Topic: 1978 CB750F - First motorcycle Project

[pmurph1x]

Hi guys. I picked up this 1978 CB750 last week. Cosmetically its in great shape, I just need to get it running after sitting for the past 20 yrs, and hopefully not mess anything up along the way. This is basically my first ever "restoration". Here goes:



The fuel tank was full of 20yr old gas. It was badly rusted and full of varnish. I've been running electrolysis on it for the past few days moving the electrode around. I think I'll drain it tomorrow to see where we are. A lot of crap came out on the rebar now its mostly green which is a good sign from what I've read here.


One thing I notice is that the front wheel seems to have a dent on the rim. Its pretty small (at the 7O'Clock position in the pic). Anyone know if this is an issue? I dont see any cracks there.




Thanks
       Paul

[bluesmoke69]

Welcome and good luck with your project.

[apetersonboy]

That's a pretty F-er. Nice bike

[harisuluv]

Nice bike, show us the afters of that gas tank, btw.

[Missingparts]

Looks just like the bike I picked up a couple of weeks ago!  After you are finished cleaning the tank POR15 make a awesome liner that will permanently seal it.  I have used it on two tanks so far with great results.

[pmurph1x]

Looks just like the bike I picked up a couple of weeks ago!  After you are finished cleaning the tank POR15 make a awesome liner that will permanently seal it.  I have used it on two tanks so far with great results.

I may have to try that. I drained the tank and there is still a lot of what I believe to be rust there. Did you use acid or electrolysis for the initial clean?

[Missingparts]

I have always used phosphoric acid.  It does a really good job eating away the rust and it doesn't harm the base metal, its not nearly as dangerous as  muriatic acid but you still need to be careful with it.   The tank in the pic I posted took about 3 hours of soaking in acid (rotating every so often) to thoroughly clean and it was really nasty.  Acid clean, rinse with water, dry thoroughly with forced air and then Por15.  So far I'm really impressed with their products.  One of the lined tanks is on my track bike that sees race fuel all the time and it still looks great.

[sanglasmick]

Good luck with the build Murph!