New CB550 1978 Project

[Seabeowner]

Have a thorough inspection of the carbs before spending money refurbishing to check for damage or corrosion. US fuel seemed to cause ally to corroded/crumble when stored and of course ham fisted maintenance.

[Nimmy9]

Thanks for the advice.

I have started the strip down and they look in fairly decent condition.  The action is a little stiff but I am sure that a few hours in Carb Clean will help that.  I cannot see any scoring and no nasty corrosion.  looks like PO was doing some work as only 3 top gaskets and a few screws not there.  However I attach a photo as No 2 seems to have a part missing which the other 3 have.  Is this usual.  I can see that they are all linked and it has something to do with moving the core cylinder, so it does not seem to be affecting the basic activation.  Any comments??

[hairygit]

Number 2 carb is non adjustable, when setting up with vacuum gauges or on the bench, the other carbs are synchronized to be as close to number 2 as possible. Why Honda chose number 2 rather than any of the others is anybody's guess, but that's what it is.

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[Nimmy9]

ERxcellent.  thanks for the response

[matthewmosse]

Found 1 bank of dead carbs, earlier type, in lots of bits, think there might be more elsewhere, but not sure where... My shed is an awful mess. Noticed what is probably a k3 airbox  but without the full cover ( has a steel plate with a hole that as far as I can recall should have a ducked cover to keep out rain )  and no inlet rubbers. Probably too incomplete to be worth bothering with. Also have a spare battery cage somewhere I think...

[Nimmy9]

Looking at diagrams of these carb sets, there seems to be a separate spring related to the throttle control.  This is in addition to the heavy spring on the connecting rod.  Is this correct.  if so I need one!!

[Seabeowner]

Nimmy9, Yours are like mine. There is only the coil spring shown in your pic. There is a difference between the 77 and 78 models. Use this:
https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cb550k-1978-usa_model7222/partslist/E++18.html#results

Beware the double spring arrangement that couples the choke flaps between 1/2 and 3/4 a real mare.

[Nimmy9]

Thanks.  That makes sense now.  I noticed the double choke spring!!

[Nimmy9]

Good news.  The stuck clutch wasn't! The clutch cable was so that helps.
I have sourced a battery tray so just all the air filter fittings needed.