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Messages - michtag

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1
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: November 10, 2020, 03:24:15 PM »
Did you ever manage to get the carbs synced using a set of four gauges?
I have a set but I’m in Cobham, Surrey.

Nah... I haven't really even tried yet, but thank you for asking. I actually have my set of gauges, I just needed someone to guide me through the process as I am getting tired of trial and error, despite the tons of good videos available and good posts...
Anyway, with all that's been going on and especially after losing my job, this has gone on the back burner (in fact, the back of the back burner). Last week I tried to check for arcing in the HT leads or plug caps (although these are new), but the battery was dead, so I took it off and charged it.
Then it started raining and I have not been able to manage my time to make it coincide with a dry spell. Then another small DIY emergency had to take precedence, so at the moment I have a charged battery at home and a sleeping Honda under a tarp downstairs...
I need to "pull my finger out" and just take these last steps, but I must admit my motivation is not running very high at the moment...
Like everything, this will pass and I'll get there, but until then I'll just be a bit more grumpy than usual.... :/

2
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: November 07, 2020, 01:28:22 PM »
Listening to that video, does that ultra short high chirping sound, every now and then, not indicate some electric shorting? Or is it just the keys vibrating on the handlebars? I suppose there's no harm in checking if there's any intermittent arcing going on between plugcaps (and/or HT leads) and the head. Best seen in the dark.

Hey Deltarider, thank you for your reply and apologies! I have noticed it only now, but I have put all this on the back burner since I was made redundant and completely stopped looking into it :/
Anyway, I had not noticed that chirping sound and it may just be the phone mic picking up or distorting something else (or maybe it's the keys) but I will try again in the dark to see if any sparks appear. having said that, I really doubt it as all plug caps are new....but who knows...coils and leads are still the original ones.
I have also managed to get new return springs for the advance mechanism, so I'll be able to test if those have any impact at all.
Failing all the above, I fear i will have to take the carbs down (again) and get them professionally cleaned to make sure everything is as clean and open as it should be.
many thanks

3
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: September 18, 2020, 09:06:30 AM »
One thing I would like to add.....

I know how frustrating it can be chasing problems like this, I spent weeks chasing around with an issue that I thought was down to air leaks (but wasn’t in the end). My bike had never idled very well and was always quite and to start despite having rebuilt the carbs and changed the carb brassware.

In the end I got so fed up I bought a set of refurbished carbs from Gerben. Ok they cost 300 but I got 95 back in part ex for my old ones.

Result bike starts first kick, idles like a dream.

Sometimes it just pays to have a professional service the carbs that uses good quality brassware was my take home

Mine is a 500 by the way with 069A carbs not a 550.

Hi Paul, yes, I have been tempted to go down that route myself, but if I spent that kind of money on my bike (again) I think my wife would show her disappointment by poisoning my coffee or reshaping my head with a blunt instrument.
So I will try to play with the advance springs and see if I can get it to stabilise somewhat enough to proceed with using a strobe light and then syncing properly.
Ideally I would like to try another set of PD carbs before committing to buy a refurbished set, so at least I can have a reasonable certainty that they are the problem.
Cheers

4
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: September 16, 2020, 05:06:02 PM »
Thank you K2-K6, just for the sake of elimination I will try that (the breather tube on my bike goes back to the bottom of the airbox) but I really hope it will make no difference!!
cheers

5
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: September 16, 2020, 03:43:28 PM »
Nope.

Thanks for confirming; I thought it would be highly unlikely (I guess I would also be burning all of my oil if there was a straight passage to the cylinder) but it's always good to have expert confirmation.
Cheers

6
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: September 16, 2020, 01:55:53 PM »
Having eliminated air leaks then it may we’ll be an issue with the advance mechanism, have you thought of hooking up a strobe timing light I think that would show if the timing was jumping around

I have thought about it but if the idle revs erratically would that not show the advance mech moving anyway, whatever the reason for the jumping up and down?

One more thing: could the tappet covers o-rings not sealing perfectly cause this? I am asking because I have noticed a little bit of oil just around the rim on 5-6 of them. It's really little, I have to swipe my finger to actually see that there is oil there. Of course, there should not be oil, so I will eventually change them, but i wonder if it could suck in "unmetered air" and if it would end up in the combustion chamber.
Cheers

7
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: September 02, 2020, 03:23:08 PM »
Update:

So I have changed the boot clamps to very nice Jubilee clamps and tightened them carefully. They surely hold the rubber manifolds firmer, but I still have the same erratic behaviour, no noticeable change at all. As soon as the engine is warming up (1 or 2 minutes max) idle starts jumping a bit and then spikes to 3k...then down under 1k for no apparent reason. Throttle is responsive and there is no real hang if I blip it.

At this point I feel pretty confident it is not an air leak, so I will be tinkering with the advance mechanism springs, as an old post by Hondaman suggested weak springs (a common occurrence) could cause a similar behaviour.

At this point I would also be curious to swap my (original) coils with good working ones just to rule out they have anything to do with it, but I don't really want to buy new ones right now without the certainty I actually need them...
BTW I have tested mine with a voltmeter and they seem fine, but I wonder if they may start "acting up" once warm?

8
CB500/550 / Re: Front Axle holder: is this right?
« on: August 24, 2020, 03:58:14 PM »
The "F" is more to one end than the other, not by much i admit but definately is
Oh yes, I mean it is off-centre, but not enough to give a clear indication IMHO. Just a few mm further would have made it clearer. But that's just me, I am all for a simplified UI that leaves no doubts...

9
CB500/550 / Re: Front Axle holder: is this right?
« on: August 24, 2020, 12:51:53 PM »
There is an edge on the axle nut, the axle holder is ON it, it should be beside the edge.
Push it a little to the middle...

Thank you Rob! I had not noticed that at all and it is exactly what the problem was. Whoever had put this back together at some point had not done it correctly. I have taken the clamp off, checked orientation (to be honest the F mark does not make it completely clear which way the Front is....an arrow is much better) and pushed the fork slightly inwards, so the clamp now sits exactly where it should.
Thank you also to Nurse Julie and Brianj for confirming my suspicion that something was off.

So simple, yet so satisfying :D

10
CB500/550 / Front Axle holder: is this right? - SOLVED -
« on: August 23, 2020, 03:52:20 PM »
Hey all, me again.
While taking down the front brake for a rebuild (because....why not?) I noticed the axle holder on the left side sits differently than the one on the right side (see pics). Is this the way it is supposed to be? I really would not think so
I have taken it off, thinking it was back-to-front, but there are no arrows indicating which way the front is and I have tried to put it back the other way, but it sits even worse than this. I put it back as it was and tightened the bolts, without going crazy to avoid stripping the studs. Both axle holders look the same and have the same markings, by the way

Any thoughts?
Bike is a 1977 CB550K3 but not surprised if not completely so....

Cheers


11
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: August 23, 2020, 10:57:22 AM »


REMEMBER DONT OVERTIGHTEN THEM IN CASE YOU SPLIT THE RUBBERS

I'll be VERY careful :)

12
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: August 22, 2020, 04:58:16 PM »

You need 8mm narrow band stainless ones. I got mine from Inox Fasteners in Southampton

http://www.inoxbolt.co.uk/zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=475_498


Thank you Paul, I have ordered mine! Keeping my fingers crossed it will be as simple as that.
Cheers
Michele

13
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: August 20, 2020, 10:14:35 PM »
I have tried to wiggle (vigorously) the carbs when the engine was warm and indeed it did rev up when I pulled the left side up and rev down if I pulled it back down....4-5 times, so there seemed to be a connection there. Other than that it kept on being erratic by itself.
I will definitely have a look at the rubber manifolds and get some new jubilee clips: could I have put them on backwards (front to back)? They seem to be fitting snugly and properly, but hey, I am a novice what do i know? More stuff to re-check....again  :-\

14
CB500/550 / Re: I need a carb sync - Anyone in North London?
« on: August 20, 2020, 03:14:06 PM »


This was exactly the same as mine, I sprayed carb cleaner all over and didn’t show a leak but there must have been one there. I replaced the clips with thin stainless jubilee clips. Word of warning is not to over tighten the clips or there is a danger of the clips splitting the rubber.

I am convinced you have an air leak. One thing you can try is when bike is running get hold of the carbs and pull/push them up and down. Give em a really good waggle around

OK, that is good info, thank you Paul, I will definitely give it a try. One more question, what do your Jubilee clips look like?
cheers

15
CB500/550 / Re: cb550K3 carbs
« on: August 18, 2020, 02:39:50 PM »
2 most common things on pd carbs are
1 pilot jets/pathways blocked, the jets are push in but will come out
2 pilot screws with missing tiny washers and O rings along with people who tighten them in too much and deform or break the tip

Speaking of o-rings, can anyone tell me their dimension? I'd like to have a few spare ones and don't really want to buy a full carb kit.
Also, would a broken/missing o-ring cause erratic idling?
cheers

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