72 CB750: Dolores... 5 years later, I'm back to work!

[Deviant1]

Here's my girl. I bought her from my wife's cousin about a year ago. He threw in a bunch of parts that were takeoffs from two donor bikes that he built a chopper out of. The bike was basicly stock, with the coils and the airbox off, fuel lines and throttle cable unhooked, and the front brake off. She'd been sitting over a year. I got her back on the road and started to modify. I put those cheap emgo cone filters on first.

Then I put on clubmans from ebay.

I took the stock pipes off and put on a set of cut off 2into1 drag pipes with a copper baffle that my friend made for me.

I then wrapped the pipes in some cheap "black" ebay special exhaust wrap, using hose clamps to secure it. My next step with this is a D.E.I. exhaust wrap paint that'll make it really black.

Then I built a tail section out of street signs and a free gas tank (more detail on thread in seats and tanks area).

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Today I did some work on the bike. I removed the rear fender and grab bar. Then I relocated the signals onto the fender mount on the frame with some brackets that i made out of the same street sign I used to make my seat pan. I painted the brackets black.

Next I found spares for all of the chrome on my motor my controls and my kicker lever. I washed everything in Super Clean and went after it with a wire wheel where necessary. I took apart the spare kicker and spare brake lever and painted them flat black with Krylon stove and grill paint. The chrome motor pieces are going to be powder coated gloss black after the holidays. I'm using spares because A) I have them and B) At least I can tell myself that it is able to go back to bone stock someday.

And she's still good for two-up!

Tomorrow I hope to get the chrome on the cone filters, a spare shift lever, and exhaust clamps painted flat black. Maybe the side covers too... I'm getting tired of that red. CB1100f shocks as well, as soon as I can pay for them anyway. $

 

[JRK5892]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

very cool man... love that exhaust and all the little things you did man... nice work!

 

[BigBSBusa]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Nice job! Using spare parts is always good in case you change your mind about how it looks.

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Thanks guys. JRK, dude I love your tx500 build. I had a 73 that was given to me that I never got going, but the tank is my tail section, and it was the same color as yours started out. I've also got some more parts that I took from it before parting, and I'm sure some of her will end up on my bike. Right now I'm thinking about using the headlight bucket from her to mount the speedo in like that dude did in the $50 or less thread.
So, tonight I'm about 8 beers deep, and I was thinking about painting the exhaust wrap with the stove paint I painted the stuff today with. The can says it's good for 1200 degrees I think... Anybody got input? Would this work? I've seen the D.E.I. product on the wrapped pipes on a cross bones and I really liked the texture... but $4 a can for the stove paint, or $20 plus shipping for a can of the D.E.I., and it looks like it needs to be layed on pretty heavy. If the stove paint wouldn't burn off, I'd like to try it. I'm going to do more cleaning and painting tomorrow... and I'll post pics if anything significant happens.

 

[JRK5892]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

I always paint my wrap!!! always... you have to use the 1200* stuff, it will help hold it together as well as keep the color... i used dupi color high heat engine paint when i do mine... works good but any 1200* paint will work just fine

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Thanks man! I'm gonna paint it today, since I've already painted the clamps. So I got a little bit more stuff painted today, the chrome on the pod filters, a shift lever and a starter cover. I also removed my side cover to find a pristine gloss black oil tank. It'll do till I paint the sidecovers anyway. Here's pics.

More to come soon...

 

[Bmpaul02]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

I always paint my wrap!!! always... you have to use the 1200* stuff, it will help hold it together as well as keep the color... i used dupi color high heat engine paint when i do mine... works good but any 1200* paint will work just fine

when you say that you paint the wrap do you do that before or after wrapping it? Sorry never done this before and i am getting ready to do mine. Can you just buy darker wrap?

 

[JRK5892]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

to wrap a pipe you soak the wrap in water for like 10 min, then wrap doing about 1/2 over lap... after the pipe is wrapped install it again and let it burn all the water out (will smoke and smell like hell)
after it is dry then take it back off and shoot it wiht high heat paint, will hold the fiberglass together, as well as help the wrap keep its color...

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Gave the pipes the Krylon touch... They look good. I ran out of paint before getting to the second pipe, but I'm gonna go get some more soon. Here's a pic of the new BLACK pipes

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

got bored and had a little paint left in the can. So I painted something else... still needs some cleanup

 

[JRK5892]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

nice touch

 

[BigBSBusa]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

You'll find that there are lots of those little things that you can do to touch it up.

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Managed to get the last of the paint out of the can... And I found an oil filter cover and another set of tappets to paint, just gotta get more paint.
Taped

Then painted and reinstalled

 

[BigBSBusa]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

That's nice!

 

[dcmspikes]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

nice. i like how each day you get a little more done. keep up with the progress

 

[Irishwarelephant]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

very inspiring, shows that creativity is more important than a lot of money when customizing

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Okay, I'm back from my holiday vacation. While I was in Tennessee I realized that my mother-in-law is a florist. And that means... I got free florist foam! Every little bit helps. As soon as I start making my fiberglass seat I'll start a thread in the seats section. Also my wife got me a Joe Rocket jacket and gloves, my first real riding gear! Tomorrow I'm going to finish up painting the bits. I nixed painting the oil filter cover because it gets lots of rock and dirt hits due to the lack of a front fender.
I took her out for a ride today. No tail light, but hey, I needed to test my new jacket and gloves Anyway, the paint on the one painted pipe held up well with no smoke or smell. So Krylon stove and grill paint ($4.54 a can at walmart) works well enough to paint exhaust wrap so far.
Thanks for the comments! More progress to come tomorrow.

 

[HerrDeacon]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Good to hear about the paint, I may try it on mine this winter. How many cans did you end up using?

 

[Deviant1]

Re: Alex's 72 CB750... as cheaply as possible

Deacon, I only used two and a half cans for everything I've painted so far.
So I got some more stuff painted today! Got the other pipe painted and reinstalled and painted some other small stuff (footpeg mounts etc.).

Getting there...

The next things are: Get a taillight, something small and cheap, Paint bits on the front end (horn, headlight bezel, ears, gauges, etc), Get braided brake lines and install my front brake, and get to work on my fiberglass seat pan.
Now reality calls and I have to take down my Christmas lights. More soon.