No, I would never do this for hire - I'd go broke (or either you would). I'm slow and the fun is in the restoration for me. I do this as a hobbie and a means of collecting bikes I always wanted growing up as a kid. I collect old bikes and for years now have restored about 2 per year. It takes me 6-8 months usually to do one. I break it down in small, daily task of 30 minutes to 1 hour (usually) per day. During assembly, I get a little crazy and will go for 24-36 hours straight over a weekend. I work, so these have to come in the evenings at home and on the weekends when the wife is not bombarding me with honey-dos. This one went a lot quicker because so much is available. EBay is full of parts for these CB's as you know.
Guys, I'd be glad to list a chronicle of task, but you'd be bored out of your mind. Also, few will want to invest the expense in an old bike like this. There are several brand-new superbikes out there for sale cheaper than the cost of doing one like this. This cost way more than valued and it won't be a wise retirement investment like some of the odd bikes out there.
The big things are -
1) strip every bolt and piece down to the frame - save them for re-evaluation and comparison since EBay is full of description errors.
2) have the frame chemically stripped
3) have every black part you want to re-use, welded, fixed, straightend, and then beadblasted last (it hides a lot of repairs if you blast metal "after" it's repair.
4) have all of the parts powdercoated with a good gloss
5) disassemble every piece of the engine and clean or replace the parts as desired. Many of the bolts are not available, so I have these hard-chromed and polished.
6) have the chrome sent out for repairs and re-chroming
7) buy, buy, and buy more parts until you're happy with the pieces you'll use for the final assembly. I've got several EBay items that looked good on my screen, but were a wake-up call when received. Plans are to re-list them and get some of that money back (this time making sure the buyer knows the real story).
all of the aluminum goes out to a professional polisher for a chromelike finish. These pics are before clean-up and have hand prints, oil, and grease all over them.
This is a Kawasaki H2 (Mach IV) I did last year - just before going to powdercoat. It just takes time and determination.
