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

[Terry in Australia]

Well since the prostate surgery I'm producing nothing but air guys, so no fear of anything naughty, but yeah, a "Brew and Bike shack" would be a great cottage business that I could maintain post retirement, for sure. When it rains it pours, the VA lady rang me to offer me MORE money yesterday, and I told her I'd think about it, as everything the government offers you always has it's drawbacks, especially if I keep looking at Harley pics......... (or Vmaxes)

[MCRider]

Well since the prostate surgery I'm producing nothing but air guys, so no fear of anything naughty, but yeah, a "Brew and Bike shack" would be a great cottage business that I could maintain post retirement, for sure. When it rains it pours, the VA lady rang me to offer me MORE money yesterday, and I told her I'd think about it, as everything the government offers you always has it's drawbacks, especially if I keep looking at Harley pics......... (or Vmaxes)

Man, can't get away from the knife either, eh?

[Terry in Australia]

Are they chopping you up too Ron? I've heard about how in China they have prison hospitals where they use prisoners (mostly nice fit anti-communist dissidents) to harvest parts from for their transplant industry? I suspect it's happening here too, but a lot more subtlety, I had weight reduction surgery last year, then shortly afterwards they tell me my prostate's no good, "so we better go in and fix that", then a year later I'm still having pain so they say "yeah, we need to go in and fix that, and while we're at it we'll be coming back next year to pop your gall bladder out"

Bingo! Those basstards are harvesting my beautiful organs under the pretence of surgery to sort out various ailments, but in actual fact, they're nicking all of my spare parts, to sell to filthy rich sick buggers for big bucks! I wouldn't mind so much if I was getting a cut of the profits!

Anyway, back to reality for a minute, I'm trying to dissuade the prospective buyer because I'd actually like to keep this bike, but it's not easy. Right when I thought I'd frightened him off a couple of weeks ago by adding 500 bucks to the price to cover the new seat and bits, today he asked for an update on "his bike"! WTF! I told him that I'm looking at up to another 500 bucks (AUD, about 350 USD) for a really nice tank I've found, and I've ordered a new electronic ignition which will probably add another 500 when I check my invoices, he's still keen? Fcuk, what have I done? Oh well, I am still looking at Harleys, so I suppose if this bike pays for most of the hog I want to buy, all is not lost? We'll see......

[RAFster122s]

Committed buyer Terry, they are rare and this guy is hooked on this bike.
Sorry, but it doesn’t look like you are going to be keeping and enjoying this one.
 I think you have been raising the bar and quality of the parts used on this one the longer you keep working on it with a subconscious thought that you are keeping it, rather than it is a flip someone else is going to tear down and restore.  Pretty soon he will not have much to restore as you will have it in good nick, good enough for a nice rider.  If that is what he wants you are delivering or over delivering.

Maybe it is time to tell him, Sorry Mate... I changed my mind and I am keeping this one.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks David, I agree with most of what you've said, I only started to spend money on it because I was trying to price it out of his budget so I could keep it, and I thought I'd succeeded, until yesterday.

Well he's gonna be in for a shock when he sees the final price, and hopefully that'll be enough to see him back out, but if he doesn't, the final price will buy me something nice.........

[Terry in Australia]

OK, as I'd hoped, I "scored" a good tank for my K2, @ $450 AUD. ($305 USD) It's one of those things that matter, I wanted this bike to be a "patina bike" that looks like it had just been pulled out of someone's garage after 20 years, so tidy, but not over restored, and once you paint something it's no longer original anyway, so as bad as the paint might be, it's way good enough for the ol' Swamp Rat. I might hit it with another coat of clear lacquer as time goes by, but I'll carefully clean and wax it before it goes on the bike.

I used a sniper program to win the Ebay auction, if not for Bidnapper, it might have cost me a lot more. I actually put in a maximum bid of $769.99, only because it was the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle required, so I'm happy that it only ended on $450, $50 less than I paid for the remains of the bike when I bought it. I'm hoping that I can keep this bike when it's done, but the prospective buyer was still keen yesterday, so maybe not. I'm guessing the guy who was the winning bidder right up until I pipped him at the post was pretty pissed off when he realised too late that he'd missed out........

Terry's red K2 tank 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's red K2 tank by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's red K2 tank 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Terry in Australia]

OK, so as much as I want to buy another Harley, I've got so many open projects that haven't moved due to a previous lack of funds, I've almost forgotten about them. Today I was trawling thru Harley Sportster parts on Ebay, and I saw a top end for a 2015 1200 Sporty. Now for you guys who don't know sh1t about Harley Sportsters, Erik Buell revolutionised the Sportster engine in the early 2000's with a new cylinder head design, which increased the BHP output of the 1200's (883's were unchanged gutless little things) from maybe 60 BHP, to around 100.

Years ago, when I was on enormous money working on a military contract in Canberra, I bought a Hammer Performance 1250 kit for my 1994 Sporty, but the guys at Hammer told me that without good heads I wouldn't break into the 80 BHP area where I was hoping to be. Today I spotted a 2015 1200 top end on EBay, and after confirming that there was no damage, I hit the "Buy it now" for $650 USD price tag, which covered the heads, cylinders, rocker covers, and various nuts and bolts.

So the plan is that when the top end arrives from the US, I'll either swap the cylinder liners out, or bore the cylinders out to 1250cc (I've got my own boring bar, so rebores don't cost me sh1t) and use the Hammer Performance 1250cc pistons, 2015 heads, new Andrews N4 cams that I bought way back when and didn't use, and a Dyna 2000i ignition. I might do a little porting while I'm at  it. My target is 120 BHP at the back wheel, which will be one hell of a revelation on a bike that was struggling to pump out 60 in 1994. We'll see.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-Harley-Davidson-Sportster-1200-Cylinder-Heads-Valves-16877-07/254375954383?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 

[PeWe]

Well done Terry!
The CB750 tank has original paint or is it repainted?
It need a clean to reveal candy red ?
Your'e sure that you can avoid to sell the red rat?

[RAFster122s]

Just cut the cord and tell you ex-friend he ain’t getting the rat bike. After dealing with all the droppings she’s a keeper.

[BPellerine]

OK, so as much as I want to buy another Harley, I've got so many open projects that haven't moved due to a previous lack of funds, I've almost forgotten about them. Today I was trawling thru Harley Sportster parts on Ebay, and I saw a top end for a 2015 1200 Sporty. Now for you guys who don't know sh1t about Harley Sportsters, Erik Buell revolutionised the Sportster engine in the early 2000's with a new cylinder head design, which increased the BHP output of the 1200's (883's were unchanged gutless little things) from maybe 60 BHP, to around 100.

Years ago, when I was on enormous money working on a military contract in Canberra, I bought a Hammer Performance 1250 kit for my 1994 Sporty, but the guys at Hammer told me that without good heads I wouldn't break into the 80 BHP area where I was hoping to be. Today I spotted a 2015 1200 top end on EBay, and after confirming that there was no damage, I hit the "Buy it now" for $650 USD price tag, which covered the heads, cylinders, rocker covers, and various nuts and bolts.

So the plan is that when the top end arrives from the US, I'll either swap the cylinder liners out, or bore the cylinders out to 1250cc (I've got my own boring bar, so rebores don't cost me sh1t) and use the Hammer Performance 1250cc pistons, 2015 heads, new Andrews N4 cams that I bought way back when and didn't use, and a Dyna 2000i ignition. I might do a little porting while I'm at  it. My target is 120 BHP at the back wheel, which will be one hell of a revelation on a bike that was struggling to pump out 60 in 1994. We'll see.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-Harley-Davidson-Sportster-1200-Cylinder-Heads-Valves-16877-07/254375954383?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

hey terry do a little reading on head and cyl swaps from rubber mount to solid mount engines,some differences there,you are right that the late head is same as buell,does hammer use the short fin cylinders?bill

[754]

 Terry  good you have 1200 cylinders,  because going to 1200, from 883 requires removing .500 thou probably 8 or more cuts on a boring bar.. which is why they are often done on a lathe. the good news is what holds it in the lathe is good for torque plate boring anyway. .
 I think realistically  you will get around 100 up or so , it get tougher after that,  we had one here that  my buddy went pretty  far on his , and we found out a lot about them.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys! In order, yes Per, original candy ruby red, looks OK in pics, hopefully will look just as nice once I give it a good clean. I'll "borrow" the sidecovers off my bitsa bike to match, and find some sidecovers for the bitsa, for the time being.

Bill you're right, and to answer yours and Frank's questions/points, mine is a 1994 XLH1200. It's only done 9000 Km from new (around 5000 miles) and is mint. In 2015 I bought the 1250 kit and some Andrews N4 cams, and my cunning plan yesterday was to bore the 2015 1200 cylinders out to 1250 to accept the pistons I bought 3 years ago. Today though, when looking at Hammer Performance's youtube video about the various kits, I discovered that the stock 1200 sleeve can only be bored to 1222? Fcuk!

OK, so I've now ordered the 1275cc Hammer Performance kit with new cylinders, and pistons. I'll keep the 1250 kit because in the back of my mind I'm thinking about buying another Sporty, maybe an 883, and taking it out to 1250, for my other son. Anyway, I've spent another $1025 USD (I'm too frightened to convert that into AUD) for the 1275 kit, and now, I'm thinking maybe the Andrews N4 cams I bought might be better served in the next Sporty as well, and I should buy some big fcuk off cams that will work even better with the "Buell" heads? Hmmnnn, I'll have to think about it, it's hard to imagine what 100+ BHP in my Sporty would feel like, but I would like to try..........  

[Terry in Australia]

Oooher, but this thread is about my ol' K2 Swamp Rat, and just to prove that I haven't spent all day on Ebay buying Harley parts, here are some pics to prove that I'm slowly moving it along. I was gonna install an electronic ignition, but Mazza wanted to buy it, so I had to go hunting for some stock coils to go with the stock points. The wires had been cut on my other set of coils that I used when I first fired it up, and the rear frame clamp was missing, so I stole the coils and leads from Spotty's K7.

Swamp Rat Sunday 6 Oct 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I cleaned the bracket and mounting screws on my wire wheel, and installed them. I was thinking about fitting shiny new NGK plug caps while I was at it, but liked the OEM caps, so unless they're buggered, I'll keep them.

Swamp Rat Sunday 6 Oct 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, next job was the wiring in the headlight. First job was the idiot lights in the handlebar clamp. I'm sure I found a good harness with all good connectors and working light bulbs, but that might have been a dream, because all I could find today was the plastic holder with a bunch of sh1tty wires with no connectors, or the connectors replaces with those blue auto parts store connectors. Great. Well I bought those beaut connectors a while ago, and they are fantastic.

Swamp Rat Sunday 6 Oct 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So I cleaned and stripped the wires, and found enough connectors on other wires to make it work. These are a great idea, all you need is a heat gun to melt the solder, release the glue (red bands) and shrink the sheath over each wire. Simples........

Swamp Rat Sunday 6 Oct 2019 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I then found some little light bulbs, installed them all, checked that they all worked, and called it good. Next job was the right hand side handlebar switch. Although a period Honda switch, it had a connecting block on the end of the cable, rather than individual bullet connectors, so I found a tatty old switch with good wires, and chopped them off, and joined them as per the idiot lights. By this time I'd had enough, so packed up and pulled another "Terry's Ginger Toe" Ginger Beer out of my beer fridge, and staggered inside.

Not sure how much more I'll get done before I go into hospital on Friday for more surgery, but we'll see, if I'm feeling OK in the days following, I might have a sneaky bike build day while I'm off on sick leave.

Swamp Rat Sunday 6 Oct 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

Good luck with the doctor Terry.
He will hopefully not make you to a cafe racer or a brat!

[spotty]

it would seem likely he'll come out chopped if nothing else, restoration seems unlikely at this stage

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks guys, well I was a bit miffed this morning when I was telling an Army "Artificer Sergeant Major" (Senior Army grease monkey) about my beaut new heat gun solder joint thingies, and he said "What's so new about them, I've been using them for years?" That pissed me off......... Oh well, yep, I'll have a few new mods after Friday and hopefully I'll be doing a few things more efficiently, but we'll see.

I won the auction for that red tank on Ebay on Friday, did the "Pay Now" thing, then tonight I see an email from the seller asking for payment? WTF? So I check my Paypal account and it says "Payment Pending"? Okay, maybe something's gone wrong, so I pay him again, (468.50 AUD) then go to why it's pending, and it says that he may not have accepted payment yet? Fcuk! OK, so I cancelled the original payment from last Friday, and tell him that if he doesn't want Paypal, let me know and I'll do a bank transfer. I just checked the original auction and there's no mention of him not accepting Paypal, so maybe he's just a knob? Fcuking hell, that didn't help my anxiety........... Oh well, with luck my tank will arrive this week and I can stop sweating bullets...........

[PeWe]

Or, if someone has contacted him offering a few dollars more.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, all these thing went thru my mind, but I rang him this morning to make sure it was good to go and it is, and he's sent me a pic of the box all addressed up and it's on it's way. I'm happy, and I should have it by the time I get sprung from hospital.

My oldest son is a professional photographer, and on the weekend he took some pics of me and my bikes, then played around with them for various effects, and I think they're pretty cool. Here's a couple.

Terry in black and white 00 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry in black and white 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry in black and white 1a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry in black and white 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

Nice photos!
You can sit on all your bikes, one by one and put them together as a biker gang! "Terry's Rats"

[Terry in Australia]

Haha, good idea Per, I might do just that!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Great photos, Terry!  You're son has a great eye.

[Terry in Australia]

Great photos, Terry!  You're son has a great eye.

Thanks Ron, it's really interesting actually, my father was a brilliant photographer and artist, he was mad on military aircraft after serving in the Airforce in WW2, so spent his life photographing, drawing and painting aircraft. His skills skipped past me completely, my brother wasn't a bad photographer, and my older sister paints, but my two sons are a chip off the old grand-block, both professional photographers/videographers/cinematographers, and my younger son is a brilliant illustrator/painter.

I don't have any of those skills, but I am a skilled bullsh1t artist........

[RAFster122s]

Terry, another phrase for what you are, self described above, is a silver tongued devil.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Great photos, Terry!  You're son has a great eye.

Thanks Ron, it's really interesting actually, my father was a brilliant photographer and artist, he was mad on military aircraft after serving in the Airforce in WW2, so spent his life photographing, drawing and painting aircraft. His skills skipped past me completely, my brother wasn't a bad photographer, and my older sister paints, but my two sons are a chip off the old grand-block, both professional photographers/videographers/cinematographers, and my younger son is a brilliant illustrator/painter.

I don't have any of those skills, but I am a skilled bullsh1t artist........

That and you have a knack for resurrecting neglected motorbikes into treasure.

[Terry in Australia]

Great photos, Terry!  You're son has a great eye.

Thanks Ron, it's really interesting actually, my father was a brilliant photographer and artist, he was mad on military aircraft after serving in the Airforce in WW2, so spent his life photographing, drawing and painting aircraft. His skills skipped past me completely, my brother wasn't a bad photographer, and my older sister paints, but my two sons are a chip off the old grand-block, both professional photographers/videographers/cinematographers, and my younger son is a brilliant illustrator/painter.

I don't have any of those skills, but I am a skilled bullsh1t artist........

That and you have a knack for resurrecting neglected motorbikes into treasure.

Well that's very nice of you to say that Ron, much appreciated. I do like turning parts back into bikes, it makes me happy.