my cb550 project

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drackett_19

Active Member
Hey folks, I've been hackin away at my bike for a few weeks now and figure its time to post up some pics of the build so far. I'm not doing as much as I'd like to because summers are short here and i'd rather be riding than wrenchin. Here's a list of the stuff I planned to have done before summer hits:

-carbs cleaned/new gasket kits
-tommaselli clip-ons
-custom seat
-new signal lights
-lower front and rear a couple inches
-hook up GSXR rear sets

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This is the first bike build/project i've attempted. So most of this stuff is new to me. I started with the carbs and pulled them apart for a good cleaning and put in some new gaskets. They were a bastard to get off the bike.
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The emulsion tubes were pretty bad.

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Put in the new gaskets and put them back together. I then prayed that I didn't screw anything up. I guess i'll find out when I fire her up in a couple weeks.
 
I bought some GSXR rear sets off eBay and started doing some cutting and grinding to make room for them.

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These brackets were more of a PITA to get off than I expected. But after sweating out some beers, they came off all right.
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I finally got some parts I was waiting on and started my seat and rear sets. ;D

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I have the rear sets mounted, but hooking them up is still a work in progress.

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I decided to try carving out my own seat and went to town with the ol' turkey carver. After starring at it and drinking a couple brews, I figure it should be alot smaller. I still don't know what i'm going to do with it once its carved out. I might cover it with leather or glass it and paint it. any recommendations?

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Got my gnarly new bars in the mail and am gonna try to get them rigged up today:

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let me know what ya think and feel free to offer any useful tips or advice
 
Got some more stuff done yesterday and today. Got the tommies on and rigged up, they're crooked but i'm not gonna set them up when the seat is done.

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I also chopped up some scrap aluminum and made a tail light/ license plate bracket. the light is sort of huge :D...but it;ll do the trick for now.

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I carved up the seat some more and am planning to tape it up and lay some fiberglass on it tonight or tomorrow. It'll be my first time fiberglassing anything, so it should be interesting. ;D

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Great job so far drackett, looks like you're making good progress. I love the shape of the seat too, post some pics of the progress.

Also, how do you keep your shop so clean, looks immaculate. Wish I had that much room to work in.
 
hey thanks Deacon, i'll be happy if the final product is half as nice as that seat you have there. where did ya pick that one up?

Also, how do you keep your shop so clean, looks immaculate. Wish I had that much room to work in.
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haha, yeah its actually my pop's garage. he likes to keep it clean and i like to have somewhere to work, so its a good tradeoff ;D. We used a epoxy floor coating that is really easy to keep clean too, you can literally dump a gallon of oil on the floor and wipe it up with no stains. but with the price of oil these days i wouldn't recommend it.
 
Just checked out the thread. WOW. :o Really nice work on that seat. I like the tinfoil idea too, i think i'm gonna give that a shot. When you laid the fiberglass, how many layers of the cloth did you use?
 
drackett_19 said:
Just checked out the thread. WOW. :o Really nice work on that seat. I like the tinfoil idea too, i think i'm gonna give that a shot. When you laid the fiberglass, how many layers of the cloth did you use?
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Thanks, can't wait to see your's too. I found the tinfoil really good, the fibreglass never stuck to it near as much as it did with the tape. I should have covered it all in tinfoil, not sure why I never. ??? I don't know for sure how many layers, but I would say at least six (probably eight) for the pan area where you will sit. I never used as many on the hump part since it won't see as much stress and weight. I'm thinking three or four for the hump.
 
Looks great so far.

Do you have any more pics of the tail light/license bracket? I need to make one for my bike and I'm looking for ideas.
 
hey your heel guards are on upside down
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of course they are....ehem, I was wondering when someone would notice. well done! ::)


haha, really though, since the day i got these things in the mail i thought the shield on the shifter looked wierd. I'll have to check the brake one too, but i think its right side up.

thanks dude!
 
check out the orientation on these GSXR rearsets. Yours aren't upside down, they are just oriented differently because you mounted them at a higher angle than stock.

No big deal, as long as the pegs are mounted properly.

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check out the orientation on these GSXR rearsets. Yours aren't upside down, they are just oriented differently because you mounted them at a higher angle than stock.

No big deal, as long as the pegs are mounted properly.
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Hey thanks fo the pic. The PO must've put the guard on upside down, i checked the brake side and its on the right way. I might even just get rid of the guards all together.

I did some fiberglassing today and it was evident that i've never done this before ;D. I either used way too much resin off the hop, or didn't mix enough, because i ran out after only getting 4 layers on the pan and about three on the hump. I also didn't cut enough small strips of fiberglass and it was a real PITA to apply. But live and learn, it'll be way easier next time round.

Before:

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and a couple after shots:


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I am going to do some sanding and attempt to put on a few more layers of glass once its fully hardened.
 
Looks great so far.

Do you have any more pics of the tail light/license bracket? I need to make one for my bike and I'm looking for ideas.
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Hey thanks man, i'll snap some more pics of the bracket tomorrow.
 
Seat looks great, looks like you did a really good job on the fibreglass. Now comes the dirty dusty stage :P Keep us updated on the progress.
 
The heel guards are on right, but it might look better if you remove them as you stated, or you could switch the sides and rotate them around for a proper look? ???
 
Seat looks great, looks like you did a really good job on the fibreglass.
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Looks can be decieving ;D The fiberglass was actually a flop. I'm not sure what exactly went wrong, but it didn't harden up as it should. Can resin and hardener expire? I cheaped out and ended up using some left over stuff that was about 10-15 years old. BAD CALL. It was still soft over a day later and wasn't getting any harder. I used roughly 4.5-5 ml of harderner in 500ml of resin.

So I peeled back the fiberglass and the foam had dissolved in areas and was all messed up. I might take another rip at it, but I am thinking about trying to make a seat pan out of aluminum instead. I'd like to cut that cross brace off at the tail of the frame and weld in some flat chunks of steel as a frame brace.

Do you have any more pics of the tail light/license bracket? I need to make one for my bike and I'm looking for ideas.
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Here's a couple more shots of the tail light bracket bracket. Its rough, but should do the trick for now.

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Got the shifter all rigged up today. Now I need to figure out what to do with the brake.

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I'd rather not hack up a good brake pedal but its tough to find something that'll fit onto the splined shaft.
 
drackett_19 said:
Looks can be decieving ;D The fiberglass was actually a flop. I'm not sure what exactly went wrong, but it didn't harden up as it should. Can resin and hardener expire? I cheaped out and ended up using some left over stuff that was about 10-15 years old. BAD CALL. It was still soft over a day later and wasn't getting any harder. I used roughly 4.5-5 ml of harderner in 500ml of resin.

So I peeled back the fiberglass and the foam had dissolved in areas and was all messed up. I might take another rip at it, but I am thinking about trying to make a seat pan out of aluminum instead. I'd like to cut that cross brace off at the tail of the frame and weld in some flat chunks of steel as a frame brace.
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That's too bad, I was looking forward to watching the progress.

Yes, resin does have a shelf life. When I bought mine the lady said that it's best to use it within six months. So I'm thinking 10-15 years is probably what the problem was.
 
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