1976 - First Build

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tbs
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1976 - First Build

tbs


Hello! New to the forums and the world of cb750's.

I just picked this bike up for $500 and I'm really excited to get started on it, but I'm trying to figure out where the starting point should be. At this point I'm deciding whether I should try to trouble shoot it as is, or strip it and rebuild from scratch.

The guy I bought it from had purchased it with the intent of turning it into a cafe racer. The previous owner had fried the wiring harness and as a result it doesn't currently run. The guy I bought it from did buy a new harness and had started to install it but never finished it, leaving the bike in pieces and chaos.

Currently, so far as I can tell it's in decent shape, the meter says 27k miles but there's apparently been work done to it(?)

The good,
- the frame is straight (has some spot rust but I planned to powder coat it)
- tires are in decent shape besides the front being flat
- there's a new wiring harness (sort of) installed
- shocks are in good shape
- it shifts
- the engine is free
- carbs are in good shape
- engine compression was consistent (although there's a leak somewhere towards the back of the bike)
- a lot of what I was going to modify on it body wise is already done
- all the things missing (headlights and airbox and so on) are in a box and I don't have to buy anything new

Needs:
- some body work (the bike sat for about 9 months without being touched)
- new air box, although I think I'm going to try the pod conversion
- full rewiring
- new speedo/tachometer (the first owner replaced the OEM ones with what I think are home printed reptile eyes)
- new handle bars (you can't tell in this picture but the current ones are pretty rusty and I want to go with straight bars)
- new front brakes all around (caliper, disk, cable at least)
- gas tank cleaning (it's in decent shape but there's rust on the inside of the tank)
- new battery
- new headlight
- maybe a new chain but the sprockets seem to be in good shape
- some surface rust and the chrome is dulled which leads into..
- aesthetics (planning on making it flat black, restretching the seat leather)

I'm new to motorcycle mechanics, I can do basic maintenance like change a tire and do the oil and some mild dis assembly but I'm not great. I work a lot on cars so I'm familiar with that but I'm not sure how transferable those skills are.

So basically my situation is, I have a bike, it doesn't run, I want to repaint it and do a pod conversion and I'm not sure if I should strip it and start over so I learn more and hopefully stem problems along the way or if I should just try to put it back together from where it is. I do have a 1976 CL360 that runs that I've been riding so I'm just looking for some thoughts on what would be the better route to take.
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Re: 1976 - First Build

TuneAfish
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tbs
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Re: 1976 - First Build

tbs
Thanks for the advice!

I like the idea of trying to get it running from where it is right now but I'm not sure what the best thing to start with would be?

I figured getting rid of the reptile eyes in the speedometer/tachometer dials first but I'm open to suggestions :D