Topic: Backyard find 750 K1

[jneuf]

Putting up a wanted turned out to be a great idea. I placed an ad in the local classifieds looking for a '69-76 Honda CB750 and sat back waiting for responses. To my surprise, in the dead of a Manitoba winter, I got a few responses within the first day. My ad stated that it didn't matter if the bike ran or not, I was interested.

My first response was for a 1971 CB750 that had been stored outdoors since 1985, complete, minus the ignition switch with a few old speed parts....I called the gentleman up, hopped in my car and drove about 10 minutes to take a look at the bike. We walked into his backyard, and it was like a time machine, vintage '70's paint, sissy bar, 16" rear wheel, etc...etc...


I'll be honest, I didn't even look at the bike that closely when I went to see it. I had bought a 750 K4 a couple years ago that was really cheap, but for what my intentions were, it was not the right bike. It was the bike a guy should have bought if he wanted to make a track bike, or a "cafe" (don't ask me why, but I hate that term...), not a stockish looking restored bike which is what I was hoping to do. It was missing a bunch of parts, and what was there was in worse shape than I had initially thought.

Anyway, like I said, I didn't look at it that closely...the owner was a SUPER nice guy, and I have a tendency to chit chat with the owners more than actually inspecting what I'm going to be purchasing. I gave it a quick once over, and agreed to his price that he quoted me in his email.

[jneuf]

Two things that suck:
1) not having a truck and/or trailer; and
2) not having any friends with a truck and/or trailer

I purchased the bike in the middle of January, and had to let it sit for three weeks before picking it up. My dad came to the rescue, and I rented a #$%*ty old u-haul motorcycle trailer and strapped it to the back of his van, and an hour later it was in my garage. Yay!




By the time I got it home, it was getting colder, darker, and I was hungry, so I had to leave it alone 'til this morning. I went out and gave it a bit more of a visual inspection. My first order of business was to get the tank open...I tried a couple keys in the lock, a flat screwdriver, and the thing wouldn't budge...needless to say, I'm not not a fan of locking gas tanks. After cursing it for awhile, I discovered the little screw on the side, and simply removed it. I don't think this particular lock will be going back on...


When the lock popped off, and the lid opened, I was both scared and curious...surely a bike sitting since '85 out in the elements must be in rough shape everywhere, right? It was like I had uncovered buried treasure! A super clean tank!


And the bottom side of the tank showing the original colour, Candy Gold


Below are a few more pics of some of the random things on the bike...

Andrews coils and Martek 440 electronic ignition:



4 into 1 header with Dunstall Power silencer:



Weird chrome chain guard...

[Johnie]

Great find...great deal...great pics...unbelievable tank interior. And candy gold...I love it. I hope your carbs are dry and as clean as the tank. So are your plans to go stock? I also had a person sell me my K4 at a nice deal as long as I would send pics of the restore progress along the way. She had a better offer from someone who was going to cafe it, but she wanted it to stay stock to honor her father who owned the bike. Cool that you have the pics of the bike as you found it. Those are great for the before and after. Good luck with your build and keep those pics coming.

[jneuf]

I popped off the carb bowls, again, scared to look at them.....and to my surprise:

Clean as a whislte! Not only that, but the choke moves freely as well...thankfully, the previous owner knew he wouldn't be riding his bike again for quite some time when he put away, and drained the gas from the carbs...why can't all people do this!?!?!

After fidgeting with the seat for awhile, and trying to figure out how to open it (yes, I'm a dummy...I didn't know how the K1 seat mechanism worked), I got it open and the original seat pan is also in great shape:


So that's where I'm at right now...I still don't know exactly what the plan will be. I wanted to try to save the '70's paint job, but it's a little too far gone to save...so it might go back to the Candy Gold colour (my favourite of that year anyway). One thing I can tell you for sure, is that it's not getting hacked up.

[Johnie]

So what part of the snow belt are you in there???

[jneuf]

Great find...great deal...great pics...unbelievable tank interior. And candy gold...I love it. I hope your carbs are dry and as clean as the tank. So are your plans to go stock? I also had a person sell me my K4 at a nice deal as long as I would send pics of the restore progress along the way. She had a better offer from someone who was going to cafe it, but she wanted it to stay stock to honor her father who owned the bike. Cool that you have the pics of the bike as you found it. Those are great for the before and after. Good luck with your build and keep those pics coming.

Thanks Johnnie! I updated a post with some pics of the carbs....If all previous owners stored their bikes like this guy, the world would be a better place, that's for sure....funny thing is, my K4 had primarily been stored indoors it's whole life, but was an absolute mess, while this bike has spent the last 27 years (as long as I've been alive!!) outside in the Manitoba climate with just a tarp, and it's pretty solid.

I don't think it'll go back 100% stock, mainly because I'm not willing to shell out that much $$$ for stock pipes at this point in my life, however, I'd like it to look close. I'm going to do my best to clean up the 4-1 header and the dunstall silencer on it now and I'd actually like to keep those...it has a drilled front rotor which I may have resurfaced and keep, and a few other things like the lower bars, etc...but aside from that, these bikes looked so unbelievably awesome from the factory, I don't know why anyone would want to deviate too far from that.

[jneuf]

So what part of the snow belt are you in there???

I'm in Winnipeg. And thankfully we've had a very mild winter so far, so spending time in my uninsulated, non-heated garage has been tolerable so far!

[754]

 John, just spotted as 9/71 build that was 111K...so your maybe june or July..its over in new member introductions..1bad 70..

[Tews19]

Subscribed and great find. Nice little finds with the coils and electronic ignition.. did you hook up a battery to see if any electricals work?

[jneuf]

John, just spotted as 9/71 build that was 111K...so your maybe june or July..its over in new member introductions..1bad 70..

Thanks Frank. That one is actually a fair bit higher than mine...Mine is 1066xxx.

I'm trying to find pictures of a bunch of '71 tags so I can come up with a rough estimate...I found a 1090xxx that appeared to be 4/71, a 1079xxx that was 2/71, a 1076xxx that was 12/70, and a 1073xxx that was 12/70 as well. Mine at 1066xxx is pretty early compared to some of the others I've seen. It must've been in the first couple of months of production.

[jneuf]

Subscribed and great find. Nice little finds with the coils and electronic ignition.. did you hook up a battery to see if any electricals work?

Not yet unfortunately....that's on my list of things to try for tomorrow...My fingers are crossed!

[Prospect]

It's a miracle that the engine isn't seized from sitting over 2 and a half decades in the Manitoba winter.    I spent one winter there and it was enough.  LOL. 

This guy must have loved that bike at one point and stored it properly and probably kicked it over every so often.  Considering the upgrades I think my statement holds some weight.  Hopefully the coils and ignition still work and you'll be test riding soon.  Maybe a member can shed some info on the ignition as to proper setup and testing. I'll be watching your progress. 

I got a gold k1 too that I found it Montreal and bought it sight unseen and sitting for 20 years.  I've been contemplating putting up a project thread too. 

 

[seanbarney41]

very cool find...sort of a 70's sport chopper , I parted a similar style bike this summer, it had that same chainguard...I wouldn't part that one either, It seems to me, if you have at least two out of three of the following original parts- tank, sidecovers, seat, it is economically feasible to put 'em back to stock...the mechanical stuff on these bikes is durable, almost always rebuildable, and mostly going to need attention on any old bike

[Kevin D]

Mine is 1066xxx

I have 1067xxx build date 11/70
engine E1068xxx

Good find and good seller to give you a $50 break.

[jneuf]

Thanks Kevin, much appreciated. Then mine was likely 11/70 as well. Thats the closest VIN ive seen to mine so far.

[Johnie]

My candy gold K1 has a built date of 9/70 and #105 if that gives you more help. Mine must have been sold and titled right after the build as it is actually titled as a 1970.

[Greggo]

Sweet bike!  I'll watch.

[Tews19]

My candy gold K1 has a built date of 9/70 and #105 if that gives you more help. Mine must have been sold and titled right after the build as it is actually titled as a 1970.

HMM very interesting. I know mine is a 71 but my build date is 12/70. I wonder if I could get the year changed to 70 on the title.

[jneuf]

My candy gold K1 has a built date of 9/70 and #105 if that gives you more help. Mine must have been sold and titled right after the build as it is actually titled as a 1970.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. That still leads me to believe I'm either 10/70 or 11/70...I want to have a reproduction tag made, however, I won't put it on the bike...I'll probably make it into key chain or something like that...It's too bad it was taken off in the first place.

[Johnie]

Is there any chance that tag could be under the snow and grass where you found it??? Just a thought. Can not figure out why someone would voluntarily take that tag off?

[jneuf]

I asked the guy I bought it off of if he knew anything about it, and he couldn't figure out why it was missing. He had never taken notice of the tag before, but he was going to ask the original owner (a good friend of his) if he remembered taking it off. Good point though, I might go poke around his backyard in the summer time to see if anything is there.

[jneuf]

Whenever I get something new, I have a bit of a one track mind...I got my bike home Friday night, the forecast for the weekend was good, so my thoughts were that I'd spend the entire weekend in the garage making a check list of everything I needed to do.

Sadly, my wife had other ideas...I got dragged to a pot luck last night where I knew no one, but my wife...We were the youngest people in the room by 20 years (no joke), so it wasn't my idea of a fun evening....I really only wanted to talk about my cool new bike that I had just trailered home, but sadly I only heard other people discussing politics and social issues....ugh...I work with politicians every day, I don't need to hear about it on my weekends, when I could be on my greasy garage floor. That being said, I put this favour I did for my wife into my back pocket so I can use it as ammunition when I drag another bike home...there is always a positive...

Anyway, today was my day to inspect the wiring. I was really hoping to hook up a battery and see some indicator lights turn on, or even flicker. I suppose this is where sitting outside for 27 years did some damage...Judging by some of my other findings while going over the bike, it looks as though a few squirrels thought the bike was as cool as I did. Unfortunately, the wiring is really chewed up...not only that, my electrical / wiring knowledge is nil. Did I mention I hate squirrels?

I'm going to have to familiarize myself with the wiring diagram. I also have a feeling this project is going to snowball into something much bigger than I thought it would be...

[Johnie]

Depending on just how bad it is you can always get yourself another harness. You probably already heard of this place, but just in case not> http://www.yamiya750.com/index.php?main_page=index&language=en  I think Z1 Enterprises also has some harnesses and the owner is also a member here. Very good people to deal with as is Yamiya. You will see stuff about them in the "good sellers" area of this board.

[jneuf]

I think it'd be easiest to just buy a new harness and be done with it....the start of my snowballing project!

[754]

 Why not just hook up battery to the coil, and see if it can run, before replacing the whole harness...