'75 CB550K1 Gulf - Round...3, the fun stuff

Re: '75 CB550 - shortening forks...no, not through the trees

crazypj said:
Personally I would have left the forks long.
I raised front and rear about inch and half on mine, still ground chunks off sticky out bits ;D

im noticing that... these bikes are pretty low. sitting on the frame rails (which is only about an inch lower then it would be with the seat on) with 3/4 inch longer then stock rear shocks, my knees still have a good bend in them.

the 750 F bikes are pretty high though... the 550s are in the middle i guess? :p
 
Re: '75 CB550 - shortening forks...no, not through the trees

I used CB750 F fork tubes and rear shocks
 
Re: '75 CB550 - shortening forks...no, not through the trees

Ringo said:
Here's some pics- first is the spacer under the spring. Second is the difference in fork length, about 1.5"

Very nicely done and it will lower the front end but it does it by reducing fork travel by 1.5" and the springs or top spacers need to be shortened by the same amount.

I'd do it one of three ways:
Try the longer fork legs
Use the long legs pushed through the triples
Or machine teh amount of the top of the legs and machine new threads
 
Re: '75 CB550 - shortening forks...no, not through the trees

Thanks crazypj, that's good to know. I don't really have a reference point right now with the bike apart.

I hear you teazer. The new 650 fork tubes are a little over an inch longer than the 550 tubes. I'm still using the 550 springs, so with the spacer in, the fork tube caps only compress the springs a little more than stock. I'm hesitant to cut the springs with no way to judge the stance right now. Think I should trim the spacers down a little? Making new spacers later is a lot easier than getting new springs.
 
Re: '75 CB550 - shortening forks...no, not through the trees

Well I'll be damned! As you may know, the piston/ring package I ordered off ebay came with rust on the rings. I have waited to leave feedback until I got the rust off (not that I would leave negative, but just not leave any). Anyways he emailed me the other day reminding me to leave feedback, and I replied that I would leave feedback once I was able to remove the rust from the rings. And just like that he refunded $50 of the purchase cost, and apologized for the condition of the rings. I only paid $110 for the whole thing (which was already a steal!) so that makes 4 NOS cb750 pistons/pins/rings/clips for $60. Awesome.

The seller's name is "sbbenschoter", for anyone interested, and he's for real!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - shortening forks...no, not through the trees

Well what do you know...There are still some humans on earth!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - scaling down a little...

Ahhhhhhhh. Last night I put my truck into 4wd and took off only to hear and feel a huge clunk from the front left wheel. It didn't sound cheap. Awesome. So factoring in the repair costs for that, I think I'll tone down my build just a little (but not too much ;) ). I'm thinking right now that I'll hold off on the big bore and cam, since the engine is sound. Besides, I have a lot to do over this winter and that was a major chunk. It will make for a good project next winter, too. Such is life.

But I did get in my replacement brake piston. It's a corrosion-proof phenolic material, whatever the hell that is. Basically a modified Lincoln LS8 piston. A guy on SOHC4 modifies them to fit the cb550 caliper. As a bonus, it's way lighter than the stock steel piston. Without a scale handy, I'd put it at maybe a third of the weight. Old and new:
piston.jpg
 
Re: '75 CB550 - scaling down a little...

I dont know how I have missed this thread. Very thorough build! Good job... this is going to turn out great Ringo.
 
Re: '75 CB550 - shortening forks...no, not through the trees

Thanks Louie, we'll see how she turns out...


crazypj said:
I used CB750 F fork tubes and rear shocks

I missed this when you posted it, crazypj. Are the 750F tubes comparable length-wise to the 550 tubes? 650 tubes are a little over a half inch longer. Might be worth it to try these if they're the same.
Think I'm going Hagons for the rear shocks.
 
Re: '75 CB550 - scaling down a little...

Can't remember the exact length but it was at least 30mm longer than 550 tubes. (possibly longer than 650 tubes)
I needed the extra ground clearance ;)
Heres a pic from about 1981
I did a bunch of modification to ride down to South of France with girlie (Sharon, on the Enfield in vintage pics)
my550in1981.jpg

mYou can see the center of points cover is well above the axle center
 
Re: '75 CB550 - scaling down a little...

I gotcha. I'll have to keep that in mind, maybe just go with stock length for the 650 tubes, eh? Nice alloys! and dual discs!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - little update, frame about finished

Hey fellas, just doing a little updating. I cut off the outer shell of the stock tank the other day. I'll use the base and build the new shape from glass over it. That way I have the backbone indent, mounting points, and petcock mount already done for me.

Freshly cut:
tankbefore.jpg


getting trimmed to shape and roughed up:
tankbefore2.jpg


I'm pretty much finished welding on the frame. Still have a little grinding, plus battery and random electronic mounts to do, which will all go under the seat. I decided to cut the horseshoe-shaped brace, so the seat can sit flush without pinching the wires. I also wanted the wires hidden, so...
There's enough steel elsewhere between the top tubes that I'm not worried, plus the bottom half of the brace is still intact.
subtray2.jpg


The tank is getting extended about 2" to the rear, so that piece of flat steel you see coming out from the tank will be where it gets bolted down. It'll still rest on the rubber mount at the rear though.
subtray1.jpg


Glad to be about done with that. On to glass...
 
Re: '75 CB550 - frame about finished

I really dig your project drawing. can't wait to see it all come together at the end.
keep up the good work.

looks like we are both going for a simular look? =)
 

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Re: '75 CB550 - frame about finished

Right on Rustyolive, nice subframe hack indeed!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - frame about finished

Sweet man! Good to see some results coming out of Four Corners again. Can't wait to see what you come up with for a tank!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - frame about finished

Yeah man, been lacking on the motivation lately. But this warm weather has me worried I won't finish in time, so I'm back at it!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - frame about finished

Ah, well most of you might hate me for this. But I'm pretty dead set on doing a Gulf paint scheme. Can't get this one out of my head; in fact, the more I think about it, the less open I am to other ideas! haha. I think it'll work pretty well with the tank and seat shape I'm planning, so why not.

3863642801_98b9192bb4.jpg


S1KGulfPaintRearRight.jpg


I'd do an orange frame, blue body work, and orange accents. Let me know how much ya'll hate it!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - Gulf racing scheme

Ringo - I really like the gulf scheme actually... I think it looked awesome on the Ford GT and I am sure your bike will make it look even better!
 
Re: '75 CB550 - Gulf racing scheme

i second that!! Go for it!!!
I didn't like it back in the 80's.. but back then I didn't like beer either.. now I can't get enough of it..
I can't wait to see your bike done up in these colors!! =)
 
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