My First 1974 cb450: Tabasco! [SOLD! "FIGHTER" THREAD UP!]

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

CCRider,

I appreciate those pictures, thanks a lot man. I'll check it out today after I come home from church. I'm also interested in the seat latch. How much do you want for it?

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

I'm about to clean out the carbs tonight. I'll post pictures once I'm finished.

On another note, I think I mentioned before that I bought rearsets a couple days ago.
Here they are:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=190285837666#ht_500wt_957

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

goodfornothing said:

CCRider,

I appreciate those pictures, thanks a lot man. I'll check it out today after I come home from church. I'm also interested in the seat latch. How much do you want for it?

Click to expand...

I don't know. Send me a few bucks for shipping. PM me.

CC

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

I just got finished cleaning out the left carb. It was a lot easier to take apart than I expected. I also think that the 1974 cb450 carbs have a simple structure. I apologize for the crappy sidekick pictures. I'm waiting to get a digital SLR in the next few months.

So the top part came off easily. Then the float bowl was next. It was pretty hard to take out so I sprayed the edges with some silicone and with a little force, the bowl came off. I tried not to damage or bend anything inside as I was prying it apart. This is what it looked like when I first took the bowl off. Not very pretty.


The float bowl gasket was stuck onto the bowl. Everything pretty much was gummed up. I tried spraying it with silicone and using a pick and small screw driver to pry it off. I was able to get a few of the sides off but then it ripped. Looks like I'll end up replacing both.


So after using a lot of carb cleaner, degreaser and steel wool, this is the result.


I ran out of compressed air in a can so I'll finish the other carb tomorrow night. I'm very excited

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

I was able to clean out the other carb today. It took a bit longer than I expected because it required a lot of scrubbing.

My petcock rebuild kit came in, so that'll be done tomorrow. Can't wait to fire this thing up!

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Lookin good!

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

I haven't updated the thread in a while, but here are some things that I've done so far: Removed rear fender, rear signals, and taillight. I also chopped my front fender. Angle grinders are pretty fun. The past couple days I cleaned my tank out using electrolysis. After rinsing them out and blow drying the inside, it quickly flash rusted but no biggie. I used POR-15 to seal the tank and it's currently drying. I got some of that stuff on my shirt, pants and shoes. Adds character I guess lol. I'll add some pictures when my sister uploads them.

So my float bowl gaskets came in yesterday as well. I put those in, made a tank out of an acid battery container and hooked it up to both carbs. At the push off the starter button, the bike came to life!.....for 6 seconds....It sounded like it was running pretty smooth too.

I tried getting it to idle but it just won't cooperate. I even worked on it this afternoon. I got it to last 5 seconds but it was at 3k rpm so I just killed it. Everytime I get it to run for a second or two, white smoke comes out of the exhaust. Is this normal? Also I get some backfiring. Also after 10 minutes of trying to get it started, the starter motor dies out, but works after charging the battery and letting it sit for a while. What's up with my bike refusing to idle?

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Odd, I'd say the opposite for getting it on the center stand. I don't push down much at all on it. I use the weight of the bike to do all the work by rocking it backwards with the stand held to the ground (jammed for lack of a better word) I use the weight of my foot to hold it in place as the bike moves backwards but not to push it down. If you get the inertia moving back and keep the stand from moving it can't go anywhere but up and onto it. The center stand is all I've got on my 360 and I've gotten pretty good on putting it up while sitting on it... that takes a little training.


*edit*

...oh, this thread has 4 pages, now I just feel silly.

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Lol! Well that was some good advice at least. I want to work on the bike but I'm at work haha. I'm thinking my bike is running lean since it's backfiring. I just read about setting the pilot jet screw and idle screw. I'll fiddle around with that tonight along with with checking for leaks. Anyone else have any advice?

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Well the starter motor dieing out is more than likely after ten minutes of cranking on it, the battery is drained too far to turn it over any more. How much gas is in your make shift tank? Did the bike run until that ran out? If so it will lean out as the gas runs out and it sucks in more air with the last little bit of gas I think.

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Okay so starter motor dying is normal.....check.

I'm using clear fuel lines so I can see that there's gas going into the carbs. The makeshift tank is small, less than a gallon, but even when there is fuel going into the carbs, the bike will die anyway. I'm guessing I don't have the pilot jet/air-fuel mixture screw and idle screw set correctly. After kick starting it a few times, I got it to run for a while, but the idle was too high so I ended up killing it.

PICTURE UPDATE:
So upon removing the tank the PO taped up the rear rubber tank mount because it was broken.


Nothing a "little" superglue can't fix.


Then time for my electrolysis setup.


Nasty.

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Ya you're probably right, just have to mess with the air fuel adjustments and other settings

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

a good how to on syncing/setting up your carbs

http://www.hondatwins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=537

tis how i set up my carbs

and por-15 or paint/grease/oil is good character for garage clothes, my garage jacket has white primer paint on the sleeves and all sorts of oil

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Thanks for that link man!

Unfortunately, I got POR-15 on my social shirt lol. If it was my garage-dwelling-and-hiding-from-the-public shirt, then that would be okay

autoguy said:

a good how to on syncing/setting up your carbs

http://www.hondatwins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=537

tis how i set up my carbs

and por-15 or paint/grease/oil is good character for garage clothes, my garage jacket has white primer paint on the sleeves and all sorts of oil

Click to expand...

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

How much POR-15 did you need to do your tank? Was it hard? I've got a very small leak at the top/front of my tank that only leaks when it is more than 3/4 full. I eventually am either going to have to get a new tank, or fix it. I've tried some exhaust epoxy on the outside but that only slowed it down. I really need to fix it from the inside.

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

goodfornothing said:

Thanks for that link man!

Unfortunately, I got POR-15 on my social shirt lol. If it was my garage-dwelling-and-hiding-from-the-public shirt, then that would be okay

Click to expand...

no problem

your social shirt is now a garage shirt thats how most of my garage clothes got to be garage clothes

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Flugtechnik said:

How much POR-15 did you need to do your tank? Was it hard? I've got a very small leak at the top/front of my tank that only leaks when it is more than 3/4 full. I eventually am either going to have to get a new tank, or fix it. I've tried some exhaust epoxy on the outside but that only slowed it down. I really need to fix it from the inside.

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Flugtechnik, it wasn't hard at all to seal my tank with POR-15. You only need to order the 8 oz. too. Just be sure to turn the tank around slowly so everything gets coated inside. Since you have a small leak at the top front, be sure to tilt it in a way that the sealer will get to it. Just be sure you're wearing clothes you don't care about haha.


Here are some pictures of my tank after I sealed it. It was kind of hard to coat the middle portion of the tank that protrudes upward, that's why it doesn't really look too even. It's not bad though.




It looks like I had a small leak on the right equalization probe but POR-15 sealed it. Consequently, It's also blocked up. I blew compressed air into both equalization probes to check if they flow through the tank but apparently the right one is clogged because of the POR-15. Is that bad? I'm going to try using a paperclip or some hard wire/fishing line to try and poke it through.

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

how clean was the tank after electrolysis? couldn't u just use it that way, and keep it full of gas?

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

jason teamshralp said:

how clean was the tank after electrolysis? couldn't u just use it that way, and keep it full of gas?

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The tank wasn't spotless after electrolysis. It did remove some rust but it didn't get it to bare metal. It'll flash rust unless you put some kind of oil in there. Mine flash rusted because I had to completely dry the tank. POR-15 is fine to use it over a little rust though and that's what I did so now it looks better than it was. I wanted to re-seal the tank since it is pretty old lol.

Re: My First 1974 cb450: Cafe Project!

Since the bike does indeed fire up, I've decided to initiate the tear down.

I was able to remove the chain, middle electronics, exhausts, foot pegs, cables and some other stuff before I had to go to work. Next week I plan to get the bike down to the frame so I can begin painting.