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1977 CB550 Project

105K views 223 replies 32 participants last post by  flipmotorcycles 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

So as previously mentioned in another thread I picked up a 1977 cb550F last week in reasonable condition. Plan for now is to just get it cleaned up and running well and rideable. I'm self employed and keep my own hours so not really as busy as someone working 5 days a wk w/ a 9-5. Hoping I can move relatively fast w/ the work..only hinderance will be waiting on money to come in to fund the next stage. We'll see though. I've gone ahead and downloaded a honda service manual, parts manual and Haynes' Motorcycle Basics Techbook.

Known issues:
Currently the engine starts and idles but 2 of the throttle slides are seized and the other two were stiff so the bike does not rev up when the throttle is turned. Front brake is not working, needs new battery, and possibly the oil pump is not working? The guy I bought it from suggested there might be an issue since there was a slight ticking when the bike was running.

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Carbs:
Pulled the carbs and have started to disassemble. They weren't gunky but more like dried up crud all over the inside. Right now only one is fully disassembled. The float pin is stuck on the 3 others so I've been dripping berrymans carb dip on the pin periodically over the past day and a half to loosen. Was able to get the 1st out this way. Would just soak em but didn't want to fuck up the floats. . Once i get the pins out I'll see about unsticking the two throttle slides that are stuck. there's a few marks from someone trying to pry them up w/ a screwdriver already. I've been dripping some berrymans on the slides as well to see if that helps unstick. will probably try messing w/ later today.

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Should I be concerned w/ this mark on the throttle slide? Is it indicative of anything?

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Gas Tank:
Tank is rusty inside..PO had fresh gas when i went to pick up so i drained to see how much rust was in there....brown gas came out of course(see pic below). Thought I would just see rust and silver metal on the inner tank body after it was empty but there's also some type of black in there that is flaking. Am I right to assume it might have been lined in the past w/ Kreem or something similar? If so, I would like to get that shit out before I redo inside of tank but, I have researched what to use yet. However, I did do some research for rust removal and phosphoric acid seems most appealing method to me. also supposedly leaves a zinc coating???? but i haven't been able to confirm that anywhere.. thoughts????? I would prefer not to use a sealer if i can avoid it. Just don't like the idea of having something in there beyond what's needed that might fail.

Blue Water Cobalt blue Automotive wheel system Electric blue


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Other Things:
Have read through a few project threads on here and really like what Dean has been doing w/ the rust removal and zinc plating all the bolts/screws and metal. Wondering if instead of the plating kit i can accomplish the same by dipping in phosphoric acid since it supposedly leaves the zinc coating? If not then I'll just buy the kit. Regardless, I think I'd like to clean up as I go.

Even though the engine runs I'm thinking I should open it up and check everything out/clean up in there as well. figure if i'm going to clean the carbs and all the other bs I should do the engine as well and i'd also like to know nothing major is wrong that's gonna kill me once it's rideable. Yay or Nay?

That's about all I've got so far. Once I've got the carbs clean and the tank redone will move onto the next step.Thoughts on what it should be? Any other thoughts welcome as well.
 
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#96 ·
got my tires mounted today and that 750f seat came in. hinge and lock bolt are in the wrong place of course...they both need to be moved up slightly...going to fuck w/ it and see what i can come up with. I'd be curious to hear about other suggestions for seats though. think the rear on this one might end up sitting a little too high... figuring out rearset mounting and getting annoyed. have a post up about that soon so someone can rip apart my engineering skills.


rolling chassis: shocks are 14.5" fron't fork is shortened internally by 3 inches right now. rake is at 22 degrees....I'm gonna raise the fork back up an inch which should balance rake out to 25ish or so which is just shy of stock.
 
#97 ·
what the fuuuuuuck.

hating these rearsets.... give me some thoughts on these mounts! Looking at making an L bracket of sorts. I really don't want to cut off the pass pegs/triangle so trying to work around that. so far this is best i can come up w/. bought a small 1/4 inch plate but wondering if i can get away w/ 1/8".
 
#98 · (Edited)
Actually I was wrong when I said I had never seen a bottom tree with a pinch bolt. My Ceriani's have lower pinch bolt.:rolleyes:
Rearsets are one of the last things I will have to figure on my build. The passenger pegs are on the swing arm and I have already cut them off. I don't ride passengers on my cafe's. The triangle is only a muffler mount and I will move it for swing arm brace clearance possibly rearset mounting.

I don't see the pics I think you posted in the post before this one. If you are welding the plate and it is steel it should suffice.
 
#99 ·
Actually I was wrong when I said I had never seen a bottom tree with a pinch bolt. My Ceriani's have lower pinch bolt.:rolleyes:
Rearsets are one of the last things I will have to figure on my build. The passenger pegs are on the swing arm and I have already cut them off. I don't ride passengers on my cafe's. The triangle is only a muffler mount and I will move it for swing arm brace clearance possibly rearset mounting.

I don't see the pics I think you posted in the post before this one. If you are welding the palte and it is steel it should suffice.
hmmmm. yea i posted 4 or 5 photos in the rearset post.
 
#103 ·
makes sense....had dragged and dropped them in from another browser window...probably means i have few pics on posts that aren't visible then as I've done it a couple times....always saw them here so figured it was automatically uploading to site here and not linking.
 
#104 ·
bleh...really neither of these feel ideal....would really like them slight more forward but seems to be nowhere to mount them....unless maybe i try a different pair of sets... would have have stayed w/ stock pegs but, rear disc brake necessitated a new arrangement so the brake lever shaft had room to actuate and mc had room to mount.

thoughts?

this is where I'd like to mount rearsets but, have interference issues b/c of muffler. it is pretty comfortable but still think i'd like feet slightly more forward.
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this is where i think i'm going to have to mount them.....toes pointing down a lot...legs feel a little squished....
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#105 ·
haven't posted here in a while b/c I've been out of town for the last month. took a nice little roadtrip up to nyc and back. anyways, i'm back and trying to get shit done so here's some progress.

yesterday i plastigauged my crank bearings and all came out ok. was holding my breath a bit on this one as i knew it would be pain in the ass to find the right bearings if any needed replacing. This morning I went ahead assembled the bottom end(pic below) as that was the last thing i needed to do before i could move forward. i bought new primary and cam chain as mine were a bit worn. tranny looked good so didn't need to do anything there minus replacing a shift fork. need to order some honda bond so can't go any further really at this point.

i also measured out all the specs i needed for the swingarm bushings(thanks pj) and sent that over to my dad who's getting stuff made for me. but fuck, he's taking a long time w/ some of the other stuff...been over month now and still waiting for him to get new spacers to me for the rear wheel alignment. hopefully going to weld rearset mounts on over the weekend.

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#106 ·
Finally hitting the home stretch(at least I hope so) Goal is to wrap this up by first week in October hopefully. Maybe won't have it ride ready but should definitely have it put together and a running engine.

Sorry for the length.

Finally sorted out my rearset situation. was having issue with finding a comfortable mounting spot b/c the exhaust was forcing me to mount them higher than I wanted(i'm 6'2" and using superbike bars so don't want them to crunched and back). I've been trying to work something out for over a month w/ no luck So what to do?

Well, I finally decide to email Chris at motogpwerks to see about when he might be making some more b/c it looks like his exhaust cut back out from under the bike pretty far towards the rear and I should be able to put my pegs where i want them. He had one, so I bought it. Should be here Wednesday. Not like I needed a $500 exhaust but I was gonna have to drop $150-200 on a muffler anyway so decided to suck it up b/c everyone seems to like it(even you guys) and b/c now I can put my feet where I want and comfort is priceless right? Plus I'll probably sell the honda 4-1 and recoup that difference.

Actually, i didn't even want rear sets but seemed the only thing I could work out given my rear wheel swap to disc....actually if i wouldn't have cut the fucking brake actuator holder to get it out the way on the frame when i thought it was impossible i probably could have figured something out w/ the stock pegs by now but i fucked that up a long time so here we are.

Now the smart thing to do would have been to wait til the exhuast is here to have my mounts welded but, I didn't. so we'll see but, I looked at a shit ton of videos and pics of the exhaust on a 550 and looks like i should be fine. hopefully won't eat my words. Friend of mine hooked me up w/ someone who knew how to weld and he did it for me on saturday. I put the pegs on em and bounce around for a bit. feels solid.

You'll notice there's supports on the back bend and not in the front. Don't know why but we didn't do it at the time so I added some at the top and bottom on each one when I got home. If anyone sees anything that looks like a red flag though please say so.


backside of mount for right peg. which there was something at the bottom to put another gusset.
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frontside of mount for left peg
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backside of mount for the left peg.
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cbr rearset mounted. Also, kind of thinking about cutting off those ginormus fins on the rearsets. whatya think?
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So frame is off getting sandblasted now and I'm planning to perma blue it and clear coat it later this week or this weekend. In the meantime I've been putting my engine back together. sealed the cases and mounted the new pistons(dynoman dp592 kit). waiting on new clutch springs(barnett) and friction plates(ebc) and some new gaskets for the oil pump before I close up the sides. Going for new clutch to be proactive. this thing wasn't safe to ride when i bought it so no idea how the clutch was before i took it apart.

I actually had to seal the cases twice. It was pretty fun peeling all the hondabond off and redoing it. First time I forgot to make sure the shift forks engaged w/ the tranny below and of course one of the forks wasn't.

Got a little hungry... some form of pale ale is usually my go to beer but pbr = cheap and i got parts to buy.
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made sure to check the gap on all the rings. only had to file a few. went together pretty smoothly
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Remember that 750f seat I bought? so, I made it fit. cut a strip out of the seat pan so it would sit properly over the rear fender mount in the back and welded the seat hinge and latch from the 550 onto the bottom so it would function like the original. I need to redo the weld for the latch though as it's pretty sloppy(found a cheapy HF welder for $50 on Craigslist i've been trying to learn w/).

you can see how the seat is leveled out now. ignore the crooked taillight....i made a mount out of some sheet metal i had lying around and it's not fully bolted in just sitting in there....that's the tail light from my cb550 but, i might get one of airtech's lights. a little smaller but not stupid small i don't think or one off a gs450...i like the shape of those... not 100% sure how permanent the seat is going to be. feels a little big but it's fine for now until I come up w/ something i really like

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#107 ·
Gonna get 'er done. picked up frame from the blaster. wire-wheeled it to get ride of the matte from the sandblast then buffed it once over to smooth it out. Only took me about 6 hours.....Definitely don't have Dean's polish skills but, then again i did email him about his patina services he offered on CL a while back :cool:.

In case you forgot or didn't read this whole thread the plan was to strip the frame and then coat it w/ Perma-Blue which is used to blue gun metal. It darkens the metal and gives it a slightly blueish tint. I didn't want a black frame but i didn't want some obnoxious color. i like the raw metal look but didn't like the lightness of the frame as is and so here I am w/ some perma blue. I talked to the powdercoater who blasted my frame about doing the clear over it for me but he said he had problems in the past w/ paint bubbling...i guess adhesion issue b/c of the heat or something w/ the perma-blue. So on a recommendation from a friend i've got some spraymax 2k clear on order and hopefully it shows up by saturday but i doubt it.


blasted frame:
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buffing away:
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Done perma-blueing half the frame. better pics tomorrow in daylight

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motogpwerks exhaust showed up today too.

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#108 ·
Fuck me. Today was awesome. Pretty much broke everything I touched.

Grinder fucked up and the lock button busted or something so I couldn't remove the wire wheel so I did this to it:

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Should have quite while I was ahead b/c after that I decided I was gonna install the jugs on engine. Fat chance. Busted up one of the oil rings and scored the fucking cylinder. wasn't rushing but i think i just wasn't paying enough attention to keeping the pistons level...next time i guess i'll put a block under em. hoping i can hone it out but kind of don't think so. at least not all the way. if not then just gonna say fuck it and run it like that. already spent so much on this bike don't wanna have to drop $300 on another cylinder block and getting it bored again. at least right now.

So I walked straight to store and bought a 6 pack. I did email dynoman though and they're dropping a ring set in the mail tomorrow am for me. so that's a plus.

bent ring:
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scored wall. i hit it with a little steel wool(lightly) just to see if would smooth out some. it did. the long line really isn't an issue..it's the chunk at the top that's the nail catcher. gonna borrow a hone from a friend over the weekend and see what happens.

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#109 ·
Just fill the scratch with JB weld and sand it out.

Kidding.

I'm kidding.

- - - Updated - - -

You could just pop the sleeve, get a new (used) one, and hone it yourself.
 
#113 ·
Just fill the scratch with JB weld and sand it out.

Kidding.

I'm kidding.

- - - Updated - - -

You could just pop the sleeve, get a new (used) one, and hone it yourself.

yeah true i could just swap the jug. I just never done it before so it'd be another experiment of sorts. i'd still have to take it to the shop to get bored though, it's 592 kit now. I'm already in the hole $40 for the ringset ($30 + 9 shipping). be another $40 for the bore and whatever a jug cost.


i really should not have done shit today. i was super tired and didn't feel like doing anything but been trying to get this thing knocked out so was pushing it. next time i'll listen to myself. is what is now. there's wera races here tomorrow so i'm gonna do that and not fuck w/ the bike.
 
#111 ·
Oh shit, he's right.

Totally forgot about that.

I went over to my dads and had him show me some jazz shit, never played jazz, turned out OK. Hope I go to sleep before anything bad happens.
 
#114 ·
They pop out super easy when put in an oven at about 400 for 10 or 15 minutes.
 
#118 ·
So made a couple changes to foot pegs. decided I wanted something more low-profile than the cbr rearsets I had. also had some concernes about the brake pedal hitting exhaust since the arm it self swings under more than usual. Got a pair of fzr pegs for $30 on ebay. found an old post w/ Kenessex mentioned them I think. Only thing I had to do was add a bracket for the master cylinder.

Was suppose to clear my frame today but it's too humid so watching football. If there's any cardinal fans out there, sorry for whooping you today.

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#121 ·
Hey swampig, this thread is 12 pages of custom goodness that if you actually read would you would realize exactly how custom the bike is, that he is using a cb1100f euro boomerang comstar, and that much like the rest of the bike is not a bolt on deal. savvy?
 
#124 ·
Geeto's almost right. front is from an 1100f but the rear is actually from a vf750f and it's 3x18 vs. 2.75x17 of the 1100f rear....front on the 1100f is 18. i needed that extra inch in the back to help bring my rake back to stock since the front end i added(1100f front) had longer fork tubes and i didn't want to shorten them too much and fuck up the travel.

but you should still read the thread if you want to find out details, especially if you are building a cb550 as well....some good nuggets of info from people on here a lot smarter than me. laziness here doesn't generally garner a good response. if you show some sense and some initiative you're going to get better response to your questions even though i just told you what you wanted to know.....generally google is your friend first or just read! google search works really well on this site..... just type site:caferacer.net keyword ; into google search.
 
#126 ·
I think it's funny that a post by you on your own build thread about reinstalling the engine is a "side note".

:p
 
#127 ·
I was going by your mockup which had the boomerang comstar. Much more baller wheel. What year vf750f? I have one on the back of my 78 750f and it's an 18".

I didnt realize the 1100f comstar was 18". Here I have been futzing with a vf500 16" front to get it to work and I could have just grabbed a cb1100f comstar.
 
#128 ·
yea i think it's from an 83..but can't totally remember so not 100% sure. But the cush drive and caliper and bracket i bought separate is all 83.

yeah i think 1100f's came 18 front and 17 rear.



also, fuck fuck fuck fuck this cam chain and sprocket. can't get that shit on the camshaft for anything. tensioner installed properly & backed off for full slack. guide is also installed properly. chain is on sprocket but i can't get that mother on the camshaft. futzing for hours now!
 
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