Topic: My Seeley 750 Rescue Mission on a shoestring

[john campling]

Make yourselves comfy this could take a while
I will post pics as I progress please feel free to comment, advize and make suggestions
Offers of parts are warmly welcome too

This bike was rescued from Wales where I was working on the Movie Freebird. The owner had taken the engine out and left the rolling chassis under a bit of corrugated iron in the bushes.
I managed to shame him into parting with it and vowed to bring it back to life.

It has survived remarkably well considering it was exposed to the harsh rural Welsh climate.
My aim is to get it up and running and worry about major cosmetics as and when possible.

The Nickel plate is presentable but really needs redoing at some point. I am aware of what this involves and the pitfalls of getting it wrong (ie frame becomes pile of tubes)
Most parts were there apart from oil tank and pipes which I now have.
Managed to find some good replacement forks.

[john campling]

The Pagehiln rear brake master cylinder was full of jelly, cleaned up nicely the only casualty being the square section O ring that seals on the piston.
Airheart do a similar one and have all the parts but the bore is different, too big.
I am worried that would change the characteristics and responsiveness of the brake.
A friend suggested just going down to the local hydraulic supplies place and seeing if they had anything to fit.
I know these were also used on go karts
Any ideas ?

[nippon]

Maybe, you can find some inspiration for your Seeley here:
http://www.classiccyclecity.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=52

or here:
http://www.classiccyclecity.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=83


nippon

[john campling]

Wow thanks very inspiring
a bit beyond my budget unfortunately but nice to see what you can do if you have all the toys
The frame looks cool stripped and clear coated those brazed joints are a work of Art
Interested in the heavy duty Primary Chain too

Afew homeless spiders evicted from the headlight but wiring looks ok, a few loose ends to chase

The winker mod made me chuckle, it's a ground wire

[Tim2005]

That looks a really good find, not many Seeleys come up nowdays at all. What other parts are you after? Have you got the tank and seat?

If I remember correctly there is a Girling/ AP seal kit that fits the Pagehiln m/cyl, I think it's the one for BL Mini (rear?) drums, give me a day or two & I'll see if I can find the kit number.

You are right to be extremely cautious about redoing nickel plate, seek professional advice from the likes of Roger Titchmarsh before considering that, and as you're working on a budget I'd think you're best to consider "patina" instead of "concours" as an aim!

[scottly]

Hello, Johnie, and welcome to the forums as well as the Seeley owners club! How about some pics of the Seeley parts, instead of generic headlight buckets and winkers?
Regarding the brakes; what is the piston diameter of the Pagelin M/C? What rear caliper? For that matter, what foot controls and wheels are on the bike?
What is the # on your frame?
Here's a pic of #21, shortly after I acquired it in 1979...
 

[Mugen_Stumpo]

^^^ wow, this thing is mean as #$%*!

[nippon]

@Tim
...if you do it the wrong way, your frame will look like this Seeley frame. 

nippon

[john campling]

@Tim thanks for the advice fortunately i do patina very well I have never been the concours route as I like to get things going and ride them. All info greatly appreciated cheers
@Scottly tantalising as my headlight bucket pics are I do get your point. I am No.648 first reg in '78. The pagehiln is 0.678" bore the Airheart is 0.875" which I dont think will be as strong on the push as the thinner bore. All I need to get is the 'quad ring' that fits the piston.
I have Lester wheels 'T' tube type original Honda rear brake from an F the engine is late K .
The brake pedal is a Seeley special which just presses on the piston via an adjustable screw as shown
One of the oil pipes is stuck on the pipe with what looks like the remains of a Brass screw in it is this some sort of grub screw to stop the hex coming undone ? Shall I carefully drill it out?
cheers jc

[john campling]

The interesting spelling of Ducati is scribed into the seat base I suspected it was Ducati

[Tim2005]

AOK, I'll search out whatever Girling part numbers I can find for the seal kit.  Interesting it is #648 - I have 642 and 794 - there's a gap for 648 in the Register  http://www.seeley-register.org/list.html so Axl must have known it still existed.  And yes that brake pedal is correct for that m/cyl. If you're more interested in riding it than originality don't rule out replacing the stock rear caliper and disc with something lighter too.

I'm not sure about that oil pipe at all. It should be a standard Honda one. Looking at the pic I thought at first it had been drilled for lockwiring. I can't imagine why a grub screw would be used. Maybe someone else has ideas.

If you want a Seeley seat unit, the mould is around still, try ebay member wym78 to get one made up.

Cheers

[john campling]

Thanks  Tim what did we do before the internet !
I thought I had registered it ages ago with Axyl and I was in touch with Andy Smith whom I met at North Weald he was on his Seeley, very nice.
Yes rear brake swap would be nice that Honda thing is a bit ugly. What are the favourites to change to. I have Tokico twin front with Seeley discs which people say are not so good.
They had not rusted despite being left outside for years must be silver steel or something

[john campling]

Seeley for sale listed in October 2012 £8400
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C300857#

[Killer Canary]

Scott's bike appears to have cast rotors. Was this part of the Seeley kit?

[nippon]

My last information I have had about the listed Seely is that it has been sold a couple months ago from Frankfurt, Germany to Switzerland close to my location.
So, I'm wondering about the listing date and location of the bike.
Maybe, I'm wrong, but a can find out, if there is any interest.

some more for sale (netherlands, with EGLI fork)
http://www.classic-motorrad.de/anzeigen/index.php?p=detail&id=3888   

same seller:
http://www.classic-motorrad.de/anzeigen/index.php?p=detail&id=3886


nippon

[john campling]

Quite a few Seeleys coming out of the woodwork can't say they are all to my taste though.
@scottly do you still have that bike ?
Primary chain roller to replace or not ? the rubber is hard but the chain is well within the recommended 70mm tolerence
I don't really want to split the cases at this point just get it up and running.
Gen cover has had a knock at some point looking out for one now
I did find a circlip in the sump I think someone must have dropped it in at some point if it had come loose from the piston it would be mashed up a bit.

[01Thomas]

Hello John
Congratulations on your find! I have Seeley Honda with chassis number SH7-655F. It seems to be for a 750F1 Honda, as evidenced by the rear disc brake (Pagehiln, like yours) and the tab welded to the left front downtube (for the 750F1's electrical connector box).

I have only read your thread up to the photos of the master cylinder. What I did to resurrect my Pagehiln master cylinder is to simply go to an automotive brake shop and have it re-sleeved to take a modern and easily available piston & seal kit. I know that you don't want to mess too much with the braking characteristics, but in my case the new piston only was about a 0.25 millimetre smaller than the original.

Also, my rear brake pedal looks like yours. How is your rear brake light switch activated? Does your bike also have the Honda plunger-switch with the wire connecting to a hole in the brake pedal? I plumbed an extra  front-brake hyd brake light switch into the rear brake hyd line - this has tidied the whole arrangement up considerably, and made it _much_ easier to use the kick-start which I do from time to time (when I want to show off...)

I'll write more as I see some areas where I can help.

regards
Thomas in Durban, South Africa

[scottly]

Yes, I still have the Seeley, although it's gone through some changes over the last few decades; it's the bike in my avatar.
My bike came to me with a Grimeca rear MC and caliper, and Morris disc, and with John Tickle foot controls.
Killer, I don't believe the cast discs on the front came from Seeley, but I don't really know for sure. 

[01Thomas]

All the literature I've ever seen said Seeley used plasma-coated aluminium rotors. True or False?

Scott's bike appears to have cast rotors. Was this part of the Seeley kit?

[john campling]

All the literature I've ever seen said Seeley used plasma-coated aluminium rotors. True or False?

Scott's bike appears to have cast rotors. Was this part of the Seeley kit?

I will have another look at mine all I know is they did not rust after being outdoors for ages. I will stick a magnet on them although if they were plasma coated would that be magnetic ?

[Tim2005]

The plasma coated discs were known as Hunt discs, presumably that was the manufacturer, I don't know what metal the plasma coating was but I think they were aluminium under it.

Thomas, for a brake light I've always had a switch that is incorporated into the banjo bolt, seems to work aok & the most modern versions are nice and compact too.

[Rookster]

I read an article in classic motorcycle mechanics (Sep 2005) about the Seeley CB750s.  He was a dealer for Hunt brake discs and Lester wheels which eneded up on some of his "Mile Eater" CB750s.  The discs are listed in the article as 11.75in light alloy coated discs.  There is a performance comparison between a 1976 CB750F1 and a 1977 Seeley Honda.  While the Seeley had slightly lower top speed and 1/4 mile times the stopping distance of the Seeley from 30 mph was 4 ft 3 in shorter than the stocker.

Scott

[john campling]

@ Thomas yes it has the original Honda brake switch
@Tim those banjo bolt switches look good i will check out the thread on the Pagehiln
The front discs are magnetic they are some sort of alloy as apposed to Alli
@Rookster Seeley slightly slower ? Booo!
Stops quicker ? Yeeah !  it's 4ft safer 
Pics of the the disc with Red Lester wheels (I resisted the cheese jokes)
Front down tube bracket presume for steering damper ? which I don't have
fusebox mod I got from the forum, had to make a bracket but love the convenience of the spade fuse that you can buy in any garage. Box £5 ebay
Missing side stand bracket ?

[Tim2005]

Reminded me to dig out the Pagehiln kit number today.. will do. Meanwhile, your discs look stock Honda to me (budget for a new tyre too), the front downtube bracket is for the 750f1 type box for electrical connectors, and looks like someone has cut off the sidestand bracket, you're going to need to get someone decent to braze a new one on there.

cheers

[Tim2005]

OK, well the good news is I found a kit number, the bad news is I found two of them- it's either CP2232-12 (old Lockheed box) or CP2410-1RK (AP Racing pack). It is quite possible that the second one supercedes the first - I suggest giving AP's technical support desk a ring.