I saw this 78F in a Craigslist ad last Wednesday morning in the parts section, 3.5 hrs away in Schenectady NY, sent a reply with my number and got a call back shortly after from the original owner. It looked decent for 32,000 miles on it, he said his brother got it running again after it sat in the garage for some years.
"After my initial ownership of 30 years, my brother took care of some maintenance and updates (points, oil changes, etc) and after he rode it for a few years he gave it back to me to sell since it was originally mine. The title is in his name since the original was misplaced and he went through the nightmare with DMV to get a new title. Glad he has the mechanical aptitude to get running as well as he did."
It seems to be 100% there, minimal rust other that the headers and muffler(plan to send the headers to get rechrome like majorzozo did!) and fix the stock muffler. The carbs will need cleaning and rebuild(leaks and hard to start). The tank appears to have been lined so I will need to bore scope the tank closely to see it's condition. He said the back brake is hanging up. No major dings in the tank and the side covers are whole! The paint is a good rider shape too. The toolkit is complete, needs a new bag. It came with a new battery. Definitely needs tires. I couldn't pass it up for a grand.
For now I'll do the things to get it running as a rider for a season to see if the seals will swell in the head to slow the oil leaks and see what I'll do with it later. It's going to be a busy winter with all my projects.......🤔
