CB750, the project begins.

[TonUpSoldier]

Matt did you beat on the seams of the tank? I dunno for sure, but i stayed away from there, simply because i didnt know what would happen, ie leaking and whatnot..

 

[matt365]

It has a slight fold where the indent meets the seam & the weld on the bottom of the tank. When I started banging it in, it just made a nice crease on the bottom edge of the tank. It's not going to split. It's a gradual edge, and it is supported well from the bottom seam. Give it a shot TonUpSoldier, it's not nearly as bad as you think.

 

[killerdwarf]

That bike looks great!!! in the very first picture! It went downhill after that. I can't believe you fugged up a nice looking F. you should have sold her for a nice buck, and bought a roach to beat on ( like I did) and had money left over for parts. My heart completely dropped when I saw that you beat that tank with a hammer. I can't watch anymore :'(

 

[locOleoN]

That bike looks great!!! in the very first picture! It went downhill after that. I can't believe you fugged up a nice looking F. you should have sold her for a nice buck, and bought a roach to beat on ( like I did) and had money left over for parts. My heart completely dropped when I saw that you beat that tank with a hammer. I can't watch anymore :'(

Waddda ya talkin bout Willis!!..
I think it looks wicked!!... Great Job Matt!!...

Lets chat this week. Ive been thinking that I want to trade my front spokes for your comstars.
We'll need to do a complete front-end swap.. (forks tubes & front rims & brake calipers & rear tire rim)

Cheers.

 

[TonUpSoldier]

That bike looks great!!! in the very first picture! It went downhill after that. I can't believe you fugged up a nice looking F. you should have sold her for a nice buck, and bought a roach to beat on ( like I did) and had money left over for parts. My heart completely dropped when I saw that you beat that tank with a hammer. I can't watch anymore :'(

The tank wasnt perfect to begin with, from what i saw in earlier posts. If it was NOS, untouched and never mounted, i might feel a bit the same, but it wasnt, and whats more its HIS bike. And its an "F" not exactly the rarest of Hondas to begin with (sure maybe their self grenading motors are ) If everyone is gonna freak out every time someone does something to a "rare" bike, perhaps this isnt the forum for them. Frankly i think it looks better now than it did.

And Matt, after looking again, i realized i must have been on crack when i first looked. I thought you'd beaten the seam in, but after looking at it again, i realized ive done the same to two of my tanks, and havent had a problem. It looks FANTASTIC bro. BTW im a GEEK for those H2 tails. I built a similar one myself out of glass after finding i wouldnt be able to cut an Airtech or the like down to fit my dimension restraints.

Opps sorry for maring up your thread with that huge pic :-[

 

[TonUpSoldier]

Yep - that's a buzzer for your turn signals. It beeps for each blink of the lights. 99% of them don't work, dead either by natural causes or manslaughter. They're pretty annoying, which is why I insisted on finding a working one for my CB550F when I restored it

There would have been a square hole in the headlight ear on the left side for it to mount to. Now that they're gone, you could tuck it inside the headlight bucket or just remove it altogether.

The 77 750SS i had had one of those beeping turnsignals. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, as i used to always forget to turn mine off. Bout three weeks into owning it, i hated it. Every light i stopped at to turn left, people thought i was backing up or something...lol

 

[matt365]

That bike looks great!!! in the very first picture! It went downhill after that. I can't believe you fugged up a nice looking F. you should have sold her for a nice buck, and bought a roach to beat on ( like I did) and had money left over for parts. My heart completely dropped when I saw that you beat that tank with a hammer. I can't watch anymore :'(

That's the coolest thing I've heard in a while!

I started laughing after reading your post KillerDwarf

The tank had some nice rust spots, so it was anything but NOS.

We'll see about the rim thing Noel. I'm getting new tires on it now, so I was planning on running the comstars and seeing how I like them first. We'll see about a temporary swap sometime in the coming season.

 

[matt365]

That bike looks great!!! in the very first picture! It went downhill after that. I can't believe you fugged up a nice looking F. you should have sold her for a nice buck, and bought a roach to beat on ( like I did) and had money left over for parts. My heart completely dropped when I saw that you beat that tank with a hammer. I can't watch anymore :'(

I was thinking, I might go with the ratbike look. I'm thinking of painting it with random spraycans, hammering the tank in random places, I'll keep the cracked tires on it, I'll take off the front brakes to save weight, and leave the headers off so it spits cool FLAMES!!! AWESOME!

 

[locOleoN]

I was thinking, I might go with the ratbike look. I'm thinking of painting it with random spraycans, hammering the tank in random places, I'll keep the cracked tires on it, I'll take off the front brakes to save weight, and leave the headers off so it spits cool FLAMES!!! AWESOME!

YEAHHHHHH BEAATCH!!!!... Now thats my kind of a bike!!!

 

[Scarcat]

YEAHHHHHH BEAATCH!!!!... Now thats my kind of a bike!!!

Yes ... broken (or at least looks broken)!!!

 

[matt365]

http://www.stainlesscycle.com/catalog/index.php

I just ordered a stainless allen head carb kit and engine bolt kit from these guys. About $40 bucks after shipping, and I'll be happy to get rid of those phillips screw head bolts... Stripping sucks.

My tank is sanded, primed, and ready for paint. The side panels cracks are repaired, and the back of the panels has been reinforced with screening and plastic filler. It should hold up, but I might use a bit of 2 step epoxy to give it a bit more strength just incase.

I'm almost ready to put my cut up chrome front fender back together.

I've picked up a new set of shoes for the old girl. I wanted something sticky, good wear, and decent price, so I settled on a set of Maxxis Promaxx 100/90/19 and 120/90/18

The tires were cheap... almost too cheap to be confidence inspiring... $140 bucks plus $35 for installation.

My mechanic put a new tube in the rear rim too... which I didn't really understand, since the comstars are supposed to be tubeless???

He could have just put a valvestem in them and ran it tubeless, but by the time I came to get it, he had already done it. Oh well. Apparently the speed rating goes down by one level if you are running tubes in a tubeless radial due to the extra heat contained in the tire. I think the Maxxis were H or V rated anyways, so that will make no difference anyways.

Now I just have to find the time to spray the bodywork and I'll be sitting pretty good!
I've got access to my fathers heated garage, and his compressor. I'll use my HPLV spray gun and Urethane based gloss black paint. I've got to make sure I do it at a time no-one is around, because I really don't want the fumes hanging around for long. I've got a decent mask with charcoal canisters because brain damage sucks.

 

[TonUpSoldier]

Word of warning about Stainless Cycle. They apparently have been going thru a move, and have been taking their sweet time in getting orders out. Some people have gotten them rather quick, and some people ive talked to who ordered a month or more ago, still havent received their order. Just an FYI, but Z1Enterprises carries the same bolts sets, and in the case of the motor sets, tend to be more complete than those of Stainless Cycles. I personally ordered from Stainless, and my kit was a lil more than half of the one i got from Z1. Z1 ACTUALLY gets thier kits from Burkes Motorsports i believe, who also have an online store, but the cost is the same or very little different either way you go.

 

[matt365]

Thanks for the words of warning Tonupsoldier. I've already ordered them, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[zixxerboy]

If you replace the plasticine factory originals to allen head remember to throw that allen wrench into the bike toolkit. I learned that the hard way.

 

[matt365]

If you replace the plasticine factory originals to allen head remember to throw that allen wrench into the bike toolkit. I learned that the hard way.

Good point. Will do

 

[matt365]

Updates:
I got new tires. Maxxis Promaxx as stated above.

The gastank is sanded, and prepped for paint. It should come out nice.

I fixed the cracks in the sidepanels with Plastic filler and reinforced the rear with screening & filler.

I decided to clean up the stock fork brace with a 3M paint and rust removal disk. I sprayed it flat black, and mounted it back on the chrome fender. I moved the fender WAAAAAAAY back to shorten it up and got it ready to chop the rear.

After test fitting, re-mounting, and cutting off the back, it looked like this.

Well, I had the day off today, so I went to the garage and started ripping the CB apart. The weather was pretty nice (as far as winter goes) so I had to use it while I could.

 

[matt365]

I ended up taking the swingarm off to see how bad it was rusted. The seams are a little rough, so I think it might need to be sandblasted before paint. I haven't decided if I want to use powdercoat or paint yet... I suppose it all comes down to $$$...

Question : It seems there is no swingarm bearings, just a grease fitting & an axle. Any thoughts?

I used that Sillicone black header wrap paint that Noel had left over to seal up the headers quite nicely

Thanks Noel!

 

[matt365]

I know this is not Cafe related, and it's kinda from one of the dreaded POWER RANGER BIKES!
A little secret,
(Sportbikes kick ass )

I picked up a tweaked Yoshimura RS3 Tri-Oval can off a ZX9R in the summer. It was pretty tweaked at one end, but I knew I could clean it up if I cut it down. I ended up cutting about 4-5" off the end of the can. I used some painters tape to get a straight line, and cut the can with a zipcut blade in my grinder. I cut the core, and riveted the can back together.

I used the core of the baffle inside the CB750 exhaust. It JUST fit... and I should be able to drill into it and use some machine screws to fix the baffle in place. I still need to find something to use as an end cap.

 

[matt365]

Here's another couple pics of the front fender.

Question, Do I really need this canister for anything?

It seems as though all it does is take all the drainage lines, and collect them into one drain tube.

 

[Tim]

The swingarm has bushings and a sleeve, through which a bolt runs. You can replace the bushings with Bronze replacements, which is a good idea. There are likely needle bearing conversion kits out there too, but some have suggested bronze is better as it will never rust and offers good performance compared to the bearings.