This is a copy of a post I made in another <gasp!> Forum...
Dis-assembly = CB500/CB550
- Take off the side cover, battery band, and disconnect & remove the battery
- Disconnect fuel lines at tank petcock
- Take off the seat, tool tray, and gas tank
- Unbolt & remove the battery frame and air cleaner box
- Unscrew throttle cable adjusting nuts and remove throttle cables
- Unscrew and remove all 8 carb insulator clamps
- Unscrew & remove all 4 airbox bootie clamps
- The airbox should now be loose in the frame; poke the booties carefully back into the airbox one at a time. Take care not to tear them. Remove them from the airbox as you poke them through.
- Remove 8 manifold nuts & washers.
- Pry/pull carbs & manifold off engine. Push carb inlets into airbox to get extra room to rotate carbs downward to valley and wiggle them out of the frame. Watch for bowl vents lines and fuel lines getting caught while removing.
* - On the CB500, the left manifold has the clutch cable passing through the carb rack-to-manifold space. It's wise to separate that manifold from the carb rack before trying to extricate the carbs. I leave that manifold bolted on and pop the insulators and carb rack off it.
Re-assembly
- Lube carb spigots with silicone or similar lube [I used Vaseline] to make it easier to pop the insulators on. I also use Vaseline to hold the new manifold o-rings in place. Place airbox in frame; wiggle carb rack into frame, placing carb inlets in airbox holes to gain room and lever carbs/manifold up and onto head studs. [For CB550, install left manifold on head and route clutch cable before popping carbs in place]. Replace nuts & washers.
- Replace airbox booties one at a time, starting with either #2 or #3. Silicone spray works well here. Fold the bootie to get it in place, then carefully tug, pull, push, and poke the bootie in place with the lip in the airbox and the mouth over the carb. It's a trial & error process, but the learning curve is quick. Next do the two outer booties. When all are in place, rotate the two outer booties (the angled ones - you did notice that two were straight and two were angled, didn't you?) until the "casting lines" on the bootie are at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. I do the same for the two interior booties just for uniformity sake.
- Replace all 8 manifold insulator clamps
- Replace all 4 bootie clamps
- Replace throttle cables and adjust.
- Replace air cleaner box, battery frame, battery, seat, gas tank, fuel lines, and anything else that you may have also taken off.
This is all over-simplified, and if I left something out, my apologies.
As noted elsewhere, a light smear of silicone [I used Vaseline] on the spigots will ease their removal next time...
With practice, you can get removal time down to less than 20 minutes. And you will have plenty of practice, I assure you...
I hope this is some help!
