So I posted a picture of my new to me motorcycle on an older CB forum. Someone said..."Hey are you sure that's a CB550?" He noticed that the brake pedal wasn't the one on the 550 model. So...after looking at the VIN on the frame and the motor I realized that I bought a 550 frame with a 500 motor in it. The frame is a 76 but the motor is a 71. I was a bit bummed because I pretty much got taken but the 500 is still a good motor. If I was wanting to do a full restoration then I'd get rid of it but I just wanted a project to play with so it doesn't matter all that much and this one is pretty clean with good potential.
As I was going through the front end, I noticed that the front brake did not activate the stop light. I did have a switch on the front brake but no wiring. So last week I started looking into that. The issue for me as a novice was that I didn't know if I had a 500 or a 550 wiring harness and that makes a difference when looking for specific wires. After a lot of time with a multimeter, I finally located the correct wires.
I got the switch wired up and now...the front brakes activate the stop light. The bike sat for the rest of the week. One of the things I have learned about owning an older CB is that parts are damn hard to find. Right now there is no filter on the carbs. The airbox alone costs 150 and that's if you can find it. I managed to find all the intake parts I needed (NOS boots from the box to the carbs, hardware, and new UNI filter). The only thing I didn't find is a spring that holds the filter in the box. Apparently these are like finding a brick of gold. I'll have to come up with something. This stuff should be here this week and then I'll feel better about starting it up.
For some reason, I happened to be looking at the under carriage of the motorcycle and noticed a drop of oil. For those that know me, this is a problem. I pulled the left side motor cover to reveal this mess.
This is the same damn repair I did on my friend's CB650. The shift shaft seal was leaking. This one was pretty much gone. I replaced the counter shaft sprocket seal too after cleaning everything up in a manner that only I am capable of.
Here's the motor with the new counter shaft sprocket seal, and shift shaft seal in place. The upper left seal is the clutch push rod seal and I couldn't find one. It looked fine. I put it all back together and went to start it up. I heard nothing but the breeze and rain outside. This was either Friday or Saturday night.
I pulled the cover back and off and hit the starter button and it fired up. Then I wondered if I had pinched a wire while putting the cover back on. Everything was fine. Then I started looking at this thing. This is the neutral switch. It only allows the starter to spin and start the motor while the trans is in neutral. As you shift gears, the cylinder rotates and no longer allows the 2 copper pieces to make contact. I was able to find a testing procedure but kept getting readings saying that it was broken. But there's not really much involved in this switch. It took me pretty much all damn day today to figure out that the contact between the copper points was weak. By this time the battery is drained so I don't know if I'm making any progress or not. I removed the switch totally. I cleaned it and bent that tab on the left a bit more and reinstalled things. Then I tested it again and got readings indicating that the switch was fine. It was then that I got excited. Too bad the battery was too weak to find out for sure. So...I pulled in a car and hooked up some jumper cables. I had a moment of silence with Heather. Turned the key on. Pushed the starter button. It fired right up. I think I'm in the clear. Now I just have to recharge the battery and wait for my intake parts to get here. I also have new plugs and carb cleaner to start running through the system to see if that helps.
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