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

[Terry in Australia]

But back to the present day. I left the painted frame outside as the paint was wet and I had no-where to put it, so of course when I got home from work it had rained all day. No biggie, the paint came up really well, no obvious runs, smooth, shiny, and so for the 50 bucks I spent on strip discs and Rustoleum paint, it was an excellent result, and has added value to the bike.

Shiny Swamp Rat frame 12 June 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I've got a guy at work drooling over the prospect of buying a shiny swamp rat in a few weeks time, but he wants to trade in his 1976 Honda TL50? As much as I like unique bikes, I'm not sure if I'd want a 50cc Trials bike? Oh well, I suppose I could hang it up in the rafters as a bit of "Garage Art".......

 

[PeWe]

New steering bearings too?
I bet you have some good tapered ones in stock!   CB750 original must be PITA with all small balls.....   

Bad steering bearings is a bad thing at the vehicle inspection over here. The smallest dent that can be noticed when moving the handlebar really slow will be reported and do it again...

[Terry in Australia]

No, they're not as picky here Per, plus the guy doing the roadworthy inspection is a mate, so no issues there. I bought an "All Balls" tapered bearing set for the "Bitsa", and their quality was sh1t, they haven't failed yet, but I haven't ridden it that much. the bearings and races on this frame were fine, so I'll grease them back up and stick them back in.

I do have new ball bearings somewhere if on closer inspection the balls have any dings in them, but I gave them and their races a cursory glance on Monday and they looked perfect. I have a feeling that this bike was "restored" not long before Gary, the PO, dragged it out of his shed and left it in the weather for 10 years. The fork oil was like new, new looking heavy duty fork springs, the swingarm pivot looked like it was almost new, and the steering head bearings were all coated with clean, new grease. Weird. .........    

[RAFster122s]

Frame looks good Terry.
Me, I wouldn't touch a Trials bike unless I were going to ride it or it could be flipped for more than I felt the Swamp Rat was worth. And I don't think flipping the bike would be a pleasant prospect.  But, opinions are like a part of one's anatomy we don't parade about and everyone has one...

Enjoy washing the harness down so it looks nice with your shiny black frame.

Would be a shame for someone to have a nicely restored bike and then leave it out in the weather for 10 years.

David

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks David, I'm not sure how it happened, but I've got a new wiring harness in a bag from Yamiya in my box of new parts, and I did lash out and buy a NOS Honda ignition switch, so most of my electrics will be like new.

I wouldn't be interested in the baby trials bike for a straight swap, but if he only wanted a thousand bucks trade in I'd take it just as a novelty item, the Swamp rat hasn't cost much at all, so I could afford to take that little bike and the extra cash would still be enough to finish my other projects.

[spotty]

theres a trials club down in the back blocks of clayton that seems to have a fairly active kids development scheme so maybe someone should try them
on the other hand there is also reasonable interest in vintage trials anyway so depending on the condition of the little 'un it might not be too hard to shift

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Spotty, yeah I don't think I'd have a problem selling it, although the owner/prospective buyer of the swamp rat told me that it's pretty rough this morning, so I might have been a bit generous in my earlier post, it might only be a $500 trade in, we'll see.

I got home from work all excited as the sun was shining and I'd decided to install the swingarm, so I tapped in the frozen bushes, then found a better brake stay arm and brake rod and pivot assembly because it's easier to install them with the swingarm off, but then I remembered that I still have to weld the airbox ears back on, and so gave up, and packed everything away until tomorrow, when I'll have more time.

I'm already feeling the effects of SFS (Shiny Frame Syndrome) where I'm starting to look for shinier parts to bolt onto my shiny frame, but I'm not gonna succumb to it, it will have some tired old parts bolted back on, regardless of how it'll offend my inner rusto-phobe!

[PeWe]

The not shiny parts bolted on that shiny frame willl look rattier than before...
No paint on engine?

I have used Motip that look very close to Honda's paint. I could not see much difference when I painted everything except the compartment for starter motor that was the very old original.
https://townsworth.co.uk/product/engine-paint-aluminium-400ml/

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I'll dust a little silver engine enamel on the top case where it's badly stained, but I won't be polishing anything, this is a rider, not a poser. The prospective buyer told me that he'll eventually restore it to mint, but that's fine, he can spend all his money on it, while I'm spending his money on my RC51 and Mad Max build!

[Terry in Australia]

Saturday couldn't come around soon enough. I woke up this morning at 0730 and immediately remembered that I'd left my industrial oven on all night when I was drying off some bolts and hardware that I'd pulled out of the acid bath yesterday, luckily I'd only set it @ 100 deg C, so no damage was done. I'm lucky I wasn't heating up a cylinder block to 250 deg C to drop the cylinders out, or it could have been really, really, bad.

Anyhoo, I did that, then went to the Post Office to send Mazza (another member here) a set of shockers I'd sold him for his K3, and celebrated my good fortune by buying some more bottles of Ginger Joe, which were on sale @ 25% off, what a wonderful day! I was almost out of drugs, so went to the local Chemist Warehouse with a hand full of prescriptions for all kinds of chemicals, I take 14 tablets a day at the moment, so it was good to fill up the lunchbox I use to store them all in. 

OK, came home, got changed into my "Garage clothes" and took a look at the frame. I was lucky that I never throw anything out, I'd sliced the airbox tabs off another frame years ago, and after digging thru some crap, found them straight away. I compared them with ones on another frame I have to see if they were long enough, and was happy to see that they were spot on. I bought some of those fancy magnetic welding clamps last year, and I was happy that I could position the bracket exactly where I needed it to be.

Saturday Swamp Rat frame repairs 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I bought some of those fancy magnetic welding clamps last year, and I was happy that I could position the bracket exactly where I needed it to be.

I used a cold wet towel to catch any welding sparks so as not to damage the paint, and I think it also ensured that the heat didn't spread far from the weld, as the paint didn't bubble around it, which was good.

Saturday Swamp Rat frame repairs 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I sprayed some more Rustoleum on the newly welded tabs, and called it good.

Saturday Swamp Rat frame repairs 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, so, wet paint on the frame, what else could I do? Remember those horrible rusty shocks?

Swamp Rat Sunday tinkering 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Well a dip in the acid bath overnight, brought them up like new!

Saturday Swamp Rat frame repairs 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I pulled them apart as the springs looked like they were beyond repair. Surprisingly, the dampers were still working fine.

Saturday Swamp Rat frame repairs 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I had some springs in a box off a set of K0/K1 shocks, so decided to swap them over. The K0/K1 springs were a bit shorter, so I thought that may need to make some alloy spring preloads, although comparing them side by side, they seemed to be just as firm as the stockers. I had to laugh when I took a closer look at the old springs, the black "Rust" is black paint! Yep, some turkey painted them, and I mistook it for rust. Oh well........

Saturday Swamp Rat frame repairs 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, shockers are good enough to go back on the ol' Swamp Rat, so I took a look around for more things to clean up. The removable frame section hadn't been painted, so I stripped alll the paint off and gave it the once over with the Rustoleum, and hung it in the industrial oven to cure. The battery box that someone sent me (was it Eric? I can't remember) is for a later model with the multi fuse setup, but it's the only one I have, so I removed all of the rubbers and other bits, and dunked it in the acid bath too, as it was pretty rusty.

Saturday Swamp Rat frame repairs 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

By the time I did that it was cold, threatening rain, I was hungry and thirsty, so I cleaned up my little mess, and came inside. More tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel......
 

[BPellerine]

snip off the fuse block bracket and you now have the single fuse type if you are going that way.bill

[PeWe]

Wow, magic Terry! Those shocks weren't that bad as they looked like. You'll clear coat them to stop rust to reappear?

[lash]

Can you give us the setup for your acid bath? I would really like to give that a try..

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Guys, it's just Phosphoric acid, pretty harmless as it's an ingredient in Cola drinks (hence all those videos of cleaning chrome with cola and tin foil etc) toothpaste, metal polish, etc and cleans rust off any steel. I shake my head when I see folks farting around with electrolysis, risking an explosion from the hydrogen gas they're producing, when they can just buy a gallon of Phosphoric acid, water it down up to 10:1 water to acid ratio, and just dump your rusty crap into it, and next day, it's clean and shiny, no scrubbing, wire brushing, sanding etc required.

You should be able to find it at farm supplies stores, as it's used by dairy farmers for cleaning stainless steel dairy equipment. No need to clear coat those chrome pieces Per, as long as I keep the bike clean the rust won't come back, but anyway the new owner says he's going to restore the bike including re-chroming everything, although it'd be cheaper to just replace the rear shocks with some Ebay knockoffs, I'm just gonna make it as original as I can, with what I've got.

I was gonna re-install the engine today but I think I better clean it up a bit first, (no, I'm not polishing anything) so I might work on building a rolling chassis. Back later, with more pics.

[PeWe]

My K2 has eBay knockoffs, the pricier ones (200€). That's why I have a new pair of Ikons waiting at my post office to be picked up.

Handling is good, but way to bumpy making me crazy. The damper sucks. My K6 has Ikons that feels much harder but the dampers works making the ride very comfortable on exactly the same roads.

I thought my K2 had tire mount issues until I found a very smooth road where the bumpy ride disappeared completely. Ordered Ikons direct when I got that confirmed.
Many roads asphalt here is laid in small wave forms that normal dampers take care of, cars or bikes. 3-5 meters frequency.

I'll look for the acid...

[Terry in Australia]

Well Sunday came and went, and the older I get, the faster the days seem to go! I had to wait until the sun came out about 11am (God I hate winter!) before I could go out and start work, but I was a little bit excited, because I'm now at the re-assembly stage, which is the most enjoyable part of any build, in my humble opinion.

In my quest to "Work smarter, not harder" I made sure that I installed the brake rod assembly before I installed the swingarm, and the brake stay arm on the swingarm itself, just to save me some cursing later. I used a clamp to hold the brake rod pivot arm away from the swingarm just to make it all a little easier.

Sunday Swamp Rat re-assembly 16 Jun 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

The swingarm took a little persuading to go back into place, I suspect that the bronze bushes "ears" were slightly thicker than the old bakelite "hats" that they replaced, but eventually it was in, and undamaged. I shoved the shiny shocks back on, and called it good.

OK, what next? I know, front forks! Oh OK, I better find a set of triples first? The ones on the Swamp Rat were pretty much toast, but the garage (or the "Tardis" if you're a Doctor Who fan) as Cliff (Maduncle here) calls it, has lots of CB750 bits lying around. I actually found 4 lower triples, so finally settled on a K0 lower triple that Eric sent me many years ago, because as opposed to all the other ones it didn't need painting, and the lock stops aren't bent to sh1t. (or in one case, broken off completely) I found some nice shiny new bearings that I knew I had, I think I bought some from the local bearing supplier years ago and of course, bought twice as many as I needed, so holding them in place with a pile of moly grease, I slottd everything into place, tightened the ring nut to the point where there was just a little resistance, and once again, called it done.

By this time it was around 3pm, and I decided that I needed to paint the top triple before I put it on, so packed up my tools, painted the top triple, and called it a day. I did have a hunt around for some fork tubes and found a nice pair of F2 forks, a couple of reasonably good K2 fork ears, and all the little gubbins to make a set of forks. During the week I'll pull the f2 forks apart and liberate the tubes for the Swamp Rat build. Jona Oron, another member here from Israel sent me a heap of his unused Honda 750 parts a few weeks ago, including new fork seals, so I'll find a couple of good lower legs and make me a set of forks with those heavy duty front springs I pulled out of the Swamp Rat's toasty forks, which were minty inside.

I found a centre stand but no axle, spring or spring bracket so far, so I might have to buy them, but I won't get too excited until I've looked thru a couple more tubs, I have a nagging feeling that I do indeed own those items, I just need to keep looking for a little while longer. Anyway, it's getting there, it's shiny, and I'm happy enough with the progress, so far. Hopefully the weather will continue to be kind to me, and I'll continue at a reasonable pace. Wish me luck!

Sunday Swamp Rat re-assembly 16 Jun 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The ol' Patio is getting a bit crowded, I need to get this one done and out of there, so I can start on the next..........

Sunday Swamp Rat re-assembly 16 Jun 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
 

[Terry in Australia]

My K2 has eBay knockoffs, the pricier ones (200€). That's why I have a new pair of Ikons waiting at my post office to be picked up.

Handling is good, but way to bumpy making me crazy. The damper sucks. My K6 has Ikons that feels much harder but the dampers works making the ride very comfortable on exactly the same roads.

I thought my K2 had tire mount issues until I found a very smooth road where the bumpy ride disappeared completely. Ordered Ikons direct when I got that confirmed.
Many roads asphalt here is laid in small wave forms that normal dampers take care of, cars or bikes. 3-5 meters frequency.

I'll look for the acid...

Yep, Ikons are great Per, I have them on my Sportster and my BMW K100RS, and of course I have their fathers, Koni's on my K2 bitsa, which were professionally rebuilt by the PO. I had Ikons on my Suzuki GS1000S, BMWK 100RT, BMW R1100GS, etc etc, and they are really good, value for money shocks. It does suck though, that I can buy them cheaper in the US than I can in Oz, considering that the factory is just 300 Km up the road from me, but I guess that's the way with international business...........

[PeWe]

You can't visit the Ikon factory?
Mine cost 500 € shipping included from Germany. eBay.

I'm sure your winter is much better than ours here at 60 degrees north.
November- Mars really dark and cold. -5 to -20C, some years Jan- Feb have constant -15 to -25C. Daylight 09-15:00 most of that time. Sun is mostly not visible except for a few days....

I must move south when retire. Canarian Islands like Gran Canaria or Tenerife is my choice today with very consistent temp all year around 24/7, 17-28C nights a few degrees less in worst days of a year.

I think it is possible to live there without heating or cooling. Use that cost for beers and petrol to a bike.

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, yes mate, with temps like yours you put my winters in perspective, it really doesnt get that cold here, I think it's just the knowledge that a 2 hour plane flight can take me up to Brisbane where I lived for a couple of years in the 80's, where it's always warm. It has me wondering why I'm still here? It would be nice to have great (warm) weather 24/7. One day, maybe.....

[PeWe]

Not too warm and wet. North Australia is rather sticky, right?

Closest I have been is Bali, July 1992.

[Terry in Australia]

Brisbane is as far north as I want to go Per, my brother (RIP) lived in Townsville and my sister lives in the far north of Queensland too, but the humidity and devastating storms, not to mention Crocodiles, Taipans, Box Jellyfish etc doesn't endear me to the area.

I have very fond memories of living in Brisbane, we were given an Army house that didn't have any heating, and when I asked how we'd keep warm in winter, the reply from the Defence Housing rep was, "You don't have a heater, because you won't need a heater" and she was right, the hottest it ever got was in the mid thirties (C) and the coldest day was probably 20?

I only ever wore long trousers (Army uniform) when at work, otherwise, shorts and a T shirt was my daily dress. Same here for 6 months of the year, but now that I can count my remaining years on my fingers, toes and (possibly) other appendages, I want to make the most of them!

[spotty]

and if you lived up there you'd have to stop drinking your favourite tipple, the ginger joes, and survive on XXXX,  not worth it just for a few degrees of bone warming humidity really

mind you, they call the gold coast gods waiting room so maybe its nearer than you think

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thats fine with me Spotty, if I have to while away my retirement riding my bikes in near perfect weather, while trying to home brew the perfect Ginger Joe replacement, life will be pretty full. (And so will I)

How's your CB750 project going? If it's not, we need to talk about a "project exchange", I've got everything I need to finish my ZZR1100 rebuild, except the requisite interest......

Ooh and after swearing that I wouldn't weaken and buy the centrestand mounting hardware, the first thing I found on ebay last night was the kit (axle, split pin, spring and bracket, all OEM, for $49 AUD plus $5 shipping. Fcuk it, money well spent if I don't have to waste time searching for them..... I bought them.

[jgger]

Ah yes Terry, NEVER say never!

[spotty]

that little mention above has had my brain all a-thinkin' , i have always wanted a hyper sports......