Honda CB550 top end gasket replacement. (fixing oil leaks)

Hope this video helps any of you looking to do the same job. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and I will answer as many as I can.

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[DoctorMotorcycle]

For those of you who are willing to add a few extra steps to this procedure, on a lot of these vintage air cooled bikes, you can leave out the base gasket and use loctite 510 in place of it. This generally will increase the compression a half point, and most Pre 1980 air cooled bikes have plenty of squish/valve clearance to do this. Obviously, when doing this you want to check the squish and valve clearance (squish with solder, valve clearance with clay). But if you're looking for free HP and a little more pep, it never disappoints. It's also a good idea to check cam timing when you do this, however MOST bikes will only have the cam timing retarded a few degrees, which will increase the top-end a little bit.

I've done this on every bike I've ever built, and have never come across a pre 80's bike with an otherwise stock engine that didn't have enough clearance to do this. YMMV

[shawnmahmoudi]

I can not tell you how useful these videos are man. Thank you.

[drew]

"Good idea to have the manual here to double check your work" Love my shop manuals. Someone commented on one of my videos that I couldn't call myself a mechanic if I used a manual. Feel sorry for that guy's bikes and their future owners.

[brewermodels]

After all of this time, this bike is still my fave of the ones you've built. I know you think a lot of people are tired of seeing 70's Honda content, but I could watch these builds all day every day! Repeat content > no content ;)

[ChadwickRider]

We're in a time now where I get super stoked when I see a notification that my favorite channels have uploaded new content.
Thanks for keeping it coming Taylor, much appreciated!

[CwPlatapuZ]

I love watching these videos while working. You should definitely do an xs650 brat at some point :)

[ssmit]

Those impact drivers are a real life saver. Made changing my stator a 20 minute job.

[BeansBuilds]

omg i was thinking about bringing my cb to a shop to let it repair. it would cost 500-750 euro. Now i can do it myself, including restoring the carbs. AMAZING CONTENT!

[bullettube]

I remember when working at a Honda shop when the CB-500 was introduced, one of the big selling points for mechanics was that we no longer had to remove the entire engine to work on the top end. It really made things easier for mechanics. But the base gasket leakage was common on all bikes at the time except for the earlier Hondas like the 305s and 450s. Triumphs and BSAs especially were noted for this, and ironically Honda made the same mistake BSA had made; they didn't have enough bolts holding the cylinders down.

[David-fhch]

Dude you make it look so easy! I hope it goes as smooth for me on my 76’ CB550 I just bought. I should’ve paid more attention to the engine leaking and thinking that it was just something small. About to start this rebuild process this week… wish me luck!

[cesarinho]

I am about to do this next weekend on my 1975 CB400Four. Thanks a lot.

[alexking]

Literally about to do this job for the first time tomorrow on my 550, perfect timing. Cheers!

[jeffgibson]

I own a 1978 Honda CB550K it has less then 60, 000 miles on it. It is completely stock down to the 4 signal exhaust pipes there still good and not beat up it does have the crash bar and rear rack and a sport windshield. When parked 10 years ago it ran perfectly so smooth at idle you wouldn’t believe it was running, but it would wipe out my right shoe and pant leg with oil from the failure of the head gasket and o rings. I’m a good backyard mechanic having read what was required to repair it for some reason scared me off, but after watching your video I now feel I was just being silly I CAN DO IT IT WILL LIVE AGAIN !!! My question to you is while it’s opened up should I go ahead and replace the rings lap the valves and replace the cam tensioner for many more years of service and maybe the oil pump I trust your opinion it’s 53-60, 000 miles normal wear what is there life expectancies lm 65 years old and when growing up you see a bike with 10k on it would would think it’s time is soon over. I live in Colton CA AND IF I Don’t FIX IT I WILL NEED TO FIND A GOOD HOME FOR IT IM THE 2nd owner 15, 000 miles when purchased in the mid 80s 👍

[preez]

Great video as always! It kind of skipped the fun part of putting valve cover on. Valve tappets usually get in the way of putting it flat on. Using rubber bands to hold them up helps tremendously.

[peteransel]

For all of us with CB550's, these videos are a so helpful! Thanks

[Dorothyyy]

havc a 150cc cafe racer. u just gave me an idea of my dream bike. thanks man.

[jerryhatley]

Hi, great vid…I’m just about to start the same thing on my ‘85 650 nighthawk…I did this to an ‘83 550 nighthawk about 15 years ago but I’ve slept since then so I’ve forgotten EVERYTHING….so this “beginner” is thankful for this vid! Shalom….

[bikes]

Hi Taylor, thank you for the effort you have put into these videos. I currently have a line-up of Honda CB's (100, 350, 550 and 750) that i am working on or want to be working on and your videos are a huge help. I know you are looking to change direction on your channel but I do hope you keep working on these bikes. I appreciate all that you have done thus far. May you be well! Matt

[mikeboutin]

Thanks Taylor. You made that look easy. Keep em coming. I have a similar oil leak on my bike I might tackle now.

[JohnpaulArt-gcnm]

literally doing this to my bike this weekend sept I'm changing the piston and rings to. love your channel.