doing this, it was dropped and my thumb got smashed and my nail looks like it is going to come off.  
But we did get it off, and set it up on a rolling cart.
Everything is separated, in boxes, baggies, except for the large stuff.

Now for major cleaning, and purchasing of the necessary items.  
Took a bunch of photos today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29672777@N08/sets/72157623288200089/

[SohRon]

Looks like a good start! BTW, it wouldn't hurt to have someone who knows about these things to come check out this frame; speaking from experience, things can get past a newbie just because we don't know what to look for... just a suggestion!

[Elniniomuchachos]

Looks like a good start! BTW, it wouldn't hurt to have someone who knows about these things to come check out this frame; speaking from experience, things can get past a newbie just because we don't know what to look for... just a suggestion!

Hmm, that's a good idea. It would be nice to have a certain "knowledge" of the good and bad.
BTW how did you insert the picture into the post?
Whenever I tried, there's a little box with a question mark.

Thanks for the advice

[theofam]

To insert photos, it's best to create an online photo account.  Looks like you have flickr.  In your internet browser, it's easiest to open two tabs:  one w/ this forum and one w/ your flickr account so you can toggle back and forth.  When you are creating a post on this forum, click on the toolbar box with a picture on it (between the youtube and world w/ paper boxes).  It will add html tags that read "img" for "image".  Then, go to the flickr photo you want to insert, left click on the photo and click "Copy Image Location."  Go back to the post you're writing on this forum and paste the image location you just copied between the {img} and {/img} tags.  The tags will actually use brackets []. Like this:

[SohRon]

BTW how did you insert the picture into the post?


I'm not at all familiar with flickr, so there are probably easier ways to do this: I simply went to the site you posted above and started scrolling through the pictures. When I came across the photo of the frame, I right-clicked on the enlargement (on the left side screen) to bring up the options menu, then clicked "Properties". That brought up the properties data box which contains the "Address (URL)"  of the photo. I highlighted the address, then right clicked on it and chose "Copy". After starting the reply to your thread, I right clicked in the message field and chose "paste" in the options menu. That pasted the address into the reply. I then highlighted the pasted address, and clicked on the "Insert Image" button, which added the correct image codes to the address. Alternately, you can first click the "Insert Image" button and right click between the codes to paste the address, as theofam described in his very informative post above; I just find it easier to "paste and click" rather than "click and paste" due to the difficulties I have getting the cursor correctly located between those two little box-ends (][).

I'd suggest you go to the flickr site and search the FAQ for instructions on how to post pictures based on their site. All you need is the URL of the picture itself, and I suspect they have it set up to be pretty easy to get. After you have the address, just paste it in your message, hit the "Image" button, and you should be set.

[Elniniomuchachos]

I'm looking to rebuild my 550 engine. Does anybody recommend a certain kit, or brand (that is a reasonable price).
Or I'm wondering if I should even rebuild it, and just clean the heck out of it. 

I haven't taken it apart yet, so I guess it's kind of hard to tell.
The odometer reads 48,000. Would this be a good time to rebuild?

Any suggestions, feedback, or just plain comments recommended..

- thanks

[coheed]

Before you spend the time and money to rebuild the engine Id suggest making sure the compression is good and that it doesnt leak any fluid. If you dont need to spend the time and money on it, I dont see why you would imo. Unless you want to.