Topic: Vintage Speed Part Mashup - 1976 CB750F

[Godffery]

   Great to see this project coming together.
Rotors look fantastic on there!

[NagChampa]

Love the fabrication and CAD designed parts. Had to subscribe!

[slikwilli420]

I'm thrilled by the positive comments from some of the great builders here on the forum. Thanks for the support. There will be more to come soon.

Those rotors are the only way to fly on a street bike.

The CAD stuff has really put me in a great spot. The two best tools in my kit are my free CAD program and my Mig welder. The cost of water jet makes it the perfect process for one off parts.

Updates:

Emailed Andover Norton today to order the AP Racing classic rear master just like on the real Rickman bikes!

Going to finish polishing the oil line fittings from the engine and then off to be crimped on to my new hoses.

Experimenting with some aluminum casting. Don't want to reveal anything quite yet as this is in its infancy. More to follow.

The gauge mount plate will be back from the water jet next week. Still need to figure out exactly how to attach it.

I need to fab some mounts for my new oil catch can. It will likely end up mounted to the X brace that will go over the swing arm pivot.

100 other odds and ends.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Matt,

This is coming together nicely.  I am a big fan of the Lesters.  Finally sourced a set for my 550!!  Now to finish the second piece of the caliper bracket to use yours!!

Keep it up!

Don

[slikwilli420]

Happy Thanksgiving! Time for a mini update. I'm still in the midst of designing parts to mount all the pieces and parts that will go on this project. Below is my new catch can that will need mounts as well as to be "vintage-fied" so it doesn't look so new.

Also got my oil lines mocked up and they are now at a local hose shop to get ends crimped on the engine fittings.

Last is the gauge mount that I just picked up from the water jet yesterday and wanted to get the gauges in and see what it would look like on the bike. I still need to figure out the exact way I want to mount it, but its one step closer.

[Tintop]

Does either your speedo, or tach use a mechanical drive??  If so check the routing of your cables.  I didn't (after I had it anodized, and mounted), and had to route mine through the headlight shell ...PITA!

[Retro Rocket]

Do both those oil lines from the bottom right of the engine go to the oil cooler {the lines that usually go to the oil tank}....?
Where is the oil tank positioned..?

[slikwilli420]

TT, the speedo is GPS and the tach gets a signal from the coils so no issues there. To make the front end work and to keep it clean this was the easiest route to go.

RR, the oil cooler setup draws oil from the tank though the cooler and into the engine. The other line returns right to the oil tank. I'm also running a spin on adapter for the filter.

[Retro Rocket]

TT, the speedo is GPS and the tach gets a signal from the coils so no issues there. To make the front end work and to keep it clean this was the easiest route to go.

RR, the oil coo. r setup draws oil from the tank though the cooler and into the engine. The other line returns right to the oil tank. I'm also running a spin on adapter for the filter.

Cool, for a moment there it looked like you were running the cooler directly off the engine there ....

[754]

Looks good,  like Cherry Annie damper.
 Picked up another Betor in the last week, with The fender/brake mounts..good ones for street .you may have to run stiffer springs in your forks if they were off a much lighter bike.

[slikwilli420]

Frank,  not knowing what shape the springs were in,  I upgraded the whole kit to Race Tech internals. I'm a big guy so I got the heaviest spring rate they make and added some preload to them. I'm anxious to see how it handles.

[754]

How much did the springs and internal parts cost ?

[slikwilli420]

Emulators were $200 and springs were $140. It's supposed to make a world of difference. We shall see.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Emulators were $200 and springs were $140. It's supposed to make a world of difference. We shall see.

FYI!  That's either rounded up or charged up. 

RACE TECH lists their emulators at $170 (+20 if you need adapters) and $125 for fork springs -- those are Race Tech prices

Jay at Lossa Engineering charges $160 for emulators and $115 for Race Tech fork springs -- He's also running a FREE SHIPPING Black Friday special TODAY (Code: BFS)

That's $65 less than what you paid, so something to keep in mind if there's a "next time"

I found that the springs and emulators were a significant improvement over progressive springs alone.

[slikwilli420]

The prices for the Betor forks are more than many others. They share a lot of parts with the Ceriani forks which race tech charges more for. I guess it's the price to pay for different. Either way I am pumped to see the difference on the street.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

The prices for the Betor forks are more than many others. They share a lot of parts with the Ceriani forks which race tech charges more for. I guess it's the price to pay for different. Either way I am pumped to see the difference on the street.

Shoot! Forgot that you were running non CB forks! Doh!!  Here's to hoping they improve your already improved forks!!

[chewbacca5000]

I'm thrilled by the positive comments from some of the great builders here on the forum. Thanks for the support. There will be more to come soon.

Those rotors are the only way to fly on a street bike.

The CAD stuff has really put me in a great spot. The two best tools in my kit are my free CAD program and my Mig welder. The cost of water jet makes it the perfect process for one off parts.

Where did you get a free CAD program?  I want one.

Updates:

Emailed Andover Norton today to order the AP Racing classic rear master just like on the real Rickman bikes!

Going to finish polishing the oil line fittings from the engine and then off to be crimped on to my new hoses.

Experimenting with some aluminum casting. Don't want to reveal anything quite yet as this is in its infancy. More to follow.

The gauge mount plate will be back from the water jet next week. Still need to figure out exactly how to attach it.

I need to fab some mounts for my new oil catch can. It will likely end up mounted to the X brace that will go over the swing arm pivot.

100 other odds and ends.

[slikwilli420]

Chewbacca,  it's called Proge Smart 2009. It's technically a trial version that needed to be registered on their site. I also had to agree not to use it for commercial purposes. I happened upon it through a software sharing site that had a bunch of CAD programs available. The unlimited trial period drew me to it. I have some CAD/CAM experience so it came back to me quickly.

[slikwilli420]

Well quite a few things have gone on since my last post. My cylinder head is at Mr. Rieck's to get a stage 4 makeover with all the goodies. Since good motors aren't cheap this one will likely take until spring '16 to get done and ready to go.

In the mean time I dove into my current motor and replaced a leaky head gasket, as well as the pucks and O-rings in the top end which should keep it running for a long time to come.
I tore the bike down to the bare frame to be able to get to everything at all angles, as well as add some additional bracing. I added some gussets in the form of 0.75" tubing at the bottom of the triangles under the original oil tank position. I also added a bar between the front motor mounts. I will also be adding some form of bracing above the swingarm pivot but still need to do some figuring before that happens.

Also, it just so happens that Santa was brought me two great new items for my ever-expanding collection of fabrication tools. I got a 1.125” die for the tubing bender I am building from plans I got from the internet. More to come when the parts are done. I also got a JD2 tubing notcher that is adjustable for angle to 50 degrees and will also do offset notching. For my next project I intend to build my own frame and have started researching techniques and designs.

The parts from across the pond came a few weeks back and now I have the full AP Racing kit front and rear. I need to do some figuring on mounting the master to work with my rearsets and be out of the way of my foot.

Lastly just working on polishing some bits and getting them ready for either bead blasting, further polishing or powder. The picture is the rearset brackets.

[slikwilli420]

Got another batch of goodies back from the waterjet shop a few days ago. The first parts are the mounting plates for a frame jig I am putting together based on some plans I found online. Everything will go together with .125 wall 2"x3" rectangle tubing. It will eventually be mounted on a rotisserie but for now will be mounted on threaded feet to level it out. Sooner than later I will begin building a custom frame, but more research is needed.

Other parts that got done are a front engine mount. I saw one with slightly curved sides on the Seeley on Classic Cycle Cities website and wanted to emulate it but with a cutout in the center. It will be mounted with the appropriate-sized ARP 12pt hardware. The other two pieced are brackets for my oil catch can. I went with a pinch design for cleanliness and to match the style of my custom triple trees.

Lastly, I finally got back my first powdercoated parts! This is a set of Marzocchi Stradas that I picked up from Carpy on eBay about 6-7 years ago. I have had them on the bike already but it was time for a facelift, so the housings were done in red and springs in black. I think the color will stick out in a good way on a bike that will be mostly blue with silver/black parts intermixed. I also have a fresh set of seals/rubbers to go inside when the rest is ready. The only issue I have is that one preload adjustment collar is destroyed and I'm not sure what to do.

Anyone have one Strada preload collar in great shape they want to part with??

[jaguar]

Very cool project.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Custom frame! I guess that will be rebuild version 2 so you can enjoy riding the bike once you get that stage 4 goodness from MR.

[slikwilli420]

Nah, this one will keep the modified F frame, the other frame will be for a new build. Its just something I have been reading up on a lot lately and have decided to pursue it. The stock powerplant from this bike will go into that one once my build engine is done.

[Tintop]

The wrecked tabs on the pre-load adjuster can likely be rebuilt with weld then re-shaped by filing.  That's what I would try, as you'd probably have buy a complete used shock just to get the adjuster anyway.  Jim F could probably do it.

[slikwilli420]

TT, that honestly never crossed my mind and I'm familiar with the micro welding process. I just shot him a note. Hopefully he can help since parts for these are non existent.