A couple things I need to get my hog street worthy

[tpederson]

I have a couple of issues with the CB550SC that I bought last fall.

1) Horn doesn't work.

 I took the horn off and put it up to a 12v source and didn't get anything.  I made sure the switch works and the wires up to the horn are all good.  Does anyone know of a good place to get a replacement, like to any other years cross over?  Otherwise, is there an easy way to rebuild them?

2) My tail lights are broken off

When I started to disassemble the bike in addition to the squirrel nest i found in the air filter, I discovered that the tail lights were held up by a thick piece of wire that spanned the length between them.  This seemed to work ok, but the tail lights were filled with water as well so they're not in great shape.  I could put the wire back in and try to get the tail lights working again, but I would much rather replace them.  I once saw in passing an add for the same bike and they had mentioned that they installed tail lights from a different year.  Is there a crossover that anyone knows about?  I'd prefer to have something that is a little more low profile, as the reason I found out about the wire was because I snagged the tail light when I was getting on the bike.  They seem to be prone to that sort of thing because they stick out so far.

3) Cant find spark plug wires

I was trying to find some wires for my spark plugs.  The ones on the bike look pretty bad right now, and in fact they have a good deal of electrical tape on them.  I looked around, but have been unable to find the part.  Is there a good way to cross reference these parts?  Also, what's a good source for these and other parts I may need for this bike?  Ebay/craigslist are only good every once in a while.

4) Battery needs to be replaced

The guy who sold me the bike was raving about how awesome the battery was for this bike.  I've since come to find out that it's the wrong battery all together.  I was starting to suspect the stator when it would die often, but it turns out the battery isn't rated for the bike.  I've found the battery in a couple of places but my problem is that there's a large difference in prices.  It ranges from $50 -$120 and the guy trying to sell me the expensive one at the bike shop here told me that it's that expensive due to quality.  He said that if I bought the cheep one from batteries plus, I'd be buying one every season.  Can anyone weigh in on that, anyone have experiences one way or the other?  Also, if you've done it one way or the other, have you used a battery charger when you're not riding?  I bought a charger that can be attached to the battery easily when you park the bike. Is that a good idea?

I know this is a big post, and I appreciate anyone reading through it and giving me any helpful tips.  I'm looking forward to riding this bike once the snow finally melts.

[coffee_brake]

Good on you for asking questions before dropping loads of cash needlessly!

Any 12V horn will plug into the wiring on your bike. Any 12V horn will work. You may need to find one that fits in your frame bracket, and at the worst you may need to splice on the correct fittings for the electrics so it plugs right in. I always take off the stock horn right away and go to the auto parts store and buy a Fiamm "Low F" tone horn, it's very loud. You can put on a used motorcycle horn too, but don't pay more than $10, they're common and cheap.

There are hundreds of inexpensive aftermarket rear turn signals available. Don't get LED ones unless you are willing to alter the wiring, they'll flash funny unless you buy an extra load equalizer.
You can get direct turn signal replacements from a company called Emgo, and your local dealer should be able to order them for you. If it's more than $50, you can look at some aftermarket ones that will look different but work just the same.

Plug wires don't have to be exactly stock. It is quite common (and I have done this) to buy the boot/fitting and the wire seperately. The fitting has a kind of screw inside and you simply screw the new wire onto the fitting. Try removing a wire from the coil to see how it is made, many of them also screw on the same way. Try screwing a wire out of the coil, if it screws on out you can do this easy and cheap fix. The boots are $5 each and the wire is maybe $2.50/foot. Aain, a good dealer will pull ou the big parts catalog (Parts Unlimited and Tucker Rocky are good distributors for all these parts) and show you what to do. Taking in your coil and plug wires will help. Don't let them sell you expensive stock parts, there's just no need.

The batteries you're looking at probably range from the old-style ones you fill and check every month to a sealed glass matt. Any of these kinds are fine! The price difference reflects the amount of maintenance you mus perform to keep them good. You will only have to buy a Batteries Plus battery every season if you refuse to check the fluid level every month! Otherwise if you take care of the battery and keep it charged it will last for years.

Before you toss the battery you have, see if it takes a charge. If it fits in the bike, and takes a charge, then the battery is not your problem. You need to check the connections to find why the battery isn't getting the juice your bike is making, or if it's a short that is draining the battery as it sits.
You can also check the charging system but you'll need a shop manual for that, I'm not qualified to tell you how to do that.

I work in a little tiny bike shop and I'm telling you to try to buy local and support them, but sometimes they just suck and you need to look elsewhere. If you need some help understanding about the coils and plug wires or whatever, just PM me and I'll get you some links. Your problems with your Honda are almost certainly CHEAP AND EASY to fix! Don't let any dealership tell you hundreds of dollars to get it running, just walk away and look elsewhere.

Here, after you get the bike going good, this is an excellent idea for older bikes:

http://www.wgcarbs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26

[tpederson]

Ok, cool.  I'll start getting these things together.  One more question:  what's the best way to get new tires on my bike?  I got the impression that getting the wheel off of this bike would be difficult, I don't remember where.  Are there any tricks you guys know of?  Anywhere I might get hung up?  Or is it just better to cart the whole bike in?

ED:  Duh!  Thanks for the warm welcome and the very useful information!  :)

[JordanA]

I changed my tires the other day, the old fashioned way with rubber coated metal pry bars and tire sealant grease.  Hardest part was getting the rear axle bolt loose on my bike... IT WAS ON THERE!

[tpederson]

Here, after you get the bike going good, this is an excellent idea for older bikes:

http://www.wgcarbs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26

When doing this mod, where on the coil do I plug the +12 from the battery into?  Top or bottom?

Also, it seems like that should be a constant +12 yet it says to use the wire off of the starter.  That is only energized when the bike is starting right?

Thirdly, where is the best place to splice into the kill switch?

[Laminar]

When doing this mod, where on the coil do I plug the +12 from the battery into?  Top or bottom?

Also, it seems like that should be a constant +12 yet it says to use the wire off of the starter.  That is only energized when the bike is starting right?

Thirdly, where is the best place to splice into the kill switch?

I did this on my 550, I should have taken some pictures.

There is a three wire plug that connects to the wiring harness under the tank and goes up to the coils.

The black/white wire comes from the kill switch. The blue wire and the yellow wire go to each coil. Somewhere between the wiring harness and the coils, the black/white wire splits into two, so I tapped into that wire right at the plug. I'm not sure how familiar you are with automotive relays, but here's how I did it:

Relay 30: thick gauge wire to main fuse on starter solenoid
Relay 87: to coil side of black/white wire
Relay 86: to wiring harness side of black/white wire
Relay 85: to frame ground on left side of frame right above coils

MSPaint diagram:



The relay itself sits directly in front of the coils. Because of this, I have to run three wires from it - one heavy gauge to the starter solenoid. Another heavy gauge to the coil side of the black/white wire. And one lighter gauge to the wiring harness side of the black/white wire.

After connecting the wires to the relay and testing the system, I flooded the top of the relay with hot glue so that the connectors were completely engulfed in glue and protected from the elements. Hope this helps.

[tpederson]

Ok, that makes sense, but wouldn't you be better served by splitting the wire comming off of 87 and replacing the black/white wires going to the coils?  Also, when you say starter solonoid, do you mean the black box with the metal link in it near the battery?  I was under the impression that was a relay that was only powered on one side when the start button is pushed.  The solonoid is on the starter it self right?

[Zugzug]

No the solenoid and main fuse are together. Attach it to the same side as the wire coming from the battery.

[Laminar]

Ok, that makes sense, but wouldn't you be better served by splitting the wire comming off of 87 and replacing the black/white wires going to the coils?

You definitely could. I just didn't think the little extra bit of work would be worth it, although in retrospect it really is a miniscule amount of extra work.

Also, when you say starter solonoid, do you mean the black box with the metal link in it near the battery?  I was under the impression that was a relay that was only powered on one side when the start button is pushed.  The solonoid is on the starter it self right?

As was posted earlier, the main battery fuse is on the starter solenoid. One pole of the solenoid is always hot, the other pole is only hot when starting. Hook it to the always hot side - I hooked mine to the main fuse so that the main fuse was between the battery and the coils, that way I didn't have to add an extra fuse in there.

[tpederson]

Ok, I'll give this a shot again.  As an update, I've finally gotten the thing running and I took my first ride last night.  It's worlds different from my BMW K100, as it's like 70% lighter and rides alltogether different.  I think I'm going to enjoy having the variety between the two.