Topic: Elsa v3.0 Blackheart edition

[Inkscars]

SO, it's been a great while since I bothered to do much anything on here than give my two cents about a carburetor issue or heckle/ be heckled in the dive bar.
A few years back I bought my first motorcycle, a 1977 CB750. She was black originally, and hadn't run in like 13 years.
There are some of you that have never heard of me, there are some of you that may wonder if i fell off the face of the earth. Most of you don't care, but I'm here for my amusement so 
Anywho, I'll dig up the link to the original build thread, mainly so I can laugh at it later, and hopefully show how far one girl with a manual and a forum can get in life.
I will be including pictures of the tear down from a few weeks ago, and the build so far. Some of the pictures show different parts, this is when i was just trying on different "outfits".
I will also be posting silly pictures and maybe some "how-to". I've gotten better at fabrication and carburetors, and since I've repaired my exhaust, I'm certain I will be retuning/rejetting.

[Inkscars]

original thread
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=47532.msg499140#msg499140

[Inkscars]

from the after party for Kansas Citys' first Mods n Rockers

And at ralph waynes. Yay a ribbon

okie dokie.

[Inkscars]

In 2009


Original purchase

[Inkscars]

At this point, I might get a couple stragglers that ask, 'Why?"
To that I answer with a complicated roundabout to an easy answer.
When I got this bike, I wanted to build something, I wanted a bike and am intensely cheap. COUGH frugal.
I didn't spend a ton of money on her in the first place, and didn't spend too terribly much on it to get it where it was rideable/reliable and just ugly enough for only a mother to love.
I got caught up in riding, and as it is with all things that get use, things break and get worn, or you learn about stuff and realize yours just isn't cutting it.
The learning curve is both why I love this bike so much, and why everything was kinda half-assed. I didn't know how to properly chop, or weld. I didn't know how to make an led work on an old bike, and i definitely didn't know how to make an LED do 2 functions. Again, I've come a long way.
I read forums, and watched youtube videos, only to be led into believing that bench syncing is "good enough" and it's ok to do stuff yourself to save money.
it ABSOLUTELY is ok to do stuff yourself, but that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be done the correct way. If i had a nickle for everytime I should have died because I did something halfway on this bike, I'd have 25 cents.
Stupid mistakes.
ONWARD!
My exhaust had been welded together many many times and my muffler fell off in 2009 in Fayetteville arkansas. I strapped it to the bike and rode it home and it didn't change the way the bike ran. I have learned now it was because it was tuned incorrectly.
I kept that muffler for no good reason, and have been running open ever since. That has changed now.
voila! the kerker is whole again.

[Inkscars]

After a couple of years now, people recognizing me zipping around the city or dragging my "crusty" bike to shows, i was hit up by a local guy to help me do things the "right" way on her. I had been interested, but not interested enough to stop riding.
I was tinkering on a bike at a local motorcycle shop that let me through the door, (bless Jim) and realized all sorts of crap that was legit wrong with mine. Rear brake hanging up, Carbs not responding like they should, a random miss on the highway. So I bit. I finally said to the local that had become my friend, alright, let's do the damn thing.
Luckily, it has gotten cold. VERY COLD. So, I went to work and stripped it in my garage and then when he got an open lift, we drug it down there.
My goal? To keep the uniqueness that is my Elsa, but have it run TITS and look the part too. It's already dead reliable. Even with stock everything. Don't ask me how.
And this is where the cheap #$%* in me cries. Tearing off perfectly good working parts and replacing them, with stuff that costs money.
I'll shed a single tear.

Luckily, those 2 pieces came by way of a gift.
Most of the other stuff I've gotten for this have cost nothing.
So, as of right now, in this point in version 3.0, I have $0 dollars in.

[Stev-o]

Hey 'scars.....so whats the plan beyond fixing the Kerker and syncing the carbs?

[Inkscars]

Tear down views. The electronics side cover has been repaired many times. When i went to take it off with the temperatures below freezing, both sides broke and I'm not reusing them anyway, so whatever.

Member Goon made those badges for me and they got quite a bit of attention, however, I will have no where to put them now.

Literally decided to strip pretty much every bit of stock stuff off, and tearing down is usually the easy part.

Feel free to follow me on instagram, I usually post something daily.

[Inkscars]

My naturally bad ass story telling abilities prevent me from disclosing such information quickly.
Complete tear down.
Gaskets
rewire
deep cleaning
Changing the look, nearly completely.
Make it totally #$%*in'
Stay tuned, I've got quite a bit more to post before bed tonight.

[Inkscars]

I've always been into the more naked look of twins and some SOHCs. We trialed and toiled with a lot of different designs to replace the stock oil bag, and nothing looked right. Kinda the same thing kept happening with the 3 fenders we tried.
I did decide early on, that a tiny gel battery (FREE) would be the way to go, but that would mean removing my electronic start. So be it. NUKED.
Elsa will be kick only, and I have plans for that tiny little space the starter freed up.
Also, I decided I needed a charger for road trips, and was pretty sure I was running stock steering ball bearings. I was correct and found that out just today.
Two other christmas gifts for the bike

[Inkscars]

by removing the tabs for the side cover on the right hand side of the bike, we were able to recess the oil bag to not only conceal it a bit, and keep it away from my leg while I'm riding
(ignore the trial fender)


Threw some tracker bars on it to see how i felt about them and dig them a lot. (free)

[Inkscars]

The seat pan is made out of some random scrap metal and the foam was left overs from the last bike my friend built.
The battery box is some more of that scrap metal and a piece of metal we found with louvers in it. Extra points for air flow and coolness factor.

 Closer picture of the battery box

[Inkscars]

As Elsa isn't at my house anymore, I went today on my day off to work on it all by my lonesome for a solid 7 hours.
When i got there this morning it was waiting on the jack for me.

My projected goal for today; get the forks off and the rear wheel, unbolt the motor and get the brackets and bolts soaking in evaporust.
Got the forks off and the shocks and decided to go ahead and get the steering head off too. With a couple of stupid texts to my buddy Spikeybike, I had the races out as well. (Ahead of the game)

Rear wheel off, time for the engine mounts to come out.

Also, i guess you've noticed there is a different fender on here, and this is the one we jointly decided to use. I preffered it because it was skinnier and has an easier "kick" to it. I decided I needed a fender for road trips and to keep my ass dry. It is welded to the frame but we will be adding a support.

[Inkscars]

The removal of all of the frame after the shock mounts was pretty much a no brainer, and honestly I should have done it a long time ago. On the list of things that got the chop, inner fender mounting tabs, air box mounting tabs, center stand tabs, left hand passenger peg bracket (right hand remains because the now shortened kerker fits perfectly to mount there.
A better view of the battery box mount and such

A few  more moments of contemplating my time management, i decided to go ahead and pull the motor all the way. layed the bike on its side and a few wiggles later i was making a mess, even though i drained this damned motor overnight.

[Inkscars]

After the better part of a half an hour with a wire brush, one of the fellas on the other side of the shop that had loaned me some muscle, offered me a pretty ragged wire wheel on a grinder. Hm, alright, may as well repaint it anyway.....

It made pretty fast time of the job really, and i used every centimeter that was left of it.
There's still a significant amount of grinding and smoothing to do to the frame, but overall, I think I killed it for a days work. The swingarm and oil bag are degreasing overnight and i plan to be back at the shop to put in at least another 5 hours tomorrow doing gaskets and adjusting valves and polishing engine parts.
You might notice the toggle switches welded in there the tank will cover them. Or not.
got the shift cover polished up, bolts changed, gasket changed too.



Alright, that's it for tonight, I've got to be up in a few hours to get back at it.
Enjoy! I know I will.

[Inkscars]

Alright, I did another 7 hours today and I felt like I didn't get anything done. ugh.
Adjusted the valves, started grinding and polished some #$%*, got some fender supports welded on, and the tabs ground down on the frame. As my friend does the welding, i stayed busy on the engine and covers almost all day.
Closeup of the battery box and 12v


Some before pictures, although the valve cover didn't make it today other than scuffing it up.

[Inkscars]

The sprocket cover is gonna take some more work but the cam chain tensioner and shift cover are coming nicely


If you'll note the condition of the stator cover, you'll see where this thing started.

I spent around 3 hours cleaning the engine up. From exhaust and oil leaks and 30 something year old grease, its not even close to done. In progress shot

[Inkscars]

Some tweaking is needed for the fender support, but i'm digging it. The idea of taking useless little pieces of stuff and giving them new life holds some romance to me. These little guys were one ornate piece of useless metal.

Anyway, that's it for me until next thursday.
I also forgot to mention, that I sold some stuff on Ebay and bought a stainless allen bolt set for the bike, So that was like 30 dollars. Still pretty good financially so far.

Also, pretty much everything that came off Elsa is for sale. I do have a lot of engine parts from another engine that aren't being used, and the starter and all the controls worked fine. I will not be using any gauges, if you're interested in anything, let me know on here or private message.

[Retro Rocket]

Good progress Amber.... 

[Inkscars]

Good progress Amber.... 

I thank ya. Can't wait for next week. I'm having some bat#$%* crazy ideas for the gas tank.
Lots more polishing to go, the idea is to have the engine ready to go back in by next weekend have the frame ready for internal wiring. It's been too cold to paint anything though....

[Retro Rocket]

I know your winters are far colder than ours but i have painted tanks and other parts by heating them up with a hairdryer then applying paint, fan forced heaters work well too...   Just an idea...

[Spikeybike]

lookin good Ink ... i wasn't sure about the ducktail when we talked ... but seeing the pictures, it has nice feng shui.. maybe not for some , but i like it ... keep it up

[Inkscars]

Thanks manny. It definitely took some adjusting to on my end as well.
I wasn't sold on the idea for over 2 weeks and then we tried on this skinny harley fender and i liked the clearance above the tire and it almost looks like it goes with the rest of it. With the tank mod I think it will pull it all on the same page of the coloring book.
I'm getting antsy, but I'm gonna have to cool it until thursday.

[brandEn]

I like this thread.
subscribed

 

[Inkscars]

I like this thread.
subscribed

 

Hold on to your butts, Thursday is gonna be an 8 hour day.