Topic: '71 750 k1 restoration

[Lsx152]

I've got a '71 CB 750 k1 that my grandfather bought new and basically parked in his shed after riding about 7k miles. It appears to be completely original and it's still in incredible shape. I had to replace the rings because the originals were stuck pretty badly after sitting for about 30 years. Long story short, the original cylinder head was dropped and damaged badly when it was apart while I moved my shop around and now I'm looking for a replacement, I've got an entire '78 750 motor I recently rebuilt for another project that I could probably easily paint silver and slide into the '71 for now, but I want to to keep the bike as close to original as I can. Going to grab a head off eBay, go through it and get the motor back together, but I'd like to clean up and paint the frame and swingarm etc as well while I'm going through the bike and I'm wondering what the "correct" type of paint would be to use on those. I've got many years of working on bikes under my belt, but I've never tried to do any sort of period correct restoration on one of these and I definitely don't want to mess it up any worse than my luck was with that head. Any advice with that particular bike would be great. Thanks.

[jlh3rd]

If you have an original,unrestored bike that is in incredible shape, it can be worth more if it’s left alone ,as long as you can get an original cylinder head.
     So this begs the question as to what you intend for the bike, or what is important to you. Once you paint the frame, it is no longer unrestored. If you paint the frame which will now look brand new, will the other parts also need to be “ restored “. So, is the frame and swing arm that bad? If you can’t get an original cylinder head or have to paint the cylinder head, then you’ll need to paint the rest of the motor...so....then you might as well go ahead and paint the frame. Once again, it’s all in what you want.
     To answer your paint question, you’ll get various answers as to the correct shade of black. Some will say satin black, or semi- gloss, or even gloss black. And of course, powder coating in place of spray painting.
     I’m not a restorer, but I have an original,unrestored 1975 550 f that is mint. I have done extensive research on these 550’s ,including paint. The closest black color I have seen is a product called “ under hood black” by Eastwood Co. Just another option you can check out. Your choice.
     I’d like to see a pic of your bike, you should post it.