Honda CB750 Restoration (Not sure of the year, I think '79 or '80)

[RideThis]

This bike belongs to dear old 'pa... The poor beast was sitting behind his shop exposed to the elements for 10+ years... My guess is closer to 15 years... He was gonna toss it but offered me a project... Hells yeah! So, I figure I'll update the progress here, I'm 100% going to need advice at some point!





This is with the ugly passenger seat back and storage rack removed.




The next day, moved it to its new home until scrapped or completed. Much better lighting in these pics.

I also managed to get 3 of 4 seized spark plugs out of the engine, and excessivly sprayed penetrating fluid into those cylinders... Unfortunately one plug snapped and is stuck in the head...

[RideThis]

So, a few days later I got a chance to work on it... And here's what happened...

Removed fuel tank and drained out 15 year old nasty fuel...


Tested my chrome cleaning skills, any advice on getting the fine pitting out?



My buddy Leo, applying leather treatment to the seat!


This healight housing is a total loss... Possibly the guage housing too...


Done draining out the junk...


Inside the tank after draining... Gross...


After varsol + hot water rinse...


Mixture of muriatic acid (2l) and full tank of hot water... (3 hour soak)


And once the acid bath was done, rinse with water followed by a rinse with gasoline... It's now filled to the cap with clean gasoline...


Also removed: rear wheel, swing arm, chain... And ensured that I could hand turn the engine before moving forward with this project... As I was hand turning, my stuck spark plug shot out! Still need to remove the seized threads though... Only the core shot out...

[RideThis]

Advice needed:

The key wont turn in the ignition, no doubt all moving ignition parts are seized, anyone deal with this before?

Chrome cleaining, any way to remove the fine pitting? Wire wool + penetrating oil works well for the surface rust but need help with the deep pits...

That's all for now! Thanks for looking....

[polak]

Hi ,
have you tried this great forum for DOHC bikes ?
Guys there are great and they have a lot of experience with these bikes .
You can find manuals to download , suppliers , pictures , mods almost anything you can come across on these beautiful bikes.

http://www.cb750c.com/

[RideThis]

Cheers man! I'll check it out!

[RideThis]

So, I just got back from my buds house where this bike is being stored / worked on... I def need to learn about carburetors... Todays goal was to make her run... Fail... But had her cranking and trying to start! Cheated with some cleaner through the air box to try... Too early to be doing that... After today, I think the next step is airbox + carb removal...

First was to fix this busted fusible link type fuse... No one sells these apparently...


So I bought this instead...


To make this... I will make it cleaner later... This was just to get started...


Next, I still can't turn the ignition... That had to come out...



And this is the mess behind that giant headlight....


Got it out, going for an oil soak... More on this guy later...


No more light, no more guages, only wires...



Removed the air filter, found a rodent nest inside the air box... Super...



And took off the tops of the carbs and took a peek, here's what I saw...


I don't know what's good or bad... This looks ok to me, but I think the mess is in the lower half of the carbs... Right?...

[Venom01]

PM Sent

Oh and as for your Tank
no matter how many times you flush it
It's going to flash Rust
You'll need to coat it with Kreem (or something similer)
I've found Those coatings that come in the Muriatic Acid kits are pretty thin and don't last very long

+1000000000000
Many time this made me want to smash my head in. You always think you got it, then more shows up. It never stops, get your tank coated.

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

[RideThis]

So, tonight I ripped it all apart again. Engine out, front end off... Down to the frame and wiring. Not at home tonight so can't put up pics but it's nothing too exciting... I need to figure out how I'm going to repaint the frame, my options are: paint gun, spray paint, or send for powder coating... I figure powder coat will look the best but obviously will cost the most. Any great success stories with spray paint???

Oh and the ignition... No change... lol

[TheDirty]

Any great success stories with spray paint???

I have rattle can painted frames before. I find rattle can paint to be terrible. It never gets hard and scratch resistant even with baking it on. I've only used Crapy Tire paint, though.

That was many years ago. If I was to DIY it now, I would borrow someones air sprayer and buy some decent paint from a shop.

[derailleur]

Powder coat for the frame would be great, if you want to strip the bike down to the bare frame. If not, air sprayer is good, rattle can a last resort, although I have seen some rattle can jobs that look really good.

[RideThis]

Powder coat for the frame would be great, if you want to strip the bike down to the bare frame. If not, air sprayer is good, rattle can a last resort, although I have seen some rattle can jobs that look really good.

It's pretty much bare frame now, I'll look into a powder coat job. See if it's affordable...

[JonnyWyshbone]

Great read, man. Hope to see it on the road one day

[RideThis]

Great read, man. Hope to see it on the road one day

Thanks dude, I hope I finish it one day.

[RideThis]

Alrighty then... First day working on this bike in a looooong time. The fuel tank revisited...

First of all, HOLY CRAP POR-15 is a pain in the butt. So many specifics and for $80 you really want it done right the first time. Apparently if you mess up it's wayyyy harder to remove the stuff in order to start again.

Yup, it got ugly again...


Petcock removed and taped off...


Marine Clean, first step is this degreaser mixed 1:1 with hot water. Pour mixture in and swirl/shake the tank for 20mins. Then rinse with water.


Not looking too different but what came out was pretty gross so I suppose the Marine Clean did its job...


Next step is Prep & Ready Metal Prep. You pour it in the tank and rotate the tank every 20/30mins to ensure it contacts all parts of the tank. No more than 2hrs and then you rinse the tank with hot water.


Before you add the POR-15 tank sealer, there must be absolutely no water in the tank or the product will not seal. So I rigged up this blow dryer to accomplish that mission.


I rigged up a vacuum funnel to get the last bits of loose rust...


Here's the interiour prior to the tank sealer... Not too bad, although I feel the muriatic acid did a better job.


And then with the sealer poured in and rolled around...


So, I've been at this all day and I still cant get all the extra sealer out of the tank. Apparently it causes problems if pooled areas are left alone... I just keep rolling the tank and hope that it will just be a really thick coat. I'll post up finish products later...

[RideThis]

While I was blow drying my tank, I started to rebuild the bike to proceed with my "make it run nice and then make it pretty" plan.

Greasing the head bearings (correct name?)




Here's how she sits now...


Stay tuned for more!

[RideThis]

Well, rotated every 30mins untill the pool stopped moving... But that's the thing, there's a pooled section. I'll give it some extra curing time...

Now, who can point me in the right direction to purchase a fuel filter to install between the tank and carbs... This bike has no filter to begin with...