Thanks Robert-I appreciate the feedback. My bike still sits idle, as I couldn't get it to start after putting the carbs back on. It is a work in progress for sure. Much to my surprise, when I took off the seat, the original tool kit was fully intact. Nice find! Cheers!

Eddie Kilgallon I'm a gear head 45 years in making. Have a 74 550. email me or I can email you my phone number, give me a call and I'll walk you through it over the phone.

Are you on sohc4 message board?

Yes, eddiek

Is that your '78 CB550?

Thanks! I decided to remove my carbs after my bike started running funny-almost like the clutch was slipping, as it kinda bogged down going from 2nd into 3rd, etc. I noticed that pipes 2 & 3 were cold, so I thought I should take the carbs off and see if anything obvious was wrong. Nothing mechanical-so I put them back on and now the bike won't start at all. So right now I have a nice museum piece. Let me know how your carbs look after you pull them. Cheers!

My front calipers are stuck too. Rusted shut/open. Master Cylinder is empty. Video on this one? Will you need to sync your carbs?

I tackled the frozen front caliper today-I filled up the master cylinder (knowing I'd be losing quite a bit of fluid once I got this process started, didn't want it to empty and draw unnecessary air into the lines). I removed the two bolts attaching the caliper to the wheel, took the rear pad/caliper off, then I put a bucket under the caliper/piston half and gently squeezed my brake lever repeatedly. This caused the piston to push out the brake shoe, and also the piston (along with the brake fluid in the caliper). I cleaned up the piston and the shoe (just the outer metal part) with Brake Cleaner and 400 grit sandpaper-as well as cleaned out the inside of the caliper. It was pretty nasty, but not the worst one I've seen on KZfaq. I put the pieces back together, lubricating the piston with brake fluid first. Then, I just pumped the very spongy brake lever about a million times, then bled the caliper-then repeated this process until the brakes came back to life and the front wheel moves freely. Thanks again to r pm for his unbeatable coaching.

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e9GDY8iVmN6pn5c.html

you will never make it as a politician.... your too honest.

They are sweet bikes! Glad you enjoyed the video-Cheers!

Good luck with your project Bill-if I can do it, anybody can!!

Thanks Smoke-I'm going to test my coils next.

I did remove all the screws, removed all the jets and cleaned and replaced all parts w/o replacing with new stuff. I wanted to see if I could open things up and check the condition before I ordered and replaced.

Hey Harry-my carbs came off, cleaned up well, went back on-haven't synced in yet-I'm having issues getting it started-have to troubleshoot that-I know that originally, carbs 2& 3 ran cold-looking at the coils.

those problems start later you clean the carbs? and thats what i want to avoid i found in ebay the sync tool but i dont know how to sync them this is my first bike

+Harry Postres I actually took the carbs off thinking they might be gunked up-but they were in really good shape-so my problem lies elsewhere.

R Pay for sure! There is something pretty cool about being able to work on these bikes with common tools. She just turned 44 yrs old-wish everything was built with this kind of staying power. Cheers!

@@EddieKilgallon yep mine too! I have a '78 Honda CB400 Hawk II. She is mint too...I bought a replacement set of carbs off ebay for $35 (!) and am rebuilding it completely at a leisurely pace as a back up. Then switch out the carbs on there today and then refurb. that set. Carbs seem to be the main thing to pay attention to so having a backup set can probably save me a lot of headaches.

It is actually a proper word, around since the 1400s, which means the same thing as loosen. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unloosen

It was a little tricky-but if I could do it, surely anybody could!!

I broke my sawzall blade trying to get the back wheel off. Thanks for the help though-I didn't even think of that option.