Topic: 75' CB550F : slow build & lot of questions !

[edw]

Hey sohc!!

Meet my orange CB550 f1, following the serial numbers it looks like the motor is from  a f2.

At this time I didn’t  really do anything. Just unmount the blocked carbs from the motor to clean it at home. (My garage is not at my place). And unscrew the valves cover. First surprise, it miss some pieces !

My goal is to rich something like the green one, almost stock but smaller and more “stocky thickset” (it’s a googletrad)

Thanks for reading me, sorry for my English.
Edw.

LIST  :
 - find full fairing
 - find a seat
 - find new fork & adapt


will see after :
 - clean carbs
 - clean the motor & rebuild it if needed
 - rebuild wheels (if i can keep them with the fork)
 - to be continued...

[calj737]

You are indeed missing some important pieces there.you might do well to drop the oil pan from underneath too and see if they’ve dropped into the engine.

A full inspection of the cam chain and tensioner would be on my list too.

[Stev-o]

Welcome from Texas.  I would look for more surprises if I were you.

[WhyNot2]

Welcome from Georgia, U.S.A.

Wow, you were not kidding with the missing some pieces.

As said above look closely for other stuff.

I too, like the green bike, hopefully get mine to look like that someday.

[edw]

I just open the carbs and...

What is the best way to clean that ?! Gasoline ?

@WhyNot2 : yup

[calj737]

That is gasoline! It’s varnished gasoline from sitting for ages. Remove the carb rack from the bike, carefully disassemble the carbs and keep all components separated and together with original carb body. Soak the carb bodies, jets and bowls in a Carburetor Cleaning solution (you’ll have to look at a local auto parts store). Reuse the original brass jets, but get them perfectly clean.

[mrbreeze]

When I did my crabs years ago I used the red plastic Folgers coffee cans one for each carb labeled 1 thru 4. After removing linkages and such I unracked 2 carbs at a time. I bought a dip can of Berrymans and took it to work with me. I took 1 crab apart and soaked the body and other metal parts except the brass. I was able to swish the parts around in the basket supplied with the crab cleaner many times throughout the day. After work I would rinse everything in warm water and blow dry/blow out passage ways with compressed air. Take it home...reassemble and tear down the next one. It took some time but it was extremely organized. Unless you're like one of those reality shows like Gas Monkey Garage and have to have a complete rebuild that requires a good year's worth of work done in 6 weeks to make it to an auction.............I find it much more enjoyable taking my time and not having to go back over it later.

[MauiK3]

I Had good luck cleaning my carbs with Simple Green, 50% with water, soak. It did not hurt the metal and they look great. Get a set of welders tip cleaners for probing small holes to clean them. If you really want a super clean job get an ultrasonic cleaner and clean them in the solution.
With your missing parts I would forget turning the engine over until I took the engine apart and inspected for damage. Too risky to assume the parts are not lost in there.
Best of luck.

[edw]

I'm back guys, Clean my basement (for real), find my mechanic clothes, find my tools and i disasembly almost everything.
And, i find under the seat the original invoice !!

I discover to much damages, so i change my mind and want to do a light cb550 with modern pieces and an old full fairing. A sunday bike
I still not clean the carb, i'll do that this week.

I'll Edit the first post with things i would like to do.

thanks,
ed.

[edw]

Small update today, i found a fork/wheel/breaks from a ducati 944 st2 and it fit !
I need to find the bearings..

original ducati's bearings :
35 x 55 mm 14

original honda's bearings :
Upper: 26 x 48.5 x 15.2
Lower: 30 x 50 x 14.4

but it looks like it doesn't exist.. i'm right ? so what next.. ?

[calj737]

https://www.allballsracing.com/index.php/forkconversion

[calj737]

Another option, is to press out the Ducati stem and have a custom version of the CB stem made to fit and pressed into the Ducati Triple. You might contact Devin @ www.cognitomoto.com for help.

[edw]

Impossible to find 35x50 bearing, I will look at the real measurement tomorrow but it looks like I need a custom stem  i don’t have the tools to do one, I’ll send a message to cognito! Thanks

[edw]

Damn, cognito doesn't want to help me, and try to sell me a full tripletree.. That's too expensive for me.

My rear hub drum isn't that good, next week i'll see my "turner" (is it the right english word ?) to clean it an speak about my new stem.
The front wheel is a 17x3.50, unfortunately the rear one with the same design only exist in 5.50, that's too big i'm planning to change the rear rim for the same size. SMProwheels ask me £205 for a black anondized rim, looks ok ?

The motor is finally outside of the frame, the acc don't look really good.. what do you think about it ?

the picture is a gif, click it to see more