'74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build) **ITS DONE!!!**

Ok my name is Luke im finishing up my last year in high school right now, I wanted to have 1 more good project before I head off to collage. I picked up this 74 CB550 at a garage sale for $150. The bike has 17K and the person i bought it from said he had the motor replaced at 16K with a motor that only had 2,000 on it. Some up sides of the bike are 155 psi in all the cylenders, solid frame, good wheels, engine runs ok (think it needs the carbs synced), new tires, good electronics. The bad: very bad paint job on the tank, cracked and missing side covers, some rust on the exhaust, perhaps the most worn sprockets and chain that ive ever seen. My plan for this bike is to build a cafe racer on a tight budget. I have ordered a fair amount of parts already just waiting for them to come in. I would be working on this in my school's auto shop but it was closed down and cleared out two years ago so i guess i get to work in my garage for this project (i love these mild michigan winters)


Here are some pictures taken between the night I brought it home and in the very beginning of tear-down.

In the back of my truck still the night I got it home



In my driveway the next day with the "seat" put on:











Two pictures taken with her sister (my other bike 1982 Yamaha Virago 750):





In its resting place for the next few months waiting for the face lift:





A little surprise suprise when I took the seat pan off.....Mouse Nest!!!! (The project name [for now]) Complete with foam, pleather, newspaper, wood, and plastic.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest"

I started to strip it down, not too many bad suspires just the chain and sprocket lets say was "worn" and the brake caliper was gummed up to where it would not retract all the way. And today I did a lot of polishing on some aluminum, I rebuilt the caliper and the fork, and drilled the rear brake.

Starting the teardown






This is a close-up of the sprocket you can see how horn it is...the Teeth tips that are not knife edges have cracked off!



These are a few parts after I got done polishing. The parts look MUCH better in person the camera sucks. I have a few parts left to do.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest"

I got a lot of work done over the weekend, I removed the old steering bearings and started to install tapered ones. FWIW I used A bicycle headset press to press in the races and this worked perfectly just line up the parts turn the handle and just like that both races were installed and seated perfectly.
My headset press :


I also decided instead of blowing some $$$ on 2 new stock looking sidecovers I would make my own today out of some left over 16Ga steel. It took me a few hours to get both panels to the point where I liked them. Im pleased how they came out considering the lack of any proper sheet metal tools, I only used a bandsaw, rubber mallet, drill press, vice, and a few chunks of wood

Left side panel:


Right panel:


**Also now that I have a little more room in my budget, If anyone has a set of 4 into 1 headers they would like to sell me please let me know. I only need the headers and not the entire unit. They do not need to be super pretty if the price is right**

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest"

$150 for that ?!?!!?!??!??!?!?!?!?!?!? dam good find

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest"

FENIX said:

$150 for that ?!?!!?!??!??!?!?!?!?!?!? dam good find

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no kidding, i just bought a frame with a motor and wheels for that much today. someone didnt know what they were selling me thinks.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest"

hell yea, I'm jealous . Good find. Will stay tuned into project "mouse nest".

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest"


Cool man! Nice bike--keep us posted!

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest"

I finally got up to the body shop yesterday was told if I prepped it by sanding and doing whatever filler was needed It would be $200 :-\ My original plan (laugh if you want) was to wrap the tank and side panels in carbon fiber then I saw this and got excited http://cbrforum.com/forum/how-mechanical-40/how-wrap-your-tank-carbon-fiber-116926/ I've never done it before and it would be my first time. So final results may vary. It would cost me about $100 to go that route. So what do you guys think should I just say metallic gray give the guy the money and not worry... Or try carbon fiber and possibly FUBAR? (would it even look right on an old cafe style bike?) Any help is appreciated......seriously im loosing sleep.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

If your doing knee dents on the tank. Carbon fiber the knee dents, paint rest of tank. Looks like a good deal on the bike.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Yep $150 is a absolute steal! Did it come with a title? '74's had rounded signal lights, but obviously they could have just changed them.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Modgod1 said:

Yep $150 is a absolute steal! Did it come with a title? '74's had rounded signal lights, but obviously they could have just changed them.

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Yep, Title in hand ;D

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Cafe Redneck said:

If your doing knee dents on the tank. Carbon fiber the knee dents, paint rest of tank. Looks like a good deal on the bike.

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I agree with what he said. That would look really cool.

As far as Carbon Fiber on a Cafe, that COULD look awesome. That touch of new age on a strictly Cafe'd vintage bike would be sick. The key word though is could. You could easily go overboard, or... underboard(If that's even a word) and not let anyone see it.

I say, give it a shot. There's plenty of metallic gray bikes out there, but very few Carbon Fiber looking ones. If you do it right, you'd have the start of a bad looking bike, one that separates you from the crowd.

Side note, cool to see a younger guy working on a bike. I'm 19 my self, and it's good to know that I'm not the only one under 30 goin' after a bike like this. I'll be keeping a eye on your build.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

I know its been a while since my last update but...



Well between this project, picking which collage Im going to spend my next 4 years at, school, and work. Its been a hectic few months.
On project mouse nest I have done a lot of work spread over some time. At this point I have it mocked up and am about ready to order and paint this SOB

Since my last post I have done:
Did more work and primed the side panels
Assembled everything
Made custom light mounts for brake light and turn signals
I won the seemingly never ending, extremely frustrating, Armageddon like battle, known only as the wiring NIGHTMARE on this bike
New seat, lights, bars, grips, chain & sprockets
Made custom brake drum bar
Rebuilt swingarm
And probably a lot of other things that I forgot

And now for some pics

As is right now






Quick picture I took to check the riding position, and as always I got the big guy little bike look going




Front end with headlight visor and new turn signals W/ my polished aluminum mounts


My homemade steel side panels after I welded some more steel on to keep it from bending and primed them




Handmade brake drum bar, I took some flat stock I bought at lowes and twisted it up.


Rear angle of the bike with the lights on


Another one of my handmade parts rear brake light mount made out of 1/2 square steel stock I had in the back of my garage

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Interested in selling the rear fender?

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

I love the amount of work put in. I was thinking about doing similar sidecovers, are yours tucked all the way in ? They may look slimmer once they are painted.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Looks great! I'm impressed with all the work! Engine looks boss and I hear you on the battle with wiring. I'm just stepping up to that plate now. Love that double brake light. Is that riding position comfortable? Seems like it might be a little awkward with your hands so low and your legs that high. Considered rear sets? Could mount them pretty easy from the passenger pegs. There's a guy that sells good quality ones for cheap on the forum. I can get you a link to his thread if you're interested.

Are you planning on leaving the front fender off? If you are you might want to consider fashioning some sort of strut to go in it's place. It may not seem it, but fenders actually give support to your forks so they don't bend/flex in turns and under other stress. Something to consider.

Also, I'm wondering if your new front turn signals could replace the bolts for the headlight. That's what I did and it looks really clean. Just a thought.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Wow what a steal on that bike! Looks good, I'm digging the twisted steel. Very cool to see that on a bike! But if you think that sprocket looks bad, you should see the one i took of my bike, it was completely missing half the teeth!

Whereabouts in MI are you?

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Fox said:

Looks great! I'm impressed with all the work! Engine looks boss and I hear you on the battle with wiring. I'm just stepping up to that plate now. Love that double brake light. Is that riding position comfortable? Seems like it might be a little awkward with your hands so low and your legs that high. Considered rear sets? Could mount them pretty easy from the passenger pegs. There's a guy that sells good quality ones for cheap on the forum. I can get you a link to his thread if you're interested.

Are you planning on leaving the front fender off? If you are you might want to consider fashioning some sort of strut to go in it's place. It may not seem it, but fenders actually give support to your forks so they don't bend/flex in turns and under other stress. Something to consider.

Also, I'm wondering if your new front turn signals could replace the bolts for the headlight. That's what I did and it looks really clean. Just a thought.

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Well I am debating what im going to do with the front fender.....either Saturday or Wednesday I am going to put the front fender back on and see what it looks like. I completely forgot about the structural factors that it adds to the bike so it Will either be the stock fender or something of my own twisted mind.

I would be interested in the link to those rearsets BTW I dont think they would be in the budget but i could move a few things around and scrape up some spare $$$.... would some rearsets be worth the money from a re-sale POV

Korsch_RS said:

Wow what a steal on that bike! Looks good, I'm digging the twisted steel. Very cool to see that on a bike! But if you think that sprocket looks bad, you should see the one i took of my bike, it was completely missing half the teeth!

Whereabouts in MI are you?

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Im in Grosse Pointe Woods so a little north of Detroit. I had to laugh a little after looking at your sprocket.

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build)

Yeah, you don't actually have to have the front fender. Just so long as you have some sort of strut in between the forks you should be good. Fender just makes it easier since it's already matched up and everything.

Haha I gotcha, here's the link if you end up being able to put some money together. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the build!

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=32402.0

Re: '74 CB550 Project "Mouse Nest" (Another Teen Build) DONE!!!

So I finally got the bike done!
I have been hard at work on the bike. Since my last update I have:

• Painted it; This was the first time I have ever painted anything besides rustoleum jobs. Striped the parts down to bare metal, primed, wet sanded, shot 3 passes of Spraymax 2k paint, wet sanded up to 2000 grit, and hit it with the buffer & 3M machine polish. Still waiting to wax. IMHO not a bad result for going in and doing it blind
• Went over bike attached & secured everything after many runs to the hardware store for those nuts and bolts that disappeared
• Detailed and minor tune up
• Bleed front brake

I still need to get a new battery, Get it registered and plated, and insurance.

Here are some pictures I took tonight after getting it running like a clock instead of going to prom. I should be able to (legally) take it on the road by next weekend and take it somewhere i can get some cool pictures of it.