Cerulean Cycle, 1982 cb750

[Butcherblock]

Thanks Shiny, Sgtslag. I don't have an impact wrench (yet). Hopefully,a little tappy tap with a hammer and some penetrating oil will do the trick.

Also on your advice i bought some iridium spark plugs.


 One question i have about then. They say not to gap them. I haven't broken out the spark plugs to measure the gap yet, but should i just follow the advice on the package or should i gap them regardless?

[seestheday]

No need to gap them. The spark will be more than enough. 

Sent from my BlackBerry device

From: Butcherblock [via Honda CB750'S]

Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 10:45 PM

To: seestheday

Subject: Re: Cerulean Cycle, 1982 cb750

Thanks Shiny, Sgtslag. I don't have an impact wrench (yet). Hopefully,a little tappy tap with a hammer and some penetrating oil will do the trick.

Also on your advice i bought some iridium spark plugs.


 One question i have about then. They say not to gap them. I haven't broken out the spark plugs to measure the gap yet, but should i just follow the advice on the package or should i gap them regardless?

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[shinyribs]

Ditto Sees'. The electrodes on those are real small and you can damage them easily trying to change the gap. You can measure the gap for peace of mind if you want,but the come pregapped at the correct size.

[sgtslag]

Triple ditto:  put them into two different bikes, straight out of the box, never gapped any of them; both bikes ran very smoothly on them -- plug and play, Baby, plug and play...  They made an amazing difference in my CB750, extremely noticeable; in my Voyager, nothing obvious, but I expect them to last 50k-100k miles.  Cheers!

[Butcherblock]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up guys!

Looky what just came in the mail!



Looks like i know what I'll be doing tomorrow. Hopefully i can be out cruising by Monday!

[shinyribs]

By Monday!? You're just showing off now!  Haha! Looks like fun !

[Butcherblock]

Well this weekend proved productive, if not easy. Finally got my front sprocket off (took some advice and got an  impact wrench, made a near impossible job easy), and replaced both front, back and chain. I had no idea how hard it would be to get a master link on a rivet chain. Mind you, if i had the right tools it may have been easier (apparently c clamps are not meant to push a link on the master link).  After that i replaced everything and bombed around town for about an hour. She is going pretty well, but i think her timing may be a bit off. She has a little lurch witch makes me think one of the cleaners is missing every few cycles. I suppose that will be the next item on the agenda. Loss of fun though, those spark plus make a world of difference! Thanks for the ongoing advice everyone!

[Butcherblock]

Status Update. I have been driving around when the weather is nice, shooting back and forth to work, and generaly getting a feel for the bike. Listening for odd sounds, checking fluids, adjusting/rerouting cables, and deciding what to do next. The bike is running fairly well, and the float needles have been bobbing happily in thier seats, so no leaky carbs (at the moment).

The petcock on my bike is crap, someone obvoiusly changed it to....well something else. Now that something else is dripping fuel on my bike, and i am going to pull it off and install a proper petcock. The factory list price for a 82 petcock is $140. Yeah, i dont think i will be getting a new one. I'm thinking a motorcycle salvage yard may be my next stop. Hopefully on friday.

I did order a new seat cover off fleabay yesterday. Looking forward to getting that on the bike, the current one looks like $#!t. I will post pics of reupholstering it, since i am logging everything anyways.

I have a question for the wrenchers out there. I want to adjust the timing on my bike. It seems i am out of luck tracking down a timing light, so i am debating buying one. $50 bucks i would rather spend elsewhere realy. So my question is this. Is the light realy handy? Or am i gonna spend $50 on a tool that i am only gonna use once every 2 years (or less?) Should i consider the static timing method instead? Some insight would be appreciated.

[Butcherblock]

Ok, so my seat cover is in already!! Gonna be putting it on this weekend!

[Johnnylevi]

I do static timing on mine... seems to be okay really. do you have a clymer manual or the factory service manual? you can download the FSM on here from the front page. Its posted at the top.

[shinyribs]

You can never have enough tools! FWIW,I timed my chopper by light,and static timed my cafe. Chopper=slooooow. Cafe=not slow!.   Static timing can serve you well IMO. But there's no arguing that a light would be best. Sometimes you can pick up used lights for cheap at pawn shops. It's worth a look.

[Butcherblock]

Well,I looked at the weather report an read rain for the next week. Looks like a good time to put the bike in the shop, and get some things sorted out.  The bike seems to be acting a little funny. When traveling at a constant velocity, the bike is surging gently then dropping ogg, in a very consistent manner. 2 seconds surging, 1 second lag, repeat.

First off,I was going to check the timing. I have no light, so static it is then.



Yeah, the plate must be on tight, because not only did the bolt strip, but it twisted the bit pretty bad. Grrr....

OK, lets not get too down. My second guess would be vacuum leak. So off comes the seat, tank, bat box, air cleaner. Teen we are down to carbs.



 Ok, so I will be peeling them apart again this week, making sure they are meticulously clean, checking all the air cutoffs  (and perhaps bypassing them.

Then I thought I would have a little look see in the intake Ports, see if anything obvious was amiss.

All the intake Ports have that carbon buildup inside. Here is todays question, is that normal or does that man the intake Ports are not closing fully, and some exhaust is leaking out the intake? Could it be valve seals that have disintegrated? Something else?

As for the seat recovering,I got a little excited and did it one night and forgot to take photos. It turned out not to bad though.

[shinyribs]

On the carbon, engines cant actually slam the valves open and shut in order to be perfectly efficient . Since they basically ''ease'' open and closed there is always some overlap between when the valve ''should'' be closed and when the piston starts it's travel in whatever is coming next. When the piston is coming up on TDC on the compression stroke and the intake valve is still closing it will push some of the fuel/air charge back into the intake tract. It's called reversion. Same thing on the exhaust side,thus the need for back pressure in an exhaust system to work correctly,and why you see expansion chambers on two stroke (valve-less) engines. Sorry,I got on a roll....

Anyway,the amount of carbon in your engine is very,very little IMO! I'd have to say that's one of the cleanest intake tracts I've ever seen.Especially on an engine of that age!

And the seat looks good due! That's a job well done!

[Butcherblock]

Thanks shiney, that's a huge help! When you get on those rolls, fell free to keep typing. I am always welling to read and learn!

[rich]

You did a good job installing the seat cover. It looks nice.

[Butcherblock]

Thanks Rich! It was pretty easy really. I bought the seat cover off flea bay, from a Canadian company.they advertised that  theirs costs because they use piping and proper stitching. So I kicked out about 15 extra dollars and gave it a try. No kidding, the package came in the mail 2 days later. Pulled my old cover ( flat marine vinal stretched over the old foam) and checked the foam.it was pretty good,a little wear around the area your hamstrings hit. The pan is a little rusty, especially around the left front (as you sit). Rusty enough that 6 tabs broke off during installation. However, it sits on there pretty nice, so I am going to take some very short tapping screws, and hold it down with them. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Butcherblock]

Been a while since my last update. I have been putting her through her paces, refining clutch feel, brakes, lighting, and all sorts of good things. Things I have learned over the last 3 weeks:

1) turns out these bikes run on gas! And you have to keep filling it up!..... yeah,I ran out on the way to work.....
2) electrical is for people much smarter than myself. I am glad I bought 10 glass fuses and 5 master links, used up quite a few figuring out my blinkers, but now we have real turn signal action!!
3) these bikes enjoy hi rpm, far more than any of my previous bikes. She really starred running smoothly when I gave her a aggressive run on the highway.
4) shirts method of starting these girls is awesome, it works every time.

Gonna keep playing with her all summer, see how dialed in I can get her. Hope everyone is out there riding safe!

[Butcherblock]

Err...that's shiney's method, not shirts...

I should also mention that I adjusted the Cam chain tensioner. I read the manual, and loosened the 3 tensioned bolts, and turned did something every male tries to do. Out think the engineers who built this damn thing. Well it tells us to tighten the bolts while cranking the alternator over by hand. Well, I am lazy and so I thought,I will just use the starter to turn the engine over while turning the bolts. Look at me, I'm so smart.....start the engine after I'm done and...rattle rattle rattle, worse than before. Crap. I guess they knew what they were doing when they built it. Loosen the bolts, pop the alternator cap of, crank by hand, tighten bolts and boom, sure is righty right now. Guess I should leave the thinking to the smart guys!!!

[shinyribs]

Butcherblock wrote

3) these bikes enjoy hi rpm, far more than any of my previous bikes. She really starred running smoothly when I gave her a aggressive run on the highway.

So true! Everytime I see someone wanting to resprocket their bike to cruise at ,like 3500 rpm @ 60 mph, I sorta cringe. They definitely love to be revved and it just dont hurt 'em! I regularly feel sorry for mine,but she just keeps on running. Like Luke posted elsewhere: I love Honda engineering!

Its awesome to see you really enjoying your bike! Congrats bud

[sgtslag]

I checked this thread for mention of SeaFoam, didn't find it anywhere.  SeaFoam in the gas tank will absorb water, dissolve varnish throughout the fuel system, as well as dissolving carbon deposits.  It can preserve gasoline for up to 12 months, so it's great for storing a bike over the Winter.

If you use it in the gas tank regularly, like once per month, it will keep the entire fuel system clean, and water free.  This will slow down carburetor issues over time, by preventing varnish build-up from happening.  If you treat the gas, and top it off, before storage, it will start up like nothing, come time to ride again.

If used in the crankcase, just prior to changing the oil, it will dissolve varnish, carbon, and other gunk, within the engine, and the transmission (will not harm/affect the wet clutch), turning the oil coal black within five minutes of run time.  Then change the oil and filter.  It won't need to be done again for 20,000+ miles, with modern oils used in the engine (SM, or better; if you use SF, or thereabouts, there will be more build-up, much sooner).  Cheers!