78 CB550K Cylinder Head Cover

[sweet_baby_james]

DTT members,

I've just started breaking down the motor on my 78 CB550K. On the cylinder head cover I found a combination of philips head and hex bolts. Should these all be hex bolts? Or is the mixture of PH and hex correct? I ask because it was near impossible to get some of the PH out. Just wondering what I should do on reassembly.

Oh, any advice on how to strip the paint of the motor (see photo) would be much appreciated too! I have access to sand and glass blasters if thats an option?

Thanks

 

[Tim]

Totally normal, but you can replace the phillps head bolts with socket-cap (allen) bolts.

First, do a quick 'search' on the site for CB550 manual - you should find a post I put up years ago with a PDF of your entire official Honda Service Manual.

Also you'll find a CB550F Parts Manual which will help a lot with the engine in particular and most of the rest of the bike too.

Welcome to the site!

Oh, and buy an impact driver for those phillps head bolts. Don't even bother trying with a regular screw driver. You'll end up stripping one and then you're into drilling/extracting.

 

[sweet_baby_james]

Thanks for the reply. See that red handled tool in the picture - impact driver. Pretty sure I would have stripped a couple of them without it!

Could anybody help with the paint issue? I would really like to get it back to the bare aluminum. I've used Aircraft stripper on some other parts but I think that could be a tedious task with all the fins on the motor.

Thanks

 

[mydlyfkryzis]

Also, they aren't really Phillips head, they are JIS. The JIS is a slightly different shape cross then the Phillips. A standard Phillips screwdriver will cam out. If you get a real JIS screwdriver, it will work much better.

The impact driver, with a Phillips head bit, will force itself into the screw head, and remove the screw, but if you get a JIS bit, it will work better.

Here's a place to get them: http://www.rjrcooltools.com/vessel.cfm

You may find other places.

I changed all my screws to allen head cap bolts, which is my preference, but the JIS screwdriver bits will work very well on the regular screws on the bike.