Topic: What "little" upgrades have you made to your SOHC machine?

[PeWe]

About fork stiction. I have not noticed that in my bikes but read about it.

From the old CB750 upgrade article:
Buy a set of 1976 YZ250 (No. 509-23145-L0-00) fork seals from your Yamaha dealer and install them in the fork legs. These seals are designed for 36mm fork tubes (the Honda's are 35mm), but they work very well in the Honda, having less friction than anything else available.

Article here:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,38253.msg393997.html#msg393997

[Alan F.]

About fork stiction. I have not noticed that in my bikes but read about it.

From the old CB750 upgrade article:
Buy a set of 1976 YZ250 (No. 509-23145-L0-00) fork seals from your Yamaha dealer and install them in the fork legs. These seals are designed for 36mm fork tubes (the Honda's are 35mm), but they work very well in the Honda, having less friction than anything else available.

Article here:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,38253.msg393997.html#msg393997

That part number shows 7 results with a quick ebay search, there are probably more to be found.

[beemerbum]

Aluminum wheels. For appearance and handling. Drilled brake disc as well

[markmyodb]

Aluminum wheels. For appearance and handling. Drilled brake disc as well

Great looking K7 orK8?

Did you lace the wheels yourself?

[Don R]

 I'm working on one that will be more like, what parts on your bike aren't upgraded or at least changed. L0L. 

[spotty]

on my old 750 i ended up using XR350 fork tubes ( longer but same diameter ), CB900 fork lowers,  grooved stock disc with Cx650 rear 2 pot caliper, Koni alloy bodied shocks, RD250LC bars and headlight ( still using the headlight shell on my Vmax ), later used a sportster bates which looked better but worked cr4p, aftermarket alloy headlight clamps, Walker Indy race exhaust system, SBS high friction sintered pads and shoes, seat cut down to about 1" of foam, 'foam and chrome' chopper grips minus the foam outer and chrome end caps, Triumph Lucas tail light, no indicators, pushbike flexi stem mirror, minimal switch gear, non functional mini speedo, 812 big bore, RC312 ( or was it 315 ) cam, jetted up carbs, K&N dual pod, later had a rebuilt seat with cafe racer hump

there may have been more but its been a while since i saw that bike, most stuff i did was to make it more comfortable for me to ride, they are a tiny bike and i'm the diametric opposite of tiny....other stuff i did was to improve handling or braking etc

ended up selling this bike with everything else i'd collected over the years to our very own Terry though i didn't know him at the time

[HondaMan]

Voxbell horns (which need a relay and an extra 15A fuse)

That's something ALL these bikes should have!
My [now gone] riding buddy had Fiamm air horns and compressor on his CX500. They were the same type used on diesel over-the-road trucks here: I once saw him clear an intersection with them when we were riding as a group (about 10 riders): he pulled toward the front of the column as we came to the intersection, then laid on the horns - all the traffic stopped! We all just rode by him, thru the light that had turned red, and then he rode on as the last bike in the column.

[bryanj]

Fiamms were a common fittment in UK back in the 70's but we usef the straight electric one, still very loud and needing relay

[markmyodb]

A loud Horn is a good idea.  A good OOO-OGAA could be fun and add to safety.

[Deltarider]

I've had a set of 3 Stebel horns before. Mind you: without a relay! It's still a miracle how the button survived. I used the compressor for inflating my matrass on holidays, LOL. My all time favourite however is the five chimes on American locomotives. That melancholic sound..., that howl by a predator that juuust missed his catch... It will always remind me of the times, I rode freight trains, all the way from southern California, through New Mexico and Arizona, deep into Texas (Sanderson), where we got off, our ears ringing for days. http://atsf.railfan.net/airhorns/k5lla_1up1983evans.mp3. A bit too weighty to fit I guess and it might need more than just 12 V.

[71 V12]

I accept not a small upgrade, but IMHO the best - dual disc conversion. Transforms the performance of the bike.

[evinrude7]

mark's clutch mod, mark's transistor ignition, smaller turn signals, wind breakers for grips, custom texavina seat, euro bars (not yet installed).

[beemerbum]

Aluminum wheels. For appearance and handling. Drilled brake disc as well

Great looking K7 orK8?

Did you lace the wheels yourself?

Thanks. The bike is a K7 with a K8 seat. I have a neighbor who can lace a wheel in about 30 minutes.

[Mark1976]

On my 400f, several,
The oil pump mod, with an oil pressure gauge. It carriers 30lbs of pressure at idle and anything above that 65-70lbs.
The Derale oil cooler
The Hondaman ignition.
Dyna coils
CB750 front end and dual disc's drilled.
Aftermarket camchain adj'r.
Web Cam and springs. Dollar for dollar the single best upgrade.
Kerker pipe.
Excel rims from Buchanan's,
There's a few more, but damned if I can remember 'em...

[Kevin D]

I wouldn’t say these are all little upgrades.
They were done without altering the original look.

-Modern paint with clear coat
-Diamond chain
-Modern tires
-Modern brake hose
-Hagon rear shocks
-Hondaman custom fitted bronze swingarm bushings
-Steering tapered roller bearings
-AGM battery (jury is out on this: it’s great when it works, not so great when it fails without notice)
-Long life halogen headlamp
-Extrabright LED taillight
-Denso spark plugs X24ESU??
-Tailbag

Future upgrades:
-Hondaman ignition
-Hondaman blade fuse
-Hondaman relay kits
-Voltmeter USB charger
-Phone mount (navi aid)

markmyodb, can you tell me the details of your VM-USB charger and phone mount?

[markmyodb]

Aluminum wheels. For appearance and handling. Drilled brake disc as well

Great looking K7 orK8?

Did you lace the wheels yourself?

Thanks. The bike is a K7 with a K8 seat. I have a neighbor who can lace a wheel in about 30 minutes.

I built these on my 550.  front went OK, but at least an hour to true it after assembly.  The rear was a challenge because the chrome spoke eBayer had the wrong length. bought from 4into1 who supplied the correct length. 

[Kelly E]

On my 74' CB550 I have done;
Tapered roller bearings in the steering head
Needle bearing kit in the swingarm with Hagon shocks
Tarozzi fork brace
Custom seat built on the stock seat pan retaining the hinge and lock
Custom made rearsets with remote shifter
New wiring harness with Dyna S ignition
All painted with Seymour MRO rattle cans

[Trevor from Warragul]

On my 350 Four:

"Cheap" Chinese master cylinder (works amazingly well) and HEL braided steel brake lines:


Grease nipple on the front brake pivot. When I detect a slight bit of play, I squeeze some more grease in:

[HondaMan]

Lubing the swing arm is a challenge with the standard grease nipples. I found a grease gun adapter which clamps on the smooth nipple. Works well on my 550.  The 750 has a single nipple in the center of the swingarm, no fittings on the swingarm bolt.
The center nipple is a standard zerk, just difficult to reach. I use a right angle adapter into a right angle zerk for this application.  See picture of issue I had with this zerk on this rebuild. A couple of hours to disassemble, remove the broken bit, install new zerk, reassemble.

I have been told the best solution on the 750K6 is to buy a swing arm bolt that has been drilled thru with the nipples on the end, I like the idea of changing it over to std. zerks.

The drilled swingarm bolts require that the collar in the swingarm also be drilled with grease holes (7/46" drill is enough) right over the holes in the swingarm bolt in order for the grease to make it thru the bolt and the collar to reach the bearings. So, if you change the bolt, also drill the collar.Those collars will have a recess cut around the middle of their bearing surfaces (the outer of which is 0.0004" larger than the inner diameter) which is close to the right position. This will mostly grease the inner half of the collar's bearings, but that's better than the OEM 1-zerk setup that doesn't work at all!

[Quattrocilindri]

And in the photos below, in order, are all the little mods I made to my 73 CB350F:
1. 3 position DRL /park light switch like some of the Euro models
2. DRL LED bulb I installed in the headlight reflector. It draws 6 watts and when on in the daytime is bright enough, while avoiding having the remaining headlight, tail light and instruments bulbs to be on unnecessarily during the day. When key switch is in Park, it works in conjunction with the tail light, just like the Euro models.
3. The LED bulb
4. The Hi beam flash button flashes Hi beam to pass, conveniently in addition to the DRL
5. The barrel shaped soft grips help a lot to reduce strain and increase throttle leverage.
6. I made the mirror extensions with 2, 3 mm thick steel material; no more elbows in the mirrors!
7. The bike had a 4 into 1 when I bought it, and no OEM exhaust was available, so I put on the Busso system.
8. The original bars were too high for me, so I drilled and installed this bar from a Guzzi V7 motorcycle.
9.Bike is awkward to place on center stand, so I installed this assist handle and some leather saddle bags.
10. The original supersize tail light seemed excessively big to me, so an Italian tail light took its place.

All the above mods can easily be removed and the original configuration and parts be restored with no damage.

[markmyodb]

And in the photos below, in order, are all the little mods I made to my 73 CB350F:
1. 3 position DRL /park light switch like some of the Euro models
2. DRL LED bulb I installed in the headlight reflector. It draws 6 watts and when on in the daytime is bright enough, while avoiding having the remaining headlight, tail light and instruments bulbs to be on unnecessarily during the day. When key switch is in Park, it works in conjunction with the tail light, just like the Euro models.
3. The LED bulb
4. The Hi beam flash button flashes Hi beam to pass, conveniently in addition to the DRL
5. The barrel shaped soft grips help a lot to reduce strain and increase throttle leverage.
6. I made the mirror extensions with 2, 3 mm thick steel material; no more elbows in the mirrors!
7. The bike had a 4 into 1 when I bought it, and no OEM exhaust was available, so I put on the Busso system.
8. The original bars were too high for me, so I drilled and installed this bar from a Guzzi V7 motorcycle.
9.Bike is awkward to place on center stand, so I installed this assist handle and some leather saddle bags.
10. The original supersize tail light seemed excessively big to me, so an Italian tail light took its place.

All the above mods can easily be removed and the original configuration and parts be restored with no damage.

Great list of little things! 

[HondaMan]

6. I made the mirror extensions with 2, 3 mm thick steel material; no more elbows in the mirrors!

Hey, those are cool! I might have to do that with my 350F, too. Thanks for the idea!

[HondaMan]

About fork stiction...

One important thing that can reduce the stiction in any fork leg: install seals that are 1-2mm shorter in height than the OEM versions. Honda went thru several iterations with different seals, some with 2 wiping 'lips', some with 3 and even 4. The 4-lip seal was so stiff that I twice disassembled brand new bikes' forks, thinking they were frozen, only to find they had this version (1974-5 CB750s). Honda went back to the 3-lip seal as the standard type in the 750F0 and seemed to stay with that idea after that. If you install one with only 2 wipers, it will be thinner overall: this lets it float a tiny bit and the acceleration of the fork tube thru the seal lips breaks the friction on every bump, not just the bigger ones. This becomes even more important if you use air forks to carry heavier loads or bolster sagging fork springs, as the air PSI below the seal will press the lips shut a little harder.

Most of the low-stiction seal 'kits' came with a large, thin metal (stamped sheet metal type) washer that drops on top of the seal before you install the clip to hold it in place. The seal should then be free to move at least 1mm downward and upward to make it work and not leak oil. It also takes a LONG time to wear out the 'floating' style seals, not just the usual 10k miles.

[PeWe]

I have not noticed any fork issues despite I use the hardass seals!
PITA to remove and assemble.
Got the tip here when I had leaking seals almost direct after replacement.
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,131619.msg1468995.html#msg1468995

 I used non Honda thin ones. I have new Honda too. They feel flimsy and hard to believe they will keep up the pressure when fork tube bends into fork lower.

I ordered from davidsilver UK.
91255-341-305
size: 35 x 48 x 13.2

Now not in stock. Except for my stock with Honda parts
https://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/parts/by-part-number/hpart_91255341305/

When assembled I remembered that I used same in the early 80's. Heat lower fork where seal to be fitted or removed with a heat gun before. A real pain....

EDIT:
One little detail. I lubed the outside of the seal with fork oil to make sure the upper lip is lubed. Reduce wear.
I'll add a little lube this winter. Maybe a teaspoon under the gator boot or dustcap depending on bike.

[markmyodb]

6. I made the mirror extensions with 2, 3 mm thick steel material; no more elbows in the mirrors!

Hey, those are cool! I might have to do that with my 350F, too. Thanks for the idea!

I bought these Aluminum mirror extensions on eBay. about $12 per set.