CB550 shop manual - what's wrong here?

If you have stumbled on this blog you will have noted that I haven't posted in years. I sold the CB550F, the new owner stays in touch with me. Tonight I was looking at the shop manual to help him with some repairs and I saw something funny.

I've highlighted the funny part to make sure you'll find it.

LED lights for the CB550

I read about LED lights on the sohc4.net forums and bought some bulbs through superbrightleds.com.

Not long ago, guys were figuring out complicated ways to get led lights working in their gauges and pilot boxes. The hardest part was adapting a bulb to fit the wiring harness.

This is no longer difficult. Now you can just buy a replacement light bulb that fits right in the socket. The bulb is called a BA9s. They come in different colors. You can get white, red, blue, green etc. White works great for the speedo and tach. White also works for the bulbs in the pilot box, but you can get red for the oil light, blue for the high beam and green for the neutral light if you want.

LED's use less power than regular bulbs and are sometimes (not always) brighter. I would say that's the main thing, the bulbs are usually bright enough but once in awhile they are not as bright as one might expect.

Replacement bulbs for tail lights are easy too. Just get an 1157. It should pop right in and work. Being that this is a light that other drivers see, it's important to get a very bright one. I like 1157's that have at least 45 LED's on them. The more, the better. Of course the more LED's the more expensive the light is.

An easy source for finding LED's is E-bay.  There have been a few bulbs I bought from E-bay vendors that were not very bright and one of them failed within days.  And once I bought an 1157 LED that would not fit into the socket.  I think it might work for a car's tail light but the shape of the base would not fit into the socket on any of my motorcycles.

One thing I have not tackled is putting LED's in turn signals.  Reading the SOHC forums, many have had problems with getting the turn signals to blink because of the light load.  Regular flashers won't work because the LED's don't work correctly with the relays in the flashers.  So people installing the LED turn signal lights have to change the relays too or figure out other things to do.  And then there's the brightness factor too.

I'll wait on LED lights for my turn signals until it gets a bit easier to do.

Clubmans on the Supersport

I sold the Honda recently.  The new owner is a younger guy and he wanted some help fixing the Honda up how he wants it.  So it's still at my house even though it's sold.  He wants clubman handlebars.

Today I got to work on it.  The first task was to grind a wire passage in the left control switches.  Reason: the stock handlebars have holes where the wiring goes through them from switches to the center of the bar.  The clubman bars are not drilled for internal wiring.

I had a spare left control switch so I worked on it and left the switch on the stock handlebar intact.  It took quite awhile for me to grind a smooth gap big enough for the wires to go through. It's important not to grind into the wiring in the switches.  The right switches were newer, I replaced them about a year ago and they actually had a gap built in for external wiring.  This was not a feature on the original switches.

Next, removing the stock handlebars, disconnecting the throttle cables and the cafe mirrors.  I bolted on the clubmans and got to work installing the switches on both sides along with the front brake master cylinder.  The shorter bars resulted in excess throttle cable and hydraulic brake line, which had to be routed out so that the controls would work properly without binding.  Another concern was making sure the switches on the handlebars would not bang on the gas tank at full lock.

With the bars on and the controls hooked up, next came the wiring.  Here's where I ran into a snag.  The left switches were from a different model CB, maybe a CB500 or CB550k.  There are 11 wires coming from the switches and I think nine of them matched the wiring harness.  The other two wires had similar colors but you only need to have one wire in the wrong socket to screw things up.  At first, the headlight wasn't working.  I moved the wires around a bit and then the headlight worked.  But when I checked the turn signals, flipping the right signal would also cause the left signal AND the tail light to blink.  And the same problem when flipping the left turn signal switch.

This is where I slowed down, counted the wires and identified the "suspect" wires where I wasn't sure if they were matching up correctly.  A few more plugs and unplugs and it was figured out.  Then I took some colored electrician's tape and color coded the wires for the next guy.

Here's how the bike looks with clubmans:

What do you think, is this a good look? Back in the day I would have liked it. Now, I think a set of CB400F bars (drilled for internal wiring) or a set of superbike bars would look better. And feel better.

The Honda has a new owner, so we'll let him have it his way.

CB550F wiring diagram

It's easy to find a wiring diagram for a CB500 or CB550.  Not so easy to find a wiring diagram for a CB550F also known as the Supersport.

This diagrams is black and white.  Well at least its for an "F" model.

Fixing that elusive Honda CB brake squeal - really!

Just about anyone who owns a 70's Honda CB (350, 400F, 450, 500, 550, 750 - did I miss any?) knows these brakes tend to squeal.  Honda builds some great machines and they get credit for being one of the first motorcycle manufacturers to put a disc brake on their street bikes.  This disc brake design leaves something to be desired though.

I've been riding my CB550F around the island and enjoying it, EXCEPT when using the brakes.  That squeal is annoying, even with ear plugs on.  The sound can be modulated by varying brake lever pressure.  But let's face it, when we're using the brakes we just want to concentrate on stopping and not noise levels.

So I had been doing this and that upgrading the brakes and hoping to get rid of that noise.  Some of the upgrades included a new brake piston (Kevin 400F's from the sohc4 forum) made out of a hard plastic that will not corrode, Ferodo brake pads from the old days with asbestos braking material along with the master cylinder and new braided lower line mentioned in earlier posts.

The brake's stopping performance has been great!  Just that sound...

So here's what I recently did attempting to fix the problem:

1. Read through numerous posts on the Sohc4.net forum about brake squeal.
2. Bought some high temp grease, cleaned the outboard brake pad off and coated its metal surfaces (not the brake pad material) then reinstalled it.
3. Put "disc brake quiet" on the back of the inboard brake pad.
4. Rode around with a loud brake squeal, except for just a few times here and there when it went away.

Well I had a LITTLE luck with that!  A few days later I went back and read those same forum posts again and:

1. Removed the arm that holds the disc brake pad assembly.
2. Lubricated the pivot pin and o-rings with the high temp grease.
3. Reassembled and lubricated the adjustment screw that aligns the brake pads to the disc.
4. Cleaned off the brake pad that I had already lubricated with high temp grease and then lubricated it with that same grease AGAIN (on the metal surfaces and not the pad material).
5. Used 150 grit sandpaper and scratched up the surfaces of the brake pads.  Also gently chamfered the pads on the side where the disc contacts them first (the side closer to the motor).
6. Lightly sanded the outboard side of the disc brake with the 150 grit sandpaper.

Went out on a riding about 100 miles and almost no squeal!  Hard to believe.  It was great.  Then... the noise started coming back. 

I believe the high temp grease layer between the caliper piston and the pad kept the noise away (for awhile).   That is, until some of the layer squeezed out from between the piston and the pad.  So I took the caliper apart again, put disc brake quiet on the back of this (brake piston-side)  pad, let it dry thoroughly and placed it back in the caliper.  The idea was letting the disc brake quiet dry thoroughly before reinstalling would help it set up on the back of the pad so it wouldn't squeeze out.  It took another week until I had time to ride the Honda and I'm happy to report no more brake squeal.

Vintage photo of a CB550F

I saw the August 1975 issue of Cycle World for sale on E-bay today.  The starting bid is $14.50 plus $2.50 shipping equals $17.  I just want the cover photo, so I copied and edited it with Photoshop.

Here's the picture.

Wow, it makes the CB550F look like a.... Supersport!

While we're at it, here's another vintage photo, a magazine ad for the CB550F.  Don't remember where I got it, somewhere from another website.

There's a slight leak at the petcock.  I have a spare gas tank and petcock.  I removed the petcock, cleaned it up and will swap it out with the original.  We'll see if it cures the leak.

What happens is, when the bike sits, the petcock slowly leaks fuel into the carbs (yes, the petcock is in the closed position).  Every once in awhile, the carb bowls overflow and dump a little gas on the ground.  I hope the spare petcock doesn't leak.  It's hard to find CB550F petcocks.

What's new with my Honda

After a few rides the Honda's front brake line failed.  It was a braided line installed years ago by the previous owner.  I was getting ready for a ride, grabbed the brake and fluid sprayed all over the place.  There was a small fray near the front wheel and the line had punctured.

The CB550 has a junction for the brake light switch, mounted to the fork.  I only needed the lower brake line.  Looking online, I e-mailed a guy with a good reputation on SOHC4.net.  He didn't reply to my e-mail.  So I waited a few more days then started looking around in Honolulu.  A company called Hydra Air Pacific, near the airport makes brake lines, among other things.  They put together a new lower line for me in about half an hour and about $40 bucks.  Not bad!

Next, my long time friend Felix called me up.  Felix has been a motorcycle rider off and on (like me) for years.  He had been watching the "Cafe Racer" TV show and was getting the itch for an old Honda four.

Old Japanese bikes are hard to find in Hawaii!  Not sure why but let's think...  I had seen a '77 CB550 Supersport on craigslist awhile back.  The guy was asking $3,000 and it looked okay, running but not fixed up.  Then there's the guy in Mililani who sold me a front wheel last year.  I e-mailed him to see what happened with a CB500 he had put on craigslist.  He said he still had it for sale.  He had made some changes, like taking off the expensive 4 into 4 stainless exhaust and putting on a MAC pipe.  But now his price went way down, to $1,800.

I called Felix and we checked it out.  He was pretty excited and the Honda had some nice parts, like Works Performance shocks, rearsets and aluminum rims with stainless steel spokes.  The bike still needed some finishing touches, like paint.  Felix made the guy an offer, he said yes and the deal was done.  Or was it?  A week or two later Felix called me and said the bike was going to need too much work.  I agree - Felix is married, has kids and yeah he works.  Getting that bike in top shape would take a lot of time that he probably doesn't have.

Next, Felix started looking on E-bay.  He found some interesting Hondas and was thinking about buying them.  I told him some stories about the two RD400's I bought in the mainland, sight unseen.  It really sucks to buy a bike, pay the shipping cost and find out there are problems the owner didn't tell you about.  One of my RD400's didn't run when it got here and I spent hundreds at the cycle shop getting it road worthy.  And the owner of that bike had told me over the phone "Yes, it runs."

At the same time Felix was hunting for a Honda, my friend Vince in Hilo was shipping a Kawasaki GPZ1100 back from the mainland.  Besides the purchase price of the GPZ, Vince paid a company to haul it to a motorcycle shop, have it crated and then ship it to Hawaii.  Total cost to move the bike - about $1,000.  I shared that info with Felix and that backed him off a bit about buying from the mainland.

Next - I didn't really want to do this, but Felix and I started talking about his buying my CB550.  I entertained the idea because I was finding that a lot of the "fun" for me was actually working on the bikes.  And I have two more to work on, the KZ1000 and GS550.

Another week or two went by and then Felix bought the bike.  I rode it over, then he drove me home and I gave him a box of parts, repair manual etc.  Kind of sad but I knew it was going to a good home.

Felix test rides the CB550F

Three weeks later, Felix called and asked if I wanted the Honda back!  Why?  Well, finances were running low and as much as he liked the bike he needed some money too.  He knocked the price down a bit and said "consider it a rental" for that time period.  Pretty good deal.  He made some changes including polishing parts using a bench grinder and removing rust using Oxalic acid.

So here we are again, the Honda has come home!