Maduncle's Runcible Racer

[maduncle]

Well...

It's about time I posted my CB450 part restoration/part update project which I call the 'Runcible Racer'.

A Runcible spoon is a modified 'almost' spoon with a couple of extra features, so this bike is a modified 'almost' stock CB450 Black Bomber with a few extras.

What I started with:



After a fair bit of stripping down, parts cleaning, polishing, repairing and rebuilding - this is where I am at:











So - that's the stock parts being restored so far.

As for the modifications - I can't find an original headlamp with gauge set up for love or money, so I am using a headlamp I had spare that takes one gauge, in this case - a digital one.



Other plans include using Laverda Jota style adjustable clubman bars, a cafe racer seat pan, hiding all the electrics under the seat, using pod filters or stacks, and fitting mini front and rear fenders.

Classic black on black paintwork with plenty of polished alloy and chrome.

[ducatiboy]

A runcible spoon is what the owl and the pussycat used to dine on mince and slices of quince. (http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/pussy.html)

Wikipedia says runcible is a nonsense word (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runcible) I hope the Runcible Racer doesn't turn out to be a nonsense racer!!

Nice polishing on those hubs! Lots of work gone into them..

[VonYinzer]

Im digging it so far man. Keep up the good work.

[JustinLonghorn]

I'm in.

[maduncle]

I am a lazy thread updater. But then I run a thread on this bike build on the HondaTwins forum, the SOHC4 forum and the Netrider forum at home.

But - some progress shots for you all.



Test fitting the painted parts.



Sorting out the electrics tray under the seat, complete with tiny Antigravity battery.



Getting the tail all tidy.



Close to complete. Timing to set and cam chain to link up, then in to the frame.

Yet to do.

- get a set of Dyna coils.
- sort out my exhaust.
- get a CL450 front fender that fits (last one I bought was way off - dunno what it was off, but not a CL450).
- get a pair of original fork ears for my original headlamp, I don't like the cafe headlamp mounts I have use, too high and proud.
- install the new wiring loom I made and link every thing up (scary times).

I am hoping all this will be done by Easter next year, looking good so far.

Then I can start to play with the 1971 CB450 frame and 1980 Yamaha IT425 swing arm I bought...

[maduncle]

Slight distraction recently - as I went and bought one of these...



Loads of fun!

But that has not stopped me from fitting the engine into the frame over the weekend...



Loads of cursing!

But it is in and now I am a lot closer to finishing the project.

Woo hoo.

[teddpage]

Looking really good!  I guess the early 450's had different passenger peg mounts?  Or did you fab those mounts for your rearsets?  I really dig it!
I tried scoring an early tank for my 450, but the dude backed out last minute. 
Keep up the good work...cant wait to see the finished product.

[maduncle]

Looking really good!  I guess the early 450's had different passenger peg mounts?  Or did you fab those mounts for your rearsets?  I really dig it!
I tried scoring an early tank for my 450, but the dude backed out last minute. 
Keep up the good work...cant wait to see the finished product.

As far as I can tell, the K0 frame used tubular steel to create the exhaust/passenger foot peg mount - and later CB450's have a pressed metal part attached to the frame.

I just filed the edge off the mount to remove the locator step in the mount hole.

And yeah - K0 and K1 tanks are hard to find!

[teddpage]

Yea, i cut that stamped steel passenger peg mount off mine to make my own rearset mounts.
Bitch of it is, a guy i know pretty well had a K0 or K1 sitting in his yard...literally.  The wheels were sunk into the dirt, and he told me i could have the tank, then said nah, he wanted to keep the bike in one piece.
The bike has since dissapeared from his yard.  No idea what happened to it.

[maduncle]

Today my other front fender arrived from America (gee Fed-Ex takes ages!) and the bracket is the right one for my forks, so I set to work doing a fender bracket swap.



The two fenders to be used.



Drilled out the rivets on the donor fender and test fitted the bracket - all good.



Masked up the painted fender and pilot drilled the rivets before using a bigger drill bit.



Disaster struck on the last rivet. The drill bit broke and skipped across the fender, gouged through the masking tape and scratched the paint...

... twice!!!



I tapped the rivet holes in the fender bracket out to 6mm, and screwed the fender on using stainless Phillips head machine screws. Everything fits well.

So, I will now take my scratched fender and bracket over to my painter and get them both painted silver, whilst the bracket cleaned up okay, I think it will look better if it matched the fender. And I will use stainless hex insert screws to fit the fender to the bracket (a bit neater than Phillips head screws).

I also fitted the brake switch mount to the frame, but had to drop the rear wheel to do so - but that's another story.

[deepwaterimports]

Signed up for this one for sure. These twins are hard to find down under and I would love a big twin myself. 

[andycafe]

Nice  I hate the curse of the just 1 more 

[maduncle]

Well - today wasn't so stinkin' hot that you could not go outside for more than 30 seconds - so I got to play with some pipes.

First up, test fit the cool 1970's NOS headers I scored off eBay.





Hmm, they foul the rear sets on both sides and there is no way around that, plus they do look a little 'bendy' and don't follow the lines of the bike.

So, maybe I will use part of them... (mock up time).





This is better, I like the semi-scramble upswept look, but those mufflers are massive.

Perhaps some shorter mufflers? I have just bought a pair of 13" long 1970's NOS mufflers off eBay (from the same guy who had the pipes) so I made a cardboard 'shadow' to see how they would look and fit.



This is more like it. The actual shorties are real schmick, and they have a turn out at the bell end too.

So I am happy with my pipes, only embuggerance of the day was when I test fitted the pipes and found out my freshly re-chromed flanges are not quite the same...



Maybe I should have had a proper look at the 'pair' that came off the bike before I paid to get them chromed?

No biggie - I can use them with a bit of pipe clamp modifying.

(Oh - and I did inflate the tyres to the correct pressure after the photos were taken).

[LovingtheCLE]

This is turning out to be an amazing project. I'm definitely going to be following along.

[maduncle]

This is turning out to be an amazing project. I'm definitely going to be following along.

Wait until you see the prototype stator cover that arrived today...