Hey all, I've been lurking around for quite a while, and I figured it was time to make my first post... I bought my first CB a few months ago, and the addiction struck in full force. I paid $200 for a 1976 CB750K6, that at the time was not running, and had been sitting in a guys garage for the better part of 15 years. He had apparently bought it himself, ridden it for two weeks, and the engine promptly "locked up" (as per his words) and he never could get it running again.
I brought the beast home on a trailer, once home I tried kicking it over and amazingly... it was locked up. So, I began looking for a cause to this; pulled the side covers and everything looked kosher. Finally I remembered a, older Chevy I had the displeasure of diagnosing at one point and the idea was so simple it was stupid; the starter. Pulled the starter motor out and lo and behold, the gear was locked out. Gave her a kick and it turned over!!! Promptly sputtering, coughing, and protesting its' rebirth, it backfired and blew off one of the pods the PO had installed. From there, I did the obligatory ritual tune up (turns out the coils wires were swapped so it was firing on the wrong cylinders AND the valves were set with the crank 180 degrees out), cleaned the carbs, rejetted it for the pods (yuck) and open 4-2 exhaust, replaced the battery, tires and the lights. Gave her a short kick and about halfway through, she fired up and idled away!
Fast forward a few months and about 7000 miles, I've ridden it with the expectation that a full motor rebuild may at some point be a reality, as I don't know what all was done by the PO in an attempt to get it running... I've rewired it, leaving only the necessary items (sans starter, winkers) due to the PO's butchery of the harness, and enjoyed the hell out of it. However, last Thursday I was riding it home and about two miles from home, on the highway, in traffic, with no shoulder to pull onto... I begin to hear an occasional "whump" sound from the motor at around 5k. Soon, (read, near immediately) the "whump" became a ratcheting sound, and the rear tire locked up. Luckily I was able to keep it out of a slide, and made it to the turn-off to my house. Proceeded to push it the rest of the way home and park it. After reading up on the symptoms, and other members with similar problems, it sounds as though the dogs in the transmission have probably sheared off to some degree... My issue sounds exactly like
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=59158.0. So, it looks like in the name of reliability and safety for the beast, I'll be giving her the full treatment. I'm including a before and after of what it looked like at purchase, and what it looks like (a couple additional visual enhancements not included) at the current moment. I'll be pulling the engine this weekend.
