!978 CB750 build

[Lucky 1]

I bought a donor bike from a storage lot, (junkyard) and tore it down.
I cleaned and inspected and rebuilt all the parts i thought I could use.
The $600 dollar Kerker exhaust was trashed, and the bottom of the exhaust tubes were smashed flat
from hitting something or a forklift.
I wired brushed the part after cleaning off  grease then put the steel rusty parts in phosphoric acid.
The next day I painted the part to protect it from corrosion.
Here is a photo of the bike in the "storage yard".

I wanted to add photos - seems like there has to be a line of text first.

I stripped the frame,gas tank and battery holder box to bare metal.

This is the gas tank. 33 years old -no dents!!! Did not come with the bike.

Spent two weeks cleaning grease and paint from the engine.

I modified the frame to fit a Cafe seat made for a 1980 Honda
because it had more of a curve to it. The cafe seats up to 1976 were flat as a board.

[Piute]

Did you get a Titleon that Branscom

[Lucky 1]

Yes there is a title.
The salvage yard bascally takes posession of the bike and stores it and they do not take ownership.
Then they sell it and the buyer goes to the DMV and changes the title and pays any fees owed.
I went to the DMV and put the title in my name and when I register it, (when i am ready to ride) I will pay $34.00 back fees.
This July i will get a letter asking me if I want to register it and take it off of non op status.
Which I will do. Then my insurance company pickes it up again.

Hey maybe I can get "antique" status and get a lower rate.
It will be 33 years old.

[Lucky 1]

I got some Honda CB750A aluminum wheels on Ebay.

I upgraded the front brake rotor to a pro lite floating brake rotor rather
than using twin discs which increase the weight. The rotor was .007 thousandths thicker.
The hub is aluminum instead of steel.

Avon road rider tires and new tubes.


I got the frame ,swing arm,gas tank and battery box back from the powder coaters.
They looked great! First time I have been able to afford something other than rattle can.
But I have had some great looking rattle can jobs.

When you powdercoat a gas tank you have to put the gas tank liner inside the tank after the powder coating.
The reason is that they bake the gas tank powder coating to 350º and the fuel tank liner cannot withstand
the heat.

If you put the fuel tank liner in AFTER it is powder coated then the fuel tank liner can go through a pinhole
and mess up the powder coat.

My advice is put the liner in the tank first and paint it or get it painted.
If you paint it your self get the two part clear to put over the paint. Make sure the paint is compatible with the clear coat.
You can spray the color undercoat two part with a preval sprayer, but not the clearcoat.
The clearcoat needs more pressure. The temp has to be 70º too.

[Piute]

 Good start to a great bike lets get that frame up and rolling ,be sure your threads are clear ,mainly the tank,pre chase the threads to be easier and safe,dual disc have A balance look about them,You'll be able save a lot of weight through out your build just don't compromise safety and common sense or some-one else will be riding it.Many don't use red or blue loc-tight I highly recommend it and A torx wrench.

[Lucky 1]

I was a Honda mechanic in a dealership when the first Honda CB750s were introduced.
I know what they can do and cannot do.

You are not going to win races with them.
A Honda CB750 cafe style bike is like a "drug store cowboy" it looks racy but do not go up against the modern sport bike. You will be eaten alive.

I feel after reading many articles about the single disc and duel disc brakes on the Honda CB750,
that a single disc high performance brake should work fine. If a new prospective owner wants more, then they can spend more money on it.

I use blue loctite and torque wrench on all rotating parts.

[shinyribs]

I was wondering when you were gonna put up ics!Your frame caught my eye in anothe rthread and I have been really wanting to see it.I really dig it
   Talking about the single disc/dual disc thing,i have read a couple different places(for what its worth)that when Honda designed the front brakes on these bikes that they intentionally set them up so that it would require a lot of brake lever pressure to operate the front brakes.It was a safety feature that would help prevent unexperienced  riders from "endo-ing".I know if you really clamp down on a dual disc bike(like mine) you can feel that there is alot of brake strength there.It does seem to require more input than you would think,but i dont consider a single disc bike to be under-braked at all.

That #78 in the background has my curiosity piqued as wellim nosey,i know...

[Lucky 1]

One of the things I did after getting the engine cleaned of all grease,black spray paint and
ugly wiring etc.,. was to test fire the engine.
I wanted to get a sense of the condition of the engine.
The cam looked ok. I put in new clutch plates and clutch springs.
I replaced the valve guide seals.
It got a new alternator case and Ebay replacement left shift case and
Ebay polished cam chain tensioner.
But the compression was not that good.
I wanted to see how the carbs worked and get them closer to working properly also.
That is another story by its self.
Finally I decided to do something I had not originally planned on.
I sent the Engine to Cycle Exchange to have them rebuild the engine completely.
I had put all this work and money into the rest of the bike and just did not want
to take a 33 year old engine and run it with out knowing for certain that it was good.
It turns out that it already had a 836 kit but the cylinder bores were not even measurements.
Cycle Exchange  took it all apart and made sure it was all good.
They test ran it and sent it back to me.
It looked great. I felt good that I had a solid foundation with a known good engine
and powder coated frame and all the other good parts.
Below is a photo before sending it and an after photo showing the Cycle Exchange rebuild.



Detail photo of Cycle Exchange engine.

[Lucky 1]

I skipped a lot of the tear down and cleaning of this project.
This is the more interesting phase when I get to put all the parts together.
Here are two more photos of what is going on right now.



I am working on the triple clamps installation and changed the bearings to
tapered roller bearings from the original ball bearing set up.

I got hung up waiting for the nut that goes on the top bearing.
 The original bike did not have one.
I also have installed the countershaft sprocket, engine mount plates, bolts,etc.
Waiting for special oil line bolts then electrical and battery box will be next.
More photos to come.

[shinyribs]

Clamp is in the mail

[Lucky 1]

Thanks Shinyribs, thanks a lot .

[Lucky 1]

The nut for the top of the steering stem arrived today!

[TOOLS1]

Shiny uses UPS, so I would allow 3 to 4 weeks, for delivery.
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

TOOLS1 wrote

Shiny uses UPS, so I would allow 3 to 4 weeks, for delivery.
TOOLS

Actually the clamp went USPS so...who knows!

Donald,what kind of gauges are those?They look really nice. I hope you don't mind,but since I noticed your frame is very nicley done,I dipped the bracket in plasti-dip.It will peel off easy enough if you don't care for it.I just hated to see that frame get skinned up

Oh,and your quite welcome.

[Lucky 1]

Plasti-dip sounds good.
You can get the gauges through Cycle Exchange.

The gauges are available on other sites but You want to get the proper
ratios for the Honda CB750 front wheel, and tach drive.

[LukeM]

Looking good, Donald.  Great pictures and documentation.  Ride it with pride!

Luke M

[Lucky 1]

Thanks LukeM. I appreciate the enthusiasm.

[Lucky 1]

Picture progress from today.
Negative ground strap installed.
Front fork tubes.
I got the brake light witch mounted.
And Coils in position and main wiring harness too.
The coils are Dynatech.




Still very cold outside (40º) and 30-40 mph winds expected.

[TOOLS1]

I'm kinda wondering what, you used the big bolt cutter, for.
TOOLS

[Piute]

Yeh,late night shoping,
BIKES coming along great