1975 CB550 - trip hazard phase1

[canyoncarver]

4 into 2 is a classic period-correct modification. Jardine mufflers Put the original pipes in a warm dry place and keep them.

Tim, I like the 4-2 exhausts too. I'll look up the Jardines'. So many inline 4 bikes have the 4-1. Something different would look great. I'm off/on with the decision on the pipes. Nice originals are selling for good coin and would let me buy more shiny stuff. We'll see.

 

[canyoncarver]

Keeping myself moving forward on the carbs. The problem with the 1 gallon dip bucket is you can only do one carb at a time and it takes a few hours each. Carb 3 slide is still stuck after soaking in pb blaster for two days. I can't get the hinge pin for the floats out of carbs 3 or 4 so I'm soaking those whole carbs in a mix of simple green and hot water overnight. I didn't want to dip them in the Berrymens with the floats on, just in case. I also lost out on a nice used backup set of 550 carbs on eBay the other day to a sniper.

Polishing-wise, they won't look like chrome but they'll be much nicer than they were.

I need to order new jets too. They have 100's in them now which seems pretty small. Albuquerque is 5200' elevation and the surrounding mountain rides go higher so I'll need to take that into account. Meaning, I need a good selection of jets to tune this bike.

I found this link helpful: http://www.4strokes.com/tech/howtojet.asp

 

[canyoncarver]

Hell yeah I like it. Original pipes in good shape are always cool. I left mine on. Although I am thinking about taking them off and getting 4-1 to keep the original ones from getting too rusted out.

If you are interested, another member here, mach has a real nice, mac 4-1 he was willing to entertain offers on. I'm really thinking 4-2 for mine once I decide to drop those coins.

 

[Kobalamyn]

Looks fantastic. I am gonna be following this definitely. Yeah New Mexico rarely rusts things! Where are you in NM? I'm down in the Las Cruces area.

 

[canyoncarver]

Albuquerque area. I get down to Cruces now and then though. Glad to have another NM biker around.

 

[mach]

If you are interested, another member here, mach has a real nice, mac 4-1 he was willing to entertain offers on. I'm really thinking 4-2 for mine once I decide to drop those coins.

Thanks for the plug. Good luck with your build, it looks good.

 

[canyoncarver]

Re: 1975 CB550 - trip hazard

Update: I was in the garage last night, with alot of staring and thinking going on about this motorcycle. I got the bike for next to nothing and it was unexpected. I didn't have a budget, meaning, I'm being a cheap-ass.... I was kidding myself, without a budget and a real plan, it would never get done, I know myself. So, I talked with the wonderful wife and explained all this. Green light for a real budget for the bike! It's like taking a deep breath of fresh air after getting pounded by a huge wave and getting tossed off your board.

So, plans change. Instead of just trying to get it to run, this will be a full-on stripped to the metal rebuild.

Here's an idea for a seat, not the bars (those are my old ZRX bars).

 

[canyoncarver]

Front end and exhaust off. Grubby stuff.

 

[bowman41]

Subscribed... looking good CC.

 

[canyoncarver]

Thanks bowman!




So I gotta see if these will cleanup. All those years under the original headlight ears. At least its not around the slider area.

 

[canyoncarver]

This fork tube is officially effing worthless. Rust ate enough that I don't think you can get a good seal. Gotta find either a replacement or a whole new front end. 35mm by 27 1/2" or so. Damn.

 

[canyoncarver]

Haven't seen burnt grease in awhile:

 

[canyoncarver]

A question for anyone who might have seen this before. I don't think these 4 holes are stock but I'm not sure.


[edit] Found out this is a standard mod from original to replace the wheel bearings.

 

[mach]

I feel your pain on the forks. When I got the boots and tabs off of mine they looked about the same and one of the legs was pitted and tearing up the seal. Anyway, I was looking for 550 or 750 forks to replace them and almost all of the 550s look like yours...useless. I ended up snagging an interceptor 500 front end that I'm going to try to convert. I'll get some info and pics up in my thread tomorrow if you're interested.

 

[canyoncarver]

I feel your pain on the forks. When I got the boots and tabs off of mine they looked about the same and one of the legs was pitted and tearing up the seal. Anyway, I was looking for 550 or 750 forks to replace them and almost all of the 550s look like yours...useless. I ended up snagging an interceptor 500 front end that I'm going to try to convert. I'll get some info and pics up in my thread tomorrow if you're interested.

It's a real pisser and will really slow down the build. The thing with the CB550 is that the front end is comparatively short next to most others I've been looking at. Finding a replace will be interesting I suppose. Look forward to seeing yours mach.

 

[Maritime]

It's a real pisser and will really slow down the build. The thing with the CB550 is that the front end is comparatively short next to most others I've been looking at. Finding a replace will be interesting I suppose. Look forward to seeing yours mach.

What about getting a longer then internally lowering it and or sliding up in the triples a bit? Might make a larger selection to find one.

 

[bradwsm]

try franks forks, think they are resonobly priced.

 

[pr design]

what size is the head tube? could you put modern front end on? might be easier to find a triple tree and forks.

 

[canyoncarver]

So I talked to Franks' http://www.frankmain.qpg.com/ They make the new fork tubes but they are $269 + shipping per set. I need to think about that a bit. Also talked to Cycle-X and they are out of stock and not sure when they'll get the next shipment. In the meantime, I've been shopping GL1000 front ends.

 

[canyoncarver]

I'm going tomorrow to look at a set of dohc 750 forks and triples. Might be cheap enough that I can get them shortened. Keeping the options open.