Topic: First bike, first build.....76' CB550f...*new pics and a short vid!!*

[Bru-tom]

tank before

[Bru-tom]

I managed to true both my wheels on Friday, the first took about an hour and a half and the second around 30 mins. so yeah, you could say im a fast learner! my workshop manual says to torque the nipples at around 2nm, i used a screwdriver type torque wrench and im happy to say they are within 0.4mm on radial and lateral  :thumleft: there are a few bumps and and on the rims, so cant expect too much from 38 year old rims

a quick pic of the front:



also welded my seat tabs to the frame today, the one pictured it just tacked btw:



made up some fastening plates to pop rivet to my seat pan which will be used fasten it to my frame once upholstered. the bolts are there to just hold the nut in place. The large one is for my tailight mount:



Yesterday i decided to spray the underside of my blue tank. what a mission taping up! the edges along the bottom had to be sprayed too. Next time i will make sure i can get to them when painting the top and then just do the bottom later without worrying. Its done now, so im a happy chappy, unfortunately no pics yet. I did however get to clear my rAt tank, i sanded her down good and thoroughly, washed and dried.

This is not for everyone, but i like it a lot and its also another way of preserving the tank i guess :biggrin: the inside is mint and still shiny, so it will be used LOVE the patina!





i mixed a bit of matting agent into the clear, and only after a full day and a half, did it start going matt. its not completely matt, but im happy with the outcome.





i tried my best to give the cap a nice brushed finish, which i did and had to to remove rust, but the clear kinda messed the finish up somewhat.



i also made a pvc seat fan finally.



the middle is where the front mount will go:

[Bru-tom]

 After many many hours of deliberation and research, I took the plunge! Autocad, many many designs, made sure every hole overlaps to ensure the pad won't have notches and uneven wear and voila!







Now to clean the rest up and paint.

I have also had my frame blasted, primed and painted at the weekend. She will be ready to start assembling soon! So stoked! Sources some old school period tyres, Bridgestone spitfire s11's.

[Bru-tom]

didnt get a chance to get SS material, had a bolt laying around, used it to make a sleeve:





marked the kickstart shaft with marking blue (to check for rubbing), slid the sleeve over to make sure a smooth fit:



design:





oops:









voila:



also fitted my tappet cover and did the valve clearances, cam chain tensioned etc ect



got my high power LED's for my tailight along with heatsink i made to ensure they stay cool. Cut and shaped the clear perspex for the front.



fitted grommet and tested. (the clear perspex cover still has its protective sticker stuff on it btw) i must still weld a mounting bracket, that will happen once the seat pan is finished.





wrapped frame in bubble wrap to prevent scratches, worked a charm!!!





swing arm seals were shot, couldnt get new anywhere, had to bore the centre out to fit seals i could get:



all painted:



had to file the brake shoes as you can see at bottom of the one pictured, not the best quality but they fit perfectly now!





got my seals for my forks, battled finding double lipped seals..these i got are awesome! Also made a nylon tool to hammer them in with:



these seals have the spring thing on both sides! never seen ones like this before? bottom:



top:



centre stand time. its all painted and electroplated back to former glory to help last another 35 years!







then....to my horror:

found that my bike had an oopsie and this was the result, know wonder the fork tubes were bent:



luckily, the spare bike i bought, had one i could salvage! and it came with a rubber dust seal, bonus!



my wheels also have tyres fitted, what a pain in the arse to fit tyres! wow, never again! They are looking as id hoped, absolutely stunning! will post pics in the week of those beauts!

[Bru-tom]

I have just finished with the wiring and just like everything else i do, i always have to over complicate things with mods and and... but, once you see what i have done in the end, im sure you will appreciate it :biggrin:

new foot rest pins:



fitted disc to wheel, retainer, gearbox for speedo drive etc:





i then decided that my crumpled up from mud guard was not good enough for this build, so i wrapped it in tin foil and moulded a new one!









i have decided that because of my tight budget and because i had some carbon fibre left from my last job, i wanted to, for cosmetic reasons, lay some carbon on the Fglass...





almost finished product:



and while i was at it, my airbox too



also finished my headlight mounts/ears... tacked in place onto my sleeves that slide over the forks..



and TIGd up:



slipped an o-ring along with grease under the headlight mounting tubes on my newly rebuilt forks:



fitted top yoke/tripple tree?...see the d-shaped washer, it fits between the clamps to prevent from over tightening and them snapping...



they go here:



new top nut:



made a new bracket for a single speed gauge...

]

installed oil filter with magnets to attract any unwanteds from the oil...



next was removing the old tab from the exhaust...





not perfect, but good enough i guess:





on the right, my fully electronic flasher unit that does not require load resistors to run LED's. i am saving 40W just on my indicators! these old bikes charging systems are not of the best kind hahaha.  The board on the left will be expained in the near future :biggrin:



started riveting the brackets to hold my seat pan to the frame:



randoms:









my turn signal LEDs:









test fitting silicon hose for breather pipe:





this is my tailights brightness, my brake light isnt so friendly





seat pan is ready for upholstery:

[Bru-tom]

i finished off wiring the back end of the bike and installing my final touch to my indicators. I didnt know any other way of sealing the LEDs off to stop water from entering other than gasket maker from the side that the wires exit through the bored out indicator mounts and silicon around the LED lens...













and a short vid of my circuit in PCB in action:



aaaaand, another mod im busy with, no more extra pod for the indicators, having the bottom right one cut and im sticking it to translucent perspex with SMD LED back-lighting. It took me many many many hours to design these in autocad, Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator.



just a pic of my messed up fuse box, i never knew i would fill it so much! it will be neatened up btw

[Bru-tom]

got around to finally polishing my tank and test fitting it. i must say, she didnt need much in that dept, she cleaned up real good.







yes yes, it was wash day too :biggrin:









i also got around to fitting my new chain too:







i also fitted my points cover. Found out that the points wires also needed to be held with special clips to make sure the wire never touched the motor, i never had those, so i fabricated some while i was at it:



i also made a air box support bracket in SS, only to find out that it couldnt work as my new fuse box was in the way, so i had to make another, more slim line one instead



i also fitted my kick start arm, carbs and CF airbox today/late last night...













i have quite a bit to do still, but my list is getting shorter by the day! almost time for the first ride! :ricky:

[Bru-tom]

here is a short vid of its first start:

http://s315.photobucket.com/user/brutom8/media/062_zps9973bce0.mp4.html

[druzli]

What a read, could not stop until finished. You are really good craftsman thanks for a good story, look forward seeing it finished.

[Bankerdanny]

All I can say is wow. I think there would be some nice money to be made on the SS turn signals. They look fantastic.

Tell us more about the filter setup on your airbox.

[Bru-tom]

What a read, could not stop until finished. You are really good craftsman thanks for a good story, look forward seeing it finished.

thank you kindly!  trust me, youre not the only one wanting to see this finished  i cant wait to ride her!

All I can say is wow. I think there would be some nice money to be made on the SS turn signals. They look fantastic.

Tell us more about the filter setup on your airbox.

hehehe, thank you for the comments. I really slapped them out on the lathe, took me a couple hours, really the hard part was making the, identical The Leds are also a special feature and the housing are custom made to fit the 350mA 1Watt LEDs.if i had a shop of my own, i would make many and sell them, really glad you like them though

The airbox is something in between stock and aftermarket. i didnt want the erratic airflow from pods and also didnt want the bulky stock airbox. i know the stock airbox is best for everyday use, but i wanted to try something else. so i fab's up a housing for a filter, and fitted it. i havent ridden the bike yet, still going to see if the filter material i am using is sufficient and if the filter mod works at all

a few pics of the process, used SS once more:

plasma cut, a real messy tool in my hands



mesh to fit, i eventually cut most of the restrictive little squares out to equal the stock intake surface area:



TIGd up a ring to go around, mounting nuts for the face:







i also fab'd up a face with round mesh to eliminate any turbulence as well as rounded all corners of the inner most mesh that had material removed. i wrapped the stock plenum in carbon fiber for aesthetics and voila....

BTW, it looks a helluva lot neater now after i pickled the SS and brush-finished it

[MikeKato]

All I can say is wow. I think there would be some nice money to be made on the SS turn signals. They look fantastic.

Tell us more about the filter setup on your airbox.

The man has a very gifted brain and the determination to follow its orders. I really like that kicker. Stunning talent!

[DustyRags]

Woah. What a build!

[brandEn]

Fantastic build and the pictures are awesome.
 

[Bru-tom]

The man has a very gifted brain and the determination to follow its orders. I really like that kicker. Stunning talent!

what a reply :othanks Mr

glad you guys are enjoying my build!

Here is a little more to add....


here are some pics of my finished fender...only crap thing about it is that the original that i panel-beat to get straight enough to use as a mold, as a bi product of doing so, she kinda opened up a bit. Basically the ends opened up with the stretching of the metal so it doesn't exactly fit snug on my front wheel...sux, but il make another when i have time.

after a polish:





here is my dial mod, i added a matt clear over the print to stop fade so it didnt really come out as expected and i am getting some light from each indicator to the other messing with the ideal look, but im happy with it...for now....and it looks period













anyway, i took her out on monday night with Jays assistance and she ran like a beaut out of the gates...then, one oil leak and another....so it seemed, no really, there was quite a bit spewing out... so i was utterly upset and wanted to cry, literally. There was also a very "rich condition" we experienced. so it seemed.... My headlight also stopped working. So yeah, a typical first ride lol... I was hugely disheartened and disgruntled as to what just happened, so i parked it off and left it for a day or so...

I started to strip in down and as soon as i whooped the tank of, i saw what was probably causing the leak, what a relief! it was the damn tachometer drive blank-off-plate i had made to seal the hole in the tappet cover...Everytime i looked at it, i assumed it was torqued....it wasnt! It was finger tight FFS! so i cleaned all the oil up off the fins and and, and continued to find the running rich issue....

Took a little effort to get her running again? its not like this bike to battle. so i started the fault find. i eventually got her running and man was she running rough... switched her off and did the spit test on the zhorsts. Aaaaaand, it turned out that it was only running on two cylinders at low rpm, so as soon as the spark advanced, it ran fine as the spark was stronger. so i pulled the plugs, cleaned and refitted and she was back to her normal self!

Then came the second test ride, quickly sorted the headlight, fitted a "number plate" and hoped for the best. So today i took her out and to my amazement, the leak was GONE!!!!!!! what a relief! the little tinkering i did with the carb also helped! She still runs a little skitty at pull-off, but quite acceptable as i never rejetted the carbs for the aftermarket zhorst or custom airbox....After she is away she flies! way faster and smoother than i ever expected! She is everything and more! i am so so happy with her.

Now to sort out the papers and update you guys with some pics

[DustyRags]

Excellent! That first ride where it all works is such a great feeling!

And yes to the pics! Let's see this beauty! 

[Bru-tom]

SSSSSOOOOOooooooooooooo, pics as promised....but before that, a few last updates that you i may not have posted before...

I bought a helmet from a guy, he bought it in 1970. I would have loved to have bought a newly produced one, but with no money and after finding this BEAUT, it was a no brainer! The insides were absolutely poked, The foam was, well, there wasnt any anymore...

Dont be getting ideas here about genders and and, im a dude and like woman okay...but on a budget so here are the pics: :thumleft: and i like to try just about everything

used as much of the original material as templates. Using the old 19-voetsek Singer that she used to use to sew...





decided to go with a diamond stitch with 10mm foam as a soft backing and to give the design some depth.



pics are not the best, but you get the point...











after many hours of toil it fitted together pretty well. glued bits onto the polystyrene thing inside the helmet and bobs your uncle.

some pics of the stickers i found under all the old materials





scary hahahaha

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here she is, again, i need to take better pics, but its a Bell Star 120



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and what my brake light does...the camera taking the vid cannot adjust and record fast enough, but you can sort of see what she does...

[Bru-tom]

here are some pics that i may have missed along the way, pic of what i built that makes my taillight do what it does. The frequency and speed can be adjusted with the pots... sprayed with plastidip to protect it from the elements



i also made a generator cover, badge if you may...from carbon fiber once more. cut the material into a circle to fit into the cover. Laid a few coats of resin down, some sanding and polishing and yeah....pic below is just before sand and polish.



also wanted to build a vacuum synch tool to synchronize the carbs, this is called a manometer. I put ATF into the tibes about a foot in length in each of the tubes. they are all joined at the bottom.  anyway, youtubes your friend





there is quite a process to do the whole synch thing, very very fine adjustments. But this really is a must on any bike/vehicle with more than one carb. the levels of oil must be the same or as close to the same as possible at IDLE. the higher rpms does not really matter, as there is so much air and fuel rushing through, that the slides levels have little effect.

Anyway, i also fitted vacuum restrictors in each tube to help eliminate the fluctuations caused by the vauums created by each cylinder. In my case, i used some .22 doppies that i drilled 1mm holes in, pressed them in the tubes and they worked 100%.



this is what was left of my chain guard hahaha. I then welded a mounting bracket at the rear to mount to the original position, and the front i had to rivet a bracket i made to fit it to the swing arm. i feel safer now



powder coated the end product and it can be seen in the pics to follow. Its very sleek, as id hoped it would be :thumleft:

[Bru-tom]

Here are some pics i had taken some time back, thought id post the, before i show to pics of what she looks like now...










here are my attempts to take decent pics for ya'll :biggrin: Some art'sy ones, but still happy with the outcome... (i see there are rings on some of the pics in the lighter areas, thats because i had to reduce the image quality to upload, they were huge before hahaha)

oh, my grips, Thanks to Marnitz @ OldSchoolTrading (here in SA), Biltwell kung fu grips, last pair of grips you will ever buy, and by no means am i exaggerating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will change your life :ricky:

but yeah, can you spot any changes with the overall look of the bike? a little more aggressive?

can you also find the battery?





















thanks for looking

[Bankerdanny]

Well, it's better than no helmet, but all things considered, I would consider it more like vintage art than actual protection.

Helmets aren't expensive, you can get a decent one for under $100. As soon as you can afford it spring for a new one.

That color on the tank is fantastic. Too bad the 2014 calendar is already out. Save a coupl of those for the 2015 calendar.

[Bru-tom]

I know. I just really like the look. I dont fancy the newer styles even though the safety factor should not be fooled around with.. I will eventually get one Danny

Thanks for the complements Sir, It was a long and hard choice to decide on the colour, but i reckon i pulled it off 

WOW, really?! the calendar that i wish i could have on my wall that i cant afford to ship over here? that would be a cherry on top!

[brooze72]

Excellent job, definitely calendar material for 2015, I'm also thinking a nomination in the BOTY thread, wadda ya say Danny?

[DustyRags]

Wow, looks great!

Gotta second the helmet thing, though- Bell makes one called the Bullitt which is basically that same helmet, but built to modern specs. Great piece. And no worries about the sewing- I've done loads of it myself.

[flybox1]

Yeah...that's a nice build right there 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Well, it's better than no helmet, but all things considered, I would consider it more like vintage art than actual protection.

Helmets aren't expensive, you can get a decent one for under $100. As soon as you can afford it spring for a new one.

That color on the tank is fantastic. Too bad the 2014 calendar is already out. Save a coupl of those for the 2015 calendar.

I have a gold metal flake helmet from the 70's, but it's a display piece rather than one I use.  PLEASE buy a decent lid once you can afford it; you may thank yourself later.  I went down once, and my helmet saved my noodle.  The foam ina modern helmet is good for one hit, and by comparison a 70's era lid offers hardly any protection other than the fiberglass shell (no significant foam to absorb impact and protect against brain injury).