1976 CB550F "Barn Find"

i like super bike bars, but i want it to be low and mean. i dont feel they are low or mean enough. this is just my young misguided racing spirit speaking though. so please, allow me to be naive.
 
snmavridis said:
here are some pics of the bike, minus the fairing and bags. looks way better now. last picture is my putting the battery back together.

[Homer Simpson Voice] Yum... 5 guys... [/Homer Simpson Voice]

I am currently running superbike bars on my 550 and they are not as high as yours. I was running clubmans, and they were 'cooler', and I felt better in the twisties, but eventually my back won out. For me personally with the stock seat you are up so high that you are extra leaning over with the clubmans. Its all about what you want man, bars are pretty cheep, run clubmans for awhile and if your back starts hurting, spend another $25 and get some superbike bars..
 
after reading up and seeing the clubmans in a more neutral light (i hate the hipsters who slap clubmans on and say its a cafe, therefore i have a bias against clubmans. i dont want to be THAT guy.) im kinda liking them. especially right now, when my money is starting to dwindle.
 
So i took her out for a good long ride. I accidentally left the petcock open last night, so i think she got a bit bogged down this morning since she didnt start up as easily as she did yesterday. the idle seemed low and started stalling out again, but i adjusted it and get her back to ~2k. after she heated up she began idling at ~3.2k so i trimmed it down a bit. this is normal on a cb right? fwiw the temperature was about 65 today. once she started running though she was running pretty smooth, except for when i put her in 1st gear and cruise around a little. it might just be my inexperience with riding, but she really doesnt have much power in 1st gear after she hits about 20mph at 5krpm. so i ended up cruising around in 2nd gear for a good bit of the ride. took her up to 40mph and went through the gears. its almost like the higher i get with the gears, the more smooth the transition. 1-2 is a little..."crunchy" 2-3 is less so, and 3-4 4-5 is smooth as butter. the exhaust gets hot though, so im considering getting wraps for it. pros and cons in this situation?
 
For my money that exhaust is much to well preserved to hide under heat wrap. My bike had wrap on it when I bought it and I'm pretty sure what's under there is ugly so I leave it on. Don't judge me.
 
the muffler is in great condition, but the 4 exhaust pipes are rusted up and have the hot metal blue stain thing going on. but, i can always polish them up over the winter!
 
Just got my taillight, headlight bucket, turn signals, throttle cables, and fuel line! i know exactly what im doing all day tomorrow!
 
So i got antsy and put on the rear turn signals and taillight. they look great! only problem is that i think my relay for the turn signals is bad, cause they arent blinking. oh well another issue to add to my list!
 
Make sure all of your connections are good, before digging into your relay. If your signals worked before changing them, double check all of your connections.
 
they didnt blink prior to the disassembly either. i thought i would see the issue in the wiring when i replaced them, but i couldnt see anything going wrong.
 
Replacing the throttle cables turned out to be harder than i thought. I tried to install them and this is what happened. 1st pic is closed throttle, second is WOT. No matter how i rearrange them there is too much slack. third picture is the terrible wiring mess that is my front end. just so you know what im dealing with here.
 

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Your throttle cables need to go over the headlight, down the left side of the frame through the hole by your coils, and then attach to the carbs.
 
been a while since i made progress on this thing. its winter time, so i thought id go through the regular maintenance the bike would need. i plan on cleaning the carbs and getting the proper synchronization down, then check my points, timing and spark plugs. just to make sure everything is sound so it will run properly.

first picture is the bikes new home, in our basement in what we call the "rape room". no gas in the bike so the water heater issue is in check. took the seat and gas tank off to work on her with no hassle. after copious amounts of WD-40 and at least two hours of jimmying, i managed to pull out the carbs (second picture). what i noticed was that the rubber piece between the airbox and carburetors had what looks like a missing tube(third picture). it looks like it dried out and fell off. the clip is still holding some of it onto the piece. then i found a tube (fourth picture) that was disconnected from everything but was underneath the airbox through the frame aimed at the ground. now before any wise ass says anything, yes i checked if the missing tube was that loose one, but theyre different sizes. the loose tube doesnt fit the rubber piece.

thats my update for now. my schedule is much more flexible this semester, so i should be able to work on it at least once a week for a good amount of time. hopefully i'll be making progress on a weekly basis.

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i found some time in my day to go down to the basement and get wrenching. i pulled the spark plugs to inspect them and just see whats going on, and found that they are all dirty and sooty. definitely helping me verify my initial thoughts on the performance of the carburetor, the damn thing isnt set properly. too much gas going into the engine. or it means my timing is messed up, which i need to adjust and inspect soon anyway.

before brushing
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after brushing
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Got my uni carbs and new jets a couple days ago, got working on the carbs today. cleaned out the float bowls, cleared all of my little bits and pieces, replaced my jets, set the needle a little higher and found out a couple things.

the guy who worked with my bike last was supposed to set everything to factory settings. he didnt. most of the locks on the washers werent touched. the needles werent set to the middle, they were one from the top, now theyre one from the bottom to compensate for the pods per the instruction in the filter packaging and stuff ive seen on the forums. the slide on my number three is all chewed up at the bottom. someone really screwed with these carbs.

next thing i have on my list is to set the timing properly. after that, gunna start her back up again. i'll post pics later
 
DPO's, dumb previous owners. They never cease to amaze me.
 
i was going to get working on my timing today, but the screws on the left points cover are tight as hell and theyre stripped a little. im not entirely sure how to approach this one. any advice is appreciated. pics of my progress included below.


My filters from DCC, along with the jets
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another shot of the filters
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rejetted, as you can see the housing for the jet is a little bit in disrepair. missing some chunks out of it.
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another shot of the rejetted carbs.
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the slide ive mentioned before that looks all chewed up. no idea why anyone would do it.
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pods on the carbs
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carbs mounted
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