Honda 550 Four
Part 2
The bike arrived safely in Orkney just a few days after it left Hove, Brighton thanks to our couriers McAdie and Reeve.
My friend Leslie offered to transport it from their Depot in Hatston, Kirkwall to our house in Birsay and I finally had my first proper sight of it. It was every bit as James had described, so no initial surprises
- other than finding a virtually untouched original tool kit and pouch under the seat compartment, which was a real bonus as they have nearly always gone walkabout and this bike is over 47 years old!
Another bonus is that the seat, which appears original is actually the correct dark brown colour rather than black - in all pictures it seemed to be black! Over the next few days I assessed what was needed and ordered a few parts from David Silver and a kit of carburettor seals from Julie, one of the SOHC/4 forum members. Having checked the very clean oil and that it turned over on the kickstart, I put a battery on it and with fuel supplied via my remote container, it fired up on 2, 1, 3, 1 then none which was to be expected as the carbs are first on the list for refurbishing - but at least it runs! The lights all work and it even has that annoying indicator bleeper - which thankfully doesn't!
Most of the corroded alloy casings are only grey on the surface, having lost the lacquer top coat but there is nothing deeply attacked, so should respond well to the usual cleaning and polishing processes. Tappet caps were all undamaged but really tight, although with a squirt of ACF 50 and left overnight, they all came loose eventually. I always use a well fitting 17mm SIX sided socket and long breaker bar on those and have never had to resort to extreme violence so far!
The side stand seemed a bit out of shape and stuck out further than I would have expected; when the stand was deployed, the bike leaned over more than usual and I figured that this may have been altered for use in USA on their opposite cambered roads. The slight bend was in the direction of travel which makes me think it might have been done intentionally. I removed and straightened the stand on the press and gave it a freshening coat of satin black, following that with re-plating the pivot bolt, spring and 6mm bolt holding the rubber pad. Once reassembled the stand retracted to a more normal position and when deployed it left the bike sitting at a much better angle for our cambered roads.
The petrol tank was quite full of what appeared to be fuel but also had a good amount of rusty water at the bottom which is probably a consequence of continual ethanol use in the US. This might be the first unpleasant surprise and may mean having to line the tank with a sealer kit, just in case of future pin holes. Not really an insurmountable problem and would most likely make me refinish the tank and side panels, which I was avoiding as they are really quite acceptable as they are. Would that make me change the colour then? Hm, don't know at the moment, we'll see!
In between lots of other jobs, I have managed to do a few jobs to the bike - carbs removed and a few casings on the left side tidied up
The carbs were in quite a sorry state compared with the rest of the bike - perhaps they were from another machine and had been apart numerous times before. The main jet holding springs were missing and the jet tubes quite corroded but serviceable. They will live to fight another day but I might look for another set eventually.
Ultrasonically cleaned, Rub N Buff applied and lots of zinc plating later they will do for now!
The mounting plate came up well and I just tried #1 carb in situ to check all was well - you can't build them up one at a time like that, they have to be assembled side by side with all tubes and linkages fitted before the mounting plate is lowered over the outlet stubs and finally secured with the countersunk screws.
