Some progress lately. All of the frame welding is finished. On the first go around, I left everything very unfinished in places that were covered by the seat. This time, I completed the job by boxing in everything that was open, reinforcing (or redoing) welds and adding the top gussets, footpeg bracket mounts, and swingarm spool mounts.
The engine is coming along. The old head and cam are packed away until I decide what to do with them. The new ones cleaned up nicely; I stripped the head, blasted it, lapped the valves and fitted new guide seals. The new cam was stored with the old; I found a cb650 cam in great condition, so at least I don’t have to go back to a stock 550.
So part of my larger plan to chase oil leaks includes HD cylinder studs, and of course I sheared off the very first stud I tried removing. Heat, penetrant, double nuts, vice grips…nothing. Locally I cant find a stud extractor for studs under 1/4” so I’ll have to find something online. Any recommendations??
For rims, I went with 2.5” and 3.5” both 18” dia. Metzeler Lazertecs we’re absolute bears to spoon on.