Honda-SOHC

Looks to be a 110w alternator ?

I boosted the front bulb to 55w/60w halogen (new reflector etc)  (from 35w/35w) and offset with an LED rear (effectively 15/20w more load)
This increase was enough to kill my power within 30miles and require a short ride in utter darkness (I had a mate behind me on an R60/6) and then a switch to side-lights for the remainder home ( I had enough to get back onto dip and run the starter when I got back)


After all my advice to others - I fell foul of the not checking the output in the garage BEFORE I left ......... quite frankly that output is piss-poor.. my 1947 ariel has bloody 60w at 6v (which equates to 120w at 12v with a 12v regulator - ok that is optmial and you wouldn't want to be loading it near it's maximum )

 is there an uprated alternator available for CB550's ?? I am struggling to even find a replacement ... Electrex don't even do one ...

Ok.

I done the strip enough to get a good look inside:

http://www.sohc.co.uk/index.php/topic,4615.15.html

I could not find where that piece has come from. It's conceivable that the damage was already fixed as it looks like some bits have been apart before.
I changed the camchain, re-ringed (the rings were about .4/.45mm) and honed the bores as they were ok.
All the valves came out for grinding and non-bent ones went back where required.
I found an OEM gasket kit at an autoumble for a tenner. In it's original sealed bag.

Took a while to fire up but immediately the head gasket was blowing everywhere and then settled down to a very small blow at the front only (and I mean tiny). I torqued it all down in the order, and to the numbers, in the book and even waited 48 hours and did it again. I am thinking a 20 year old head gaskets might not have been the best idea.
More worrying is that the engine however sounds sick. Really sick. I guess the blow is upsetting compression but I can check that with my tester at some point.
It has the original exhaust (4-1) and it's now leaking badly where it joins the silencer, in one rusty lump, which isn't helping. Not sure this fixable as it's tough to get in there with sealant or the welder.
It will hold an idle but it won't rev at all.
On the plus side, I cannot hear the camchain now 

I am thinking that I could lift the rocker and re-torque or am I kidding myself and I need to take it all apart AGAIN and do the whole top end AGAIN.
I am also thinking that it could be a misfire or carb synch causing the lumpy running  ...

For the amount of time and money, so far, I could have completely built three old british bikes from scratch.

1977 CB550 (yup the new one- well new to me anyway).

It now appears to want to smoke at idle/on startup.
The funny thing is that it's not smoking when running. At all (I had a mate behind me). Which is what I would expect if it was burning oil.
The smoke is also not really hanging about in clouds and I originally thought it was condensation...
I stopped for petrol and it smoked again when started.

I have a garage full of old Brits (and an old BMW) and am fully aware of the lovely effects of wet sumping (and leaving your BMW parked on it's sidestand) as well as leaky rings etc ... it's not the same .... the Beemer would blow smoke for miles for example on what could only have been a spoonful of oil running down the valve ..

I did about 50 miles last night (in the snow.... lovely) and everything else was good.

I changed the oil (put 20/50 mineral - I have a BIG tub for all the bikes that use it) and it's not overfilled with oil or anything silly. I also chucked in new air filter
I did various bits and pieces (timing, camchain, clearances etc) but nothing was wildly out. In fact, the rocker gaps were all good and the timing only needed the points gaps setting (well too large) to pull the timing back to where it should be (on advance on the strobe)

The plugs seem ok in colour as well.
to be fair this CB550 is a bit more modern than what I am used to .. but I am thinking the valve stem oil seals are not liking this sudden increase in use ....and just chucking a bit of oil in ...

cheers