Topic: Phaedrus: CB750 RestoMod - Update: 09/23/21 w/ new video

[MCRider]

Forgot it was that big.  Running a nut down it with some WD40 might work.   It would need to be a good grade, and a metric one that big wouldn't be cheap.  Hand filing threads is a pita.  At least it's not sunny and 70 outside.

Yeah, about the time I chase down a big nut, I'll have it filed.

8-12 more inches tonight and near 0°F for a few days.

[Stev-o]

Bling bling alert!   BTW Ron, I always like the detailed "tech talk" on your build thread.

[Tintop]

Forgot it was that big.  Running a nut down it with some WD40 might work.   It would need to be a good grade, and a metric one that big wouldn't be cheap.  Hand filing threads is a pita.  At least it's not sunny and 70 outside.

Yeah, about the time I chase down a big nut, I'll have it filed.

8-12 more inches tonight and near 0°F for a few days.

Snow starts tonight here.   Well at least I got to look at my nice clean driveway for a day & half.

[MCRider]

Forgot it was that big.  Running a nut down it with some WD40 might work.   It would need to be a good grade, and a metric one that big wouldn't be cheap.  Hand filing threads is a pita.  At least it's not sunny and 70 outside.

Yeah, about the time I chase down a big nut, I'll have it filed.

8-12 more inches tonight and near 0°F for a few days.

We are 4th snowiest winter on record. With what's predicted for this week, could move up to 2nd or 3rd place. The Farmers Almanac calls for 30" in Feb which would put us at #1. Sheesh!

Snow starts tonight here.   Well at least I got to look at my nice clean driveway for a day & half.

[MCRider]

Bling bling alert!   BTW Ron, I always like the detailed "tech talk" on your build thread.

Thanks!

I know Al was just venting some impatience and I feel it too. But in my situation, that's the best I can do.

Several of the technical topics I'm very proud of, they were learning exeriences for me too. Like the wet-sumping issue; degreeing the cam; building the wheels, etc.

I punched out the site glass on the master cylinder, so Brown's could chrome it. (The MC, not the site glass.)  Soon we'll be replacing that with a watch crystal. Courtesy Jaguar's thread.

[MCRider]

Temp = 20 and falling, 2 more inches of white stuff heading for the snowiest winter ever.  Not too bad in the shop, though.

Continuing to reinstall the latest from the platers. TS brackets (needs a chrome washer now):


Finished filing the threads on the aftermarket oil filter bolt. Got it to thread all the way in by hand. Took a couple of hours total.



Got the fork brace back on. It needed some tweaking and thread cleaning. Better than it was, now. Not polished to a mirror as I asked them to preserve the welds, they are pretty on their own.



Ordered a MC rebuild kit from eBay for the new (to me) MC and some watch crystals to replace the site glass. WE'll see how that works out.

[MCRider]

Here's the thread for replacing a site glass. Courtesy Jaguar:
https://sites.google.com/site/cx500gl500/master-cylinder-site-glass-replacement

In the article is a link to the supply house for the crystals. I bot several of different sizes rotating around 16.9mm, to get a good fit and becasue they are cheap and there's a $15 minimum.

They are mineral glass which has a very rich look compared to the frosted plasitc of the stocker.

Once you pop the site glass out, there are 2 steps and an ORing left in the hole. I'm hoping to leave the ORing alone, and set the watch crystal in the outermost step, leaving it nearly flush with the surface of the casting.

[Don R]

 I have a header like that, yours is the first one I've seen other than mine. The PO was a notorious curb jumper and bashed it pretty bad. It's a shame, it sounds great. Mine is all welded though, I think you said yours assembles at the collector? 

[MCRider]

I have a header like that, yours is the first one I've seen other than mine. The PO was a notorious curb jumper and bashed it pretty bad. It's a shame, it sounds great. Mine is all welded though, I think you said yours assembles at the collector?

Marshall DeepTone? It does sound good. Low and smooth, not raspy. Its from the Netherlands and complies with EuroSpec noise limits. It is 4 separate pipes and is a royal #$%* to install.     A few US pipes look similar but not the same.

[Old Scrambler]

Ron..........I just caught up on the read..............I have a friend in California with the same balance problem. He had a few bikes but is now selling his tools.............Don't worry just yet...........he got along for several years before selling his tools.  He still drives and hopes to continue.  I was visiting over Christmas and he still gets out to dinner and is just fine on his own........but with a cane for stability.

Soooooooooo, I think we should plan a weekend in late March or early April for a few of us in the mid-west to pay you a visit and get that ride report in.  After a few miles and all is well with the bike, you may want to ride the pillion for as long as you want. I regularly ride my K3 with my wife 'hanging on'. Others could ride along for plenty of photo-ops and a video or five! 

Your about 5 hours from me............less for Sean...........and even less for others.  If enough of us are up for it, at least a few would surely make it. Is there a MC event on the calendar near you?  Pick a few weekends to get good weather report choices and let's see who is available.  Are you up for it?

[MCRider]

Ron..........I just caught up on the read..............I have a friend in California with the same balance problem. He had a few bikes but is now selling his tools.............Don't worry just yet...........he got along for several years before selling his tools.  He still drives and hopes to continue.  I was visiting over Christmas and he still gets out to dinner and is just fine on his own........but with a cane for stability.

Soooooooooo, I think we should plan a weekend in late March or early April for a few of us in the mid-west to pay you a visit and get that ride report in.  After a few miles and all is well with the bike, you may want to ride the pillion for as long as you want. I regularly ride my K3 with my wife 'hanging on'. Others could ride along for plenty of photo-ops and a video or five! 

Your about 5 hours from me............less for Sean...........and even less for others.  If enough of us are up for it, at least a few would surely make it. Is there a MC event on the calendar near you?  Pick a few weekends to get good weather report choices and let's see who is available.  Are you up for it?

Dennis: I am touched. Really. Thanks. This condition is not life threatening on the surface, but its a real drag on activities. I'm using a cane now, and it really helps. But I'm a lot slower than I used to be, and I never was that fast.

Due to my occupation, March and April are not possible. Gotta make a living. Its all I can do to carve out 3-5 hours per week shop time. And I'll need all that to get Phaedrus up and running for a showing.

Are you familiar with the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC)? It has some of its roots in Indiana. Coincidentaly this year, the National meet is in Spring Mill State Park (Indiana). About 2.5 hours south of here. June 26-28. There is a Bike Show as part of it. Assuming I can resurrect my trailer or buy a new one, I'll be there. I've already paid the registration fee, and Room fee in the Inn.

Sometime in August is the Indy MotoGP. Cycle World Mgazine has a Classic Bike Show with a class for customs. I hope to be there as well.  That's about 20 miles from me, so here's hoping.

[Tintop]

Would like to get down there to join in some fun with the 550.  The June date doesn't work though as there is a new event at Mosport - http://glorydayscelebrationofspeed.com/glory-days-celebration-of-speed-motorsport-extravaganza/  Basically a hill climb running 2/3rd's of the track backwards.   Sidecars are invited so that's were I'll be if everything is working.

[Old Scrambler]

Ron............I'm a VJMC member and have been to several club meets.  I'm discussing the June 26-28 event with a fellow member.........so no final plans have been made on my part.

The AHRMA races at Road America take place on June 6-8. In addition to the Motorcycle Classics Ride & Show (I'm the ride director) the ROCKER-BOX event will move from Milwaukee to RA for this event. Your invited   Its a good chance to get your bike (and your story) into a national magazine .  I have a spare room and live about 10-minutes from the track. 

[MCRider]

Ron............I'm a VJMC member and have been to several club meets.  I'm discussing the June 26-28 event with a fellow member.........so no final plans have been made on my part.

The AHRMA races at Road America take place on June 6-8. In addition to the Motorcycle Classics Ride & Show (I'm the ride director) the ROCKER-BOX event will move from Milwaukee to RA for this event. Your invited   Its a good chance to get your bike (and your story) into a national magazine .  I have a spare room and live about 10-minutes from the track.

Thanks again. Sounds like a real good time.

My dance card for 2014 is full at this point. First I've got to finish it, then round up a trailer. ASsuming that goes well, making the VJMC meet, and MotoGP is all I can plan for.  I've got some personal trips with the wife taking up the in between spaces. 

[MCRider]

Waiting on the clocks from Marcel. Not late or anything, it just takes time. A beak in the weather wouldn't hurt. WE just set the all time record for snow in Indy in Dec,Jam, Feb.

The turnsignals had always bugged me. Too close in. So we put a 3/4" spacer in the stack. Much better.

Old


New


Replaced the white spacer with a black one from Elan. Seen between the Hlite stay and the bucket.

Did the rears too. Better visual, but not a finished look. May need to have a machinist make a mounting bracket from scratch.



NExt week we need to pull the shock springs and do a tire clearance test. Working on the rear turnsignals made it look to us like the tire may hit the turnsignal mount bolt (Fender mount nut) at full shock compression. Poo.

[Tintop]

May not be the ideal solution if you find there is to much travel but......with the sidecar to limit travel I use a 2nd 'bump stop rubber' installed above the original. 

[MCRider]

May not be the ideal solution if you find there is to much travel but......with the sidecar to limit travel I use a 2nd 'bump stop rubber' installed above the original.

That's an interesting fix!   

[Tintop]

Our travel is limited to 1 1/2" (after loaded sag).  I use a piece of thick wall rubber tube at the front, and an old bump stop at the rear.  I put a single vertical cut in the material, place it around the shaft (spring removed), and fix it in place with a wrap of safety wire.

[MCRider]

Received the watch crystals today. Different sizes and thicknesses.  Should be an easy fix to RTV one that fits into the site glass cavity.

[Don R]

I have a header like that, yours is the first one I've seen other than mine. The PO was a notorious curb jumper and bashed it pretty bad. It's a shame, it sounds great. Mine is all welded though, I think you said yours assembles at the collector?

Marshall DeepTone? It does sound good. Low and smooth, not raspy. Its from the Netherlands and complies with EuroSpec noise limits. It is 4 separate pipes and is a royal #$%* to install.     A few US pipes look similar but not the same.

 My collector is welded, must be an american made similar pipe.

[MCRider]

I have 4 things listed in FS-Classifieds: New Long style oil filter bolt w/ 17mm hex; New OEM speedo base; CB750 shock setbacks (loweriing kit); New finned SOHC points cover. Check them out.

[Old Scrambler]

Ron..............Regarding the shocks..........I don't know yours..........but most shocks have a top that is threaded to the dampening rod...........I remove the top and install a nylon (of similar) spacer to reduce overall compression travel.  That way the worst bump won't blow-out the slotted-style insert or cause it to be cut by safety-wire.

[MCRider]

Ron..............Regarding the shocks..........I don't know yours..........but most shocks have a top that is threaded to the dampening rod...........I remove the top and install a nylon (of similar) spacer to reduce overall compression travel.  That way the worst bump won't blow-out the slotted-style insert or cause it to be cut by safety-wire.

That's a good idea OS. I will probably do that if necessary. The shocks are period S&W and I do think the tops screw off. The tire is a 140/70-17. Visually it looks like the outmost edge of the tire might skim the mounting nuts that are welded into the inside of the fender. If the tire comes up that high. We'll know this weekend.

[MCRider]

Back to work:
Sold a bunch of things on the forum, rebuild the treasury.
Cleaned up a set of lowering blocks I had laying around, put them oon Phaedrus to get a pic for the classifieds.


Remember I'm already lowered, the tire should be 3/8" from floor, with a shortened centerstand. Now it clears the floor by 2.5" inches!

I've decided since I may need the extra lowering to accommodate my lack of leg strength, I will keep the lowering blocks for now.

Next we had to determine if there is adequate clearance for the 140/70 tire. Took the springs off

Then jacked the tire up to bottoming the shock.

The cadboard fit in but just barely. No 150s for me.  There are a few threads sticking past the nut that will buy some more clearance. We cut them off.

I swear if many of the cafes and bobbers I've seen here did this same test they would find no clearance.

Pulled a few more parts for sale. Got a bag of demon LED turnsignals. 4 Kuryakin Bullet LEDs. All with smoke lenses, but 2 red, 2 yellow lights. Several flashers, resistors, and misc parts I couldn't get to work. Maybe you can. $100 incl. S&H, lower 48, Paypal only. . Retail $200.

[MCRider]

No shop time tomorrow. Fresh snow 6-12" and cold temps. Added to a need for a break, timely.

Marcel emailed, the gauges are done. Reasonably priced, low actually. I won't disclose as I don't want to pin him down on prices for other customers. I'll just say he said he'd take care of me and he did. Pictures are beautiful, but I can't get them to copy and paste. Return ship time 10d to 2w.

If there's a break in the snow, may chance a trip to the hardware, just so I can say I did something related. Plus I love hardware.