Topic: Chrome cam cover? Was this stock or some aftermarket add-on

[b1jackson]

I looked at a rather rough old 750 supersport yesterday (1975 model) and was surprised that there was a chrome cam cover on the engine.  Mine is aluminum but I wonder if there were any from the factory that were chromed or was this an available aftermarket part installed sometime in the 80s (when the bike was last running) or a part that perhaps many years ago, someone actually had chromed.

The owner told me that a PO put in a performance cam at one point and I wonder if there wasn't some effort put in at this time to bling it up.

Or someone can tell me that these are indicative of rare bikes and only 3 were made!!

It truly was about the only nice part of the bike!

[slikwilli420]

Not stock. Someone did it after the fact. A lot of those chrome jobs were pretty sketchy, but some were nice.

[b1jackson]

Ah.  Good to know.  The engine was so grimy that it may actually have been well protected from a coat of oil and dirt.

[strynboen]

often the casting is so bad..the crome is looking bad,
,so not many have luck to polish the cam cover so nice it can be cromed perfekt..so they are few..the good once

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Dead give away something is inside. Yeah, not likely someone took the engine out, which is what you would have to do, just to install a chromed cover. That's a big job just for that. I have two 75 750F's that I blinged with the chromed cover after I also installed cams, larger pistons etc.

Does the bike run? You could find more than just a cam upgrade.

[754]

 i took my engine out just to put chrome covers on..

[b1jackson]

[quote Does the bike run? You could find more than just a cam upgrade.
[/quote]

Awe heck no.  I was a weird sort of bike.  Someone went to the work of painting it (burgandy) with a fairly nice stripe job. Of course that now looks like crap.  Put a small oil cooler on it, oil pressure guage down low on the engine.

Had the angry hornet type club bars on it but then apparently it had a fairing at one time too as brackets were still there but plastic was long gone.  Also no air box and an attempted pod job.

[b1jackson]

i took my engine out just to put chrome covers on..

A friend of mine has a 78 and apparently someone on his did a cut/bolt together type job on the back bone (and did it well) so he has full and easy access to his engine.

[PeWe]

Old alu look nice too. I removed the corrosion my bike had got during 20 years in a barn waiting for me to get back the interest. Cleaned it with caustic soda solution in water. A few minutes in a bucket, brushed the part with a dish brush. When most of it tuned into black I rinsed it with fresh water. Removed all blackened alu oxide with steel wool. Result an even grey nice old looking surface.

I have seen many chromed engine covers where the chrome has started to flake. Not nice. I have heard it is expensive to remove  the old bad chrome too.

[martin99]

i took my engine out just to put chrome covers on..

What, you don't use your own (superb btw) frame kits Frank?

[754]

My current frame is cut..
The first covers i got chromed were around 1976..
 It may have been the motor that had the damaged tach drive, so that was a good reason to pull the motor..only way it could be fixed.
  BTW... Damaging the tach shaft was from bad instruction that came out of a non factory service manual.. One of two seeious mistakes I discovered in the aftermarket books.. Both cost me more money than a factory book.

[martin99]

Yes I know what you mean. Haynes/Clymers et al are good picture references, but you have to be a bit cautious with their instructions. I have all three for my 750 (that is, Haynes, Clymers and Honda) and between them I usually mange to work it out.

[b1jackson]

Thanks for the help folks.  Looking closer at the pics posted in his ad, I see other chromed bits as well so someone added the bling to it.  It sure isn't bling now jammed into a 4x8 shed covered in grime.

[754]

You never know, if ts done well, can last a long time.
Mine done by Platingmaster held up from 78. To 2007 and was very good, but a trip to Bonnevile (not directly on the salt ) and riding it in the winter (road chemicals) added to my poor cleaning program, and it got a few pits.. 
 So it may still be ok, or not.

 BTW back in the day,
 A lot of bigger shops had chrome exchange, you walk in with your covers, they inspect, they hand over the fresh chrome bits, you pay... It was that simple..

[b1jackson]

So I'm buying the bike this weekend.  I'll clean it up and see what I have.  I recall it had an oil cooler added as well though couldn't see many other details in a dark mini barn.

The daylight will either be an "oh boy...WTF!" moment or a "cool....this thing might run!" moment.

We'll see!