my first IN OVER MY HEAD project

[david bluetile]

im not only new to building bikes im also new to message boards so please excuse me for the cluelessness.

just bought two bikes. probably a midlife crisis but for whatever reason i went ahead and pulled the trigger.

i got both bikes for a fair price... both are 1978 cb750s. one is a K. one is an F.

still trying to get a title on one of them. hoping i can get a duplicate title from the previous owner but may have to try the salvage title route.
anyone know how to go about doing that?

ive been riding the F for the past month or so. couldnt wait to get on the road seeing as how i have never even changed my own oil much less gotten a bike that hasnt run in the last 20 years back on the road. feels great. so now that i have one that i can ride in the meantime the plan is to tear the K down to the floor. repaint. polish and just try to fix anything that needs to be fixed.

here are a few pics of the k model.
day one of tear down.

 

[Big R]

At yes, that pesky title situation. It kinda depends on where you are from - local laws dictates your options.

 

[bikeboy]

welcome to the wonderful world of motorcycles.

Rule #1. Have fun
Rule #2. Minimise harm

will be watching where you go with these.

cheers
ian

 

[Ethanol]

Every bike I work on is an In Over My Head bike! I'm kinda dumb though.

 

[Gweenz]

Depending on your state, the title application may be more work than you are prepared for. In Wisconsin, it's a multi step process.

Present Bill of sale
Fill out forms
Previous owner writes letter to dmv why he/she no longer has the title, and releases title
More forms
VINs must then be verified by enforcement.
Here, fill out these forms

At this point, all you have done is got the previous owner to release the title. If you've ever dealt with the government you know this process can take months. If it's an out of state bike it could take longer, or not happen at all. You still have to go through the title transfer process and fees. Then, the DMV is going to decide a value for the bike and tax you accordingly. You might be best off buying a titled frame and saving yourself the hassle.

Take my advice and get this sorted out ahead of time. Nothing worse than putting in a bunch of work on a frame only to find out it can't be titled.

 

[SrgtBear]

Welcome to the site. Yeah, the title situation is always a freaken headache. All I can say is don't give up. Definitely Check out the "LEGAL & Regulatory Shit" forum - http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?board=27.0

As you can pretty much see nobody here really knows what they are getting themselves into until they start taking the bike apart and find out what needs to be done. So your definitely not alone. You'll have alot of fun working on these bikes. Can't wait to see whatcha come up with.

 

[david bluetile]

well i got the paperwork from the DMV to bring to the guy to apply for a duplicate title. fella is not emailing me back though. i may ride out there this week to see whats up. he was unloading a bunch of stuff because he was diagnosed with colon cancer. i mean for more reasons than i need that title i hope he is just not getting my emails... as opposed to what could be the case. lets just say i hope the guy is ok and ill ride out there soon to drop off the paperwork for the duplicate title. he was very laid back and i think hell be stoked to see me out there on one of the bikes.

today i went out and got a jack to make life a little easier.

i was going to do some more work on the tear down today but i got a surprise visit from my friend bob who works for nikeSB.
just got to see the new summer 11 line of skate shoes and if any of you guys are into skateboarding the new eric koston shoe coming out is tough!!!!! haha ok. i just thought id mention it because its fresh on my mind.

more bike stuff tomorrow i hope. thanks for all your comments and ill keep ya posted on the title situation.

 

[david bluetile]

went out to blythewood today to talk with mr hank about getting the lost title. he has never had it. might be able to track the guy down he got it from. i think that might be a long shot. he did however give me a hand written bill of sale. the dmv said all i needed was a title or bill of sale to transfer the title. tomorrow we find out if that works. if not ill download a legit bill of sale and take it back out to hank and get him to fill out the legit bill of sale and see if that helps any further.
he was excited matt and i stopped by on the bike (matt rode his CL out there, i rode the CB). i think he was genuinely happy to see it back on the road. he was also glad that i came out there because he needed a signed bill of sale so that he could prove to whomever that he sold the bikes.
anyway, wish me luck with that.

meanwhile i switched from clubmans to drag bars to see if it might be a little more comfortable to ride long distances. it is more comfortable but im not sure i really dig how they look.

the plan for the two bikes is to make one fully cafed and the other id like to just put a flat seat on it, leave the passenger pegs and just kinda have that be a bit more for riding around with the old lady... ummm providing she takes me back? thats another story.
so the f will be used as a bike for trips and carrying someone around on.
and the K will be a single seater with clubmans and rear sets and all that jive.
thats the plan..... that doesnt mean plans work out. hell for all i know the way the F is set up it might make it a better bike for rear sets and i have this all backwards.

here is a pic of the F model bike, with the K model tank and some drag bars. this is just the bike im riding while i work on the K. then ill start to work on this bike. now that i have completely confused everyone.

even more meanwhile.
here is a pic of a 79 CB750 we are picking up tomorrow for matt. you guys may know matt as breadcrumbs. or breadcrumb... something... but hes on here and here is a pic of his new bike.

 

[Spalding]

Wow, I didn't realize there was anyone else in this town that rode these bikes. Right on! I've got a 79 CB750K that I've been slooowly getting closer to running. I'm learning as well so my cafe plans will have to wait until I get my top end rebuilt. I'm over in the downtown area, where are you guys located?

 

[teazer]

You could look at "superbike" bars too. They have a more natural bend and are typically slightly taller.

If you want it to look "tuff", you could try Fat bars (1.125" bars in place of stock .875")

 

[david bluetile]

Wow, I didn't realize there was anyone else in this town that rode these bikes. Right on! I've got a 79 CB750K that I've been slooowly getting closer to running. I'm learning as well so my cafe plans will have to wait until I get my top end rebuilt. I'm over in the downtown area, where are you guys located?

i live pretty much right outside five points. off of rosewood.
my skate shop is in five points across from sharkeys.
your 79 looks just like matts. crazy.

 

[Spalding]

i live pretty much right outside five points. off of rosewood.
my skate shop is in five points across from sharkeys.
your 79 looks just like matts. crazy.

Hahahaaa.... that's awesome.. small world. Yeah, I was in there last week. Ask the kid who rides the bobber if he ever found out who's bike it is. I guess he's tired of people asking about it.

That's cool man, I live in Shandon and work in 5pts too.
Good luck on the projects.

Maybe some day I'll get mine running again. As you can see, I've got a ways to go.
Next on the list: Remove the engine and rebuild the top end.

 

[david bluetile]

sorry guys, ive been a bit slack on posting anything on here. i have been working on the bikes though.

pretty much got the K model down to the frame but i cant get the oil filter housing off. my buddy read some where that they had a recall on that part.
tried everything i know to do but i cant break it. i dont want to take the engine off the frame until i can get the oil out of it.
anyone else had that problem?

im also debating whether or not to powder coat the frame or just paint it.

as far as the K model ive been riding a lot. it has its quirks but im having a great time on it.
im basically using this bike to have fun on while i work on the other one. when im done with the k i will repeat the process on the F.

got a weird thing going on with the F. once it heats up it idles really high. around 3000 rpms. but if i push the throttle forward it will return to a normal throttle for a bit and then go right back up. otherwise it runs fine. any ideas? i just rerouted the cables and they seem to flow nicely. no weird bends or pinches in them at all.

ill post some pics soon.

dt

 

[Big R]

First guess is air leak around the intake manifold.

 

[phrige]

Yea the oil filter housing can be a pain. Just went through that this week.

There should be a drainage screw on the bottom of the bike if your just looking to drain the oil.

For getting the filter off which you'll have to do eventually, I used a healthy dose of liquid wrench, let it sit a while then went at it again. It was still tough but managed to break it free. Some people also recomend using a breakerbar on your wrench for better leverage and more umph.

Good luck man!
btw the F maybe more fun to cafe just because it is the 'high performance' version of the K, I'm not sure exactly what Honda changed between em as I'm not completely read up on 750's.

 

[teazer]

If you push the throttle closed an the revs drop and let it go and they rise, the problem is in the cable adjustment.

Adjust the PULL cable to have some slack and then take up some of the slack on the Push cable. There needs to be a small amount of free play or the throttle will hang.

 

[CMHN]

Just curious, how did you make out with the title problem?

 

[david bluetile]

If you push the throttle closed an the revs drop and let it go and they rise, the problem is in the cable adjustment.

Adjust the PULL cable to have some slack and then take up some of the slack on the Push cable. There needs to be a small amount of free play or the throttle will hang.

ill try that. ive messed with the cables a good bit but cant seem to get them very loose. maybe i need new cables?
also why does it do it only after the bike is warm. that suggests an air leak of some sort right?

 

[david bluetile]

Just curious, how did you make out with the title problem?

i went with a title service. detroit vintage cycles. im hoping he gets me a clean title for 50 bucks.

i was wondering if anyone has ever dealt with an abandoned title before? how does that work?

 

[CMHN]

In PA its a pain in the A$$. I did it once, had to get my lawyer involved and it cost me $750 in just lawyer fees. The only reason I did it was the car that I needed the title for was worth over $10 grand. You know one of those garage finds. It was worth it, but I wouldn't do it for just anything.