I dig this tool.

I bought it at Harbor Freight. An inexpensive Chinese made 4 inch angle grinder that I got for $16 bucks.

My friend Clint would scold me for buying cheap chinese tools, but I love them.

I never used one before, so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of safety, so I bought some $1.99 gloves, $1.99 googles, and some dust masks.

My cafe seat came in last week and as I mocked it up I noticed there were two hooks that I needed to grind off so it could fit properly. I decided I wouldn’t post pics of the seat yet…. that’ll be for another post.

The Honda CB550 has a second hook near the tank. I assume its another helmet hook. I can’t think of what else it could be.

They pull off easy by bending them back and forth with a pair of pliers.

I realized this is something that should have been done with the bike stripped down to the frame, something I didn’t plan on doing until this winter. I just covered the bike with a blue tarp. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of debris and sparks. Zero debris, lots of flying sparks. I had to put on a hat.

Er… my first time…

Hook by the tank.

This winter I’ll have the frame sandblasted and powder coated. Until then I thought I’d better shoot the exposed metal with rust preventative primer. I don’t care about how it looks now. The seat will cover this.

Not pretty, but no one will see this.

Most people don’t care for it, but I love eBay. I have been selling everything I’ve been pulling off the Honda CB550. Even the items I didn’t think anyone would want.

I’ve also been keeping track of my sales and purchases. In fact I have a pretty geeky spreadsheet that covers all my expenses and profits from this caferacer project.

This table illustrates only the items that I stripped from the bike.

Not bad for 30 year old parts. I netted nearly $300 dollars. That profit helped pay for my brand spanking new exhaust.

I haven’t come out ahead, nor have I broken even, but the profits from my eBay auctions have cut my costs on this project significantly.

I placed an order for a new 4 into 1 exhaust that should arrive by next week so I decided I might as well remove the old one.

There were two bolts for each exhaust pipe flange. I was afraid they might be too rusted and corroded to turn but they came out fine.

The entire exhaust system was in poor shape… rusted chrome and holes throughout.

I removed the passenger pegs a few weeks ago. Same bolt. 17mm nut on the back and 14mm bolt head.

Engine without exhaust.

I kept everything in order. I’m sure the pipe flanges, collets and nuts are interchangeable but I didn’t want to take any chances. Those are wax paper sandwich bags… not the best means of organizing, I know.

The exhaust was in horrible shape. I noticed there were large deteriorated holes were the headers meet the baffles. The previous owner simply covered them with metal bands and in one case some kind of cloth that I can’t believe didn’t catch on fire.

Or did it?

I don’t think anyone will buy these. I’ll try getting rid of them locally on craigslist. Someone may want them, it would be a shame to just throw them out.

Bike sans exhaust.

Slowly but surely.

I put these on two weeks ago but didn’t think the installation warranted a post. However, it is nice to see how well they fit and how great they look on the carbs.

A perfect fit. They are a bit spongy so I’m sure they would accommodate in size for all sorts of frames.

I honestly didn’t realize this thing was plastic. Even when I was removing the front fender and was in close contact with it I thought it was made of metal. Its in decent shape, someone on eBay will buy it.

I think it looks better without it. I’ll worry about polishing those forks later.

I also have a shiny new Honda OEM brake line waiting to be installed. Maybe I’ll get to it next week.