Topic: Vote for Bike of the Month - August 2015

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Let's get ready to rumble . . .

Battle Royale of the Restoration Beauties

Rafi’s (edwardmorris) Rebuilt to NOS/Restomod 1972 CB750K2
I say restomod because it includes a killer Mike Rieck port job!  And it has as many NOS parts as a Vic World build.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,126735.0.html




























































 


onetruepunk87’s Restomod 1972 CB500K

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,137078.0.html

[FunJimmy]

Stunning bikes!
Vote cast.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Any of us would LOVE to have either of these bikes in our garage.

[edwardmorris]

Man, that blue is hard to look away from 

Here's the quick version of  my build summary.

Bought the bike, ran when parked, frame was chopped, so it needed to rebuilt from the ground up. Did all the polishing, painting and zinc plating myself, sent the chrome and powder coating and machine works out to providers. Wanted to build it to be better than when it left the factory, a NEW bike, so if there was a New/NOS piece available at a decent price, I bought it and used it. There is very little of the original bike that was reused.

[edwardmorris]

For those who like pix and long reads, here is the not so short summary (note that I skipped some pix which are in the first post by Don to avoid duplicates). If this isn't enough, there's expansive detail in my build thread for each topic Happy voting!


Credits and Thanks

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,126735.msg1701013.html#msg1701013

Engine

NOS Cam, Cam sprocket, tappets and adjuster nuts, Cam chain tenstioner assy.
JMR ported head, Serdi valve job, all new honed (not reamed) iron guides, stainless steel valves, kibblewhite springs, decked head with MLS gasket.
First oversize bored cylinders with yamiya psitons, rings and pins.
Micropolished crank
NOS connecting Rod and Main bearings, later model connecting rod bolts and nuts.
NOS Primary chains and roller/tensioner
NOS clutch plates (both sets), Hondaman clutch basket oiling mod, NOS clutch cable
NEW SKF bearings throughout the engine including those pesky needle rollers and groove widened roller bearings
Near New Shift forks, later model shift drum and C2-C5 combo
Fully rebuilt oil pump with NOS screen, Elan's super kit and near new impellers and end caps
Fully rebuilt starting motor with new sleeving NOS terminal cap, o-rings, brushes etc.
New yamiya spark advancer shaft and advancer springs, NOS points plate and points cover.
New sleeving and terminals for charging coil wires with new alternater subharness.
NOS oil pressure and neutral switches and oil filter bolt
NOS oil lines!!
All NOS oil seals throughout
Rechromed shifter lever, kick starter lever, rear brake lever, clutch and starter motor covers.
All engine covers polished to a chrome like finish, installed with new yamiya screws and vesrah gaskets.
Crankcakes, cylinders and head painted with VHT High Temp Aluminum paint
All NOS bolts, nuts and washers throughout.
New yamiya engine mounting long bolts.

































Carbs

Fully torn down and ultrasonically cleaned.
DIY Zinc plated all pieces
Polished bowls and crowns to a chrome like finish.
All NOS brass everything
All NOS gaskets
All NOS hoses
All NOS intake and airbox boots along with their clamps and screws
NOS throttle cables
















Frame

Added the "quiet memo" drain holes, treated insides with Eastwood's internal frame coating
Gordon's frame kit
Powder coated frame and everything that goes with it (rider foot pegs, chain guard, battery box and panel etc.)
DIY zinced pillion foot pegs and hardware
DIY zinced center stand C bracket and pivot with NOS spring, bolts nuts and washers
NOS spring and bolts for kickstand
All NOS nuts, bolts and washers throughout.



























Wheels, Steering, Suspension and Brakes

Polished hubs and all accompanying pieces (sprocket carrier, brake stay panel etc.) to a chrome like finish.
All NOS Spokes and Nipples, laced and trued within 1mm.
Continental tires with Metzeler tubes, fully balanced.
DIY zinced front axle and nut, rear axle spacer
Rechromed rear axle and nut, chain adjusters front hub bolts and speedo retainer plate

Front forks polished to a chrome like finish.
New hardchrome fork tubes with Progressive springs.
NOS fork seals with DIY Zinc plated retainers/circlips
NOS drain screws and crush washers
Rechromed fork tube caps with NOS seals.
NOS gaiters, collars, reflectors, bases and yamiya body kit fork ears.

All Ballz tapered steering stem bearings
DIY Zinc plated triple tree nut and rechromed top nut and washer
New yamiya chrome bolt kit for upper triple tree, NOS bolts for lower
Early K2 correct yamiya handlebars with NOS grips

Hondaman rebuilt swingarm with SAE grease zerks
DIY Zinc plated swingarm end caps
Rechromed rear suspension domes with NOS springs
NOS shock bushings and Chrome bolts, washers and acorn nuts

Blanchard ground front brake rotor, maked and painted inner
NOS brake hoses and banjos
Powder coated and fully rebuilt master with NOS rebuild kit
Ultrasonically cleaned, repainted and rebuild caliper with NOS seal, bleeder screw and cap, Stainless piston and Daido pads

Cut and trued rear brake drum
NOS brake shoes
DIY zinced brake cam, shoe retainer, brake actuator rod, brake stay rod and brake lever pivot
Rechromed brake pivot (wheel side), brake lever play adjuster bolt and nut
All NOS bolts nuts and washers throughout including NLA special bolts.
































Body/Overall

Candy Gold Custom Yamiya body kit with tank trim
NOS mirrors
NOS seat
NOS toolkit and pouch
NOS tank and side cover logos and emblems
NOS gas tank cap and petcock
NOS speedometer and tachometer cables and their respective guides
NOS HM341s complete with heat shields, clamps, spigots and hardware
All NOS side cover mounting rubbers and special bolts and rubbers for the oil tank
Rechromed fenders and grab rail
Eastwood's rubberized undercoating followed by chrome paint on the underside of fenders
Fully rebuilt gauges with new faces, lenses crimp rings with painted housings resleeved wires and NOS base plates
Fully rebuilt airbox with K&N air filter painted black and DIY zinced internal hardware
Repainted inner rear fender
Polished oil tank cap to a chrome like finish
Yamiya caution stickers throughout
Yamiya steering stem lock cover
Diamond chain with sunstar sprockets (18/48) with DIY zinced chain splash guard
All NOS bolts, nuts and washers throughout.


















Electrical

New Head and tail lights
Yamiya body kit headlight bucket and tail light sub harness
New Dash harness from 4into1
Rechromed tail light mounting bracket
All NOS turn signals and turn signal stems, z1 repro rear turn signal mounting brackets
NOS Points plate, Ignition coils, spark wires, spark plug caps and spark plugs
K2 correct Reproduction wire harness
DIY subharness B for a functioning turn buzzer and buzzer cancel button
NOS Regulator, Rectifier, Fuse Box, Starter solenoid and bracket, Flasher relay, Horn
NOS A and B cables with New Scorpion AGM battery
NOS key switch and steering stem lock
Fully rebuilt handlebar controls with powder coated lettering detail!
All NOS bolts, nuts and washers throughout.



















Before/After

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

That was some serious bike porn!!

[onetruepunk87]

Absolutely amazing work Raffi! Very meticulously done! It is definitely a labor of love bringing these bikes back from the dead.

Quick Rundown of Build:

Engine:
Replaced several gaskets, seals and pucks
NOS Stator Cover
Original style points cover
Painted case
Polished covers
Stainless hardware
Rebuilt carburetors
Original 4-4 Exhaust

Body:
Replaced tank
Frankenstuff side covers
Did all body work and paint on tank and covers myself
Reproduction gas cap/latch
NOS Tank badges
Reproduction side cover badges
Replaced front and rear fenders
Replaced grab rail
Custom-ish Seat

Suspension:
ALL Balls tapered steering stem bearings/races
CB550 Fork Swap
Replaced forks seals/boots
Rebuilt Forks
Replaced fork oil
CB550 fork ears
CB500 K0 Reflectors
Polished fork lowers
Replaced/Rebuilt Rear shocks

Controls:
Cleaned and reassembled hand controls
Painted controls
CB400F Handlebars
Mini "2.5 Speedo/Tach
Bar end Mirrors

Electrical:
Daytona Electronic Ignition
Dyna 5 OHM coils
Dyna Spark Plug Leads
NGK Spark Plug caps
H4 Headlight
Wireing harness retaped
All connections cleaned

Wheels/Brakes:
Replaced wheels
All Balls wheel bearing
Shinko 712 Tires
Goddfrey speedo drive
New 15.8mm Master Cylinder
Braided steel brake lines
Dual Disk Conversion
Rebuilt brake calipers
Goddfrey phenolic pistons
Drilled and champhered Disks
New brakes front and back
Polished rear drum

Misc:
Replaced Front/back sprockets
Replaced Chain
Replaced Clutch Lifter Rod
Replaced Clutch Adjuster
Replaced Horn
Replaced just about every piece of chrome
New headlight bucket
New OEM Clutch Cables
Motion Pro Throttle/Tach/Speedo Cables
Sealed AGM Battery


(apologies in advance for going a little picture heavy)

I don't have many before pictures of this bike, i started tearing into it pretty quickly, but it was bad.


When I picked up the bike It was not in running condition and I really can't say the last time it was on the road. It had gone through at least two owners who had never seen it run and was last titled in 2000.
The bike had no key, no battery, the carbs were off and partially disassembled. It was a mess and a total gamble buying it.





My first task was to get this thing to fire up. So I started out cleaning the carbs. I've been riding and wrenching for a few years but I had never fully disassembled carbs so this was a fun learning experience. The bike came with a nice carb kit with new brass and o-rings but I wanted to use all the original jets I could so I cleaned them all out starting with a pine-sol dip and followed by a healthy dose of carb cleaner and compressed air.



I finished the carbs off with polishing up the lids and bowls and reassembling them.
I mounted the carbs back up, rigged a fuel line, and fired it up. It ran. So I knew I wasn't wasting my time.
I started taking the bike apart now and seeing what was still good on it. The answer was, not much. Every piece of chrome was pitted with rust, the tank had a Kreem liner that was falling apart and it for some reason was filled with rocks. (My only guess on this is that they were put in to shake up and break up the crap but they were left there to solidify to the bottom of the tank.)



I stripped down the bike, pulled the engine, used an angle grinder to remove rust, primed it and painted it with SprayMax2k paint.






The motor I took off all the covers and polished them all up, primed and painted the engine with duplicolor high heat paint, replaced all the gaskets and seals I could and reassembled.









I got a donor tank that wasn't in too bad of shape (or filled with rocks) and stripped the paint, did some body work to fix a few small dings and dents, primed, painted and cleared it. The whole process took about a month itself.










The bike had no sidecovers when I got it so I got some from Frankenstuff and painted them up as well. Primer and paint were just duplicolor with a high gloss SprayMax2k clearcoat. It's a 2 part gas resistant clear that I've used on a couple other bikes.


The wheels like everything else were rusted out so I found a set on craigslist that I cleaned up and, replaced the bearings and put on some new tires.









And to make a long story short (too late) I scoured the forums/ebay/craigslist for replacement parts and built up the bike little by little.






Made some upgrades where I could




and just kept on reassembling...















I'm sure I missed some stuff but that's the gist of it. 14 months of coming home from work and going straight to the garage to get a couple hours of work done. Spending weekends polishing and painting. It's all worth it and this bike now has a new lease on life. I love doing this. It's by no means perfect but this is what you can do with a few tools and a little know how.

I want to thank everyone that contributes to this forum, you're a wealth of knowledge! Special thanks to my dad for letting me pick his brain, use a lot of his tools, and helping me whenever I needed a hand.

Hope you enjoyed following along and thank you for the nomination!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Fantastic work, OTP.  You're paint came out exceptional, too. 

[70CB750]

Voted.

[Tews19]

Vote is in, good luck to all!

[seanbarney41]

had to stop and think...cause I am guessing OTP will actually put some miles on

[onetruepunk87]

Put on a good amount of miles this morning, this will probably be my daily rider for a while. My 750 has had an oil leak that I've wanted to fix for while. My plans to pull the engine over the next year and fix up a few other things while I'm at it.

[edwardmorris]

had to stop and think...cause I am guessing OTP will actually put some miles on

And I wont?

I'll admit I won't be doing any cross country tours, my chronic lower back issues keep me from doing that. But I've been riding it daily, mostly 30-45 mile round trips when I'm home early enough and its not raining (rain is all we've been getting around here lately  ).

[onetruepunk87]

Last week was a lot of heavy rain in the northeast too, only got to take it to work once. The second half of this week is looking pretty nice on the forecast though, should be able to make up some miles.

[Stev-o]

had to stop and think...cause I am guessing OTP will actually put some miles on

And I wont?

You led us to believe it was going to be for sale to buy a car or something for your wife?
Ring a bell??

[edwardmorris]

had to stop and think...cause I am guessing OTP will actually put some miles on

And I wont?

You led us to believe it was going to be for sale to buy a car or something for your wife?
Ring a bell??

New roof, actually. The K3 is on hold in lieu of a newer car. Long given up on selling though, I'll never make what I spent on it in parts alone. Also, its too addictive. As much as I hated the moody carbs early on, its been amazingly smoooooth sailing after the initial sync and timing. I've never hated rain so much before 

[seanbarney41]

had to stop and think...cause I am guessing OTP will actually put some miles on

And I wont?

I'll admit I won't be doing any cross country tours, my chronic lower back issues keep me from doing that. But I've been riding it daily, mostly 30-45 mile round trips when I'm home early enough and its not raining (rain is all we've been getting around here lately  ).

that makes me glad Rafi, and don't be offended by my comments, after all, OTP deserves some serious respect putting his bike up against your very super, super duper bike

[edwardmorris]

had to stop and think...cause I am guessing OTP will actually put some miles on

And I wont?

I'll admit I won't be doing any cross country tours, my chronic lower back issues keep me from doing that. But I've been riding it daily, mostly 30-45 mile round trips when I'm home early enough and its not raining (rain is all we've been getting around here lately  ).

that makes me glad Rafi, and don't be offended by my comments, after all, OTP deserves some serious respect putting his bike up against your very super, super duper bike

Oh yea I know, not offended at all.  OTP's effort seems just as grande, possibly more. My painting work was minimal at best, his Quasar blue paint job already won my vote

[flybox1]

I......CANT......DECIDE.....

[Powderman]

Both quality looking motorcycles. The lack of replacement of the damaged exhaust pipes preclude me from giving it a  vote in a competition, sorry.  No close ups of that area makes me think the non photos was deliberate. Rafi gets my vote.

[Mooshie]

Those bikes are so darned pretty.

[Davez134]

Wow OTP, didn't even see this build thread until now. Great job!

[Cabilao]

Great work on both bikes,but i go with rafi`s bike,pure bike porn. Awesome pictures.

[Sam Green Racing]

BOTY material there guys, hahaha

Sam.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

BOTY material there guys, hahaha

Sam.

Seriously! Amazing rides.