CB450-From Chobbler to Tracker

[dieselchanic]

I like bobbers. And choppers. And cafes. And anything that's nicely done. I do, however, hate with a liquid burning fury the infamous 'Craigslist Chobbler'. I put this cb450 firmly into that last category, and therefore can not tolerate its continued existence. When I received the motorcycle, it had a few things in its favor: new tires, not seized engine, supposedly had been running in the past two years... Obviously someone had modified the frame and came up with such a goofball, off breed animal that no one was willing to ride it. So let me show you what I started with:

Ain't she just a beaut?

 

[cxman]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

that frame it hurtsssss

 

[dieselchanic]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

Yes. That is a hardtail. It had been lifted so drastically that the chain rubbing the top of the swingarm. The logic involved in taking a running machine and doing this to it scares me.

Anyways.... I cleaned it up, put some gas in the tank, swapped in a battery, and kicked the beast to life. I then proceeded with the 'test ride'. You know where it's kinda half together, half running, but you get out on the highway and whale on it like it's actually a functioning machine anyway?? Well I made it about 1/4 of a mile before I noticed an ever thickening haze of blue smoke seemed to be chasing me. I shut her down to investigate this new development only to discover that the fender mounts were rubbing on the rear tire. Apparently someone didn't get the memo that that part of the machine moved and should be kept apart from other stationary objects. So back to the shop we went, where I just snatched the ugly thing off and tried again. It ran surprisingly well!! Besides the high praying mantis style stance, and the exciting boinging of forks with no oil, it rode ok too....

I then tried to make it rideable. I swapped the bars for some stainless riserless bars I had made for my xs650 (amazingly the spacing is the same) and cut a few inches out of the 'hardtail' to lower it. The springer seat was mounted with springs in the rear, but the front mount was simply welded solid. ?? I also swapped out the poorly mounted Unity spot light for a small headlight I had laying around. This afforded me a bike that could at least be ridden. I put some miles on it this way to verify everything was useable.

 

[dieselchanic]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

I then put it in the shop and cut it into pieces.

That brings us sort of up to date. I'm still trying to get a subframe back on it and repairing the swingarm.

 

[dieselchanic]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

So last night I finally got the subframe welded on. This is not a 'factory' looking rebuild, rather I just used parts of frames I had leftover from previous bike projects. It was a great gigantic headache, but it turned out ok.

Here's a before picture of what the swingarm looked like once I removed the... um, whatever you calls em. 'Hardtail struts'.

Here is the after. I used the shock mounting bosses off a kz650 swingarm, since I'm using the shocks from the same bike.

I also received my new used tank yesterday. A nicely faded cb360 tank in fair condition. I will run it as is with no refinishing nonsense.

 

[VonYinzer]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

Well that's 100000x better already.

 

[dieselchanic]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

A little progress from tonight. I got the frame buttoned up

 

[canyoncarver]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

Nice rescue

 

[smarsh]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

Good to see it getting the rehabilitation it deserves.

 

[neophyteCB450]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

You are doing a good thing here. There should be government grants for this kind of work...

 

[dieselchanic]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

I got the tank mounted. I used the standard rubber snubbers in the front, but had to make new mounting points for them. In the back I used a block of closed cell neoprene.

 

[dieselchanic]

This bike had simplified, or cut down, wiring when I got it, but it was still running the stock regulator and rectifier units. I want to upgrade to a regulator/rectifier unit and build a new wiring harness based around a fuse block and SPDT relays. So... I studied the wiring on the bike and couldn't make sense of what was going on. That got me nowheres. So I looked up a stock wiring diagram and wow, these things are messed up! I think (hope) that I can simply wire the three wires from each leg of the stator into the yellow wires on my new reg/rec unit and connect the red and black to the battery and roll. If someone knows more about these old Hondas and wants to chime in I'd appreciate the input. It also looks like this may be a permanent magnet alternator?? If so, I should be able to run just a capacitor since I'll be kickstart only anyways... Or am I way off??

Here's the diagram that corresponds with what I see on my bike:

 

[Milpool]

I'm still in love with your cb750 chop, that was the first jap chop I actually liked, followed that build closely on ChopCult. Your 650 is turning out damn cool too. You definitely nail choppers, can only imagine this will be awesome too.

 

[dieselchanic]

I'm still in love with your cb750 chop, that was the first jap chop I actually liked, followed that build closely on ChopCult. Your 650 is turning out damn cool too. You definitely nail choppers, can only imagine this will be awesome too.

Thanks man! I still feel kinda like I bumble around... I credit most of my success to the bikes that I get, the 750 just had that look going already and this bike just got lucky with that tank.

 

[frogman]

Yes they are permanent magnet alternators. The three wires are pink white and yellow. The pink is the common yellow is high coils white is low coils. Tie the yellow and white together then connect that to one AC side of your reg/rec unit. Connect the pink to the other. Too easy.

Now, you can try a capacitor I would suggest making sure you have a light switch so you can shut the lights off. They are not known for charging really well you my have to run a smallish battery anyway.

 

[dieselchanic]

Yes they are permanent magnet alternators. The three wires are pink white and yellow. The pink is the common yellow is high coils white is low coils. Tie the yellow and white together then connect that to one AC side of your reg/rec unit. Connect the pink to the other. Too easy.

Now, you can try a capacitor I would suggest making sure you have a light switch so you can shut the lights off. They are not known for charging really well you my have to run a smallish battery anyway.

So if I follow correctly, I'd tie the yellow and white wires together coming from the alternator and connect that to a yellow on my reg/rec (all of the rectifier wires on my unit are yellow) and connect the pink to another yellow and I should be good? Or should I connect the pink, yellow, and white to a yellow each? I guess it would all mean the same in the end actually...

 

[frogman]

It's not a 3 phase charging system if that's what your asking it's not the same as the larger 4 cylinder bike charging systems.

What type of reg/rec unit do you have?

 

[dieselchanic]

It's not a 3 phase charging system if that's what your asking it's not the same as the larger 4 cylinder bike charging systems.

What type of reg/rec unit do you have?

It's one for a dohc cb750. I also have one for an xs650.. The rectifier is basically just three diodes though so if I connected the three wires separately it would basically do the same as connecting the two before since it will be inside the rectifier just running through an additional diode. Or am I wonky?

 

[dieselchanic]

I drew up a wiring diagram. I'm using a UT4L battery (kickstart only), 150cc scooter reg/rec, 6 gang fuse block, and two SPDT relays (one for main power switching and one for the headlight hi/lo allowing the use of a SPST toggle). The cb450 uses a 2 phase permanent magnet alternator, so if the rectifier wiring looks funky, that's why.

 

[FerousBastard]

Re: CB450-Rescued from Chobbler Monster

Well that's 100000x better already.

I'll second this. Why some people 'build' bikes like what it was originally is beyond me. Definitely dig the direction you are taking it. Have you checked the rear wheel clears that crossbar at full bottom?