New to motorcycles, and I need some help

[farmall]

Calipers are for rough measurements, not for checking bore damage or taper, especially taper. A dial bore gauge is best and what the machinist will use for the bore job. Any local automotive machine shop will have something suitable.

I suggest having the machinist who does the work measure the bores and preferably order the pistons so they get to return them if they guesstimated the bore wear/taper incorrectly. You can ask your local Honda or other Jap dealer who they use for cylinder boring.

Land of Facebook is still weak, but your chopper can be strong.

[TriNortchopz]

Yup^^^.

And to have the factory specs handy:

CB550... Standard Values... Serviceable Limit
Cylinder// 58.50-58.51// 58.60
Piston // 58.47-58.49 // 58.35
Range // 0.01-0.04 // 0.25

[OakBehringer]

Carbs car fairly cheap to fix if you do it yourself, and a professional rebuild and tune with O2 meter of a dyno is under $1k and IMO well worth the money in terms of time saved and quality of results (others may say otherwise, but I'm more of a fabricator than mechanic).

ROFL it's worth $1,000 for a carb tune? Get out of here with that advice.

Dude, you have a cool bike. Those 550s were kind of the shitty little brother that no one cared about, to the 750. They're cool, though. I had a CB350F (Honda four cylinder 350cc), which is like the shitty little brother to the 550. I rebuilt the top end easy-peasy. Just find a machine shop and have them figure out what you need. They already have the tools. Might be hard to find NOS +1 pistons and rings, somehow I got lucky. Might be cheaper to source a set off eBay that won't need overbore, just a hone and rings. There's a few on there now for about $125.

New to motorcycles? Jesus man you've chosen a pretty ass-backwards way to get into them. Like others have said: GET THIS BIKE RUNNING AND RIDEABLE BEFORE YOU CHOP IT. Register it. Ride it around for a year as-is. CB550s are cool looking old bikes. You'll get laid for sure. Way faster with a stock 550 on the street than a 550 taken apart in your garage.

[OakBehringer]

Also, please do post some pics of the bike when you bought it. I'd love to see your $100 Honda.

[Oldhabbitsx]

heres how the bike sat when i picked it up. I picked up a hardtailed 750 frame from a friend and need suggestions on springer front ends for a stock cb750 neck.

[Oldhabbitsx]

heres the frame with the stock 550 front end on it. I would ideally like to run a springer front end on it, not super long though. Any suggestions / help is always appreciated.

[TriNortchopz]

That $100 550 looks good; enough parts to justify that price. I had a fleet of old stock jap bikes I got, and sold, for $50 each. Then one guy I sold a couple to called me back and complained that one was missing a chain, another was missing a clutch cable...$50!

Now that 750 frame...do you know who did the hardtail? The top of that hardtail section looks to be connected with just a couple of welded straps - it needs to be connected together better than that. Check the bottom connection too, and confirm alignment. What is your plan for that frame? Got an engine for it?
From what I read, the 550 engine might not fit in the 750 frame:
"The chain position may cause the engine to have to have new engine mounts and the engine may end up off center. The exhaust pipes my run into the frame tubes."
I never tried it though, perhaps someone else has.

Have you read the bible...The Chopper Bible:
Chopper Bible -- (68 Pages)

http://www.hondachopper.com/gallery_misc/chopper_bible/index.html

Lots of info for Honda choppers at that site: http://www.hondachopper.com/

CB750 frame specs (see reply #8):

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=19753.0

[Oldhabbitsx]

i eyeballed the frame and it looks like most of the mounts are in the same place, i havent tried putting my motor in it yet though. I need to hone it and get it put back together (it wasnt nearly as bad as i originally thought. I know what youre talking about with the connections, the guy i bought it off said either he did it, or his friend im not sure which but i agree. I work in a weld shop and know a few guys who would be happy to help me with it. the plan for the frame is to run the 550 motor, im going to make my own exhaust (or try to) becuase i dont much care for the four into two on each side. I havent checked out that chopper bible but I will be printing it off today at work!

[Luky]

Picked up a titled 78' cb550 four and it needs a lot of work, so rather than getting it running stock, I'm just gonna chop it from jump. I want to hard tail it, and I've seen a bunch of companies offer kits for the 650, but none for the 550. Any advice on what to do / how to go about finding the proper kit? I also want to get my hands on an operators manual if anyone knows where I can get one of those. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Owners manuals are sold on Ebay.
But what you really need is the Clymers workshop manual.
Then you could do things like adjust the valves properly. Mechanical timing and electrical timing etc.,.
Those are sold on Amazon and Ebay.

[Luky]

i eyeballed the frame and it looks like most of the mounts are in the same place, i havent tried putting my motor in it yet though. I need to hone it and get it put back together (it wasnt nearly as bad as i originally thought. I know what youre talking about with the connections, the guy i bought it off said either he did it, or his friend im not sure which but i agree. I work in a weld shop and know a few guys who would be happy to help me with it. the plan for the frame is to run the 550 motor, im going to make my own exhaust (or try to) becuase i dont much care for the four into two on each side. I havent checked out that chopper bible but I will be printing it off today at work!

Instead of thinking put the engine into the frame, Think put the frame over the engine.
But the workshop manual tells you which side the engine goes into the frame. Since it only goes in one way on Hondas.

[Luky]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]90175[/ATTACH]
heres the frame with the stock 550 front end on it. I would ideally like to run a springer front end on it, not super long though. Any suggestions / help is always appreciated.

You can get conversion neck bearing cups to help you do that.