Topic: Black Bomber wakeup!

[HondaMan]

Bob from VJMC brought me a gorgeous first-year CB450 Black Bomber to reawaken!
It's mostly got everything 'stuck' (except the engine) from sitting since the 1960s, apparently. Low miles, no tank rust, air filters intact. The carbs are seriously stuck, and it has 1960s-era fuel lines (now almost hard plastic). One of the air filters' rubber hose is cracked, will be trying to find now ones of those. Once I do, then I'll take off the stuck carbs for cleaning: the rubber hose(s) between filters and carbs are hard as plastic: I don't think they'll survive the removal process unless I can find some good neoprene softener (wintergreen oil lets then turn rock-hard again once it wears off). The crossover pipe is intact: I might have to concoct a new rubber seal for them when the air filters come off, it likely won't survive, either.

I'll put up some pix here after I get room to take them: the bike is shimmied in between mine and 2 CB750 engines on my floor, real squeeze play.

[newday777]

Cool Beans, a Black Bomber!

[Stev-o]

Nice project, will be following.

Here's my Bomber, Hondaman. It'a '67, bought from a buddy a couple years back, nearly all original [except bars & shocks].  He said he never cleaned it, liked the look, so I don't clean it either!

[HondaMan]

Nice project, will be following.

Here's my Bomber, Hondaman. It'a '67, bought from a buddy a couple years back, nearly all original [except bars & shocks].  He said he never cleaned it, liked the look, so I don't clean it either!

It looks like this one's sibling, that's for sure!
I'm going scouring: the left air filter's rubber plenum to the carb has a crack it's whole length. That will be a tough one to fix up if another air filter can't be found. Yesterday I spent almost 2 hours on the gas cap alone: it was plated (inside) with the infamous "goo" of the 1960s gasolines, much like Vaseline that's dried out. That stuff actually preserved the cork gas cap seal, though! I have to find a way to 'boil' the cap in solvent of some kind to open the vent in it, as the goo has blocked it inside the cap.

This version of the bike (up through 1970 models) has no voltage regulator, so the battery has to be that regulator (much like the old SuperHawks and their Hawk cousins). In the past I've found that using an AGM battery without a regulator can cause the voltage to rise above 15v if run without the lights on, which then damages the old selenium rectifiers. To prevent that I need to find a regular (YUASA) lead-acid (virgin lead) battery, and so far I'm only finding them without acid (the AGM batteries come in a box with an acid pack). The Bikemaster batteries (recycled lead) are pure crap in a case, but around here are common (and usually dead already, needing a charge when brought home).