Okay, so I might have a 550 or two,maybe a 650 , finished up the 450 and still there is parts all over the garage. I recently picked up a couple of 750 projects and there just isn't any space to spread them all out. So the decision was made to assemble these loose parts to condense this mess and see what I come up with.
Rebuilt 2 550 motors , painted some frames, shined some parts.... This is how the first sweep the floor bike is coming out so far

The 2nd one,I wanted to do something a little different than the rest of them, used a 650 tank, extended forks,lay down shocks.... this is how it's coming along

I haven't gotten much riding in this year yet but these projects keep me out of trouble and I like building almost as much as riding. 2 more projects left before it's 750 time.

Wow. Every time I see your posts it makes me feel bad that the 550 sits in my sunroom collecting dust. You have some nice bikes. I love those old Honda!

I don't understand where you find all the time!!! I can't even fathom how long it would take me to do this, my dirt bike rebuild is taking me a YEAR, and I gave up after I couldn't get a spark out of it.

It's great to see the action in the shop. I know you've had some major bummer there with all the flood water and such, it's good to see these steeds looking fine.

I am able to be in the garage anytime from 5 to 10 without much trouble, my wife's Dad like golf and left the family each weekend to play, her mother claimed to be a golf widow. I am only 50 feet from the house , within earshot,and it keeps me out of trouble. I had an occasional project with trucks when my girls lived home , when they grew up it was all bikes. So with a possible 5 hours a night on weekdays and some free Saturdays, there is plenty of time to do a rebuild, usually takes a month from start to finish on a 550, a little longer on a strange bike.
NH919, a 550 in the sunroom, that's a good thing, you get to keep one in the house! Most guys leave the 550 in a shed, or down in some damp corner of a basement, or worse yet...under the same tarp in the backyard for the last 10 years. Will it polish up? A handlebar height sissybar and an oval piece of glass.....viola , a new bar. I have a '57 chevy hood as a bar outside , folks get a kick out of it but, a 550 bar,wish I thought of that sooner.
Thanks Bigdaa, there has been some trying times for a while here but most troubles. seem to fade away in the shop. Things are almost back to normal for the most part, the theater project is all framed up now,electric is in , the breakaway stage is built and most of the sheetrock is up and it's coming along. The finished machines are all there as the shop is too small, tonight we have flood warnings again. Couldn't happen twice ,right?

She can be polished up. In great shape for the year. I stopped riding her because of some charging issues. She sits because I spent all the bike money on the niner but she will live again. Not as pure as the bikes you have. I've cut up the seat, drag bars which hit the tank on full lock and decals removed. (The last 2 done by the PO.). It was great to ride, the 4 into 1 kerker sounds great. I feel bad that it just sits. Not worth selling as we spent some nights in the garage together. On a side note how's that barn of a shop coming?

The shop that I am attempting to clean up is getting better, those 2 machines being assembled has freed up some room, but there is more to do,there's 2 more and a sidecar to deal with

and get these 2 engines rebuilt

Getting these done would clean up some serious space, I haven't seen the bottom of the workbench in months. Some folks ask me " why would you waste time on bikes in that condition?" . The answer is, all of my bikes started out looking like that when I got them, some even worse.
I've gone as far as I can go on the grey bike and the red one for now without sinking in big $, I'll put them up in the theater until I can afford to finish them.
There is enough new stock on the shelves to get a decent start on the 2 rough machines, at least rebuild the engines and get them set in a freshly painted rolling frames, that may be as far as we get for a while on these machines. Then it looks like it's 750 time.

Cool projects. Thanks for sharing.

+1! Can't wait to see the sidecar done!

+1, I say that sidecar should get done asap! Like, pronto!

+1 on the sidecar. That's cool. Keep up the good work. Bringing the old bikes back to life is a great thing.

One is a 76F and the other is a 77F, this is what they looked like after a trip to the carwash to degrease, not much prettier huh. but it did reveal the rust, so there has been some cleaning of 1 frame to get most of the crap offso I can do a little finish sandblasting before we go to paint.

This should look a bit healthier by next post.

Okay just a quick thought , may not be anything so I thought I might run it past you and get some feedback.
Have:bare frame, sidecar, hardboxes, some less than perfect pitted chrome rims and fenders....Recent train of thought..... Camoflage everything,load the whole machine with all the parts that I have been reluctant to use....Black or white 5 point star.... too much?

Do it! What have u got to lose?

Could look really cool, and be a bit of a mind-bender at the same time - "WW2 camo Honda?? Wait a minute...."

Maybe heading a little bit in this direction....

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Oh that looks like fun. Allot of fun. I'm seeing some ideas that I would like to use. Tastefully done.

Have a browse around the <www.bikeexif.com> archives - you'll see all sorts of ideas made real by clever, inspired folks.

DOOOOOO EEEEET!!!!!

I dare you...

I decided to go out in the shop and do something.....even if it's wrong. This is what I came up with so far

It's a start.

Hey wait a minute

I decided to go with the 70's camo, but I can't help but think how much better it could look with a metalflake clear coat with a few coats of clear over top of that. Hmmmmm.

I like it. What about the rest of the bike going to paint the motor too? Maybe just black the motor out. I assume the camp would be hard to do with all the fins.

The camo will look cool IMO, how about painting the engine solid, one of the colors used in the camo.

I've been toying with the idea of a blacked out engine because of the high temp paint.
I was also thinking of camo on the engine sidecovers Or if I can find high temp camo colors ,do the engine in camo and polish the engine sidecovers just to have something shiny.This bike won't be making a landing on any hostile foreign soil so I don't think that a little polished aluminum is gonna kill me.
So I forgot to mention, the flat camo paint is now sporting a metalflake clear coat and a clear over top of that. Very subtle until it hits sunlight, then it pops. Hit the front fender, light brackets,forks and headlight so far. I'm not sure how folks feel about that but I'm having so much fun with these rattlecans...no compressors , no cleaning guns, when I want to use a different color, just grab a different can, takes the work out of it and it's pure enjoyment and it's fast. This is fun.

Sounds cool, man, pics when u [rattle] can.

It's a roller

I like a little chrome but this doesn't call for it ,so

I hit the bars and controls. This is all I could get done this afternoon.

I like it! Very cool...The finished product could well be amazing!

I traded off the 750's today for... you guessed it. a running 500 and 2 engines. I'm in my comfort zone and won't have to clean out the shop!

This is what the 550 looks like today, waiting for clear paints to arrive.

That looks epic! Where's the sidecar?

I moved the sidecar out from the corner of no return in the shop last night, most things found in that corner have been there for a while, a long while.
Going to rebuild the engine next week sometime and get the bike almost ready. The engine in the cradle will free up some work space that I had to steal when I traded out the 750s for some engines and a 550. Cleaning up this shop could be a full job. move 1 thing out and four other things are balanced in it's place the next day.
The side car doesn't look like it should take too long to do , I'm looking for amounting kit as some of these parts are missing

Will the sidecar be put back with the same camo paint? I'm really digging that look and a sidecar rig with camo would be epic!!

camo the sidecar, why but of course.

Rebuilt the motor , installed it, went with cast iron color for the barrels and top end


Put in a refresh'd set of carbs, air filter set up ( no pods).... this afternoon. A few more parts to get on it , a few to purchase. Was thinking single seat , like those Soviet machines.

Awesome work!

+1!!

And single seat, definitely!

What a hoot!!

rb, you are a freakin' 500/550/650 four animal.

Damn, what a trip!

Wow it's really coming together. The single seat would look good on it.

This followed me home recently

Liked the cut down touring seat and it fit on the camo bike like it belongs there

Haven't had enough time this summer to start on the sidecar, something to do this winter. But I did a rebuild on a spare 500 engine last month

That will be going into this 500 that I traded the 750's for

I'm just not a 750 kinda guy I guess, but someday this garage may get cleaned up, I'm really trying to use up all the spare parts around here.

So I was all ready to drop the rebuilt 500 engine into the black 500 seen previously because of a rotatory type grinding sound in the lower end .I suspected the former owner missed planting the cam chain adjuster in it's perch and it was probably being torn up by the primary chain. But it ran decent, no bucking through the gears.... no fluctuation going through the rpm's.... no bogging or drag....easy enough to check but maybe it was a different problem.
So using a screw driver to the ear to track down this sound, I find that it's not coming from the center of the crank , it's coming from the crank on the right side. So I pull the side cover that had a small dent in it,only to find it has been switched to electronic ignition, the new electronic ignition set up on the spark advance takes up more space than the points and condensers did and was making severe contact with the dented cover. fired it up with the cover off and no funny sound. I'm happy that I looked, I was about to rebuild this rebuilt engine because I thought it would just be easier. Can't be any easier than bumping the dent out of the points cover. Think I'll run it for a bit .