Topic: Getting my K0 back on the road

[Shtonecb500]

sounds and looks good, those gauges are tits.

[PeWe]

Very good looking and sounding rescued history!

Maybe it was better back in the days as the elders usually say
Or back in the days is better today as we classic bike owners  can say.

[WideAWAKE]

Thanks guys!!

Still a bit to be done to get it on the road but I’m hoping to have it ready to ride with it the next few weeks.

Still waiting on a seat to show up. Still got some things to sort out and get dialed but it nice to hear heathy life.

[WideAWAKE]

Well…

The K0 boots I ordered are defiantly a little shorted than the later 71-76 boots and they fit on the spigots better, unfortunately the 2/3 boots are made backwards.

I could not find any oem boots or anywhere stateside that sold them so I had no choice but to get them from overseas. 

Scratches my head for about an hour trying every which way to get them to mount up, but they will not alight with the center spacing of the carbs.

I went back to the boots I had. It’s a tight fit, but they work.

[WideAWAKE]

Well I got my seat in the mail today from DSS.

I knew when ordering it that it had a plastic seat pan and I wasn’t into it. The rubber bumpers were also different.

Since I still had an original seat pan I figured I’d take a shot at a transplant of the seat foam and cover. The main reason for this beyond using my original seat pan was that ordering foam, a cover, strap and trim was way more expensive than going this route.

Started by removing the seat cover which was fairly easy and just tacked I place with spray glue.

Then I took an exacto scalpel and trimmed back the thin side cover padding. This initially seemed like a daunting task but in reality was quite easy and only took about 10 mins.

Then I tear fit to my original pan, prepped it with spray glue and set the foam in place.

Put the cover back on, pulled it into place, knocked down all my teeth that grab the cover.

Then I drilled holes for the trim where they were previously drilled on the DSS seat, attached the trim and called it a day.

*forgive my terrible photos (I just had eye surgery a few days ago so they aren’t quite up to snuff yet) pics are worse than usual.

[WideAWAKE]

More pics.

[PeWe]

That look really good!
There are Honda stencils on eBay time to time.
I used silver vinyl spray paint.

I guess even K0 had that.

[WideAWAKE]

That look really good!
There are Honda stencils on eBay time to time.
I used silver vinyl spray paint.

I guess even K0 had that.

PeWe - thanks! - I do have a stencil waiting. Since I just finished up my eye surgery I’d figured I’d let em heal up a bit more before I try to lay it out.

I will however track down some silver vinyl paint as soon as I can drive. From pics I always thought it was faded white, but now that you said silver, that makes more sense.

[Stev-o]

Nice job on the seat!   Hate those plastic pans, but you may be able to sell it.

[PeWe]

Spray really thin dusty layers that dries almost direct.

The stock seats have not thick layer of HONDA  painted at rear.

[WideAWAKE]

Nice job on the seat!   Hate those plastic pans, but you may be able to sell it.

I figured it may be useful to someone trying to cut weight, or build a custom seat.

It’s not a bad pan, fiber reinforced, just not the stock original.

[WideAWAKE]

Spray really thin dusty layers that dries almost direct.

The stock seats have not thick layer of HONDA  painted at rear.

That seems to be the consensus that Ive gathered reading up on it by others who have done it.

I’ll post up some pics when I get it complete.

[WideAWAKE]

Scratched my head for a bit as to why my seat latch did t seem to work.

Dug into the parts manual and figured out I was missing the front of my slider.

I could not find one for sale anywhere, just an NOS lock unit for $250.

Here is what I came up with.

Chopped up some fiberglass really fine to act as a reinforcement, a little resin, a little pigment and let it set up over night.

Then I too some rough measurements and ground it into shape.

Works like a charm.

[WideAWAKE]

Well I tried to set my timing today and man it’s a mess haha.

I believe I have it sorted, or will.

I could tell something was a miss when’re I fired the bike up. Figured proper timing and carb sync should solve it.

Well after trying to set my points gaps and then my timing, using a multimeter to see where contact of the points breaks, I get constant ground - points open or closed - constant ground.

I have traced it back to the screws that go through the plastic isolation grommets. They must be worn through inside as the screw makes contact to ground. Thus no isolation between the breaker.

Anyone seen that before? Common??

I can see my points and condensers were replaced at some point.

[Shtonecb500]

Seat looks wonderful, nice work on the seat latch.

[bek1966]

Fantastic work on everything!  Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Brad

[WideAWAKE]

Thanks guys!

Once I get my ignition sorted and carbs synched I’ll be ready to take it for it’s first ride.

Chain guard will be the last piece of the puzzle. I’ll run the one I have while I wait for a cleaner one. 

[BenelliSEI]

Seat looks great, well done. On the small screws for the points, try a short piece of shrink wrap on the base of the screw, where it slides through the nylon bushing?

[WideAWAKE]

Ok,

Well I’m a bit stumped.

I thought I had this sorted but it seems I do not.

When I test my points I get 12amp open, zero closed. That’s good.

But they are always grounded, open or closed??

I have confirmed that it is my blue and yellow wires off the coil that are grounding out.

Does that seem right?? I thought the points would ground them when they make contact?

Checked at the connections directly into the coils and both blue and yellow are grounded.

Can anyone clarify this for me or help me sort this out??

I was getting sporadic timing and my #3 cylinder was almost never flashing when checking the timing with a strobe.

[seanbarney41]

There are a couple weird glitches when using a strobe on the cb750's wasted spark ignition system...It seems that the spark leads have a sort of directional polarity.  So, if you are using the typical inductive pick up clamp, it can be connected backwards.  Just take it off, flip it 180 degrees, and put it back on, try again.  Also, I, and some others have found that you may get better results powering the strobe from a battery that is not also powering the bike...no idea on this, but have found that it works better.

[WideAWAKE]

Sean,

Thank you very much for that reply.

I will give that a shot and see how it goes.

[WideAWAKE]

Confirmed - 3 wires strobe with it clipped one way and the other wire needs to be clipped opposite.

[newday777]

Confirmed - 3 wires strobe with it clipped one way and the other wire needs to be clipped opposite.

Say what? That doesn't make sense. 3 wires strobe? A picture is necessary for that......

[WideAWAKE]

To clarify - 3 plug wires need the clip facing you to strobe, the other one needs it facing away from you.

[WideAWAKE]

I got my timing sorted, set it static with a light and confirmed it with a strobe.

carbs synched

Ready to take for a first ride finally.

*video seems to come up but doesn’t play. Hmm??
Does it work for anyone else???