Topic: 1978 Cb750K Ghost

[greyghost18t]

Hello everyone..

I have been lurking here for a little bit and wanted to share my project that I have received.

Picked up this 78 750K this winter. This is my first bike and I am trying to learn the ropes.

The history is that it has 11K on it. Was owned by a Honda mechanic for a long time.  Made some interesting modifications such as putting Harley Davidson pipes on it to make it quiet.  That was an oxymoron I thought.  Also a HD windscreen was fabricated onto the bike as well.

Here it is the day I brought her home.





Here is the tank. Don't think that was the original pin stripe and you could see that it was spray painted.



So I took off the windscreen and took my MSF course since this is my first bike ever.  Was able to wait to 3 months before getting on it. I do have to say that I did learn to get a battery charger and a new battery. It just died.

Here is it in action just before my throttle cable snapped at the gas station 1/4 mile away from my house. Was able to baby it back home. Was able to replace both throttle cables on this pretty easy.



I figured since the paint job on the tank was terrible , I couldn't do any worse. So I decided to take all the pin stripes off and rattle can for this year. I figure the first year I am riding I will drop it or do something stupid so spray paint tank is pretty good.

prep





Spray painted






Here is final product after a couple of coats and taking the powerball to the chrome.






My plans are the following:

new side covers - already ordered
renthal ultra low handlebars
new grips
replace clutch cable
upgrade brake lines
replace fork seals and clean up front brakes - already have seals and fork oil
rewire this winter with motogadget m-unit
upgrade all lighting to led
replace rear shocks
trim down the seat and reupholster
new exhaust
professional paint job on tank and side covers
send carbs out to be rebuilt possibly if I don't screw them up first when I attempt it.

Chris

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Aside from the carburetors needing rebuilding/tuning, how does the motor run? Any internal chain noise? Good compression? Any leaks?  Hopefully no, yes, no, since you had a mechanic PO.

Nice rattle can paint job.

[greyghost18t]

Well it has a very inconsistent idle. I am taking it over to a guy tomorrow for him to take a look at. I have not had it over 50 mph. Just been commuting back and forth to work.  When coming to a stop it will idle high until I let the clutch out a little and then they come back down. But then they will raise.  Also there is no change when I push the choke in after it warms up a little. 

There are a couple of leaks. I think it does need some new seals.





also some fuel leaks around the carbs, oil leak at the tach cable( have the seal just need to put it in)

Can smell gas in the garage a lot from the bike right now too. But nothing on the ground.

[greyghost18t]

Well I received my side covers from FrankenFrankenstuff last night. Man they are beefy and solid.  For the time being I think I will paint them blue like the tank. Then get them professionally done this winter.  They do help to break up all the black and chrome though.




My garage smelled a lot more like gas this morning and noticed that I have small gas drips from the outside carbs on each side at one of the screw holes. Looks like I have to do some research on that. I wish I had the time just to pull them right now but I really don't with all the band activity I have going on.

[madmtnmotors]

You can mitigate the fuel leaks somewhat by shutting off the fuel valve before you shut the bike off. This will keep the carbs from overflowing while parked. Most common is the float valves wearing out, or float levels out of spec. Easiest fix for overflowing carbs is to simply replace the float needles and set the float heights. There are kits available that have just the float needles and bowl gaskets. Mine got so bad it would leave a puddle under the bike at a stoplight. That was my cue to fix it before I pulled off my impression of "Ghost Rider"! 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Is he forgetting to shut off the petcock? If not, checking the valve on it would be a good idea.

[madmtnmotors]

While the carbs are off I highly recommend new carb manifolds. OEM is no longer available, but aftermarket sources have recently been made available. The original boots on my K8 had begun to leak and would not respond to idle adjustments (idled way too high). Replacing the boots fixed my issues and made installing the carbs much easier with flexible rubber.

[greyghost18t]

Is he forgetting to shut off the petcock? If not, checking the valve on it would be a good idea.

I shut off the petcock each time I shut the bike down. To new from rider safety class not to do that. ha ha

You can mitigate the fuel leaks somewhat by shutting off the fuel valve before you shut the bike off. This will keep the carbs from overflowing while parked. Most common is the float valves wearing out, or float levels out of spec. Easiest fix for overflowing carbs is to simply replace the float needles and set the float heights. There are kits available that have just the float needles and bowl gaskets. Mine got so bad it would leave a puddle under the bike at a stoplight. That was my cue to fix it before I pulled off my impression of "Ghost Rider"! 

I will try this tonight on shutting the petcock off before I shut the bike off to see if she won't leak out tonight.  I hope it can be just a quick fix until I am able to take the carbs off.

[madmtnmotors]

If you are shutting the fuel valve off, then the valve or its gasket may be leaking. I would replace the fuel screen and gasket anyway. The fuel screen is in the tank and requires removal of the fuel valve to access it. Once the fuel valve is removed you will see a ring of plastic inside the connection at the tank. This is the base of the fuel screen and it extends up into the tank. New ones can be had from Honda and they come with a new gasket for the fuel valve (part number 16952-388-015). Be sure to pick out all the remains of the old rubber gasket from inside the nut on the fuel valve.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

If you are shutting the fuel valve off, then the valve or its gasket may be leaking. I would replace the fuel screen and gasket anyway. The fuel screen is in the tank and requires removal of the fuel valve to access it. Once the fuel valve is removed you will see a ring of plastic inside the connection at the tank. This is the base of the fuel screen and it extends up into the tank. New ones can be had from Honda and they come with a new gasket for the fuel valve (part number 16952-388-015). Be sure to pick out all the remains of the old rubber gasket from inside the nut on the fuel valve.

Exactly.  I would go with genuine Honda parts.  Sometimes the Chinese repros are crap.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Is he forgetting to shut off the petcock? If not, checking the valve on it would be a good idea.

I shut off the petcock each time I shut the bike down. To new from rider safety class not to do that. ha ha

You can mitigate the fuel leaks somewhat by shutting off the fuel valve before you shut the bike off. This will keep the carbs from overflowing while parked. Most common is the float valves wearing out, or float levels out of spec. Easiest fix for overflowing carbs is to simply replace the float needles and set the float heights. There are kits available that have just the float needles and bowl gaskets. Mine got so bad it would leave a puddle under the bike at a stoplight. That was my cue to fix it before I pulled off my impression of "Ghost Rider"! 

I will try this tonight on shutting the petcock off before I shut the bike off to see if she won't leak out tonight.  I hope it can be just a quick fix until I am able to take the carbs off.

I hope that didn't come off the wrong way.  As for your carburetors, there are several rebuild threads.  If you get stuck, PM James (harisuluv) or even send him your carbs for rebuilding.

[greyghost18t]

Well i did a little work to the bike this weekend. Didn't like the blue so i stripped the paint with aircraft remover and sanded the tank from 80 grit to 800 grit down to a brushed metal look. This was my first attempt to do this so it is not perfect. Found some bondo under neath where the tank was dented. I was not worried about the dents showing right now since this is my first bike and I know it will go down.

I also added ultra low bars i found at a swap meet and new grips.  Have come into a snag where my throttle won't snap back like normal though. I think its because the cables are way to long now.  I am going to order new cables for throttle and clutch.  Also My clutch cable seems like it is very tight and very hard to pull. Will changing the cable take care of this?

Before



During







After with the new bars on

[riffman12]

woah the new tank looks great! The blue was a bit flashy

[Desert-SOHC]

Looks good!! The HD windscreen looked interesting, have any more pics of how it mounted?

[rickmoore24]

I like the tank and covers this way. A carb clean and sync will do wonders for it. Nice score! Rick.

[AintNoEasyWay]

Always love the raw metal tank look. How do you plan to keep it from rusting? I've wanted to do it for a long time, but never found a surefire solution.

[Desert-SOHC]

Always love the raw metal tank look. How do you plan to keep it from rusting? I've wanted to do it for a long time, but never found a surefire solution.

You can have it powder coated clear

[rickmoore24]

Yup^^^^^^^^^^^^

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

You can clear coat the tank in powdercoat and then (AFTER) line the interior in Caswell.

[greyghost18t]

Well i tried rerunning the throttle cables last night and I still have no snap back. But now i have cruise control! ha.  Any recommendations on length for new throttle cables?

 I also ordered a new motion pro clutch cable that it the 3.5 inches shorter and that should help a little i hope with how hard it is to engage my clutch now that the new bars are on.

The other question I have is in the left hand controls there is a little wire that is going into where the clutch lever is. What is this? Mine looks pretty fragile and if I go with a pro taper clutch lever would not having this wire attached do something?  I am was thinking about running the stock left control for the time being with out the clutch lever and adding the pro taper clutch lever to upgrade. My plan is the M button controls over the winter to get rid of the stock controls.

[rickmoore24]

In regards to the throttle cables, it may be that the curve in the lines are too tight(?). I see you have the cables running over the fork ear and headlight bucket. On mine, I ran it below the ear and bucket. Now I don't know if that's right or how the factory did it but it may help relieve some tension. Also, check the return spring on the carbs. Lastly, I read on the forums somewhere that graphite in the lines help lubricate. Hope that helps. Rick.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[greyghost18t]

here is a close up of the left hand control. The wire i am questioning is right by the mirror. its a small wire and not the regular loom coming out on the side close to the mirror. Does anyone know what that is for? Do I need it?

[rickmoore24]

I think it's a clutch switch? A safety feature that requires you to pull in the clutch lever to start the bike.

[rickmoore24]

Also, I believe if the bike is in neutral it will start. If the bike is in a gear then the clutch will need to be pulled in to start it. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks! Rick.

[greyghost18t]

That would make sense. Anyone ever override it?