Topic: Epwna

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I've been lurking on this forum for a while now studying up on just about every build I can find. I originally didn't want the attention (or worse the risk of embarrassment from knowing absolutely nothing compared to all the pros on here), but I've decided that there is probably not a better resource in the world for general cb 750 expertise than the eclectic wealth of knowledge that exists on this site, so here goes nothin...

I found a good deal on a running '77 F2 on CL and rode it till I ended up pushing the bike more often than it was pushing me (which ended up being about 3 months). Long story short I fell in love and decided it was time for an undertaking... I've entered this project fully accepting and aware that I know nothing, and with the goal of learning all I can... and hopefully coming out the other side with a running, rideable bike that is refreshed and sick nastier than ever!

Any and all input is greatly appreciated!

Here's what I've got so far...

Day I bought it... Rode it home

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I knew I wanted to do the big bore, and after reading Tweakin's 915 thread, I decided I'd need to use a K engine in place of the F. CL came through once again as I found a guy unloading a bunch of cb parts for dirt cheap. I also wanted spokes cuz... well... comstars are lame! So I took my 6'5" brother with to do the heavy lifting, and we snagged a couple wheels along with some random misc parts, and two complete engines (both 'K's) in questionable shape.

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Tore into the first engine (which turned over quite nicely) no problem, but long story short got overzealous and... Little did I know at the time this would just be the beginning of the problems with those tiny little studs...




Welp, just another thing I learned on this site... always keep spare engines around! The second one didn't turn over, but we needed the case so we tore in! Figured out why it wasn't turning over...


Poor rod...


Kinda thought in the back of my mind that I could figure out a way to pull that little sheered stud and use the original case still... seemed like a good idea cuz it looked to be in much better shape than the second stuck engine. Those hopes were crushed though when I found this


Still maybe not the end of the world, but things continued on down hill when I tried to pull this little fella out...


So far no good... but not to be easily disheartened, I defaulted to case number two. Getting into the bottom end was easy enough, until it was time to pull the confounded phillips heads on the counter shaft bearing holder. Both times I split the cases I used a pneumatic impact driver and had my behemoth of a brother practically sit on the thing, and both times the exact same screw stripped right out. Never had luck with ez outs before but there's a first time for everything... and in this case a second as well. Worked both times... what a pain though!

[754]

Check the numbers on the motors, incase they are early....like end in140,000 or lower..
 Good luck with the project..

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The second case was rough around the edges, but I hadn't managed to screw it up yet, so I decided to see how it cleaned up

Before


After


Mostly just road gunk, and this one looked to be in pretty good shape

So I began soaking the studs in penetrating oil in an attempt to be better prepared for round two of stud misery. I called on the assistance of my big helper of a brother once again and we experimented with different stud removal methods on the already scrapped case with very limited success. Ye ol' bend and twist method as seen on sohc4 forums mostly yielded more broken studs. Finally after heating the base of each stud with an industrial heat gun, got about 6 in a row! True to form however, even with him on the base of the stud and me double nutting the top threads, we began to twist one at the base *gasp*! Long story short I continued soaking them on a nightly basis for a couple weeks, and hitting them in every direction with a hammer. Ultimately it took me at the base of the twisted stud with a pipe wrench, and him simultaneously smackin the crap out of it with a hammer and we got it! So here it is, a stud free case, in good enough shape to use!

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Check the numbers on the motors, incase they are early....like end in140,000 or lower..
 Good luck with the project..

Thanks! I checked em at one point and they are a '76 and a '75... would that have been a disaster??

[754]

Those are plentiful.. They use the wider sprocket shaft bearing, but the shaft is shorter than 77/78 ..if you want to run a really wide tire..

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Since I was making progress on the engine, waiting to afford parts for it, and it was winter in Colorado, I decided to tear her down. Another shout out to an sohc4 original technique. Laid her down to pull the frame off the engine... worked like a dream!


I'm workin on a pretty limited budget and I don't have access to a blaster, so I went to town on the frame and other parts with a wire wheel chucked up in my drill. It took forever, but I got the frame, swingarm, and various other bits stripped!:)


Polished up the better of the valve covers


And most recently experimented with fork disassembly. Those seals didn't come easy, but I knew where to find the technique! Drilled some pilot holes, threaded some screws into the seals, got a claw hammer on em, and they finally popped out!

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Those are plentiful.. They use the wider sprocket shaft bearing, but the shaft is shorter than 77/78 ..if you want to run a really wide tire..

Beautiful, thanks for the tip! Also sorry for the disjunct posting haha. Just tryin to get up to speed with what all I've done so far.

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So next I plan to order progressives, boots, and seals for the forks, paint the lowers and reassemble those bad boys! Then it's on to spoking the comstars which I plan on doing via this clever method so I can retain the discs as they are.

http://motosynthesis.blogspot.com/p/products.html

I've seen the gl front end strategy and a couple others, but this seems most reasonable for my situation at this point.

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Decided to tackle the gauges...

Original mileage, which I hear is a pretty good life for one of these f2s

Annnddd mileage now

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Stole a brilliant idea from Hednuts crazy-awesome biohazard build and attempted to iron my warped gauges flat... Apparently my 'cotton' setting is a bit hotter than his... While I was ironing the tach gauge, it started curling up under all the heat!  Woops! Despite my best efforts to restore it to usable condition, this was what I ended up with (sorry for the blurry potato cam... I use my phone for the pics and it has definitely seen better days)


No good! So I picked up some acrylic, did some cutting, drilling, and sanding and BAM! Check it!


The imperfect edges of the circles (I used some random drywall hole cutter chucked up in my drill... not ideal), are totally covered up by the edges of the housing, so they look completely perfect!


I'm hopin that the sanded clear faces will give me a brighter, truer red when I throw these bad boys behind them... also a move stolen straight out of Hednuts biohazard build, thanks dude!


So now I just have to wait for a day warm enough to paint the houses, get some sick nasty gauge face decals printed, and I should be about ready to button em back up... BOOM!

[seanbarney41]

those spoke adapter thingies for the comstars look totally sketch to me.  These bikes are capable of riding long distances at high speeds  and they are quite heavy, and there is no way I would do either with those spoke adapter rings...but then if you look at the guys bike who makes them, it is pretty obvious he is not too interested in a properly functioning motorcycle.  Also, please notice that your comstars are an earlier design and come apart totally different from his.  I would rather have early comstars than a spoked rim any way, as there are little to worry about as far as roundness and trueness.  If you really must have spoked wheels, figure out a proper wheel swap.  Welcome to the forum.

[calj737]

+1 to what Sean said... Not meaning to tell you how to live your life, but, B you are crazy to pursue that option.

Spoke rings Nylock nutted to a gobbled up hub? I would want some very specific assurances and some liability o his part that they were safe, road tested, and he assumed legal responsibility for any harm... Not meaning to sound extremist, but hubs are very critical components and should be monolithic, not bolted together.

But it's your bike, your butt. So much easier to locate spoked hubs and adapt them to your bike. Probably cheaper in the long run too.

I've done some "not normal" things with bikes, but they have only been done after consulting a professional who specializes in that aspect (frame builders/welders/machinists) and I know these guys personally. I wish you very good luck with it and will watch your progress, hoping for a positive outcome.

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Hey I appreciate the crap outta the input!  As I said, I'm here to learn, not to die... Operation new spokes conversion plan is officially in place as of just now! I'm sure I can come up with somethin... wouldn't a spoked 'f' rear fit with just spacing adjustments anyway? If so I've just gotta worry about trackin down a gl front end or somethin, yeah? Thanks guys 

[seanbarney41]

you are on the right track with the earlier f bike rear and a gl front...check out members Tweakin and/or Branden... iirc they both have awesome f bike build threads where they swapped to spoke wheels...or just learn to love the ugly duckling of the cast aluminum wheel world

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I've read every one of branden and tweakins builds many times over, and am currently subscribed to 'the turd' I'll study up on that spot in tweakin's f2 build and probably just follow it step for step haha. Thanks again for the input

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I grafted a '76 GL1000 front onto my K7 with great results. Plug and play.

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I grafted a '76 GL1000 front onto my K7 with great results. Plug and play.

That's excellent news! Now it's just a matter of tracking down a spoked f rear wheel, and a gl front end. Any ideas where I might find one without having to buy an entire gl 1000... or completely break the bank? If anybody has any ideas, leads... or a gl front end they're tryin to unload lemme know Thanks!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I grafted a '76 GL1000 front onto my K7 with great results. Plug and play.

That's excellent news! Now it's just a matter of tracking down a spoked f rear wheel, and a gl front end. Any ideas where I might find one without having to buy an entire gl 1000... or completely break the bank? If anybody has any ideas, leads... or a gl front end they're tryin to unload lemme know Thanks!

Look for a complete front if you can on Craigslist or ebay. I just sold my spare GL front to Krautcoffin but there are deals out there.

[calj737]

How different are the hubs from a 500/550 than your bike? I have a '73 500 front hub you are welcome to. I'll look, I may have a rear also, but think it's trashed.

You would need rims and spokes, but it may alleviate some issues for you.

[flybox1]

I'm not much further ahead of you on my (F3 engine in K8 frame) build.
in the event you have more paint stripping to do, a flap wheel works WAY faster than a good wire wheel.

I purchased good gauge face plates off ebay.  EGOR, the seller is a member here.  good product. 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/main-jet-moto/m.html?_sacat=6000

[B]

How different are the hubs from a 500/550 than your bike? I have a '73 500 front hub you are welcome to. I'll look, I may have a rear also, but think it's trashed.

You would need rims and spokes, but it may alleviate some issues for you.

Thanks so much! This may be dumb of me... but I actually have a complete spoked front wheel from a k, as well as a rear (drum brake cuz it's from a k), but am not sure how to get them to fit. I wish I could just bolt another rotor to the other side of the front wheel, but I know that won't work for a number of reasons...
 
If the wheels I have are the same size as on a gl, I guess I could just pick up the tree, forks, axel, calipers, and discs and be good to go in theory, yeah?

[B]

I'm not much further ahead of you on my (F3 engine in K8 frame) build.
in the event you have more paint stripping to do, a flap wheel works WAY faster than a good wire wheel.

I purchased good gauge face plates off ebay.  EGOR, the seller is a member here.  good product. 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/main-jet-moto/m.html?_sacat=6000

That's a great tip, thanks! I'll definitely look there for some good decals. The help, resources, knowledge, and general attitude on this forum is insane! Thanks so much for the input everyone

Also regarding the gauges, any dynamite solutions other than trying to re crimp that ring around the outside for reassembly? I've seen some stuff out there that looks like it can be done, but never really figured out a good plan...

[flybox1]

If one of your gauge faceplates is distorted, he sells new ones as well.  I got a set of new clear plates w/ white decals(pre-installed).  Good stuff

Crimp the rings back if you can, but there are sellers of new gauge rings. 
Jokermachine comes to mind.  I think they run about $100