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Today we put the carbs back on my 74' Honda CB 550 K0. It still has the stock airbox so installing carbs ain't no picnic. We built this bike in 2020 from a beat up roller with the motor on the floor and the top end in boxes. The PO cleaned off the old head gasket with some kind of spinning disc and managed to put hard to see low spots. We had cleaned it up and missed a dimple near #3 during assembly. It held for a few rides before #3 was at 65psi so we pulled the head off and took .004" off the head and .002" off the cylinders.

The bike is #449 of the first 500 CB 550 K models when they changed from the 500-4 to the 550-4. I didn't alter the frame to build the bike because of that. Even the seat still uses the original hinges and lock, I did alter the seat pan. We made a few improvements like converting to needle bearings in the swingarm, tapered roller bearings in the steering head, clip-ons with a 70mm rise, custom made rearsets built with all Honda parts, custom seat, Progressive fork springs and Hagon shocks. The goal was to make it look like a cafe bike built in the 70's.

We'll probably sell it as soon as we have it sorted out and reliable.

Nice bike Kelly.  I was there in the 70's and I think you achieved your goal !    

Scotty