1980 Honda CB750F (The Honey Badger) Bobber Project

[Half-Caf]

Since you don't have the factory right hand controls, you will have to find a way to make your own "kill switch". To me, it sounds like everything is working right, but being that there is no kill switch installed, it is basically set to the "kill" position now -hope this makes sense...

All the kill switch does is connect to wire leads, which completes a circuit. Without one installed, the circuit is in the open position and your bike won't start.
If I were to illustrate it, this is what your wires would look like in the "kill" position:

one wire___  \___other wire

And in the running position:

one wire________other wire

So, basically you need to find where the kill switch would hook up (it will be near the headlight) and put a jumper in or somehow short those two wires.
I am at work right now, but when I get home I can look at my bike and take pictures of the connection you need when I get home.    

[Redemption]

@TOOLS - ok so I did a quick voltage test on DCV 1000

from the ignition to the ground Im getting 13
from each of the 4 points to ground Im getting 13
from the plug side ignition on not cranking im getting 0

Heres the odd part. Measuring the DCV at the fuses I get no reading from one side to the other however from one side to ground on some of them im getting 27 on the other side 5 on some of them 0.

Am I fucking myself up by having this whole shabang sitting on the concrete next to the bike?

That schematic will be very helpful once I am doing the wiring thank you

@half-caf

On the schematic I found listed above it refers to the black and black/white wire on the open red plug I have as being for the on off switch. I have the two of them jumped together

[shinyribs]

I cant help on most of this,but some of it I know about it. I know you cant read voltage thru a fuse.Like from one side to the other.One side of the meter has to be to ground to read voltage. Reading thru a fuse will tell you continuity,but that is measured only with ohms. If you ever accidentally measure ohms while voltage is present you run a risk of hurting your meter. I know it is almost 100% guaranteed the fry a meter's fuse when testing ohms and ACV is present,DCV may be more forgiving,not sure. I really dont understand how you are getting 27v on one side and 5 on the other. That is very odd. Be sure you have your meter set right. I dont say that to be rude,im sure you know how to use your meter. But I have set my meter wrong several times and pulled my hair out with some of the crazy readings i was getting until i saw what i was doing

No worries with the concrete.It wont affect you.

[TOOLS1]

Those are some odd readings. I think I would bury it all under the concrete, and start from scratch.
TOOLS

[Redemption]

shinyribs wrote

I know you cant read voltage thru a fuse.Like from one side to the other.
Be sure you have your meter set right.

Yeah I realized that this morning as I was taking my son to school but it doesnt explain the wonky readings either. The meter was set right DCV 1000 as instructed by my meters manual.

Since I am without the parts and supplies I need I figured I better get some of the other work done. Went to pick up some parts and moved the turn signals forward, replaced the pegs put an axle mount license plate holder and removed the tank.

I am going to need to relocate the coils to some other place because they interfere with the tank. Otherwise ill have to fab up a connecter to drop coils about half an inch from stock mounting. No Idea how I am going to go about that.




The back fender is sort of just sitting there. No idea how I plan to do that yet. thats likely to be one of the last items on the to do list.


@tools

Yeah Im headed out tonight to meet up with someone for replacement coils plus I picked up another spare that works as well. Can never have too many ignition coils for a bike you might keep.

[Redemption]

So I finally decided how I am going about this. Took a quick trip to Lowes to pick up what I needed.

The electronics on this style of bike is generally considered undesirable so people generally hide them in mock up oil bags like what they have on Harleys. I dont feel like paying 100 plus for just that one part so I settled on making my own drum using 4 in PVC capped on either end. The up side to this is that I wont have to worry about any hot wires grounding the whole system on the inside of a metal drum.

Anyway I mocked up the face where the ignition and switches will be and this is what I ended up with. Tomorrow I will mock the rest of it into the frame and then it will only be a matter of running the wires and getting the faulty electronics replaced.


one of the plugs controls the headlights etc and the other will control the ignition as a secondary on/off the speedo and the brake light.

[TOOLS1]

Now that's the way to do it. Use your hands, not your wallet. I was planning on using a 30 cal ammo can on Mortal Vindication to hide the electrics in.
TOOLS

[Redemption]

Ironicly I never thought to run to the army surplus down the street. Last time I was there they had an amazing collection of military containers of all shapes and sizes

[Redemption]

Eureka!!!! Huston we have ignition! Ok so the whole time there was a grounding wire that wasnt grounded that was keeping me from getting spark. The spark plug wires are junk so ill be replacing those today. Believe it or not one of those cracked coils is good. Matters not ill be replacing it anyway. Its just good to know that the rest of the ignition system is functioning properly. Now that I have a semi properly functioning ignition system I can proceed with wiring the bike up.

I am so excited its retarded

Tonight I go to pick up a solid set of ignition coils so ill have a good one left over and a junk one that still functions.

[shinyribs]

That crack on that coil is probably superficial.The epoxy housing is just there to seal it up.Smear some silicone on it and rock on,I say. It wouldn't worry me a bit. Glad you got spark! Did you fire it up yet,or just tested for spark? Either way,good job.

[Hellbilly429]

Right, don't scrap it, JB Weld it! Not bad to have some spares kicking around though, if you have them you won't need them but if you don't have them then you'll need them...

[Redemption]

You are both more correct than you know. I wasnt satisfied with my conclusion earlier so I went out and got new plugs and new wires hooked them up and here is the result.

strong spark on one coil, nothing on the other so I figured its time to trouble shoot.

new plugs and wires, no change
swapped out the offending coil, no change.
swapped the cdi's around no change so I swapped them back

Finally I was almost convinced that it must be that I have two bad coils and one good one. But I wasnt happy with that so I checked by swapping the wires from the back of the good coil to the offending one and BAM we have spark. There must be a break in the blue wire some place up the line. Since Im doing a harness from scratch it doesnt much matter whats wrong with the harness.

I havnt fired her  up yet, theres no oil in the motor and the lines arnt hooked up. Over the next week and a half Ill be putting fresh carb boots (the ones on there are starting to crack) ram air filters, re jet, carb clean and professional tuning.

Because I might keep this one for myself I see no reason to rush it. I still have parts to aquire and I want to rebuild the front shocks etc etc

Plenty of work to be done yet.

[Hellbilly429]

Does that have the stock carbs on it? Everything I have read about these CV carbs says its better to keep the stock airbox and exhaust on the bike because otherwise they won't run right because you throw off the vacuum on them. Correct me if I'm wrong because I would love to be able to put pods and a louder exhaust on my bike but am shying away from it because it's an '81 and everyone has been telling me its a big no-no...

[shinyribs]

You do hear alot of bad things about pods on a DOHC with CV carbs. I dont have any personal experience with CV carbs. My bike has pods on the older roundtops. Tuning was easy but a strong side draft while riding will suck the wind right out of the bike. The  wind hit me so hard and fast one time it almost stalled at 60 mph.Not cool. I'm considering putting my stock air box back on. I just hate to leave the looks of the pods.

[Redemption]

yeah I really have no idea what to do about that issue. Haven't gotten that far. Tomorrow between picking up and dropping off the kid for school im going to start the wire up for the electronics and possibly use an ammo can container of some sort for the battery. Once that's done Ill jump into the carbs to deal with that debacle.

I went to look at a bobber today for a friend of mine. Turned out to be the same year and model and a somewhat similar style build as this one here but they had swapped out the carbs for some other carbs. I should have been listening better but I sort of glazed over at that point because I was busy drooling at how the bike sounded (and how mine will sound when its done) *the guy just texted me back and said the carbs they put on were from a 900* The bike sounded pretty damn clean to me.

The thought has occurred to me to make a 4 into 1 (header) or even a 4 into 2 that would clamp into some boots on the carbs and bolt someplace to the frame and then put one single ram air on that. This would add probably 10 pounds of tube and cost me a mini fortune to have bent and I would be staining my pants during the whole weld process to make sure it came out clean. However it would put a unique look to the bike instead of the ram air or velocity stacks that everyone else is using. It would be awful hard to calculate the proper size tube though so as not to richen up the mixture too much.

I do know one thing though. I dont want the stock air box.

[shinyribs]

I have used several different scoops on race cars thru the years. You are right about the richening ordeal.If we had a scoop that was pushing too much air(they all do at first) we would start drilling bleed holes in an unnoticeable area. More holes or bigger holes until it ran right.Just an option.

It's a very cool idea though. I'm always excited to see something different. I hope you do it.And I hope ot works for you. Good luck!  Just don't stain yo pants bro

[Redemption]

shineyribs - You know I was just researching and what I am reading is that basically all the carbs for those years are the same with different jets in them. same same same so I may just stick with what I have and follow up with that idea about the unique intake. I think that would look pretty bitchin with a tube that comes out mid of the seat to either side with a cool ram filter stuck onto the end of it? it would be three or four bend pipes each... Hell its do able I might have to put it on the *for later upgrades list*

As far as I have read the trick with the carbs is to put cb 900 or cb 1000 jets into the 750 carbs to help rinchen the mixture. the Leaning of the mixture is caused by the increased air flow of the ram air or velocity stack style intake. Not much can be done about wind gusts other than to stay off the bike on gusty days.

As far as the Vacuum hookups go I could drill and weld vacuum pickups into that custom intake or if I can get away with it Ill cap them. I must have 100 vacuum caps left over from the last two baja bug projects.

now that I know all of my electronics are functioning I feel comfortable proceeding to the custom loom stage. I do have to admit I am nervous about it. Im that guy though that agonizes over the *first major cut* into any project I do. When I built my first Baja bug I agonized literally for two hours and smoke a pack of cigarettes while holding the sawsall before cutting the skirts off. After that though all bets were off and I tore through that project like it was nothing. 2 1/2 months from the ground up until I was romping through the mud.

The key to not staining the ole drawers is to visit the little mans room BEFORE doing conviction straining tasks.

[rrgunslinger]

I know how u feel. Congrats.

Harvey

On Mar 20, 2012 5:50 PM, "Redemption [via Honda CB750&apos;S]" <[hidden email]> wrote:

Eureka!!!! Huston we have ignition! Ok so the whole time there was a grounding wire that wasnt grounded that was keeping me from getting spark. The spark plug wires are junk so ill be replacing those today. Believe it or not one of those cracked coils is good. Matters not ill be replacing it anyway. Its just good to know that the rest of the ignition system is functioning properly. Now that I have a semi properly functioning ignition system I can proceed with wiring the bike up.

I am so excited its retarded

Tonight I go to pick up a solid set of ignition coils so ill have a good one left over and a junk one that still functions.

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NAML

[ksharp]

just to also claifry when u get a ready of one ohm reading of your multi meter it means u have no continuity

[Redemption]

Ok well I am about to shoot out to pick my son up from class and Ive gotten some progress on the wiring. I have decided it wise to only replace the wiring I absolutely have to. Extra connectors etc is just extra shit to go wrong and the last thing I wish to see it the wiring shaking its self apart.

Believe it or not this is an organized disaster everything labeled and working from the front back. Also I am starting to question weather or not it is wise to keep the fuse box in its stock location. I dunno what do you all think?