1978 cb550 four cafe racer build bike finished

[stuarty7]

My father in law has raced bikes and sidecars all his life and has got himself hooked with the street tracker/cafe look, We are currently building about to finish a 1979 yamaha xs500 he had laying in his yard for over 10 years, the plan for it was do it as cheap as we can but still nice and use it as a spare bike. ( i will post pics of this also) i finally bought this 1978 cb550 four around 3 months ago looked a good clean bike for its age plans are to make into a cafe racer. pics to fallow later today


bike is stock bar

dragstar handle bars
motad exhaust

so far the only problem we could fit with the bike is its not charging and it already had new regulator/rectifier but still it was not charging we then tested the system and found that the new r/r was not the correct one for the bike, bought a new one and the bikes was now charging but under load (headlight on) best we could get was 11.6 volts which not good so did more tests ad found the stator to be faulty so after a bit of searching on the internet it seemed i would have to get it rewond at around £100. Then by sure luck a friend of my father in laws said he has a cb 550 four in bits which is the only model with the same alternator and he gave me his for free. Best of all his was in great working order and fixed my chartering issue

 

[bigsigh]

Subscribed

 

[Jola]

Looking forward to the pics

 

[da.murf]

interesting

 

[stuarty7]

bringing it home

 

[stuarty7]

was told these wheels are pretty hard to get think these cma's

wee side repeaters i got in ebay

 

[stuarty7]

Also the seat i set on the bike was for the xs500 i just set it on the cb to see how it looked

cb550 wiring diagram i got to help solve the charger issue

parts parts and more parts

first collection of parts removed rear end seat lock and hinger, brackets for chain guard.

engine out

must have just had a service

frame completely stripped

 

[stuarty7]

Here is some of the plans off the top of my head

new fork oil and seals
carbs rebuilt/ if needed
new wheel bearing/ if needed
new headlight brackets
clip on handle bars
twin front disc conversion
custom seat and metal rear pod
custom exhaust end pipe
new rear shocks
no chain guard
new tyres
no rev gauge
customs housing for neutral light indicators headlight etc

 

[stuarty7]

I have also built my own shot blasting cabinet that can take up to a motorbike frame in size heres a few parts i have done for the father in law so far

after

after

xs500 engine

after

far from perfect but good enough to then be painted black

after

 

[bigsigh]

DIY blasting FTW , awesome work there

 

[mx5 turbo]

Great Bikes. keep it coming

 

[stuarty7]

yea built a cabinet got grit and glass beam, sealey blasting pot with water trap and larger compressor it will pay for itself with the amount of parts i will be blasting, plus if anyone is looking anything done let me know

 

[hannakournikova]

Any pics of the blasting setup? I'm just about to build one myself

 

[stuarty7]

yea will put them up later when i get home

 

[Nicky]

Looking good Stuarty. Are you sticking with the 550 engine?

The aul lad has a 750 Cafe Racer and it's done to perfection IMO:

 

[stuarty7]

oooo that looks amazing is it over here?? and yea sticking with the 550 for a good while at least as this will be my first bike to get started on

 

[big-lew18]

Currently working on a cg125 cafe racer myself. I'll be keeping a close eye on this!

 

[stuarty7]

Very nice lew I would like to do a few bikes into the cafe style I love the look and you don't have to spend 1000s if u don't want to

 

[gav525]

Looks like a class project, and as said above get some pics of your blasting set-up! Would like something similar in the garage

 

[Nicky]

oooo that looks amazing is it over here??

Yeah, it's here and it's for sale on eBay for £6k...

I'd love to make a start on another chopper, but baby due next month and moving house this week means it will be a while before I can get round to it, so I'll make do with the Vitara for now.

I'll be keeping a close eye on this though as a bit of motivation and inspiration, so keep us updated as you go, step by step

 

[stuarty7]

Here is the shot blaster pictures this is not it complete it also has two sets of sealed blasting gloves, spot light, and an industrail vacuum.

 

[stuarty7]

Here is the xs500 that should stand us just under £400 not including the bike itself but he had owned it since the early 90s. We did all the work bar the powder coating o the frame and swing arm

as said before this was done with a very low budget in mind but still getting everything it needed replaced

 

[Nicky]

Who are you going to get to do your seat? Or are you doing it yourself? The way it's finished can make or break a bike's finished appearance IMO.

 

[stuarty7]

Not sure yet for my bike I plan to make a metal seat pan frame then foam and shape it and get it wrapped

 

[stuarty7]

new tail light arrived today pictures will be uploaded later