1978K for Resto Mod

[rich]

I'm trying to catch up with Tools. I added two more to my stable today.

Bought this '78K today. It's relatively unmolested. It has a four-into-one header but other than that stock. 26K miles. Runs pretty good, no smoke, no strange noises. Little bit of a bog off idle - accelerator pump?



The owner had a king and queen seat on it. However, he still had the original and it was in good shape.





This followed me home too! It's a 1989 Kawasaki VN750. It has some road rash on the left muffler and small dent in the tank. Again, all stock, around 26K miles.

Guy made me a deal I couldn't resist. For what a good running complete pre '79 CB750 goes for around here, I figure I got the Vulcan for free (that's my way of justifying it). I'll tinker with it and clean it up and see if it'll sell for enough to cover the cost of both. Already found a good muffler for it on ebay along with a couple of other bits it needs.


I passed on the Vetter though. LOL

[TOOLS1]

That CB is a year too new for you. Better let me take it off your hands. Those Vulcans are pretty popular bikes, you should not have any trouble selling it.
TOOLS

[rich]

Maybe I should collect one CB750 from each year of the 70s instead of every 1977 model they made.

On Feb 19, 2014 10:27 PM, "TOOLS1 [via Honda CB750'S]" <[hidden email]> wrote:

That CB is a year too new for you. Better let me take it off your hands. Those Vulcans are pretty popular bikes, you should not have any trouble selling it.
TOOLS

Life is not about the number of breaths, you take, but the moments that take your breath away.
I don't have an anger problem. I have an idiot problem. Hank Hill
Never confuse education for intelligence.
Happiness is a belt fed weapon.
I just can't imagine what could go wrong.
No fire? No explosions? So whats the point of your story?
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato
It couldn't be done, but the darn fool didn't know it, and did it anyway.
We all got problems. Ksharp
1976 CB 750-A X 2
1977 CB 750-A X 2
1977 CB 750-K X 2
1976 CB 750 F
1981 CB 750
1966 Kawasaki SG 250
1981 KZ 750 LTD
1973 CB 350
1979 CM 185 Twinstar
1982 Honda XL 80
South of Eden (Kansas City MO)

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NAML

[shinyribs]

That Vulcan looks really clean. That should be an easy sell soon. I kinda like the wheels on it,to bad it's a shaftie tho.

[rich]

I got the bikes home last night and unloaded them today. I noticed the chain was way too tight on the CB750.  As I got ready to adjust it, I also noticed the MASTER LINK CLIP WAS MISSING!

So I want to order a new chain and sprockets, and convert to a 530 setup with an o-ring chain. I started searching for recommendations and noticed that 78's came with a 17 inch rear wheel. Mine's 18? I guess it got swapped somewhere along the line.

When shopping for sprockets what should I be looking for? Or how can I tell what's on there now (77/78 parts or older parts?).

[shinyribs]

I always ran 18-48 sprockets. Gives you about 6k rpm at 65 mph. You are used to the power of a DOHC. In comparison the SOHC will be fairly evenly matched regarding upper rpm power,but the SOHC's do not have the bottom end power of the twin cams. IMO, they need to be geared to rip.

I use steel sprockets because they are cheap( about a dollar per tooth),these bikes aren't light and I like to play hard in the mountains. Anything under a 9500-10,000 psi tensile strength chain tends to stretch real fast for me, so that's what I use. My last three chains came from BikeMaster. IIRC, they are rated at 9,600 psi tensile strength. 530 with o-rings. They usually run about $60-70 depending on length. At that tensile strength from BikeMaster they come with a rivet-on master. I spend another $5 and get a clip style master for them.

[rich]

The garage is getting filled with boxes from ebay with all the stuff I keep ordering. My checkbook register has about two pages of payments to "PayPal". This is just some of the stuff I ordered for the Honda.


Got the tool kit so I may as well have the owner's manual too.


I only needed the grab rail but the fenders will come in handy (given my record for having women wreck my bikes with hammers and cars).


The tappet covers were weeping a bit of oil.

 
Both side covers are held on with wire.



Got a half dozen oil filters. They also fit my 79 750 and Goldwing.


I got Iridium plugs. Love them on my 79.  


The tip of the break leaver was busted.


I just got this cheap o-ring chain for now. Still going to run with the 630 sprockets as they look pretty good. I'll convert it to 530 next year.


The 90 degree filters can be hard to find at the local hardware stores.


Points. Now, where the hell is my dwell meter? I haven't used in years.


A hard copy manual is nice to have.


My 4-into-1 has to be removed to get to the oil filter so I got new gaskets. I'm not sure I'll keep the pipe. But for this first oil change, I'll take it off and paint it with some BBQ paint and see how it holds up.


My shocks were leaking. These looked cool. They will go nice with the gold chain. LOL.

[sgtslag]

I installed the same Iridium plugs in my '79.  It started instantly, the first time I hit the switch -- I literally jumped, as I was accustomed to it grinding for 4-7 seconds before it fired (original coils and wires).  I installed Progressive brand shocks, no external oil reservoir like yours have -- rode like a modern bike afterwards (I installed the Progressive Fork Springs, same time).  Those progressively wound springs, on the shocks, are like having two differently rated shocks on board, all the time -- you will love the new suspension.  I also installed a K&N air filter:  the butt dyno approved of the 'performance increase'.  Adding some new bits to my old bike really changed it -- talk about breathing life into an old motorcycle!  Looking forward to reading your comments on the ride after you finish the upgrades.  Cheers!

[rich]

I'm wondering if I need to gap the Iridium plugs to the 78 750 spec. On the 79, with electronic ignition, I just left the gap alone because I read you shouldn't mess with the sensitive tips on the Iridium plugs. But the old points-type ignition on the SOHC doesn't seem like it would be able to deal with the wider gap.

[TOOLS1]

DON'T TOUCH THEM!!!!! They are set at the factory, and ar too fragile to be moved.

rich wrote

I'm wondering if I need to gap the Iridium plugs to the 78 750 spec. On the 79, with electronic ignition, I just left the gap alone because I read you shouldn't mess with the sensitive tips on the Iridium plugs. But the old points-type ignition on the SOHC doesn't seem like it would be able to deal with the wider gap.

TOOLS

[rich]

Thanks. I'll just drop them in.

TOOLS1 wrote

DON'T TOUCH THEM!!!!! They are set at the factory, and ar too fragile to be moved.

rich wrote

I'm wondering if I need to gap the Iridium plugs to the 78 750 spec. On the 79, with electronic ignition, I just left the gap alone because I read you shouldn't mess with the sensitive tips on the Iridium plugs. But the old points-type ignition on the SOHC doesn't seem like it would be able to deal with the wider gap.

TOOLS

[rich]

So not to happy with the gas charged shocks. They're too long. The ad said they were 13.2 inches. Well that must be without the clevis mounted. Overall they're 14 5/8 inches. I put them on just to see what it would like like, I was thinking maybe a scrambler/street tracker set up with low bars and bobbed fenders. But the gap between the back tire and fender is huge and a bigger tire will just jack the ass end up even more.



To add to the disappointment, I broke the threaded portion of the shock mount off. The nut went on OK but busted the mount when I tried to get it off. Bummer, but Tools said he could help me fix it up.

This is the mess I made when I tried to drill a hole in the mount to run a bolt through it.
 

In other news, the Vulcan is looking much better. I replaced all the parts from the previous owner's crash. He went down on the left side. I replaced the front and rear turn signals, the headlight trim ring, the clutch lever, the muffler, the shifter oil seal and the side cover. Got all the parts from ebay for around $200-$250. I also installed Iridium plugs, new air filters and changed the oil and filter.  I put my sport bike soft bags on for now, just to have some storage. Looking for a cheap set of leather bags. I think they'll look a lot better.




I also installed a manual cam chain tensioner on the front cylinder. I got one for the rear but I have to modify the coolant overflow bottle to install it. The front chain was making all kind of noise. The stock tensioners aren't serviceable and fail quickly. The manual tensioner quieted the chain noise down nicely. It's butt ugly though
 

[TOOLS1]

Moto-X You know it's funny, I just happen to know where there is a really nice set of leather saddle bags.
TOOLS

[rich]

Man, I get off my a$$ and get over there. What's tomorrow look like for you?

[TOOLS1]

Looks like I will be hanging out in the Toolshed.
TOOLS

[rich]

Won't be too early. I'll call you in the morning. Should be able to get there around 2:00.

On Apr 5, 2014 5:48 PM, "TOOLS1 [via Honda CB750'S]" <[hidden email]> wrote:

Looks like I will be hanging out in the Toolshed.
TOOLS

Life is not about the number of breaths, you take, but the moments that take your breath away.
I don't have an anger problem. I have an idiot problem. Hank Hill
Never confuse education for intelligence.
Happiness is a belt fed weapon.
I just can't imagine what could go wrong.
No fire? No explosions? So whats the point of your story?
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato
It couldn't be done, but the darn fool didn't know it, and did it anyway.
We all got problems. Ksharp
I like vintage bikes because they take me away from the clutter of technology that I work with everyday and back to a simpler time of mechanical elegance and simplicity. This would just defeat the whole purpose.. "ninadm"

1976 CB 750-A X 2
1977 CB 750-A X 2
1977 CB 750-K X 2
1976 CB 750 F
1981 CB 750
1966 Kawasaki SG 250
1981 KZ 750 LTD
1973 CB 350
1979 CM 185 Twinstar
1982 Honda XL 80
South of Eden (Kansas City MO)

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NAML

[rich]

I got the 78k loaded on the truck.  Ready to see some surgery performed on it.

[TOOLS1]

Did someone say "HARDTAIL?"
TOOLS

[rich]

No hard tails. Too many dirt roads around here. Maybe you can move the lower shock mounts to make it sit lower.

You can delete your number from the post above.  I saved it.

[Peterwh]

Why not convert the Honda to electronic ignition?  I find it works a treat and it's a fairly easy mod to do in a couple of hours.