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Messages - Topcat
1
« on: December 10, 2020, 11:58:27 AM »
hi topcat, there is one in the pile, i will have a close look and let you know what condition it is in
Perfect thanks Mick, Other things I'd be interested in if you have any or are willing to sell. An oil pump assembly for the 550F and the neutral switch mechanism (just the sheet metal part that makes contact with the rotor wheel. Also if you have the left crank case cover that'd also be good, I have one but its pretty beaten up. Let me know Cheers Topcat
2
« on: December 09, 2020, 09:37:47 PM »
Hi Mick,
Do you happen to have a spare stator cover that is undamaged for a 550F?
Thanks
Topcat
3
« on: November 06, 2020, 10:01:08 AM »
Hi All,
On this note I do believe in have a problem with a cb550 field coil, specifically broken wires going in to it. it had been clearly sitting in water for some time or water at least pooling in that cover and it's eaten away at the base of the wires of the coil and also eaten away at the magnet section on the bottom of the stator. I'd be interested in whether alternatives can be had for these bikes if only because I'm unlikely to be able to repair as the remaining non broken wire going into the field coil is in such bad condition.
I am looking at a few on ebay but just wondered what the option was for alternatives.
Cheers
Topcat
4
« on: October 29, 2020, 08:17:15 AM »
Thats looking great.
If you give me the Part number of the bracket i will look on my stock list for one .
Hi Julie,
Sorry for not responding sooner had a bit of an annoying time with the bike (will explain later quite funny not its resolved though).
Part number is 12336323000
Thanks
Topcat
Hi Topcat, sorry, we have 3 of the right hand ones but none of the left side.
If you’re still looking for Part number 12336323000, Predator Motor Sport have 6 available
https://predatormotorsport.co.uk/PLATE-B-HEAD-SIDE-CB500K2-FOUR/
Charlie
Thanks Charlie I managed to pick one up from predator so all fitted now! Topcat
5
« on: October 26, 2020, 06:49:21 PM »
Ordinarily it should get oil light out on starter, but it can take longer than feels comfortable when going from an "empty" rebuild.
Not so sure you'd see that much out of rockers just while cranking it, it's probably doing about 250 rpm max so quite different from running with tickover oil pump volume wise.
Think Julie meant "running" to observe through rocker caps, I'll gracefully be corrected if not 
Presume you still have plugs out and some light oil in the bores?
Yeah running plugs out and some oil in the bores, until I'm sure oil is getting to the top end I squirt a bit in the bores before doing anything. I'll check all the levels to make sure its right before doing any running, had a bit of an oil leak where i forgot to tighten the oil drain plug. Looked up the torque values on the drain plug but didn't trust them not to strip the threads so hadn't even bothered hand tightening it  Can anyone advise a suitable torque for the drain plug not to cause damage (other than hand tight)? Topcat
6
« on: October 25, 2020, 06:26:46 PM »
Take a tappet cap off of each end and look for oil spray from the spray bars, when the engine is running.
Does the engine need to be running or should the starter be able to get the oil to the rockers? Cheers Topcat
7
« on: October 25, 2020, 01:48:16 PM »
So I've been trying to run the engine on the starter and checking the oil pressure. Couple of quick questions
1. Is the starter generally enough to build up pressure to trigger the oil pressure switch? I've wired it up on a test light and it's not switching off and I'm nervous about running the starter any longer than I have at the moment.
2. What's the best way to check the oil is making it to the head?
Just want to be 100% sure before trying to fire up the engine properly.
Cheers
Topcat
8
« on: October 25, 2020, 01:45:37 PM »
Do you have carbs mounted? If so, you have to open them fully, incl choke to reach max psi
Nope no carbs at all, but as mentioned i think it was a dodgy compression gauge. I'm pretty happy with 165-170psi cold
9
« on: October 24, 2020, 09:44:03 PM »
So I buttoned up the the engine and decided to do valve clearances and compression check while I'm looking for the plate part. So hooked up the solenoid battery and got the starter turning over. Got the compression checker out and to my dismay all four cylinders were running at 60psi  I really didn't understand this as looking at the cloud of oil and air coming out of exhaust side there was I was sure more pressure. However I went back and checked all the clearances and tried again same result. At this point I remembered my had given me a lot of his old tools so went searching and found another compression checker all four cylinders reading 160-170 psi. So tomorrow I'll be burning the cheap sealey compression checker. But I've learnt a good lesson. Topcat
10
« on: October 24, 2020, 09:35:40 PM »
Thats looking great.
If you give me the Part number of the bracket i will look on my stock list for one .
Hi Julie, Sorry for not responding sooner had a bit of an annoying time with the bike (will explain later quite funny not its resolved though). Part number is 12336323000 Thanks Topcat
11
« on: October 19, 2020, 06:07:06 PM »
They are strange elastic bands holding up the rockers, they look more like the silicone 0'rings that seal the liners 
Haha yeah they are some strange ones, only ones I had on hand but have since bought a big box of proper elastic bands for all future bike building uses Topcat
12
« on: October 19, 2020, 03:01:20 PM »
Hi all,
Been a long long time since I checked in. Actually a fairly long time since I've had any time to work on the the 550. Thought I'd give you all a quick run through of what I've been up to, it's taken me so long to get round to this as I've had a bunch of other projects taking up time, including some building work that ended up causing problems (and a lot of time and money to fix).
However in the odd 5 or 10 mins I've had spare I've gone through the following on the cb550 engine.
Stripped down the engine back to cases and inspected all the internals.
Cleaned and rebuilt the bottom end and top end including replacing all bearings seals o rings, chains pistons etc
Where I am up to now is installed the rocker cover (freshly assembled new arms and shafts) to the head using the elastic band trick to hold the arms off the valve stems (don't really want to bend anything at this point).
At this point I'm just waiting on some new bolts for the rocker cover and need to source a L hand stamped plate and some soft washers that sit underneath. Does anyone have a plate and/or set of washers (think they are aluminium) they'd be willing to sell?
I can turn the motor over using the kick starter and can feel the pressure building up so once the cover is installed I'll do a compression check and leak down just to make sure everything is nice and sealed.
Finally my two big concerns at the moment is the cam chain tensioner seems not to have much in the way of free play in it. I'm assuming this is because the chain is brand new and will give a bit over time but can anyone confirm how much tension should there be on a brand new chain? (I've gone through the chain tensioning procedure where you move the 1-4 TDC then 15 degrees on (or where the spring attaches) before adjusting but it seems there is very little or no slack.
And finally the oil pump has a chunk out of the casing on the external side of where the o ring sits. I'm hoping this will still give a good seal under pressure but I may need to replace the pump if not.
Adding a few pics if it'll let me.
Topcat
13
« on: March 21, 2019, 01:55:38 PM »
Hi Guys,
Just received my cb550 cylinders back from rebore, honing and decking. Any recommendations on ways of cleaning up post the rebore?
Cheers
Topcat
14
« on: March 12, 2019, 02:59:00 PM »
You need 1 thou clearance on the aftermarket Sliver pistons. And the pistons need to be matched and numbered to each individual bore 
I have had 1mm over size pistons from Sliver that were only 0.69mm over size 
Thanks Guys, appreciate it, yes sent all four pistons over for boring to match each of the cylinders. Have gone for 1 thou clearance. Regards Topcat
15
« on: March 12, 2019, 09:49:21 AM »
If you download the proper workshop manual from Ash,s aladins cave it will give you max/mim bore size plus max/min piston size. All my manuals are packed away so i can't do it for you
Of course, I understand. Unfortunately it looks like the aladdin's cave is having issues with the 550 folder either being empty or tree controls not functioning. I've found some workshop manuals elsewhere with min max bore plus min max piston sizes. However I'm either completely missing something or there is an error in the manual (probably not the latter). Is the standard piston diameter really that variable?
However if I assume the miss print is 58.47 then I'd say clearances are 0.01mm - 0.04mm, would I be correct in these calculations?
(Attachment Link)
Cheers
Topcat
If you are using aftermarket pistons, you need a piston to bore of 0.026 mm or 1 thou If anyone that is doing your re bore tells you that this is too tight, walk away and find someone that knows about Honda engineering.
These are cheaper than Sliver >>> www.ebay.co.uk/itm/75-77-HONDA-CB550F-0-5mm-OVERSIZE-PISTONS-SET-4-PISTONS-INCLUDE-10-CB550KPS-1/263451814044?hash=item3d56f3a89c:g:MCEAAOSwNRdX6M6z
OK the place I took it too seem aware of the honda engineering tight clearances. Could you guys confirm should I be looking at 0.01mm or 0.026mm? I'd previously asked for 0.01 and was pretty insistent on it based on bryan's reply but if it's 0.026 for the aftermarket ones I'll have to call them back sharpish. Cheers Topcat
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