White Lightning SOLD cb125 party next

8)So i joined a few weeks ago, it was my birthday on fri 13th yeaaa and the next day i bought this 1973 honda cb550f!!! here is what it didn't have. Brakes, Clutch, Throttle, Kick start, blinkers, fenders, andy light other than headlight, air filters, tank petcock, and i am sure a few other things, oh yes batt. dead of course.
So i have some technical questions then ill post the pics HEHEHEHE
Does anyone know or have for sale pods to fit my four carbs? i can measure the outer diamter in inches but thats about it. they have lots of numbers and i can copy them.
any reason why my throttle needs gorilla like finger force to budge it? i mean i am gonna take the carb set off and investigate but it seems like it should move freely. maybe if someone has a stock setup i would like a link to pics so i can see how the slides and air baffle thing work together. this i am having trouble figuring out.
any way ill put an update soon and i did get the clymer today so i will be more directed in my attempts to get her street worthy....

side view

left side

maybe somethin here you see that i dont, is there supposed to be something that hooks the black air flapper to the needle slide thing ????

my work area in my storage unit. roll into parking lot work on it roll it back in. it f ing sucks

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

Congrats on the find, those 550fs are good bikes. +1 on going ahead and getting a manual, i might would suggest a honda manual instead of the clymers though. I would do a basic tune up and get the bike running correctly b4 going straight to pods. Getting pods would require rejetting etc so you will need to be prepared to buy new jets with the pods. I like the 4 into 1. Anyways welcome and btw I was born on the Fri 13th, means we're luckier than everyone else.

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

the bike looks good. don't get too bummed out on working out in crappy situations . i had my bike in my dinning room for the first part of the build and i was just able to talk my landlord down on the price for a garage. they should jsut let us have it since we live on the property. its bs but just keep at it. soon enough you will be riding.

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

You can find the complete manuals to download in PDF form if you do a search. SOHC4.net has a lot of them available. Here's a place to start: http://www.sohc4.net/index.php?q=content/books-manuals-guides

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

the "back flapper" thing is the choke, they should open and close with a lever on the side, or the choke cable, I can't remember which one the 550 had. the needle slides should move up and down with the throttle

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

thanks for the support on the throttle info. and the work space, i think i can throw a few things out and roll the bike out to work on the carbs and in again for safety... i actually remembered seeing a guy on an old honda and went by to talk to him today.
he used to have a 550 and lent me the clymer manual to use for a while. i will definitely get on and look at the honda one if that website has the factory one.
i found out i hooked the fuel tank up to the vent i guess or some other nipple because the book shows two fuel hoses coming from in between the #2 and # 1 and another between #3 and #4 so i think the thing i hooked the tank up to was something else as it was to the left of the #1 carb. anyway oh yea
the bike came with NO air filter on it at all. i was told that the neighbor had set it up to run with free air (no stock box) and the 4to1 exhaust it has on it. so i hope i can get it running with some ebay know off pod air filters or ill have to re jet. i would just get it running but if i have to buy filters setup i might as well get what i plan on running. i heard it run earlier and it will run with the current setup i just need to get the fuel in the right holes?????!!!!!!!!

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

BUMP
i bought some controls from a guy parting out two bike near by here but i would really like to know if my fuel line goes to the big brass nipple on the far left or a splitter hook two gas lines to the plastic nipples in between the two sets of carbs.
also whichever one is not the fuel supply what is it a vent for the carb vacuum?
also i ordered cables and pods from a local guy with parts direct and ebay, i am gonna try to rebuild the master cylinder with the video on here.

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

rjz5400 said:

i would really like to know if my fuel line goes to the big brass nipple on the far left or a splitter hook two gas lines to the plastic nipples in between the two sets of carbs.
also whichever one is not the fuel supply what is it a vent for the carb vacuum?

Click to expand...

The 2 nipples between the carbs are breathers - put some hoses on them and feed them down towards the swingarm (so they don't get water in them). Don't connect them together, or block them off or the bike won't run properly.

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

10 4 on the breathers i did do some research and that comment outweighs the fuel line splitter single vacuum vent theory.
So no pics because i leave my electronic at home when we have the torrential rain we had today. we are waiting for hurricane bill to pass by.!!
anyway checklist, I got the new throttle cables and had to cut one and use a bike cable inside the housing because the one they sent me was about an inch too short. believe me i tried everything before cutting out the old (new cable) it was just too short. if anyone breaks a cable or is thinking about replacing the inside metal part ask me about it and ill give you the best approach, b/c i tried all the worst ones.
now i have a working push pull setup.
I boiled my new brake master cylinder on a propane camping stove in an old coffee can!! with a little wd-40 and some SLIGHT prodding, it un-siezed and now i gotta bring all the other parts together and decide if i am gonna rebuild it or just clean the carp out of it and roll. the caliper is still seized but really i want to run it before i spend too much on controls.
I got some muriatic acid and diluted it to rinse/etch/clean the old gas tank out. i am thinking about using rustoleum but i don't know if it will stand the gas??????????????? i heard kreem sucks and i cant find POR 15 where do you buy it locally? at the paint store? sherwinn wiliams?
anyway i got that done and charged up the battery it came with so i am on track! as soon as the pods i ordered on ebay come in i will be running, hopefully i can seal the tank before then
how long did it take anyone to seal a tank. start to finish i am at exactly one week and want it to run for real i need speed!!!!!!!!

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

Unless the tank leaks (IE pinholes) you do not need to seal it. Flushing out the rust with acid will bring it back to bare metal, but as long you fill it up straight away with fresh fuel it will not rust again (well, not quickly anyways...).

Don't use normal paint to seal the inside of the tank - it will dissolve and get into the carbs (not good).

Can't remember how long the POR15 process is, but I think it takes a few days for the sealant to cure, so it's not an afternoon job.....

Well done with getting the M/C freed up - check the bore for pitting before you try a rebuild kit - it may be too far gone to salvage.

Re: White Lightning!!! new project needs lots of assistance

i will check that out most likely by hooking it all back up and pumping some fluid through those brake lines without the caliper attached.
But more importantly it runs
IT RUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
real shitty runs like diarrhea in the pants run. i have questions and i have looked in the book but i just want to be sure i have to remove the float bowl and bend stuff to fix the problem.
The symptoms are it wont start and the #4 carb both overflows fuel through the tube, and out the mouth of the carb as well. if i choke it manually. (with my left hand i cover the inlet with two fingers open to allow maybe 30 percent airflow) it totally runs, it revs up to like 6000 and will idle all by itself. it actually stopped overflowing during this manual one carb choke! as soon as i move my hand a little to allow 45 percent air it slowly gets worse and worse till it stalls. placing my hand back over it causes almost instant recovery.
i will keep searching the forums but maybe someone knows how to get this right. i think someone fed with this one because it has a different hose clamp than any of the other carbs it looks suspicious at my whilst my hand is down its throat>!>!?!>!?!>!?!!>?

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

well thats it i am now taking the whole thing apart to get it in tip top shape. i see why i got it for 200 bucks. i have 400 in it now and it only runs with the choke fully closed. engaged least amount of air.
so i know i need to rejet, it still overflows occasionally so i am gonna check the float bowls and clean them, it pressureises the crankcase a lot like when i unscrew the oil check cap for the dipstick it almost flies into the air, it also lets out a fine mist of oil the entire time i am unscrewing it because of the escaping air pressure. so i think i need new rings? or valve adjustment??? i am new to this indepth moto building.
I still need to get a rebuild kit for the caliper and MC so i am just gonna take it all off and do it one thing at a time. i wanted to ride it a little but anyway hopefully ill get it all together again and it will be awesome.

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

well i got it running with the more restrictive homemade air filters i put on it. i let it run and smoke for a while and then i changed the oil. i noticed that the pan bolt didn't really tighten up like it was slipping or something, it was hard to see with all of the caked on dirt and sand, turns out the sand was a natural gasket keeping the big crack in my oil pan from bleeding all over the parking lot!!!!!!!!! so now i need an oil pan for a cb550. i also took the exhaust out to change the oil and found tons of black carbonny soot in the pipes and the exhaust manifold, the breather cover is filled with sand and maybe old wasps nest, and i think with the amount of burning oil and the gassy smell to the oil i may be looking for a new motor or a serious rebuild kit with gaskets rings a new pan new main jets and oh yea the exhaust has some rust so i gotta weld that up and wrap them.

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

turns out the carb kits i bought from partsnmore dont fit. not because they sent to wrong parts but because my bike (1976 cb550k) has carbs from a 1980 cb650. they are totally different and the jet sizes are way off. stock on cb550 should be 100 and 40 but the 650 carbs are 90 35 so how do i know if someone ran this bike lean with the smaller jets in those carbs and did damage???
is it possible to just rejet the keihin pd50b carbs to work with my bike of should i find the pe ones that are supposed to be on my bike???? what would you do? i may drill out the jets on these carbs i have now we shall see........

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

bump, here is the general state of affairs with my bike in the form of a response to an ad looking for "a cb550" on another forum she wrote me and said tell me about it well here goes
i bought a 1976 cb550k from a guy of cl.
he had a scrap receipt from a metal recycler and wrote me a bill of sale. i then found the receipt from maryland dmv re the temporary tag and the registered owners name and addy. and everything else. i wrote him a letter and called the mva in MD and it seems i could get a duplicate title sent to me here but i do not know how legal that would be. so i have been looking for 550 frames with titles, actually there is one in charlotte if i am not mistaken. and also trying to contact the last registered owner. i have also discovered that i have the carbs off of a 1980 cb650, very finicky and complicated. so rather than buy rebuild kits for those carbs too i found some cb550 carbs on the sohc4 forum and am currently waiting for them to arrive.
i do not think there is anything wrong with the bike other than what was mentioned. i hae been buying the missing parts and refurb. everything else on the bike while i wait for carb parts. i have ridden it around the parking lot mostly fueled by homemade air filters that were sprayed with carb cleaner to get it started. it runs on its own after that but on two cylinders (1and 2 ) i think the carbs i got on it are completely clogged, i took them apart a few times but haven't replaced the jets.

so now i am waiting for the unknown condition carbs to arrive, try to fab them up, and then hopefully maybe ride it more than 2 miles an hour,
i dont know how you guys have the patience to let something small like jets or a new chain keep you from putting around on the project??!!?!?!?!?!?!??! i need to buy a running two stroke or something tiny just to break 25mph ( i currently ride my bycycle everywhere, ill post some pics of that ina minute

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

cool one did the custom stickers but like having gears and the smooth look of no brakes i just drag my foot. it will make my feet stronger cause ill probably have to supplement my drum brake with foot power as i don't have a front one on the bike yet either.
also i think i have the same bar ends and bike pump. i bend the corners and scrape pedals with that lotus and imagine i am on my honda.
I also went with my buddy drive the car back while he rode his "new" 83 maxim with basically 3 extra engines with it.
a little jealous but he let me ride it and i will have a riding buddy when it all said and done and i finally get my carbs from darkhorse on sohc4

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance


these are the little jars i plan to use to keep my jets separate and long term soak them at the same time

here is my cleaning and crab rebuild set up gun wipes for cleaning (low lint high strength)
some gitaur wire various diameter
the aforementioned jars
my rebuild kit ( i have 3 more just one in photo)
and the tiny drill bit set i got from harbor frieght. measured in 0.* mm

the plan is to copletely dissasemble the carbs when they com in the mail. then clean the shit out of them and reinstal the new parts in them with the setting appropriate for my intake and exhaust. i think last clip for the needle and 3.5 turn out for the mix screw? anyone know which way enrichens the mix on stock 76 550k carbs? then i will put my custom foam velocity stacks ( foam with hose clamp holding it to carb mouth) and fire it up.
i may use colder plugs to account for the small main jets and try to get it running well
if it does run well at low speeds i will then try to drill or ream out the old jets to get more fuel accross the board

whadah ya think? ill let you guys know how the mechanics go when my carbs finally get here

Re: White Lightning!!! cb550 f need assistance

no brakes on a nonfixie, wtf?