Topic: After 12 years in storage my 550F fired right up, but..

[nvr2old]

the right outside carb is spitting fuel out of the overflow tube.  I tapped the bowl with a screwdriver handle and it helped a bit, but did not fix the problem.  It still spurts a stream of gas out the overflow tube every 30 seconds or so.  I started the bike (which runs excellent) and tried running Seafoam through the carbs, let it sit overnight and it still hasn't loosened up what I'm guessing is a sticky float or stuck needle jet (?)  I assume I'm faced with pulling the carbs for an in-depth inspection...argh.  Just to be on the safe side I want to order and have on hand complete re-build kits from David Silver Spares.  They have kits for $25 apiece, part number KH-0151F for original carb number 16100-390-004.  I'm guessing the manufacturer is eCO2 ACE.  Has anyone used these kits with success.  I'm always a bit bit freaked about using anything but OEM but just an O-ring/gasket kit are $34 apiece.  Yikes.  Advice? 

[Nurse Julie]

I sell Viton O ring kits for the 550F, I'm in UK. I send them to USA regularly, sent 5 x 350/400/550 sets to USA forum members last week. £16.49 for all 4 carbs and the post is £6.00

[CycleRanger]

You might get away with dropping the bowls if it's just a stuck float or needle valve.

[nvr2old]

You might get away with dropping the bowls if it's just a stuck float or needle valve.

Thanks, that's what I was hoping for..until I looked at it.  The offending outside carb might be doable but the 2 inside carbs are (with my skill-level) nearly impossible to get my hands in and a shorty screw driver onto the screw heads.  I can't see how I would ever get the screws back in the bowls w/o the carbs removed.  I'll try to do the one carb first and see what happens, as the other 3 seem to be OK but want all 4 kits on hand if they too need attention if/when opened up.   

[bryanj]

It can be done and my hands aint small, try a loose bit with 1/4 drive socket, exr and tee bar

[CycleRanger]

You might get away with dropping the bowls if it's just a stuck float or needle valve.

Thanks, that's what I was hoping for..until I looked at it.  The offending outside carb might be doable but the 2 inside carbs are (with my skill-level) nearly impossible to get my hands in and a shorty screw driver onto the screw heads.  I can't see how I would ever get the screws back in the bowls w/o the carbs removed.  I'll try to do the one carb first and see what happens, as the other 3 seem to be OK but want all 4 kits on hand if they too need attention if/when opened up.   

That's why I replace the bowl screws with hex allen heads. 
Much easier to remove and replace than phillips head.

[RAFster122s]

If it has sat that long then I would suspect the carb to manifold rubbers might need replacing. Nurse Julie’s oring kit is top notch, proper Viton rubber orings so it would not be swelling with ethanol. Not a terrible price given the price of shipping these days really cranks up the cost on stuff. I cannot wrap my head around how Amazon sellers make a go of it on many things as the prices include shipping for Prime members and the cost is comparable many times to going rates by other suppliers who charge for the shipping.

So, look up the cost of the new carb rubbers on South Sound Honda’s partstream site for your model 550F. You will find their shipping reasonable and throw in a few other bits and bobs you might need for the refresh and you will spread the bit of shipping across those parts order. I like them a lot when I don’t want to throw some money Musselman Honda’s way, they are Tucson’s oldest Honda dealer and good people. I use them for generic thing on my Suzuki rather than give the thieves at RideNow a dime.

If it has sat that long you are probably gonna wanna put some new tires, tubes, and rim strips on the bike too…

Air filters as you know seem to survive a long time and cleaning them occasionally is all they need and an old filter often works better than a new filter as the filter is efficient a long time as long as you clean the excess dirt from it and give it a gentle blow out or vacuum to clean the filter media.

Check your points to ensure your condensers are working well and a bit of cleaning of the points face is all they should require as it was running well when you put it away.


Glad you have brought it out of storage to enjoy it. Post a few pics, always nice to see an old bike brought back to running condition and see some use.

About the only other thing you might need is some contact cleaner, dielectric grease, .177 caliber brass brush for the bullets as you go through the electrical. The electrical often is the most problem area getting an old bike that ran well back on the road as long as the tank is solid and not rotting during the downtime…

My 550 is just under 30k and has a bad rocker cover and had a significant leak down the front of the motor when I bought the project bike, so I knew I was facing some issues and some work on the motor, So I set about acquiring the parts slowly to get it ready for a restoration as it had too many POs and a crappy paint job…
I’ve acquired many things to set it right and am looking at the machine work and a few things ahead to make it ready for that project start. Few things ahead of it in the queue as another bike is torn down ahead of it to make it reliable and do some preventive maintenance and upgrades…


Hopefully, your bike getting back on the road won’t face a bunch of stuff, but new rubbers for the manifolds will make that job much easier, just don’t go aftermarket on those parts or you will be buying another set in a year or bit over as the aftermarket just doesn’t last…


You doing any paintwork these days? I still remember some beautiful work you have done in the past about 10 years or so ago…

David

[HondaMan]

Congrats on the startup! That's a pretty good one.
Chances are there is crud in the float needle for that carb: it grew there when the old gas dried out. I've sometimes seen them 'fix' themselves after they are wetted for a day or two, which lets the rubber O-rings swell back up and seal again, and dissolves the crud left by old fuel.

What I've seen in the 500/55 carbs after sitting that long is: the O-rings around the float valves shrank. They were wetted with either MTBE and/or ethanol before it was parked, and when it dried out, those shrank about 5%-7% or so. Often, after soaking in gas a while, they swell back up. Those press-in float valves are probably OK, just the O-rings need to be replaced - or given time to swell back up.

In a sense, it's sort of like the SR-71 Blackbird: it has to be flown at near supersonic speeds before the fuel tanks (wings) will seal up from the heat so it can be fully fueled. So, when it starts to take off from the ground, the fuel spills from the leading and trailing edges of the wings, often catching fire in the process, and they blaze into the sky with a sonic boom for a few minutes, then meet an airborne tanker to fill up before departing on the mission.

Mighty fast 550 you've got there...?

[nvr2old]

Thanks for the encouraging thoughts.  I really love this bike.  It's a jewel.  I first attacked the brakes which were frozen soild.  I tried for 2 weekends to separate the pistons with no luck.  They would not come loose. Even the fluid in the master cylinder still looked good, which surprised me.  I ended up buying brand new calipers and master cylinder for just over $200 which seemed more then fair to me.  It's got a drilled dual disk conversion and it stops on a dime.  All the wiring is clean and looks brand new still.  I spent a month sanding an re-polishing the many, many hand made aluminum parts, engine covers and valve covers.   The wheels took it the hardest with every single spoke oxidized and corroded but they came out real nice after the hours of polishing.  The paint job polished right up showing just how good modern urethanes are.  It was in a good clean environment for the 12 years, so overall it came back beautifully.  Tires, although look good, are 20 years old, so they're on the list.  It fired up on the 5th kick after all those years.  It wants to be ridden..bad.  I still paint the occasional bike.  I have access to a shop and work on weekends.  Moving 75 miles to where we are now from my own shop is the reason 5 of my 7 bikes went into storage to begin with.  Slowly they will return to the light of day, too.  The last time I tried to post pictures from my PC, my hosting site (Flicker) didn't want to work, otherwise I would post some new pics.

[Kevin]

Welcome back!
I remember the first time I saw your 550, on the ferry to Vashon, wow!
I'll be in your situation soon. It's been 12 years since I've started most of my 400's.

I'm happy to hear you are going to be riding your bikes again.

I can also vouch for Nurse Juli. Great stuff!
Good luck!

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

[carnivorous chicken]

It can be done and my hands aint small, try a loose bit with 1/4 drive socket, exr and tee bar

This. I found a small ratchet (maybe 4 inches long) with removable bits and it's always done the trick. I replaced the JIS with allen on my 350F and it's even easier.

[grcamna2]

You might get away with dropping the bowls if it's just a stuck float or needle valve.

Thanks, that's what I was hoping for..until I looked at it.  The offending outside carb might be doable but the 2 inside carbs are (with my skill-level) nearly impossible to get my hands in and a shorty screw driver onto the screw heads.  I can't see how I would ever get the screws back in the bowls w/o the carbs removed.  I'll try to do the one carb first and see what happens, as the other 3 seem to be OK but want all 4 kits on hand if they too need attention if/when opened up.   

That's why I replace the bowl screws with hex allen heads. 
Much easier to remove and replace than phillips head.

+1

[Deltarider]

Mine are ss, so in theory there is a risk of electrolysis, but I haven't noticed any yet.

[Little_Phil]

One of my bikes has been fitted with s/stl hex heads for 20 years, no problem. But be careful not to overtighten.

[Oddjob]

I've had stainless steel engine bolts fitted since 1979, still fitted, no problems whatsoever except when first fitting the rear lower engine bolt on my 500. It's the step bar bolt and I decided to use stainless steel nyloc nuts on this custom made rod. Went together no problem, however when I needed to undo the nuts they were welded on solid, used a blow torch to melt the nylon part thinking it may be the problem, no difference. In the end I had an 1/2" T bar with a scaffolding pole attached for extra leverage, I felt it start to move and then the rod itself sheared off just behind the nut. I complained to the manufacturer of the rod and nuts and they said I should have used copperslip grease, which they failed to mention beforehand and at that time using stainless steel on bikes wasn't exactly popular or cheap so I didn't know about the galling thing. He made me a new rod FOC and supplied 2 normal nuts instead of nyloc, never been a problem since.

The bike sat for over 40 years in a garage, on top of the bike were 2 rolls of loft insulation to disguise the bike in case the garage was broken into, rats got in, made a nest in the insulation and proceeded to pee all over my bike for around 15 years, the only bolts to really survive this treatment on the carbs were the stainless ones, all the rest were very rusty. Worth every penny I spent on them.

Ever see a throttle linkage bar this rusty?

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