Topic: Terry's NEW Redneck CB750 rebuild. The "Swamp Rat". Too soon? Nah..........

[RAFster122s]

So, what is the ETA for finishing the swamp rat bike so you can more to others on the list?

Gotta go mow the yard...been having trouble with low back and hip making walking painful...I hope it is manageable today. Got rained out the other night after about 20 minutes of mowing. Yard is done with a push mower and it is on a fairly steep slope.

David

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, what with my interstate travels and the decision I made to strip and repaint the frame back in June I'm about 2 months behind my original plan, but what the heck, it'll be a better bike for the extra work I've put into it. Providing nothing major goes wrong with it, I want it to be finished by end of August. Here's hoping.

[Terry in Australia]

Well it's late on Sunday night and I need to jump in the shower then hit the hay so I can wake, refreshed at 5am, for a 6am start. Today was a day of small victories, the first was ridding the cam cover of poxy old allen bolts and stupid aftermarket valve covers.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I had a nice set of new "Made in Japan" valve covers (Yamiya? Can't remember, they've been in my garage for awhile) and I found a new points cover gasket and the O rings for the valve covers in my gasket box.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And of course, I scrounged around for some phillips head screws.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I think it looks better now.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 3a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I also found two good seat hinges and pins, so installed them right away, before I lose them again.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then I located my frame kit I'd made, and all of the screws and gubbins to put it back together, and well, put it back together.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I glued the new points cover gasket into the points cover I found in Spotty's loot, with some high temp silicon.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then Spotty dropped by with a big box of his home brewed Ginger Beer, so I thought I better try one out. Not bad, but Spotty told me that they need to be left for a couple of weeks before they reach their full potential, so I'll just drool over them for the next fortnight.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And sadly, that was about all I got done. Oh well, more to follow.

Sunday Swamp Rat reassembly 4 Aug 2019 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Terry in Australia]

Well after doing absolutely nothing last weekend because the weather was so bad, I was ecstatic that it was such a great day today, sunny, and almost warm! I thought about going for aride, but then I thought better of it, I need to get this bike finished and off the bench.

I love a good gadget, so when I saw a "Crane Scale" on amazon a week ago, I had to get one. I hooked it up to my body lifter and lifted the bike, and was surprised that it was 173Kg:

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 d by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Or 383 pounds, in the ancient language of the druids.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 e by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I lifted the bike off the bench, and wheeled it out into the sunlight, which in itself was pretty cool as it was the first time it felt like a real bike again when I was actually able to wheel it anywhere.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 c by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I hoisted it back onto the bench with the left side out, which is great, as there are heaps of jobs I can do like the brakes, chain and sprockets, wiring, etc.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 f g by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The first thing I needed to sort out was the horrible finned cover bolted to the alternator cover. Very unattractive.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 h by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It was installed with allen screws, and of course no copper washers to stop oil weeing into the back of the finned cover, so it was full of goop.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 f h by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The next thing, of course, was to remove all the allen bolts and replace them with good used OEM phillips head screws. I had to shorten several, but it definitely looks better. I thought I took a pic, but I must have gotten sidetracked. Next up was the front sprocket. It's fair to say, it's time for a better one.........

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 j by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Of course, it was rusted to the shaft, so I made myself the ultimate sprocket puller.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 t by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 n by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 o by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It worked really well to draw the sprocket off the shaft, I must remember to mark it so I can use it again.

OK, the next thing was to attach a chain. I've had this chain and sprockets as a set for years, no idea what I took them off, but whatever, it was three links too short, so I had to take 3 links out of a section of new chain I had hanging up, and with another joining link, I had a chain!

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 p by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Mark Harrison has a treasure trove of CB750 parts and has helped me out previously, so when I shouted out for a chain guard, Mark answered the call.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 q by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Not perfect, but that's fine, it'll do the job. I didn't have a good gear selector pedal, the one that was on it had been shortened and brazed back together and I didn't trust it, so I went looking, and found a half decent one on Spotty's K7, so gave it a cleanup on the wire wheel and shoved it on.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 r by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

By then it was time to pack up. Tomorrow's not going to be as nice weather-wise, but hopefully I'll get lots more done, times a wasting, and there are other projects that need to be done by the time the good weather is back. More tomorrow.

Saturday Swamp Rat reassembly 17 Aug 2019 b by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr





 

[PeWe]

Your Swamp Rat will become a real old stocker, right? All bolts have an 8 on the head, except for the irritating JIS for covers ?

[spotty]

Well done , did you reward yourself with some ginga spots which having had their minimum two weeks maturing should be ready to pour by now

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, yep, looking to make it as original as I can, within the limits I've set myself, i.e., don't spend any money if something out in the garage will do the job. I did open a Spotty Joe but sadly it needs more time, still no fizz to speak of, so I'm going to have to sell my soul to the devil in exchange for another weeks supply of Ginger Joes. Oh well, I'm sure that in time, the Spotty Joes will become drinkable.  

[Terry in Australia]

Well the weather wasn't as good today as yesterday, and by 2pm, it was pissing down with rain. I had plans to do a lot more than I did today, but that's life, just when things are going well, they turn to mud, and it takes awhile to get back on track.

I decided to hook up the front brakes. I had a good caliper and the MC I pulled out of a tub looked pretty good, so I found a top hose, and put it all together. I needed to pump the piston out a bit so I could remove the old pad, So I filled the MC with fluid, and was surprised at how quickly it pumped up. I've had problems bleeding front disc brakes for as long as I've been playing with bikes, but today it just flowed, and I had a "lever" after only 4 or 5 pumps. I pumped the old pad out, and dug around for some pads that (I think) Spotty gave me awhile ago.

Sunday Swamp Rat works 18 Aug 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The caliper had a bit of crud build up inside the pad recess, so I got a wire cup brush on my drill and gave it a good clean out. The paint around the edge of the pad was still too thick to allow the pad to enter the recess, so I chucked it in the lathe and turned a little off.

Sunday Swamp Rat works 18 Aug 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I smeared a little copper grease on the bare metal edge, and slid it in, all good. Everything worked fine, and by now it was raining and the wind was blowing the rain in sideways, so I packed up and came inside. Not as much done as I'd hoped, but a small victory, so I'm happy.

Sunday Swamp Rat works 18 Aug 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[spotty]

A small victory is still a victory ( I should be a motivational speaker I should...)
And getting brakes to behave themselves that quickly is a victory indeed
And I wouldn't worry too much about the fizz, it's still alcoholic ( aren't we all ? ) . I'll have another bash at it and see what we come up with next time.as long as it kicks in the pain killers, who really cares anyway

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Spotty, I'm thinking that it's too cold out in the garage, and I should bring the booze inside for a couple of weeks? I do like my ginger beer fizzy, so I need to get this sorted, alcohol is my favourite drug, but I do have my (remarkably low) standards!

[PeWe]

Race bikes runs on alcohol, here street bike mechanics that runs on it!

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks Per, I read that fhe reason the home brew isn't carbonating is because it's too cold for the chemical reaction of the yeast and the sugar to work properly, so without the wifes knowledge I've sneaked 8 bottles into the spare room where it's much warmer this time of year, so hopefully in 2 weeks I'll be reporting that the Spotty Joes are tasting as good as the Ginger Joes! And hopefully they won't explode all over my spare room, or the wife won't be at all happy.......

[lash]

Terry, where are you? Lost in the snow or something? We need an update!

[RAFster122s]

Terry has been setting up a brewery and bottling company for his ginger beer fix.  Must have distracted him too much watching the bubbles rise.

Wonder if that will evoke a rise out of him?
David

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, consider me evoked David! The weather here has been miserable this weekend so not much done, but I did a bit last weekend that I haven't posted yet, so here goes.

I decided that it was time to start looking at the electrics. I'd painted up a battery box that I think I bought from someone here, (Eric? Can't remember) that was in pretty good condition, just a tad rusty. When I pulled it out of my industrial oven I realised that I'd missed a few bits, so I spritzed a bit more on, and called it good. I had to re-tap all the holes in the frame, not because they were clogged with paint, but rather, they were all full of rust from sitting out in the PO's backyard for 10 years, I couldn't get a screw into any of them! I had the same problem with the chain guard mounts, the threads were clogged with rust, but all good now.

Swamp Rat Sunday 1 September 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I had a new repro wiring harness, can't remember when where or why I bought it, but was happy to have it. It's a good quality item, so maybe Yamiya? Anyhoo, I ran it along the frame but won't tie it in place until all the electrical gubbins are connected, to make sure I have it in the right spot. I also re-connected the regulator, rectifier, starter solenoid etc. I also found a new fuse box thingy, so installed it, even though I prefer the weather proof modern flat fuse assemblies I buy from my local auto parts store, but I'm trying to make this thing as original as I can, so as I already had it, I used it. I also realised that I didn't have the battery cable that goes to the solenoid from the positive battery terminal, so made a mental note to order one.

Swamp Rat Sunday 1 September 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I'd bought a genuine Honda ignition switch/seat lock/steering lock set on Ebay, and have to say I was pissed off when I opened the bag to see that the ignition switch has a modern plastic key, I was expecting an all metal one. Oh well, it's still a Honda item.

Swamp Rat Sunday 1 September 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I needed a headlight assembly and remembered that I found a complete unit out in my garage. My garage is magical, in as much as it quite often   produces items that I'm sure I've never bought? I have no idea where this headlight assembly came from, but the shell was in good condition with no chips or cracks, and the sealed beam assembly appears to be all there. I rubbed the paint back and hit it with some Rustoleum satin black, and called it good.

Swamp Rat Sunday 1 September 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And that my friends, was about that. I called it a day, opened a bottle of Ginger Joe, and wandered inside to order that battery cable. I also bought some original handle grips (I'll use the Oury's on my Z1000 build) and realised that I need a flasher can so ordered some cheapies from China. Now while I've purposely kept the costs down on this build in favour of using parts that my garage somehow magically produces out of thin air for me, I broke down and bought a shiny new repro seat from the same seller that I bought the battery cable from, so I paid almost as much for a seat and a couple of other parts as I did for the bike originally, but I'm happier that I'll be putting a "more correct" seat on the bike, and I don't have to mess around with new seat covers etc that I would have if I'd used the K1 seat I have in the garage.

Interestingly, I told the prospective buyer that I'd just spent the best part of $500 (AUD) on a seat and some other new parts and he started to make some "um" and "Ah" noises, so I told him that I'll be happy to keep it if the final price is too high for his budget, and left it at that. Unless a prospective buyer ponies up the dough up front, I'll always build my bikes the way I would like them, that way I've got a bike that I'd like to ride when I'm done, as opposed to someone else's idea of what a bike should look like.

I'm flying up to Darwin again next Sunday for a week, then back to Melbourne airport on the 20th, change planes and fly down to the other end of Oz, Hobart, for the following weekend. I'll try to get some more done on Saturday before I fly out on Sunday, just to keep this project moving along. Wish me luck!

Swamp Rat Sunday 1 September 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr       

[PeWe]

Good work done Terry!
What about tank and side covers? I've forgot which you have and intend to use on this one.
Soon a finalized build again.

[RAFster122s]

Terry nice update...as we are heading into fall you are still in early spring coming out of winter. 

So, is the last batch of ginger beer coming along?
Still buying or drinking your Spotty/Terry Joe's?

Hope you have good trips and they go well.

David

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, hopefully I'll get a little bit more done on it before I fly to Darwin on Sunday morning, lights, blinkers, a bit of wiring, then carbs and airbox? Wow, it is getting close!

David I've started a thread on my home brewing, jump across and check it out! Cheers, Terry.
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,179146.msg2078721.html#msg2078721

[Terry in Australia]

Well what a magnificent spring day it was today! I got home from work with a couple of hours to kill before it got dark, so I decided to do a little more. Right when I thought I'd frightened off the "prospective buyer", he came over to my place this morning to take a peek at the ol' swamp rat, and liked what he saw, bugger it.

Oh well. Last week I needed to remove the rear fender to try to fix the tail light lens seal issue. You might remember I said that the new seal I bought was a tad too small? $50 AUD down the tube, with no correspondence from the seller, even when I left him negative feedback? Arsehole. I did what I should have done in the first place, I bought a tube of silicon from my local quicky mart, dribbled a bead around the edge of the tail light body, then took a sheet of cling wrap and placed it between the lens and the wet silastic. I then just screwed the two lens screws in until they held the lens against the silicon without squashing it all down, and let it dry. Next day I unscrewed the lens, pulled the cling wrap, and re-installed tle lens. I dribbled some water around the lens, then unscrewed it, and it was bone dry inside. Problem fixed.

I lost a spacer though, so needed a spacer for a 6mm screw, with a 10mm OD. I looked everywhere tonight, to no avail. As I was ratting thru a box of junk, I came across a heap of old after-market engine screws with internal hexes. The little light bulb went on inside my brain and I measured up the head of one of these "Allen" bolts, and yep, it was 10mm. Sweet. I chucked it in my lathe and drilled it out with a 6.5mm drill, and the head of the screw came right off. Nice.

Wednesday Swamp Rat fix 11 Sep 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, next thing was the rear blinkers. I was very lucky, once again my garage produced the rubbers that sit behind the blinker brackets, in pretty good condition. I needed spacers for the blinker bracket assembly, couldn't find any, so found some alloy bar offcut that I'd already drilled for an 8mm bolt, so I turned up a couple of neat little mushrooms.

Wednesday Swamp Rat fix 11 Sep 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Wednesday Swamp Rat fix 11 Sep 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Wednesday Swamp Rat fix 11 Sep 2019 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And I found a couple of Honda bolts and washers, and mounted the two rear brackets.

Wednesday Swamp Rat fix 11 Sep 2019 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And with some more ratting thru tubs of parts, I found some nice used blinkers, so installed them, along with some new earth wires.

Wednesday Swamp Rat fix 11 Sep 2019 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

By now I'd used up that couple of hours, and so I packed up for the day, but if it doesn't rain all day tomorrow, maybe I'll get a little more done? Who knows? Goodnight folks, maybe some more tomorrow.

Fat Leo snoozing 11 Sep 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr       

[PeWe]

Really expensive rear light gasket! Yamiya sell a complete Honda lamp for that?

The gasket between rear light holder and fender (K1 style) is an expensive part.

If Leo should be a dog you'll  tell him to fetch and search for specific parts you cannot find, right?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, I just re-checked the gasket price, and it was actually 40 bux (AUD) but that was too much for something that didn't fcuking work.

Anyway, I won't dwell on the negatives, I'm too busy trying to work out how I can keep this bike and not have to sell it without pissing off the prospective owner. I showed him my red "Bitsa" and he liked it, but likes this one better because he wants an all original K2, but the more time I spend with it, the more I want to keep it too? Bugger........

OK, I'm gonna do some bottling of "Doctor Terry's Medicinal Ginger Snake Oil" tonight, so I'll head over to the Brewing thread once I snap some pics. Cheers, Terry.  

[Terry in Australia]

Well my poor old Yamaha FJR1300 has been off the road since 2016 when I forgot to pay the registration fee but continued to ride it for another 4 months until I discovered my error. No biggie, with 15 bikes, there's always something to ride, but a few months ago I did some catchup maintenance replacing the rear disc brake rotor, pads, front brake pads, plugs, thermo fan, cooling hoses, plugs, air filter etc.

As it was just coming into winter I took it for a ride, called it good, then as I had to make room for my son's new Royal Enfield Continental GT 650, I left it in the driveway under a bike cover. Not ideal, but as it was winter, I wasn't worried about the sun bleaching the exposed paint and plastics. Now that we're in early Spring, I decided to ride it over to the self storage place where I currently have 3 other bikes. Of course, being such a nice day I took a 100 mile detour to give the battery a good charge.

It was a great ride, for a "Sport Tourer", this thing is an absolute weapon with a top speed of around 160 MPH, and it gets there very quickly indeed, it wouldn't be far behind my Triumph Rocket III in a drag race, I reckon. I didn't intend to ride so far, but I was enjoying being out on a bike again after so long spending all my time working on the Swamp Rat, or swanning around in Adelaide and Darwin over winter. Back in 2016 when I was living in Canberra during the week and driving/riding to Melbourne I rode via my mum's place, and she took a pic of me outside her house.

Fat Terry and his FJR1300 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

My son took a pic of me this morning before I took off, the bike looks pretty much the same, but I've changed somewhat.

Swamp Rat Saturday 14 Sep 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

If that's not a good deterrent to eating that extra slice of pie men, I don't know what is! Anyway, I had a brilliant ride, including several naughty top speed runs, and destroying a "One Percenters" over inflated self esteem when he made the mistake of trying to blow away the old fool on the big blue jap bike, he ran out of steam at around 100 MPH on his Harley, so I cruised beside him for a minute or so before accelerating to around 150 just to let him know that he was rubbish. Great fun..........

Swamp Rat Saturday 14 Sep 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, I stopped on my way back for a coffee and my first ever (I think) Halloumi Pide. Hilariously, the lady who made it for me was Chinese, but she knew her Halloumi, and I really enjoyed it, I'll make sure I stop there for another one on my next ride. OK, dropped the bike off at the storage joint, said hello to my Rocket III, VFR750 and BMW K100RS SE, and hitched a ride home with my son Tim.

By this time the best part of the day had gone, but I still had a little time to play with the Swamp Rat before I pack my bags for Darwin/Hobart. I installed the headlight bucket and a pair of nice age weathered front blinkers. I may change the lenses out for some new ones I've got in a box somewhere, because faded blinker lenses are an instant roadworthy failure.

Swamp Rat Saturday 14 Sep 2019 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

As I've previously mused, my garage has become quite adept at manufacturing hard to find CB750 parts whenever I need them, and as I was ratting thru a tub I found this seat lock assembly. God knows where it came from or where the key is, but I'm pretty sure I've got a NOS lock assembly in another box somewhere, and I've got several of the plungers, so it's all good. More when I come back in a week and a bit!

Swamp Rat Saturday 14 Sep 2019 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

   

[PeWe]

Good progress Terry! Both your Swamp rat and yourself

Your very good looking FJR1300 must accelerate harder with the improved version of Terry, right?

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Damn Slim!!!! What a difference. Congratulations. Now you're shaming me on the little old man gut I'm developing. 

[RAFster122s]

You are looking good Terry.  Good progress on the bike too.  You keep putting all those NOS and new parts on the bike and it is going to make it that much harder to let go of Swampy.  It will be like letting go of an old friend you have known for years as you have had many of those parts for many years...

Safe Travels, enjoy the trip and work if possible.
David