Hi not really a new member since I joined in 2013 and ran a lovely 750 for a couple of years before I caught the two stroke bug and traded it in for a Yamaha RD500. Been away from forum since then. Now I've bought a 74 550k1 with intention of restoring it as a tribute to to the 500/4 which was my first big bike in 1979. Rode that bike to Adriatic coast of Italy and back which was quite an adventure but then gave up bikes until 2008 when i was the typical 50 year old born again biker. I love working on bikes and service my small collection including a Suzuki RG500, Yamaha RD350LC ypvs and my daily rider a Y2000 BMW R1100GS which unusually has been converted to run on carbs.
The 550/4 was supposed to have been fully restored mechanically but my first ride was eventful. I got to within pushing distance of home and it conked out. Turns out by resetting the tappets before I rode it I had disturbed the fuel pipe connections under the tank which were just pushed on with no clip and the pipe had become disconnected. There was no obvious stream of fuel because the restored tank had no internal or external filters and the fuel tap was almost completely blocked.
On my second outing I rolled the bike out of the garage in neutral only for it to stop dead, The only way it could be moved was with the clutch in. Turned out that the plate which secures the selector fork shaft in the clutch housing had been put on the wrong way round allowing the shaft to slide out and drop a selector fork into the sump. operating the gear lever in this condition just locked the transmission shafts. So the complete engine strip had been brought forward !
Ive enjoyed stripping the engine ( my tip is to take the head, block, clutch, starter motor and as much else as possible off when engine is in the frame making it a doddle for two people to lift and manoeuvre out.) Ive found worn out rocker shaft housing , blocked oil restrictors and best of all that the transmission bearing race pins have been driven into the crankcase by incorrect assembly. In one case the pin has cracked the housing under it and in the other actually fractured a chunk out which fell into clutch housing during the strip. Its not pretty but hopefully recoverable with some epoxy eg JB weld. photo below. Any other thoughts or previous experience with this all too common problem ?
Also not sure about the condition of the crank main bearings - look a bit like oil starved or contaminated to to me - what do people think of the photo ?
I have learned so much reading and searching for posts on here since i got the bike a couple of weeks ago and look forward to joining in the discussion which makes this such a useful place
cheers
David