1973 cb450 - no mechanical experience

[ayjayy91]

I bought this little pup back in January '13. It has been sitting for 16 years, well kept by a shop owner with little to no rust on it.
All I knew from the beginning was: it has good compression, electric start
Completely gone, and so was the generator rotor and stator.

I wanted to make sure the bike would run before I started any real work on it, and due to a lack of mechanically savvy friends, I decided to take the bike to a shop...then two...then three....
After about 8 months of being jerked around by shops that would store my bike and say they would "work on it when they have time", I decided to try to do it on my own.

I don't know what questions to ask or where to look/start.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.
HELP!!!

 

[cxman]

do you have the rest of the parts? or is that all you have?

where are you located

 

[ayjayy91]

I don't have any of the electric start parts. Would I need them if I don't really want electric start?
And I'm located in Massachusetts.

 

[thearcticsea]

I'm in Kingston, MA and would gladly help. I'm very familiar with these bikes, am restoring one, sold a few, and making a cafe out of another. I also have a parts motor sitting on my floor that I bought two days ago. The DTT community helps each other out, so let me know if you want some help.

 

[ayjayy91]

I'm in Kingston, MA and would gladly help. I'm very familiar with these bikes, am restoring one, sold a few, and making a cafe out of another. I also have a parts motor sitting on my floor that I bought two days ago. The DTT community helps each other out, so let me know if you want some help.

Man, that would be a godsend. Ive gone through so much wasted stress and time just trying to get this thing fired up.
Only problem, however, is im located in worcester, and dont have a pickup to bring it to kingston.

If anyone can help with some tips on what i need to get the kickstart working, itd be great.

 

[thearcticsea]

I think the first thing to address would be determining if the kickstarter turns the motor over or if the shaft is malfunctioning. I find a lot of the 450s tend to malfunction at the kickstarter shaft so you don't really get a good, solid kick. If the kickstarter is actually functioning as it should you just need to reinstall the stator/rotor and make sure you're getting a good spark.