Topic: Just curious - 76 CB550 inside exhaust port

[prov431]

I have my header off being ceramic coated - I pulled the old gaskets off and have new ones ready to install; I began cleaning off the gunk around the gasket seats and peered inside the ports, but have no idea what I'm looking at. (sorry I didn't take a picture but I'm sure some of you experts know exactly what you can and can't see and what is and isn't "normal")

Thanks for the continued education!

[rb550four]

Do you mean normal for the 550  or normal for the rider to look in the hole and expect to see something wrong?
  Had that problem with my first girlfriend. If it worked fine , there was no reason to look for trouble.

Seriously, all you're gonna see is carbon deposits ,and a valve stem. If you take a picture,post it , so we can see what troubles you. We could give you a consensus  if it be normal or not.

You don't think that you have engine mites do you?

[prov431]

Yeah, I was thinking valve stem but didn't want to say it as I'm not engine inclined at this point in my life.
The reason I was curious is because I noticed my #4 exhaust port (valve stem or what have you) was whitish or had white colored deposit on it compared to the other 3.

[rb550four]

Are you running chrome pipes? Is number 4  pipe blue-er than the rest of them? Have you sync'd your carbs? Sounds like your running lean on #4 to me. Do you have unobstructed fuel flow to #4 carb? air screws been fooled with? Rubber boots to carb and airfilter in good shape and on correctly? If dual outlets on petcock...is the feed to #3+4 kinked?
  What condition is your sparkplugs in? Is #4 in tight enough? does it look like it's burning well  (Check manual for spark plug pictures) ?
 Like to know what you see, pics are always welcome, and usually needed. so when you are with your machine bring a camera so we can see what you see.
  Okay , so I just found your thread, do you have your ceramic coated headers on,if so you'll have to look for other hints of heat on the pipes  to see what the exhaust temps are. The rest of the above is a good place to start.
  However, in your thread you mentioned NGK connector on short coil wires, Which were effected, was it #4 only or 4 and 1.  Did you check the out put of said wires after making the repair?  Pics show new cap, are all of them new, are they all the same? Are they resistor or non resistor?
  Have you changed the O rings behind the intake manifold to the head? Are the manifolds on correctly( didn't pinch an O ring upon assembly)?
   

[cameron]

I agree its probably lean.. but it sounds like you gotta back up and let us know the overall state of things.

You say you aren't engine savvy- what is your level of expertise? And what is the condition of the bike, maintenance wise? When was its last tune-up, etc.

[prov431]

Wow, that's a lot of questions! I do have a few threads on the forum - you referenced the one about the air screws and header. I recently bought this bike as it is now (mostly redone), of course I was told everything was good to go and it needed nothing. I noted the bike stumbled a bit under load when rolling on the gas from the apex of a turn...after reading all of the info on the forums I learned it's probably the cone air filters (or lack thereof of filter box). Supposedly the carb main was jetted correctly for the carpy 4-1 header. I replaced the plugs (pics on the other thread which looked rather bad), ohm'd the caps (#4 was indeed very dirty in the cap and probably had a bad connection), adjusted the valves and cam chain (both of which looked really close to spec if not right on) and gapped the points. I did not check static timing (should have, but forgot). I also found all 4 air screws adjusted differently, from 1/4 turn out to 3 turns out...I set them all to 2 turns out. SO, I've made a bunch of changes and I'm still waiting on my header / ceramic coat to be complete. I can say that before I pulled the header off, all 4 exhaust pipes crappy paint looked equally discolored.

[rb550four]

prov431, Are you running 2 threads for the same bike with the same problem or related problem because you didn't understand what  guys were telling you? Just say so , it can be made simple, there's pics on your other thread.
  Air screw issue- clear it up , go with Honda specs, turn them all the way in and back them out 1 and 1/4 turn.All 4 of them.
  I see your plugs  from other thread's pics- the range is all over like puppy crap, You need to sync the carbs.  That can't be only an ignition problem, It's more of an air/fuel mix problem and each cylinder tells a different story about how even the mix is burning in each cylinder, but when all 4 stories come together the problem becomes apparent , since they are all different , they need to be made the same, you must sync those carbs and adjust the air screws. You can't guess on this one or fudge it somehow, it needs vacuum gauges and needs to be set correctly.
   If you don't do one other thing to this machine , at least sync the carbs or have them done if you can't. Then get back to us.

Okay now we find out about the air delivery and that the carbs may have been jetted for just the pipe and not the pipe and air intake.
   There is tons of information reguarding jet sizing for  these machines with other than stock intake and exhaust. You need to read it, understand it, and be sure the appropriate jets are in those carbs for the application, then get it sync'd

[prov431]

I agree with all that was said - and yes, somehow a separate question turned into a similar thread - apologies on that...and trust me, I've been reading!

Carb sync, got it (or will get it is more like it) and then move forward.

[cameron]

So- just for clarity- if your burn pattern is from BEFORE you adjusted the carbs- then simply forget about it.
It is no longer up-to-date data, or useful.. unless you wrote down your adjustments.
.
Sync your carbs, and get ready to plug chop A LOT to dial in your pods.
What it was doing previously already doesn't matter- you gotta start from scratch.

Its Fun!

[rb550four]

Start from scratch...agreed.  Go with stock air adjustment
Use custom search to find correct jetting for the application, meaning header and pods, if you are using pods, not header only.
               LOOK UNDER JETTING A 55O make sure the example that you use is for the same carbs that you are using on your machine.
   
Get the jetting squared away and that you are sure about your air filter choice and exhaust before you rejet
You 'll want a fresh set of plugs.
Then get the whole package sync'd.
 This really is all fun and games so, have fun with it all, this part can be as enjoyable as riding.