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

[PeWe]

I look forward to see the stockish Kawasaki when ready, Terry.
I understand now why the CB750 is a patina/rat build, not spending too much new on it

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, yeah, no need to spend silly money on the Swamp Rat, I've already told the buyer how much I want for it, so every dollar spent now, is a dollar off my next build budget. As long as it's a good runner with good tyres and brakes, that's all he wants. It will be.

[RAFster122s]

Terry have you kept a list of what you have put into it, even if it came off/out of your "batcave stockpile" of parts? Would be interesting to see how much it would cost in today's prices.

There was a beautiful orange Rickman Honda 750 at VMD here at MidOhio. Out of someone's collection who has plenty of $$$.

David

[PeWe]

It is really easy to order more just for sure forgetting parts already bought.
I have a big box full with new Honda labeled parts. Almost 2 complete sets of engine ball bearings. The bearings I have looked OK. Also just for sure buy when still available.

 NOS engine covers plus clutch alu parts inside steel  basket for K1-K6, (maybe K0 too) I had to buy when found for a good price. Parts that often cost tripple from gold hungry CB750 NOS parts dealers on eBay.

I got thoughts to order NOS front fender to my K6 last few days. I had  bought one to my K6 that my K2 build got, new rear fender included.

It is very difficult to stop order parts!
My K6 Mikuni carbs need larger pilot jets. I've replaced them twice last week, last time today. I had to order more today. This time 4 sets (16 jets) to finalize the carbs going well at take offs. These jets size steps is 2.5.
I had them OK last summer until engine got a new exhaust that let it to breathe very well!!

[Terry in Australia]

Terry have you kept a list of what you have put into it, even if it came off/out of your "batcave stockpile" of parts? Would be interesting to see how much it would cost in today's prices.

There was a beautiful orange Rickman Honda 750 at VMD here at MidOhio. Out of someone's collection who has plenty of $$$.

David

G'day David, no I haven't but if you think that the original bike I dragged home only provided a bare engine, bare frame and front fork sliders, then it's easier to determine whats come out of my garage, which is just about everything. Having said that, I don't really look at the used parts in my garage as "money spent", as I don't really like selling this stuff as its always handy for jobs like this.

Same for the new parts I already have, I bought them for previous builds, or received them in trades, so they have no value, apart from me not having to order more. The real cost to me is what I've had to spend specifically to complete this build, and so far it hasn't been much. New tyres and tubes, a used rear fender, rear wheel and chain guard, petcock and tank lid seal, tail light lens gasket, and I think thats about it? So maybe $600 ($450 USD) all up?

Sure, I won't have those parts for future builds, but there's more stuff coming in, like spotty's K8 that I'm already making plans for, it came with a spare engine with an 836cc kit that may come in handy, down the track, at no extra expense to me.

[spotty]

the boss asked me the other day how much longer that box of bits was going to be sitting under his bench in his warehouse

he was quite pleased to hear it had gone...he's going to be less happy when i start storing zzr parts here until they're needed to go back on the bike cos god knows i got nowhere at home to store all that stuff

ah well, if he wants the warehouse superman ( that even makes me laugh) he gets his baggage too

[Terry in Australia]

Well I woke up this morning, so that was a good start. It was cold and threatened rain, so I was in no rush to go outside, but eventually I decided to get off my butt and do a bit on old Swampy. I had to find enough parts to build a wheel assembly as the original bits are still all rusted together. No problem found a couple of brake backing plate assemblies and a couple of sprocket carriers, so picked the best ones, and used new nuts and locking tabs to secure the OEM 48T sprocket.

Saturday Swamp Rat wheel install 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

But being as the bearing retainer was already out of it, I thought I'd try out my new bearing puller, as seen of FaceBook. 

Saturday Swamp Rat wheel install 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Contrary to the advertisements, it's a dud. What a shame.

Saturday Swamp Rat wheel install 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

No biggie, I'll machine up a new piece from much thicker stainless, and it will be good. Regardless, time waits for no man, so I assembled the rear wheel, and attempted to install it. Big mistake, dropped the brake backing plate out and it landed on my big toe! Fark! I'm typing this drivel 4 hours after it happened, and it hurts worse now than it did then!

Oh well, my son Tim heard me turning the air blue with foul language and gave me a hand, and the wheel is now on.

Saturday Swamp Rat wheel install 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr


Something's not right though, I had to stretch the swingarm out a few mm so I could fit the spacer in, and now, with the washer in place, there's not enough axle left for the castellations to line up with the split pin hole? WTF? If I remove the washer it almost lines up, but not quite? Hmmnn, I checked both spacers and they're definitely K and not the wider F spacers, it's the same length as my other axles, including the rusty original, so either the brake plate is slightly wider, or I'm just losing my mind? Losing my mind pisses me off as much as breaking my toe! More tomorrow...........

Saturday Swamp Rat wheel install 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Saturday Swamp Rat wheel install 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Saturday Swamp Rat wheel install 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

The other side? Sprocket carrier has seated between the usually sticky an fuxxing cush rubbers?
The stuff thru the bearing on sprocket side OK, inside as well as outside?
My K2 got the nut on the left side as my K6 always has.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, my axle is pointing in the same direction as the Honda parts manual picture, not that it matters which way you insert the axle, unless you're running a 4 into one pipe and in that case you want the head of the axle on the other side from your muffler, so you can drop your wheel without having to remove your muffler.

I've got all the correct spacers that came off the bike, apart from the spacer that sits on the inside of the sprocket carrier, but my wheel looks exactly the same as yours, so I'm not sure what's going on. No matter, I'll sort it out when I go back outside shortly.

[PeWe]

Yeah, axle direction does not matter, except for a 4-1 covering the axle you want to take out.

I did my way that  looked better in my eyes. I had clip chain before so I could take wheel off rather easy when time to change tire.

Have you checked sprocket alignment to verify which side that can be wrong?
Correct hub?

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I've done all of that, it is weird, because everything appears to be correct. Here's a pic I took of the sprocket side this morning.

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[lash]

I had the same problem with a frame that I bought already painted. Problem was that the paint was so thick on the swingarm I couldnt get the nut  on far enough either. I ground the paint off the axel area and then just put on a light coat to recover. that was enough to get the nut on correctly.

[Terry in Australia]

Anyway, that problem will be rectified eventually. Today I needed to concentrate on the front of the bike. Remember the old front wheel?

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I needed a brake disc rotor, but all the ones in my garage have been drilled, so I had to salvage one of these. The person who'd done the dual disc conversion all those years ago had probably used unbrako bolts, which "grew" with rust etc and the nuts were too big for a 1/2" socket, but too small for a 9/16", so I had to bash a 13mm socket onto them, then punch each nut out of the socket afterwards, what a PITA! But eventually I got my disc.

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I chucked it in my lathe and checked to make sure it wasn't warped, then attacked it with the wire wheel in my drill. It came up really nice.

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I cleaned all the rusty dirt off it, and prepped it for paint. Possibly the world's greatest waste of masking tape, but what the hell, it's been sitting there for 2 years and probably wouldn't have lasted another summer.

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Okay, so forgot to take a pic of it painted, but I did paint it, and put it in my industrial oven at 100 deg C for 4 hours, so it's good to go. I cleaned the front fender that'd been hanging on my garage wall for many years with a little phosphoric acid mix, and it came up pretty nice.

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I then spent a good hour looking for hardware including the brake caliper bracket I'd put away for it (that I didn't find) and the rubber bushes and steel spacers for the mounting screws. I found them eventually, cleaned up another caliper bracket, and installed them.

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

By this time it was late, was freezing, misty rain was coming in sideways, and my core temperature was uncomfortably low, so I gave up for the day. Hopefully I'll get the front wheel mounted tomorrow or (more likely) the day after. Sweet.......

Sunday Swamp Rat front end 14 July 2019 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[Terry in Australia]

I had the same problem with a frame that I bought already painted. Problem was that the paint was so thick on the swingarm I couldnt get the nut  on far enough either. I ground the paint off the axel area and then just put on a light coat to recover. that was enough to get the nut on correctly.

Thanks mate, definitely not a paint problem, I stripped the swingarm and frame to bare metal and gave it a quick rattle can paint job, so no big paint buildup. I'm still leaning towards the brake plate being slightly wider, but if the worst cmes the worst I can turn up a slightly thinner spacer.

[CB_Jeff]

On your rear axle fitment issues, any chance some K7 / K8 or F2 parts found their way into the mix?  On the rear sprocket carrier side the sprocket carrier is taller on the later models, as is the spacer that fits into the bottom of the carrier.  This was a time consuming oversight on my part after I cleaned-up a K7 carrier for my K6.

[jgger]

Terry, easy fix ...........just turn the NUT around!😁. Problem solved., if you need any more help, just let me know, I have lots of good ideas.

[PeWe]

Terry,
That sprocket carrier look strange. Not as my K6 or K2 that both use K2 swing arm.

[nvr2old]

I really enjoy following your threads.  They're done thoughtfully and with humor.  I had to smile at your "world's greatest waste of masking tape" pic of your brake rotor.  I, too, used to spend inordinate amounts of time and tape-waste doing the same thing until I found that if I just sprayed the center w/o masking the rotor, I could then just wipe off the over spray with a rag and some lacquer thinner.  Takes about 1 minute. 

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, yep, all those things are possible, I'll take another look shortly, if they are the problem then I'll wait until the front wheel is on before I take the rear one off as it's all a balancing act at the moment, but once there's some weight at the front, all will be well.

Thanks for the rotor painting tip too, I'm mentally smacking my forehead as I type this, duh!

[seanbarney41]

Terry,
That sprocket carrier look strange. Not as my K6 or K2 that both use K2 swing arm.

yup...that is it!  That is sprocket carrier from 77/78k or F2/3 that is 10mm thicker.  Here is a page from the cyclex website that shows the difference...down at the bottom of the page.
www.cyclexchange.net/Chain%20Sprocket%20Page.htm

[Terry in Australia]

Well buggar me! No worries, it must be a leftover from my F2 build of many years ago, as the only K7/8 thats ever darkened my door step is Spotty's bike which is still in one piece on my trailer under a bile cover. (Future Hipster "Street Scrambler" build)

[spotty]

" bile cover " - freudian slip there ?

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, unintentional Spotty, but maybe one of those repressed memory deals, or automatic writing? The K8, once thoughtfully modified, will be the pride and joy of some Ned Kelly beard wearing, "man bun" coiffured young rebel fashionably attired in skinny jeans and gym boots, spouting the "One in a million as opposed to one of a million" mantra........

[PeWe]

Easy to fix "problem" then. Terry, you have some carriers in stock right?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, yeah mate, I've got at least 3 of everything here, so shouldn't have a problem. If the worst becomes the worst, I'll pull the one off the original rusty hub.