The Evil Len Honda CB550 1976 Restoration Thread

[evil len]

Greetings one and all, and once again Lenny boy begins another restoration.

After the Honda VRX400 thread/resto if you recall I couldn't make my mind up whether the next bike should be one of the following :
- 1950's BSA
- 1960's Triumph (preferably 1968, the year of my birth)
- 1970's Honda

As a short term "fiddle" thing I got the Fazer 600 recommission bike as it was going cheap from someone at work. That's been fine, and something to potter with, but to be honest there's loads more I could do with that bike but I've just not gelled with it. That bikes done now, so will go up for sale soon.

So I kept a look out for a bike needing restoration out of any of the above three categories which tickled my fancy. And I ended up with ... a Honda CB550 K2 1976.

The bike is a USA import, brought in by one of the well known companies in the midlands who do this kind of thing. I bought it sight unseen over eBay ... not something I've ever done to be honest, and it was a bit of a gamble ... but I worked it on the basis that I wasn't paying any money up front, and when I went to pick up the bike if it was pants I could just walk away and the worst I'd get is a bit of negative eBay feedback, which I don't give a monkeys about.

These are the photos from eBay. Obvious things that stand out were, sun damage (to rubber, seat, very faded tank paintwork), missing airbox assembly, missing RH side panel, missing passenger grab rail and rear indicators, rotten exhaust.













I'll be keeping the green as I like it, and this will be another "no expense spared" full works.

[buzzer]

That looks VERY tidy! bookmarked

[evil len]

By the way, the photos flatter, she's in worse condition than the photos show, which almost make it look like you could fuel up and ride off !

Bringing her home. Yes, I know that's overkill on the straps. This was the first time my wife's towed (it's her van) in a very long time, the first time we'd used that trailer, and the first time either of us had strapped down a bike to a trailer and towed it ... so we went for 'safe but massive overkill yaaaaaaaargh !'

[CAPP0]

Loving the use of the winch strop as part of the tie-downs! Very creative/ingenious/imaginative!!

[gareth_r]

I'm not used to seeing a CB550 that looks like the CB500.

AFAIK, Honda only sold the CB550F, with a 4 into 1 exhaust, in the UK.

[STO]

Looks a good project

[superlucent]

So you bought from the most well known auction site on the Web, and were ready to flout the contract "You must pay for any item you commit to buying" i.e "There is one simple fact to remember, the buyer had formed a legally binding contract to purchase the item, PERIOD. ... Advice for all buyers on eBay, remember your bid is a contract and is easily enforcible, only bid if you intend to buy." You didn't look at it first although you had the chance to

If it didn't quite float your boat you were just not gonna pay-classy!

I bought an Honda XL250 from this dealer in similar circumstances.

[poo at Paul's]

superlucent said:

So you bought from the most well known auction site on the Web, and were ready to flout the contract "You must pay for any item you commit to buying" i.e "There is one simple fact to remember, the buyer had formed a legally binding contract to purchase the item, PERIOD. ... Advice for all buyers on eBay, remember your bid is a contract and is easily enforcible, only bid if you intend to buy." You didn't look at it first although you had the chance to

If it didn't quite float your boat you were just not gonna pay-classy!

I bought an Honda XL250 from this dealer in similar circumstances.

I don't think it applies to vehicles.

[Chicken Chaser]

superlucent said:

So you bought from the most well known auction site on the Web, and were ready to flout the contract "You must pay for any item you commit to buying" i.e "There is one simple fact to remember, the buyer had formed a legally binding contract to purchase the item, PERIOD. ... Advice for all buyers on eBay, remember your bid is a contract and is easily enforcible, only bid if you intend to buy." You didn't look at it first although you had the chance to

If it didn't quite float your boat you were just not gonna pay-classy!

I bought an Honda XL250 from this dealer in similar circumstances.

Surely if its not as described, then theres no recourse if the 'buyer' walks away?

[TwoStrokeNut]

Yep. If it turned out to be 'pants', and wasn't described as such, you can just walk away. In practice with such an old bike, there will be a ton of other issues. It would be impossible to list 'em all. It's always better to go and inspect before hand, if practical.

The UK's biggest importer is more worried about no-shows and those that don't get in touch. Which is a hell of a lot of 'em.

[evil len]

Okay folks, let's not turn this into yet another ebay thread please, just because one person's got his knickers in a twist. If the bike hadn't been as described in the advert then I don't think there's anyone here who wouldn't have walked away or said something, which was my point really. Luckily the bike WAS as described (obviously, as I DID go on to buy it) and it was fairly described ... warts and all. So let's move on

Learning from the VRX400, much as I wanted to start stripping the bike immediately I wanted to get it running properly first, try out all the things like the clutch, gearbox etc. Nicking the battery off the Fazer I quickly found that very little actually worked electronically. Like the VRX there's a rats nest of connectors in the headlamp bowl, so that was a logical place to start.

And, sure enough, pretty much every connector in the headlamp bowl (dozens of them) were disconnected ! Strange. I spent a happy while reconnecting like-coloured wires together via the bullets.



This is the headlamp bowl and unit sat on a Fazer seat. Maybe I should finish one project first ...



Curiously the throttle and clutch cables were disconnected too. I'll explain later why this is important ...

[WarnieV6GT]

superlucent said:

So you bought from the most well known auction site on the Web, and were ready to flout the contract "You must pay for any item you commit to buying" i.e "There is one simple fact to remember, the buyer had formed a legally binding contract to purchase the item, PERIOD. ... Advice for all buyers on eBay, remember your bid is a contract and is easily enforcible, only bid if you intend to buy." You didn't look at it first although you had the chance to

If it didn't quite float your boat you were just not gonna pay-classy!

I bought an Honda XL250 from this dealer in similar circumstances.

There's always at least one 😁

[evil len]

Aaaand there we go, on this spot there used to be a motorcycle, but now there's just a frame, engine, and several cardboard boxes.



Wait ...

... hang on ...

... I need to do some serious back tracking here ...

Let's roll back a bit and infill. Due to spending so much time dicking around with the Fazer, not had much time on the Honda recently. But had a blitz this weekend, including a total strip down (almost) in one day on bank holiday Monday. I'll post more info and pictures shortly.

[evil len]

Let's cover the starting issue first. I got her running (albeit roughly, due to large holes in the exhaust and no airbox) but only after a LOT of buggeration. Very very long story short, the starter wouldn't turn over from the button. There are a number of different wiring diagrams for different years, and no matter how much time I spent studying and researching, I couldn't find ANY diagram which matched my bike.

In the end it turns out that the handlebars and switch gear aren't from this bike ... they are from a year later bike, where they changed the starter button from positive earth to negative earth. This explains why a) lots of the wiring loom around the headlight was disconnected and b) why the brake and clutch were disconnected.

That was very annoying. Very.

I must have spent a good dozen hours trying to figure that one out. I've purchased new switch gear now from David Silver, which makes things SO much more understandable ! And, the bike runs. Bit smokey though.

[evil len]

Oh, forgot to mention, to get the bike started I had to remove the carbs and clean them out, because (like the Fazer) they were full of crud.

[evil len]

The petrol tank had a light covering of rust inside, so I purchased some POR15.



You thoroughly soak the tank (after blocking holes) with a cleaner/degreaser liquid, then wash out the tank, then repeat with the prep. You have to clean the tank several times until no more debris is coming out.



You then dry the tank out VERY thoroughly !





Stir the POR15, pour it in, and shake/move the tank every 20 minutes or so to ensure good coverage.



I dabbed some POR15 on an old rusty sprocket with no prep work, and threw it outside ... I just want to see how it copes.



Oh, and I managed to pour POR15 down myself whilst shaking the tank. One pair of jeans, slippers and socks ruined then. Also takes a VERY long time to get it off your skin ...

[evil len]

The rest of the strip down (yesterday) was fairly uneventful. 70's bikes are SO much easier to work on than 90's bikes ! Didn't come across any nasty surprises ... the worst was a bent chain tension adjuster. I did the usual thing of taking 000's of reference photos during disassembly, and bagging/tagging everything as it came off. I'm creating a "for the chromer" pile, and a "for the blaster/powder coater" pile.

[crofty1984]

For anyone considering sealing their own tank I can advise that the degreaser REALLY needs to be done with proper rubber gloves, not work gloves with a material back. My hands were fked for about a week.

Bike's looking good, Len! I'll have to make a thread on one of my restos one day.

[evil len]

Please do ... I love reading these threads as much as I do writing them.

[evil len]

Bought an original exhaust #1 from David Silver (not cheap !!) and an original front mudguard ... after inspection, the original one was too dented. They were SEVERELY over packed before shipping ! Huge box.



I stripped the clocks down, so I can get the backs rechromed. I'm building a large pile of things for the chromer.



Finished stripping the frame, including taking the swing arm and forks off, plus the chassis plate.



Initial degrease of the engine.



Full on strip of the engine has begun. Off comes the alternator (with a puller), sprocket, sprocket cover ...



Then on the other side, clutch cover, clutch, points assembly ...





Up to the top end, rocker cover off ...



At this moment I'm not sure if I'm going to split the case / take apart the bottom end, so I've marked the timing chain.



All the information online says to keep tension on the timing chain whilst removing the top end, so that/s what I've done - with a couple of bungees to the ceiling.





Cylinder head off.



Cam on the table-of-bits, with everything labelled.



So far everything I've discovered has been reasonably clean, and unworn. Apart from the camshaft. Some of the lobes are not looking particularly clever ... I'll need to seek expert advice. Appears to be quite a common thing searching online, with lots of comments along the lines of "it's fine, they all do that, as long as you're not racing it'll be okay" ... we'll see. Trouble is, new ones are £1000 !



Cylinder's off easy enough.



And there's the short engine. Can't feel much in the way of end play on the crank or the conrods, but I've a mate of a mate lined up to inspect everything once it's stripped (he builds race engines)