Topic: CB750 k4, the long restoration

[Stev-o]

Has something happened to James Hale (harisuluv)? I've been sending him emails and otherwise trying to reach him to ask about the status of my carbs.

Does someone on here have his phone number, and can they check in to see if everything is ok with him?

Well it's now April, and James Hale still has my carbs and the $350 I sent him to restore them.  I have sent many emails, DM's, and made several calls, and sent a certified letter. All  of which were ignored.

I'm going to try one last time. If there is anyone out there who can talk to him directly, please inform him to communicate with me ASAP. I don't know what has happened to him but I'm trying my best to give him the benefit of the doubt.

This represents my FINAL attempt before starting legal actions against him.

James is a long time stand-up vendor. It sounds like something may have happened to him. I would try to give him some more time IF you can.

Don - something has happened but we dont know what it is. A forum member that lives close to him has been unable to contact him either.  His ebay feedback reflects the same - no communication and parts not delivered.

https://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=harisuluv1&ftab=AllFeedback

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Thanks Steve. My guess is that something is out of the ordinary. His communications are usually swift and responsive.

[theDQG]

Hopefully someone can find out. Sounds like something bad has happened.

[theDQG]

Ok, moving on along.

Finally got around to installing the hondaman blade fusebox.

Got new BT-45 tires, put in new bearings, front and back wheels.

Put front wheel on, but rear wheel is off- going to order new sprockets and chains.

A nice surprise for me when I took the sprocket cover off- a nice thick pile up of grease/dirt/whatnot that the chain was literally pushing through.

Spent a good hour or so cleaning it out and then taking out the old sprocket.

Going with 18-48 sunstar sprockets and 530 100 links RX-ring RK530-XSOZ1 unless anyone advises otherwise.

https://www.amazon.com/RK-Racing-Chain-530XSOZ1-100-Connecting/dp/B000XY4ZHM

[theDQG]

What comes in the mail but a set of beautiful carbs?

Several members on this forum, taking note of my plight, pitched in to help me obtain replacement carbs so that I may once again ride my bike.

I am extremely grateful and indebted to Nils Menten of RestoCycle (Tucson, AZ) for putting everything together and also to Bill Benton and Joe Streif for pitching in to help make this happen. Nils is the one who restored the carbs to near new, and they look beautiful!

I'm happy to be part of a very helpful community here. 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

What comes in the mail but a set of beautiful carbs?

Several members on this forum, taking note of my plight, pitched in to help me obtain replacement carbs so that I may once again ride my bike.

I am extremely grateful and indebted to Nils Menten of RestoCycle (Tucson, AZ) for putting everything together and also to Bill Benton and Joe Streif for pitching in to help make this happen. Nils is the one who restored the carbs to near new, and they look beautiful!

I'm happy to be part of a very helpful community here. 

WOW!! Viva Nils (vacationing in Spain) and Bill.

Nice carburetors! 

[theDQG]

Yes.. very well done. Just put it back on the bike. Looks beautiful.

I tried restoring the airbox with mother's back to black and it works pretty good where the gloss remains, but doesn't do anything to the areas where the gloss has been rubbed off, as it has on the ribs area. Anyone have any ideas how to restore that gloss black?

[theDQG]

Took out the rear brake drum- had the pads de-glazed.

I then cleaned out all the brake dust, grime, etc. Greased all parts and put it back together.

[theDQG]

New chain, sprockets, and chain guard is on, now. The chainguard is a repro, and technically should be the same color as the paint scheme, but I've never agreed with that idea. I think it detracts from the rest of the bike.

[theDQG]

Now, all that's left that's preventing me from taking her out on the road is the tranny cover gasket which should arrive in the mail today.

I have the alleyboltz SS bolts kit and have been replacing the stripped screws where necessary, and so far, none of the stripped screws have snapped on me, but now that I've mentioned it, I've probably jinxed myself.

Old screws from the tranny cover- looks like some mismatches. Hopefully I've arranged the new bolts in the correct configuration.

[PeWe]

A little bit longer can usually be used wich gives more threads. Measure depth first with a thinner pin. I have seen bolt holes where bottom have popped. The bottom will then fall inside the gearbox and migh cause damage. My K2 cases I bought have some popped bolt hole bottoms.

I have popped one that fell inside before tighten torque of 5Nm. I found it later in the oil pan.

[theDQG]

And she runs!

Fires up pretty easily, accelerates pretty good. Feels like everything is in sync.

Just two issues to work out.

First, the RPM is too high at idle. I can get it to go down by opening the choke, so obviously running too lean. Either an air leak or the air screws have to go in, incrementally. I'll double check on the airbox, and if that doesn't work, will have to take a look at the carbs itself. It has been bench synced, etc.

Second, the rear brake drum is not really engaging (I have to push the brake lever far as far as it can go down before it somewhat engages) but the problem is I have the brake actuator arm as far as it can go- the spring is completely compressed. What to do?

[TheArchitect]

The brake arm looks like it should be pulled off and reinstalled at a more 7/8 o'lock position vs 6 o'clock, that would get you more threads on linkage rod? Ill be do this soon too, just my first guess.

[theDQG]

The brake arm looks like it should be pulled off and reinstalled at a more 7/8 o'lock position vs 6 o'clock, that would get you more threads on linkage rod? Ill be do this soon too, just my first guess.

Negative.. there's a flat notch on the bottom of the shaft coming out of the drum that corresponds to a flat notch on the inside of the hole of the arm itself, so there's no chance of misplacing the arm, or sliding it on out of alignment.

[theDQG]

And the struggle continues with the high RPM at idle. And I should mention that's only when the engine gets hot.

I can get it to go down by opening the choke.

Checked for air leaks- none that I know of. Checked throttle cables- they are not tight or binding anywhere.

The one thing is, I can also get the RPM to go down by pressing on the top of the nuts controlling slide height, to push the needles home further.

So I'm guessing I may have to bench sync the carbs??

I am open to other suggestions.

[seanbarney41]

The brake arm looks like it should be pulled off and reinstalled at a more 7/8 o'lock position vs 6 o'clock, that would get you more threads on linkage rod? Ill be do this soon too, just my first guess.

Negative.. there's a flat notch on the bottom of the shaft coming out of the drum that corresponds to a flat notch on the inside of the hole of the arm itself, so there's no chance of misplacing the arm, or sliding it on out of alignment.

then you have to re-clock the brake pedal or maybe shoes are shot...although I have never yet seen a set worn down that far

[theDQG]

The brake arm looks like it should be pulled off and reinstalled at a more 7/8 o'lock position vs 6 o'clock, that would get you more threads on linkage rod? Ill be do this soon too, just my first guess.

Negative.. there's a flat notch on the bottom of the shaft coming out of the drum that corresponds to a flat notch on the inside of the hole of the arm itself, so there's no chance of misplacing the arm, or sliding it on out of alignment.

then you have to re-clock the brake pedal or maybe shoes are shot...although I have never yet seen a set worn down that far

Shoes are not shot. they are still within specs. How do you reclock the brake pedals?

[theDQG]

Doing the bench sync.. I may have screwed up royally. I loosened the nut on carb #2 and I think that was the "master" (or "slave"?) cylinder. What to do? Just adjust it until it closes and sync all the other carbs to it?

 

[theDQG]

Ok, here's what I did- I used the light source method and adjusted #2 until it closed and the light was gone, then locked it.

I then used idle speed screw to elevate until I could slip a 1/16" drill bit into it, then synced all the other carbs to the same opening.

Does this board approve of what I did? I wait with baited breath.

Next stop will be the vac sync. Going to order a synchronizer. 

[seanbarney41]

The brake arm looks like it should be pulled off and reinstalled at a more 7/8 o'lock position vs 6 o'clock, that would get you more threads on linkage rod? Ill be do this soon too, just my first guess.

Negative.. there's a flat notch on the bottom of the shaft coming out of the drum that corresponds to a flat notch on the inside of the hole of the arm itself, so there's no chance of misplacing the arm, or sliding it on out of alignment.

then you have to re-clock the brake pedal or maybe shoes are shot...although I have never yet seen a set worn down that far

Shoes are not shot. they are still within specs. How do you reclock the brake pedals?

pull the brake pedal off the splines and rotate the splines until the brake rod is pre-loaded enough, stick the brake pedal back on...or maybe you did not line up the dots when installing the brake pedal.  There should be a tiny punch on the pedal and a tiny punch on the end of the splines...they are suppose to match up.

Those carbs do not have a master for syncing, that master carb rigamarole came on later models.  Sounnds like your bench sync should work although I hope you didn't really use the idle mixture screw, you used the idle SPEED screw.

[theDQG]

The brake arm looks like it should be pulled off and reinstalled at a more 7/8 o'lock position vs 6 o'clock, that would get you more threads on linkage rod? Ill be do this soon too, just my first guess.

Negative.. there's a flat notch on the bottom of the shaft coming out of the drum that corresponds to a flat notch on the inside of the hole of the arm itself, so there's no chance of misplacing the arm, or sliding it on out of alignment.

then you have to re-clock the brake pedal or maybe shoes are shot...although I have never yet seen a set worn down that far

Shoes are not shot. they are still within specs. How do you reclock the brake pedals?

pull the brake pedal off the splines and rotate the splines until the brake rod is pre-loaded enough, stick the brake pedal back on...or maybe you did not line up the dots when installing the brake pedal.  There should be a tiny punch on the pedal and a tiny punch on the end of the splines...they are suppose to match up.

Those carbs do not have a master for syncing, that master carb rigamarole came on later models.  Sounnds like your bench sync should work although I hope you didn't really use the idle mixture screw, you used the idle SPEED screw.

Took a look at the brake pedal and looks like the PO did not bother lining it up before putting it on, so I took it off, preloaded it and put it back on and fine-tuned at the rear. Works like a charm now. Thanks.

[theDQG]

Hallelujah! The Lord is risen! It runs, and runs great. The bench sync did the trick. Runs even better than before. Good acceleration throughout- took her up to 80 and felt like there was plenty of power left.

Thanks to all for helping me, and especially to Nils for making the carbs happen. This will be it for this riding season. This fall/winter I'll take apart the whole front end and recondition it- tapered bearings, redoing brake cylinder, etc.

Hopefully this thread sinks deeply and gathers a lot of dust between now and then.

[tiretread]

Beautiful bike! Those carbs look great.

Did you ever figure out how to get the airbox back to glossy?

[theDQG]

Beautiful bike! Those carbs look great.

Did you ever figure out how to get the airbox back to glossy?

No, I didn't. Do you have any suggestions?

[seanbarney41]

I think guys have actually wet sanded them before.  Also, there is a plastic polish for visors and windscreens that would probably do a world of good.  I forget the brand name but it is sold at most bike shops and comes in coarse, medium, and fine.  Also peanut oil and/or lemon oil.  And finally Mothers Back to Black works well.