mad mordigans 78 CB750

mAd mOrdigan

Been Around the Block
Well, I'm technically halfway through my build and my bike is in pieces but I guess now is a better time to start a build thread than never. She's a 78 cb750. My first vintage bike although not the first bike I've had. Actually probably the 4th one that's been in my stable. So anyways here's what I started with and basically where I'm at now with this ground up restoration. When I got her she looked decent, was missing some parts here and there but was actually rideable although ran like crap but only because she was needing to be rejetted for the pods. Got her running pretty decent after rejet and then took her completely apart.

Edit: the bike has changed a few times during its build, here is the latest installment of the series so you don’t have to sift through all the posts...

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And back to the build in chronological order....
 

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so she's still in pieces but she's all powdercoated up except the engine. Which I'm going to paint but the old grease and oil is so caked on it's discouraging!! there's a few parts that need to be polished but aside from that she just needs to be put back together. Most recently I've been avoiding the engine by lacing the freshly powdercoated wheels and hubs with new spokes from buchanans, they originally sent me rear outer spokes with necks that were too short but other than that my first time lacing was a breeze thanks to a few tips from Kenny from Buchanan. After that I tried truing the front wheel with a makeshift truing stand but idk I decided to bring em to buchanans to get trued. they're back and I'll mount tires tomorrow I think.
 

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well, i got my wheels back and finally mounted up some tires, i'll be balancing then in a lil bit here. I just got done painting the engine. This entire project has been a thorn in my ass, only because its taking so long. Long story short i the engine in the bare frame first before i start putting everything back together. I don't want to take the entire thing apart at this point in time, so i cleaned (if you can call it that) the engine with kerosene, simple green, dish soap and who knows what else. sanded scuffed as best i could... lets face it getting in between the fins is a bear of a job, lets just say, this paint job isn't meant to last a lifetime... But i sprayed it and if it lasts me 4-5 months, i'll be happy. actually if it makes it through the end of putting the entire bike back together i'll be happy. Not as textured as i thought it would be but oh well.
 

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got the engine in the frame, we did the lay the engine on it's side technique then slipped the frame over it. I wrapped the frame with silicone hose from homedepot to prevent scratches on the new powdercoat
 

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did some polishing today... I went at the lil nooks and crannies with a wire wheel.. bad idea as there are obvious scratches that never got sanded away but oh well, it still looks better than before
 

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I started the other fork tonight, started with the lil nooks using a wire wheel and then went at em with 150grit. I'm still seeing some scratches but hopefully not as bad. I wonder if I need to go at them with 60 or 80grit THEN work up from there or if 150 is fine and I'm just not getting deep enough into those lil spaces by hand.
 
well my original steering head bearings were ok so I decided to reuse them, for the life of my I couldn't figure out why but the steering stem/bottom triple clamp wouldn't go up enough into the neck so that I could put the top nut on! so fuck it, I ordered an all balls bearing set. hopefully it just works coz I don't want to have to figure anything else out right now. This bike is beginning to nickel and dime the crap out of me!
 

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Is the frame a roller yet? If so, can you fire us a picture? I always enjoy pics of when the pieces begin to roll! Nice rims by the way.

And I hear you with the nickel and dime comment... this hobby (one that I love!) is NOT cheap. I hate tearing into perfectly good bikes, and am always looking for barn bikes so I don`t feel guilty... but these bikes will almost always be more expensive to bring back to life!

Looking good so far.... is this a resto project or just sort of heading for sort of original-ish?
 
HolyRoller said:
Is the frame a roller yet? If so, can you fire us a picture? I always enjoy pics of when the pieces begin to roll! Nice rims by the way.

And I hear you with the nickel and dime comment... this hobby (one that I love!) is NOT cheap. I hate tearing into perfectly good bikes, and am always looking for barn bikes so I don`t feel guilty... but these bikes will almost always be more expensive to bring back to life!

Looking good so far.... is this a resto project or just sort of heading for sort of original-ish?

thanks, she's not a roller yet, I was hoping to get it going yesterday but this steering head jacked it all up. I should have pics of her standing on her own in the next week or two at the latest depending on how long allballs takes to ship their tapered bearings
 
well she's a roller.. I sat there for an hour or two fiddling with petty crap coz I just didn't know what to start working on. in the end I got nothing done.
 

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in efforts to avoid working on the 750 I welded on the rear hoop of AppleDappleMan's 350 and did some grinding away. you still see the 750 in the background though sportin her new Hagons
 

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also in this weeks news, we finished spraying the tank and tail. there's a few drips in the clear so we'll be color sanding and buffing and it's going on the bike. I'm going at a snails pace but work and stuff is getting in the way as always
 
thank you all. hopefully some big updates in the next week.

also, the gauges are LED mini gauges from dcc, black, black face.
 
the tires are Avon roadriders, I kept the original stock sizes but didn't realize how skinny they were until I mounted them. front 100/90-19 and 110/90-18. I re laced the stock hub to a 71-76 18" rear rim
 
ok hard to see the color but here are the tins pre color sanding etc.
 

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