Topic: '74 cb750 "cafe''

[WestCo]

i figured id start a post about my most recent project...
(copied from new member intro section)
I just picked up a '74 cb750 to rebuild/build and found this site and im sure ill be frequenting it especially through this summer as i build this bike.
heres a little backround on the project:
i picked it up a couple weeks ago... a freshly painted frame and wheels and new tires, and about seven boxes of parts.
the previous owner wanted to rebuild it and got a decent start, but mainly the only stuff done so far was some fresh paint on the frame and a few odds and ends. he did tear down the engine and start the rebuild(bottom end is done), and cleaned up the heads, cylinders, and valve cover, it pretty much just needs reassembled. everything else for the bike, and i do mean EVERYTHING, is thrown in boxes and needs sorted, cleaned, and checked/tested. every single nut and bolt is literally thrown in a box so this ought to be fun. im not sure yet what ill be needing to complete the build i figured for right now ill complete the engine and go from there.
So far ive picked up a couple high performance iems, i figure now is the time to do it since the engines already torn down...
Big Bore 850cc kit - cycle ex
high performance cam - web cam racing
heavy duty cam chain - cycle ex
dyna electronic ignition and coils- kit from Chitown choppers..i think thats where its from

still need a good set of carbs, ive seen a ton of them new for around $700 for the complete rack (ouch!) im hoping to pick up a complete rack used and just rebuild them myself...the set that came with the bike has a couple parts missing here and there(only two complete carbs and two halfway complete) but ive got a rebuild kit ready for a halfway decent set.

have the complete gasket set
a Haynes and a Clymer manual in the mail on the way now


some items and work ill be needing in the future...
cafe tank, seat, fairing and bars
a good set of side covers
rears sets etc...
i could definetly use some info on finding some of these items like a tank for under $500 and rear sets for under $300
 
ive got a couple bucks set aside specifically for this project and im sure itll be used up quick but im gonna try to stay on it and get it road worthy this year. i did have to take $400 of it out to pick up a new digital SLR camera to get some good pics

well i think thats about it here are some pics of how i received it and ill be sure to put more up as stuff gets done...

rollling chassis


engine as i received it

and a couple box'O parts

[bgfootball67]

Looks like you have yourself a fine start to a cafe!  Did you pick it up from Indy?  Mind I ask what he ended up taking for it?

As far as some of the items that you are needing, I would use the stock tank and beat reliefs in the sides (you can do a search to see how it is done).  I would either make a seat using the old seat pan or just pick up a fiberglass unit of Ebay or buy a Benji Cafe Racer seat to go with your stock tank!  A bit more pricey but very nice.

Let me know if you need any help I am about 3/4 of the way done with my project.  I work in Kettering and live in Columbus, so not too far away.  Good luck with your project!

[mystic_1]

I like the look of the rolling chassis.  Looks like a relative unmolested frame.  I look at a pic like that and think "Aah, blank slate" 

The parts in boxes look to have at least been cleaned a bit and some are wrapped in plastic.  Hope they have not been banged around too much, I sorta winced to see the cam towers poking up from the bottom of one of the boxes.

Have you checked the condition of the parts yet?


mystic_1

[WestCo]

Looks like you have yourself a fine start to a cafe!  Did you pick it up from Indy?  Mind I ask what he ended up taking for it?

As far as some of the items that you are needing, I would use the stock tank and beat reliefs in the sides (you can do a search to see how it is done).  I would either make a seat using the old seat pan or just pick up a fiberglass unit of Ebay or buy a Benji Cafe Racer seat to go with your stock tank!  A bit more pricey but very nice.

Let me know if you need any help I am about 3/4 of the way done with my project.  I work in Kettering and live in Columbus, so not too far away.  Good luck with your project!

yeah i drove in that ice storm a few weeks back and got stuck doing about 35mph all the way across 70, ended up being a 6 hour  trip and shouldve only been about 3. i got it on ebay for around 700, he had it on craigslist at the same time for $1000. im still debating on if it was a "great" deal or not but ive been looking for a good project for a while now. plus he got a lot of the paint done which im no fan of doing. i dont usually like to pick up on somebody elses start of a project but i figure ive got time to sort it out and do it right.

[WestCo]

I like the look of the rolling chassis.  Looks like a relative unmolested frame.  I look at a pic like that and think "Aah, blank slate" 

The parts in boxes look to have at least been cleaned a bit and some are wrapped in plastic.  Hope they have not been banged around too much, I sorta winced to see the cam towers poking up from the bottom of one of the boxes.

Have you checked the condition of the parts yet?


mystic_1

yeah i think most were cleaned up a bit. as far as the cam towers, thats one of the first things i thought about was the internal engine stuff but after going through some boxes i found three of them not to mention a couple cams... it came with a spare engine that looks to have a siezed piston and burnt valve but i can salvage a couple parts from it if needed. i took a lot of the stuff to work with me and threw them in the parts washer and cleaned them up...our bead blaster is down for the moment so it took a little more elbow grease than expected

[bgfootball67]

Sounds like you got a good deal!  Good luck with your build and make sure and take plenty of pics for the group.  What color are you gonna make the body work?

[mystic_1]

Couple of other comments:

I like the red valve cover   Gonna keep that?

I spy with my little eye, one bag of allen head bolts.  Stainless?

What are your overall plans for the bike?


mystic_1

[WestCo]

Sounds like you got a good deal!  Good luck with your build and make sure and take plenty of pics for the group.  What color are you gonna make the body work?

as far as color i usually favor black. i was thinking either matte or flat finish but i might want a little more shine so its still up in the air.

Couple of other comments:

I like the red valve cover   Gonna keep that?

I spy with my little eye, one bag of allen head bolts.  Stainless?

What are your overall plans for the bike?


mystic_1

the valve cover is actually orange i think its meant to match the frame but maybe from a can of spray paint....it reminds me of my first car a 78 monte carlo, i wanted to clean up the engine and paint the valve covers and picked the "Mopar Orange" or "Hemi orange" or whatever over the "Chevy blue"... i had a lot of people make fun of me for the mopar paint on a chevy engine lol but that color reminds me of that.
my plans are just basically to build a decent cafe, ive seen a ton of picks of a bunch of different styles and havent really favored one over the other just certain parts of each one. i always prefered a custom vehicle over stock... ive been eyeballing the triumph thruxtons for two years now and decided to take this plunge rather than that one..after all whats the fun in a new bike that needs no bolts turned?
and yeah i found that stainless allen head bolt kit burried in one of the boxes.

heres a couple more pics i took of some of the new stuff i just bought for it...

big bore kit and street cam...

i was pleased to see the kit included an extra set of 3 piece oil rings for the pistons i dont remember that being in the description when i bought it but i mightve overlooked it...

[mystic_1]

the valve cover is actually orange

Oops, my bad.  I'm somewhat colorblind.


mystic_1

[WestCo]

its been a little while since my last update.
ive been staying on it though, doing little stuff here and there....
with much help by spending what seemed like hours at a time reading through this forum i took apart, cleaned up, and relubed the gauges and reset the odometer to zero.... i went with the white face "6 o'clock" racing style faces...

went through and repainted the needles and cases



I used the "carpy" method (die grinder or dremel tool and jb weld) for the outside rings, on my next project which will most likely be a restore, i think ill try the prying method for a nice cleaner finish.
I had pics of start to finish but theyre hiding out somewhere on my hardrive all i could find were the finished pics

[WestCo]

I picked up a polished dummy lights cap for the bars. i guess when the guy bead blasted it to prep for polishing he went over the the plate and lenses in the center. so the "honda" label and all the labels under each lense were barely visible or scratched up. so i decided to use the plate and lenses from my original cap. I very carefully slid a razor knife underneath the plate and slowly worked my way up to the lenses, then used the eraser end of a pencil (it happened to be the first "soft" thing i saw laying close by) to push from the under side to get each lense to break free from the seal and eventually everything came off without any bends to the metal plate or scratches to the lenses....then just epoxied the plate and lenses onto the polished cap...


like new...


on a side note, the polished cap had the lights in a different order than mine.  mine was from left to right ...turn, high beem, oil neutral...
the polished cap, if remember correctly was turn, oil, neutral, high beem... i matched the labels up with the color lens i took them out of in my original cap, im assuming they changed over the years, but does anybody know what years each of them are from? mine was supposably a '74.



more to come i just neeed to find my pics 

[troppo]

Got to say those gauges look damned great, dont know about the polished idiot panelthough. But then you are building this for you not me, if your happy then its all good.
Great work mate.
Cheers
Troppo

[WestCo]

Got to say those gauges look damned great, dont know about the polished idiot panelthough. But then you are building this for you not me, if your happy then its all good.
Great work mate.
Cheers
Troppo

thanks, yeah i saw the polished idiot panel on ebay and figured i hadnt seen one like that before so id add a touch of shine...theres prob only going to be a few shiny chrome-like pieces here and there, i dont like to go overboard with the chrome like some people... but to each his own
Adam

[WestCo]

my cylinder boring should be done this week so i started to get the cases and bottom half ready to assemble when after i removed the alternator(?) rotor and flywheel i noticed a piece of metal like a small socket stuck in the threads of the crankshaft. i tried like hell to unthread it, used a penetrating oil, then a lil heat..nothing, that thing is stuck! the PO mustve wedged something in there while trying to remove the rotor. so luckily ive got spare parts engine so ill be remove the crankshaft out of that, and hoping its good, then installing it into my good engine.

i could use a little help from experienced ones here..when i split the cases is there a gasket to go in between the upper and lower halves of the cases? my gasket kit was a top end kit so it didnt come with any oil seals or a bottom gasket. my first instinct was yes of course there is but a friend of a friend of mine, who's rebuilt a couple of these in the 70's says its a machined fit and no gasket needed, at most just a little gasket maker or rtv silicone around the edges...any truth to this? or is that just practice of a backyard stoner from the 70's? thanks ahead of time


oh and that rotor was a bit of a beast, i didnt wanna spend $20 on the honda tool, which seems just like a bolt with a tee handle to me, and i couldnt find a 20x1.5 bolt so i ended up using my puller and slide hammer, after a couple good (very good) whacks it popped right off.
pictures soon i promise...Adam

[mystic_1]

The backyard stoner is right - no gasket between the case halves, just Hondabond or Threebond 1194 or equivalent.

mystic_1

[WestCo]

The backyard stoner is right - no gasket between the case halves, just Hondabond or Threebond 1194 or equivalent.

mystic_1

thanks, he sounded like he knew these bikes just wanted to double check.
adam