Hello from NC!

[ndmeistr]

 Just found these forums a few days ago and I am very excited. I thought that I was one of  the few people who appreciated the NH line of bikes. I grew up admiring these bikes since I first started riding on the Honda XR-70 my parents bought me as a child. I haven't ridden in years but recently I took the MSF class and got my "M" certification on my NC license. At the same time I purchased a small project bike for the first time in years. It's an 83 550SC NH that needs a little cosmetic and idle/choke/carb work.

I have been slowly working on it these past  the couple of weeks and I have it up and running albeit a little rough, but thus far I am happy with my progress. I have put in a new battery, took out the carbs and cleaned them and cleared out the jets. I ran half a can of seafoam through the gas tank a couple of days ago and I am letting it sit for a couple more days to try and clean out any leftover varnish or crud that I may have missed when I took off the carbs. I have also ordered a new set of Bridgestone Spitfire tires with raised white lettering which IMO will make the bike look much classier. I have also disassembled the front brakes and calipers and cleaned them out. My choke cable broke so I ordered one off of eBay and should be here today.

I am having a bit of trouble though. When I start it after it warms up. I need to have it on 1/4 choke to rev the engine or it boggs down with the choke closed.

Any suggestions?

Here is a pic of my bike for those of you interested:

[LOKi]

  to the forum. Nice looking bike.

Have you checked the air filter? Maybe it's starving for air. Not sure why 1/4 choke would help that though.

[highwayjamin]

  to the group, do what Loki says then keep us posted.   

Oh yea, great lookin bike 

[ndmeistr]

Will do, as soon as I get home. Thanks

[skramer360]

  ndmeistr, Nice 550 you got there.

[hppants]

  to the group.

Laminar is another member that has a 550 and quite a bit of mechanical knowledge.  He's on this site nearly every day - I'm sure he will give you some experienced suggestions.

Ride safe.

[gammer]

Hello ndmeistr and  

That looks like a comfy 550!

[geemann]

You have a great looking project bike!

Keep us updated and goodluck!

[cjbear11]

 !

Sweet bike!

[SirSeanSean]

Nice looking bike. I love the color.

[ndmeistr]

Thanks for welcomes. From what I can see so far, all of you have good looking bikes as well.

Took a look at the air filter last night and it looks clean. Going to order another one online just in case. I heard K&N OEM filters are nice. Is that recommended?

I also took a longer ride last night and after about 15 miles, I closed the choke and it ran without bogging down as much. Maybe the seafoam is working. Hmmm....

[JB1290]

 

[Hangster]

  to the forums  , nice 550 

[Ol School]

I had alot of bogging down and flat spots in the throttle of my 550 when I bought it .
I kept reading seafoam was the best ...now I beleive it ..seafoam is the best .
I first ran a few tanks with about a 1/4 bottle of seafoam in the fill ups .
it helped alot ....but not quite right ///  then I took the fuel line off the tank and ran the gas out of the carbs and filled them up with seafoam from the gas line( used a turkey blaster / injector thing ) ...lets it sit over nite ...next morning I hooked back up the gas line ..fired her up , she smoked white smoke and sputtered and died a few times ...but when she went on gas ...(like a new engine no more flat spots & bogging on the hills , warm up time is cut in half , and mpg went up to over 40 mpg ) ...I`ve never seen anything as good as seafoam , thats the first time I ever used it , and I`ve heard since the stuff has been around since 1946 .....I can`t beleive I missed it all these years I`ve been useing brand x ..
I won`t let her sit a month or two durning the winter without seafoam in the tank ...thats for sure ..sitting up on gas a year is what caused the problems in the first place .
You won`t need to waste money buying K&N airfilters or any other mods once you get your 550 running right ..these 550 NightHawks are stout running 550`s .  
Welcome to the Forum !

[ndmeistr]

Well, Haven't updated in a while so I will catch up with what's going on.

After a couple of rides my bike died with no or little spark to any of the plugs. I pulled out the old Clymer's and started troubleshooting the electrical system. I checked the battery voltages, loaded and unloaded and did not see a significant drop when trying to start. I checked the resistance levels on the pulse rotor thing in the stator cover and they checked out. I then tested the resistance levels on the seleniods and they checked out.

I was getting only about 9-10 volts to the seleniod main leads though, and the book said if everything looked okay then the swap out the igniter (God!I don't know what I'd do without eBay.)  Got the igniter for <$80 and put it in and she started right up. Whew!!  

That whole time she sat, I had Seafoam in the tank and floating around in the carbs for about a week. Now I have no more bogging problems and it idles well and it only takes a few miles on the road to cut the choke off. She runs just like a new bike.

I'm getting the new back tire put today and new front tire arrives tomorrow from Fedex.  I also bought a powdercoated frame complete with  swingarm and center stand off of eBay and plan on making it my winter project to swap that out withe the current one.

Did I tell you guys how much I love Nighthawks.    That's it for now...see you all on the road.

[ariwhiteboy]

I may be a little late to the party but  to the forum.  Have fun and ride safe! 

[hppants]

Did I tell you guys how much I love Nighthawks.    That's it for now...see you all on the road.

Uh.... Tryvelcro .... I believe we have a new addict amongst us!

[Tryvelcro]

Did I tell you guys how much I love Nighthawks.    That's it for now...see you all on the road.

  to the addiction!

[fishball]

A belated hello and welcome to the group ndmeistr.