Partially Restored 74 CB550

[RGP750]

Re the frame powder coating I have found the company I use I ask for 80% black it looks like the original and not over glossy.

[davidcumbria]

Progress today I dropped the engine bits off for acid dip, vapour blast, cerakote. Going for the traditional glacier silver. Spent some time buying the correct sizes of silicon bungs and have got all the oilways blocked for the blasting. Left the guy in no doubt about my concerns about this and he said he will be meticulous cleaning afterwards - as will I.

So a real milestone - after months of disassembly I made the first step on the road to reassembly. Absolutely no rush - for me the pleasure is in the garage hours I get submerged in this project. I put the centre stand on the powder coated ( 80 % gloss ) frame. It went quite straightforwardly but the lugs on one of the clamps needed a bit of mallet work to get it accurately lined up with its partner. Good to do this before fitting swingarm as it makes getting the spring on much easier. So pleasant to polish up the plate, spring and nuts and bolts so it all looks fresh. The CB550 complete photographic reassembly on sohc.net was helpful but he missed the battery overflow drain guide which I think had also been put on incorrectly when I photographed my bike during disassembly. The parts list on this site I think shows it correctly. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[andy120t]

Looks lovely!

[Bryanj]

Not too sure on the aussie heritage

[davidcumbria]

Not too sure on the aussie heritage

Agree Bryan  it was horrible trying to use my right way up photos and work upside down. Not doing that again.

[Matt_Harrington]

Not too sure on the aussie heritage

[Matt_Harrington]

David, you are now on the best part - the rebuild. Look forward to seeing the parts after cerakote'd....

[davidcumbria]

So a u turn on the ceramic coating. Including some vapour blasting of carbs it was going to cost around £380 which added to the cost of £216 for powder coating the  frame is taking me deeper into loss territory for the restoration cost v final value. I have accepted that this is going to be the case but need to keep a sensible lid on costs when I can. I’m prioritising mechanicals over cosmetics and have just shelled out £104 for the last set of vesrah  gaskets from DS which sold out within minutes of coming back into stock !  Another reason is that ( and I don’t want to provoke controversy) my coater has been doing it for a number of years on race engines and says that he has found the only way to get a longterm durable result is to start with sand blasted surface not vapour blast. Really don’t want to do this with the lower case oilways and all some of which it is impossible to see down eg the drilling from oil filter to main cross bearing feed. So I’m having the cases acid dipped and will go down the tried and tested, worry free, rattlecan route. Anyone have an idea how many cans of the simoniz vht paint I need for the engine cases, barrels, ch ,sump and oil filter? Mist, light coat and heavy coat seems to be the way to go and not dissuading the missus from a weekend away when  I can use the oven ! ( have now bought 4 cans of paint for £27 which is more than okay and hopefully enough paint)

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

2 cans or 3 if you are not polishing any cases.

[davidcumbria]

Waiting for bits to come back I had a play with the speedo drive today. Managed to get it apart but had to resort to drilling out the grub screw to remove the shaft. Apparently if the two washers on the end of the shaft are corroded you can get wobbly needle syndrome which sounds embarrassing ! All back together at the second attempt having convinced myself one of the washers was missing only to discover over it had welded itself inside and was hiding down at the bottom of the drive shaft housing. Two washers changed the end float and it was sticky until sorted. All good now and a fun afternoon.

Now I’m confused. With the front wheel off the bike and spindle in place and spindle nut tightened up to the shoulder ( small spacer in end of bearing, speedo drive in place ) the spindle can slide in and out about half an inch.  Seems to me when the fork ends are attached clamping the spindle nut and spindle end the wheel can then move axially along the spindle and bounce between the disc pads. Is this how it’s designed - never seen a bike front wheel like this? It’s a like a spacer is missing but it came off like this and seems correct on the parts list. Thanks as always for the advice.

[Oddjob]

Should be fairly solid. Which end did you put the spindle nut on? speedo end or disc end.

[robvangulik]

Did you put the nut on with the sixsided end pointing IN?

[davidcumbria]

Did you put the nut on with the sixsided end pointing IN?

Ahaaaa! That’s sorted it. Many thanks. What a very counterintuitive arrangement with the nut on the inside but once you’ve made a twit of yourself forgetting how it came apart it won’t happen again 👍😂

[robvangulik]

 

[davidcumbria]

Good day today.
Starter gear stripped without problems using impact driver and new damper rubbers fitted. There was some slop with old dampers now it’s all solid so a job worth doing.

Got the dampers and 18 new shells from impex in Japan which kept the costs of shells down to significantly less than more local options. The big ends were all replaced with the available  green or brown and my measuring must have been ok because they all came in well within spec when Plastigauged at 30 - 40 micron. So pleasing to see the immaculate smooth new shells in there when their predecessors were like a ploughed field. First time I have used Plastigauge and it gave me consistent results so I now have full confidence in the reshelled big ends.