Topic: My first CB: The final push 6 years later...

[stereosilence]

The gas tank is actually much less precarious than it looks. It is full of gas and it sits so the petcock hangs off (the reason it is there). Plus, the grill is far enough to the wall that I don't walk close enough to bump it. I honestly have no better place to put it either. My garage is tiny.

The seat is actually a stock seat recovered with genuine leather. I think it ended up costing about $150-$200. Getting real leather was only like $30 more than synthetic and looked a lot better (plus, they can age and keep looking cooler and cooler). I also spent $10 on a can of beeswax stuff that make its repel water. You can literally dump a bucket of water over it and then sit down and not get wet.

[Lostboy Steve]

Very, VERY Nice. Good price too!

[stereosilence]

With engine disassembly in progress (I don't know how to get the starter shaft out), I decided to try to make an under-seat electronics tray that would go under a stock seat. Thus far, I haven't seen anyone else make one.

There is some clearance below the seat but above the frame. I hope that by making the pan just deep enough, I can fit an AGM battery in there. I also plan to remove the stock regulator and rectifier and replace them with more compact modern units. I may also try to make a permanent home for the starter switch down there too.

Anyway, here are my photos. The pan is still rough as I do not have a welder, but I may be able to rivet it or just epoxy it together. I plan to paint/PC it the same color as the frame and then I think nobody will really notice it is even there.





You can see it drops about 1" below the line of the frame.




From about 6 feet off the ground, roughly 10 feet away, it is invisible.

[Guns_Up]

I have been thinking about updating my 750 to modern to a modern electrical system as well, however I'm not an electrical engineer. All I know is don't let the magic smoke out and don't have anything in the way between what your working and the door. I'm not sure how closely matched the 550 and 750 are electrically. But would you be able to do a barney style schematic and sort of a how to when you do get into the electrical?

[stereosilence]

Sure. I'm still working out how I'm going to do it. I really want to re-arrange the headlight interconnects with modular connectors. That thing is a massive PITA. I also hope to do some cleaning and mounting within the pan I made. In the meantime, there is a "barney style" schematic floating around. Do some searching and you will find it pretty quick.

[Mo]

That seat is awesome. Did you get it done somewhere or did you do it yourself?

[stereosilence]

Just had it done at a local upholstery place. The skin was one they had on hand. The major portion of the price was the labor so it wasn't much more to get real leather over synthetic. I am happy with it. I am sort of going for a contradictory "two seater cafe" thing. It looks cool and can still fit a person on the back.

[Mo]

Yeah I agree completely. Honestly, I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with my build, but seeing yours has given me some awesome ideas.

For example, I will be stealing your idea with the seat.

[stereosilence]

I have everything completely torn down. I am currently trying to find somebody to blast my engine and powder coat my frame and parts. It is close to being ready to rise from the ashes.

I have a quote of $100-$125 to soda blast the engine parts. And I have a quote of $185 to powder coat the frame if they have the color I want in stock. I am trying to get a quote for all my stuff together. When doing a bunch of things at once, does anybody know if it has to be the same color?

I also got a complete 05 R1 front end for $350. It didn't come with clipons or controls, but I have the brakes, rotors, wheel and even fairing. I need to figure out how much it will effect my steering though.



For powder coating:


For soda blasting:

[Guns_Up]

I see that you are in GA, if you are close to the Macon area there is a guy there that dose powder coating. He did my frame and all for pretty cheap. His company is JLC Powder Coating. Great guy and its a family business, they are right across the street from a rat rodz place and do all of their bikes so motorcycles aren't new to him and he has the whole color spectrum. Id give him a call

[stereosilence]

Well, I got the swing arm apart with difficulty. I used some help from the guys at the forum and a 4 lb one-handed sledge hammer.

I made some rookie mistakes in not communicating properly with my powdercoat/blasting guy. I understood he would blast it all and degrease it and give it back. Instead, he just sandblasted the paint off and didn't go near any mating surface (at least he didn't ruin anything!). So I still have A LOT of cleaning and scrubbing to do. He also didn't tape off my swing arm, so I have to sand it out a bit to get rid of the PC inside so my new bushings will go in (replacement parts for that are in the mail).

Anyway, here are my post-PC pics:

[eelliiss]

I like it.

[iron_worker]

It catches the eye. That is for sure!

IW

[stereosilence]

I got my polishing done. 73nancy here on the forum did it. He did a super job at an awesome price. I suggest you give him a shout.









Video:
http://youtu.be/gCH9y2Q6KrA

I've been busy rebuilding the swingarm  lately and have tapped and added new metric zerks. Here is a picture of what it looks like:



I am now beginning to design a schematic for my electronics to go in the tray I built (although I still need to rivet that thing together).

[Garystratos201]

Very nice work SS. Your project has come a long way.........Gary

[cprice9]

Looking really great

[stereosilence]

I wanted to stop by with a quick update. I have been making a good deal of progress but not much that is interesting to look at in the way of pictures.

I finally painted my cases, waited 7 days, and then baked them in the oven. Not sure if that was necessary. It seems like my oil pan got scratched pretty easy so I'm not sure how this paint will hold up.

Here are some crappy photos:





I started planning my electronics setup. I have bought a little rivet gun to shore up my electronics tray (see previous photos). I also determined that I have after market regulator/rectifier. Apparently these come from the Oregon parts supplier. I hate the rectifier as it is bulky and ugly. I am putting a solid state one in (also shown in previous photos).



I also bought a SS bolt kit from a member here for $47 or so. He is a good guy. Check it out in the services offered section.



Luckily, I found out you have to use anti-seize when using SS bolts and picked that up before I started putting stuff together. From there, I put the oil pan on and started putting the engine guts back in. I had a hell of a time getting these bearings in.



Currently, I have the main shaft (the one with the rods and cam chain and whatnot on it), the primary shaft (with those obnoxious bearings), and the kickstarter shaft installed. I am hoping the transmission goes in without too much trouble and then I should be getting close to the finish line with engine reassembly.

I thought I had finally found a stock rear wheel to use and got it for a great price. However, the seller was mistaken and although he pulled it off of a '75 550 (like mine) it was a 350/400 hub. I'm not sure if this can be used as the sprocket is closer to the hub than the stock one and the hub is narrower so the axle sticks out farther.



I still have quite a hit list of things to work on:

• Wiring harness: I got clipons and controls to match my 05 R1 front end I will be using. I am going to buy connectors and make a custom harness that can be easier clipped/unclipped using block connectors.
• Engine reassembly (obviously)
• Paint a little more of the head (I had it face down and the paint didn't get up under it quite like I thought it would.
• Lap the valves.
• Complete electronics tray with riveting.
• Figure out my rear wheel situation and get both wheels (Stock rear, R1 mag front) off to the powder coaters.
• Change fork oil/service R1 front end.
• Figure out battery mount/location.
• Acquire matching paint to finish up some doo-dads and trimmings.
• Figure out my speedo situation since I am losing the mechanical one (might just not bother).
• Order clear points cover.

Anyway, I may have more photos on my digital camera (these crappy ones came from my cell). Hopefully we will have some good mock-up photos coming up in the near future as I get the engine mounted back in the frame once I only have top end stuff left to do. I am really itching to have this thing on the road, but I have a lot going on so progress seems really slow.

[cprice9]

Looking good, have you found what gasket set you're going to use yet?  Also, any chance of a picture from when the cases got back from soda, I got an engine in the basement and after prepping and painting the frame Im not into the idea of painting the prepping and painting the cases too.  Looks like we might be wrapping around the same time, might be time for some booze and celebration.

[stereosilence]

I'll check. I actually didn't soda blast them. Wish I had. Sort of a long story. I had a misunderstanding with the powder coat guy and rather than getting everything all cleaned, he blasted all the non-crevice services. I ended up doing tons of scrubbing and then pressure washing at a car wash .

I have a Vesrah gasket set. Based on what I have gone through trying to get the old one off, don't get the cardboard kind of gasket. I hope it works as there is still residue. Honestly, unless there is a risk your cases could look worse with dinged engine paint, I would just give it a shot with primer and engine paint (if you really don't want to soda blast). I got the impression from seeing pictures on the forum, that it is sort of hard to mess up.

I hope it isn't too far away. I still have the front end and a custom wire harness to make. Could get dicey. Rear wheel is giving me fits too.

[stereosilence]

Also, I was pretty ticked to find that there is no oil filter housing gasket in my kit. I assume there won't be any for the intake manifolds either...

[stereosilence]

Wow. It has been so long since I have updated. Unfortunately, I haven't been very good at documenting it. I have struggled with despondency on this project, so I try to just get a bit done at a time.

Since last update, I have honed the cylinders and installed new rings, lapped the valves, riveted my electronics tray, purchased a cb550 rear wheel (and a cb400 by accident, but it was a steal), and received my clear points cover. Along the way, I had problems with the cam tensioner (which I pray I have figured out) so I had to take the top end off again, which was no fun. All of that putting together and taking apart and putting back together has been very time consuming.

Here are some photos of along-the-way:





Here you can see the bent tooth on my cam tensioner. Hopefully with finesse, it can be adjusted just fine in the future.


As it sits: (you can see the clear points cover, yet to be painted)




My 2005 Yamaha R1 stem is just a shade too large for the upper hole on the frame. I need to figure out what to do about that. Suggestions?


So, I'm currently working on the '05 Yamaha R1 fork swap. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the wheels yet. I will probably just keep the R1 mag wheel up there and see how it goes. I may get my stock front wheel machined and fitted in the future.

Wiring is also looming. I'm not too worried about that. Can anybody tell me how others mount the batter to the swingarm?

Since my engine spent so long open in the garage, a fair amount of dust and grit settled in there. I tried to keep it covered with cloths, but c'est la vie. Any guidance on how to get the oil well cycled through to wash crud out before I get to running it?

[squirley]

It looks to me that you can't fit the stem though the head tube because the stock bearing race is still in.  Once you pop it out you should be able to find tapered bearings from all balls for an easy swap.

[stereosilence]

That would be awesome...It was all petrified when I peeled it apart anyhow. I have the bearings.

Time for my favorite weapon: the BFH.

Edit: It worked! Thanks for the comment.

[stereosilence]

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted on this thing in a year! I have been slowly but surely working, but nothing that has generated any excitement. I have just had blocker after blocker and it has been pretty disheartening. Anyway, I have my front end swap in place. I got a bunch of stuff powder coated white and I'm currently struggling with my wheel bearings being installed not QUITE level.

I got a new career that began last december and my new job is AWESOME. I also just got engaged and am getting married Jan 17. I would have loved to be done by the time I got married, but I don't see how it can happen. She is cool with my motorcycle hobby though so it shouldn't be a problem.

Here is a photo update in links (when I embed the photos, they turn on their side for some reason):
Mockup 1
Mockup 2
Mockup 3
Mockup 4
Rear Wheel On
As it sits (rear)
Front end swap 1
Front end swap 2

As you can see, I'm doing a front end swap and I'm planning to keep the R1 front wheel as well as controls. I fitted it with a motion pro generic throttle which seems to work fine. I'm hoping to build an improved wiring harness to take advantage of those modern controls. I have my paint in hand and there are a lot of odds and ends (like the fenders) that will still be getting some color.

Tonight, I tore into my coils to replace the wiring. It was surprisingly easy, especially since I own a decent soldering iron. I think an even better way would be to use appropriate solder sleeves. Then it would be really nice and really easy. =http://1drv.ms/1xVD7QY

Disemboweled coils 1
Disemboweled coils 2

So, I still have to mount gauges (but I think I know how thanks to IndustrialCafe). I still need to do the wiring harness which I want to use block terminals so that the wiring is easy to take apart and put back together and doesn't involve rat's nests. I'm going to drill and tap holes and use bolts as turning stops like IndustrialCafe did as well. I also have to figure out how to mount the battery. That is all assuming that I get my wheels sorted :/.

I haven't ridden in so long it hurts. I'd love to hear what you guys think of the project so far and if you have any good ideas or encouragement! Sorry I couldn't get the pics embedded.

[stereosilence]

So, it has been a whirlwind year. I got married in Jan. and now we have a baby on the way right before Christmas. That means what time I have to work on the bike is sparse and the amount of time to update photos and such is sparser.

Anyway, I finally painted the last odds and ends and pretty much am getting all the parts on the bike. The next main thing is electronics. I'm using controls from a Yamaha R1 (along with the rest of the front end) and I am custom rewiring the bike to use weatherpak connectors because I hate electrical problems and I want it to be easy to unplug a component at a time.

I'm a little worried about how to set up a speedo without breaking the bank. I'll also need to figure out how to mount the indicator lights and whatnot. I guess I'm just going to wait until I get that far.