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

[MCRider]

two things mc:
SNIP
2) that's a lot of blue tape. the local hardware store must love you. 

What the local ACE hardware is loving is the tab I'm running up on their chrome metric hardware.

Pushing $200 I think.

[MCRider]

wish i still had my vin plate. the bike is looking fantastic!

thanks!

Reattaching the original VIN plate is making it feel more like the bike I bot back in 1974 (this one) and all the things we've been through.  The frame looks new, but the washed out VIN plate belies its real age.

[MCRider]

SNIP

Also MC, I log on every morning to check the updates of your fine looking machine. I have to say that sometimes it does help me get through the day!

Wow! That's really cool to read!  Does the same for me.

[MCRider]

And me as well please??

MC-

I was thinking about the rear shocks. What about having them coated in brass? Might give you that gold look if your frame and be different all at the same time.

I'll consider that. It may introduce a new vendor and in the interest of getting finished sometime during my lifetime, I'm trying to avoid that.   

[Ecosse]

dunno if it's crossed your mind, or been mentioned before, but have you considered showing it before the miles get racked up? seems a nice coming out party, so to speak. if so you'll have to come up with a good sized board to list those vendors. 
 

[MCRider]

dunno if it's crossed your mind, or been mentioned before, but have you considered showing it before the miles get racked up? seems a nice coming out party, so to speak. if so you'll have to come up with a good sized board to list those vendors.  
 

Thanks. It was never part of the original theme that it would be showable. Within the "standard" genre, I wanted to include all the things that I wished I had had at some point during its many lifetimes. Like gussets in the frame, powerful horns, 17" wheels, fork brace, well set up suspension and brakes, reinforced rocker box, undercut transmission, excess chrome (though I've always had that), really tricked out engine (though I've often had that as well, this one will be even moreso), and a list of things. They are all coming together. And then ride the heck out of it.

But the way its turning out, I maybe should try to show it at least at some of the local meets. I wonder if the VJMC would appreciate it as they seem to have drifted to an elite attitude about proper restorations and not so much customs. Nevertheless, there are other more generic meets, that often favor Harleys, but at least tolerate metric customs. We'll see.

First things first. Can't win if you don't finish.  

[MCRider]

Back to work. Thought I had the engine masked off, then forgot about the oil pan, and some other things, cleaning out threaded holes etc. Got that finished. Also, finished degreasing with Acetone, waiting for a warmer day to paint.

Just a picture of bling to keep the motivation up. I'll sure miss those spiral machine marks when they are worn off. This reminds me, I have several sets of stainless bolts to bolt the discs together but they all have fat heads on them. I'll need to have them thinned to clear the speedo drive housing. The GL1000 bolts have thin heads but are unavailable. On Phaedrus I, I ground down the threaded end of the bolts and then thinned the nuts. They subsequently rusted. I have thinned nuts I bot from some vender at some time, but I think I'd rather have thick nuts and thin bolt heads.


I wasn't able to connect with the Cryo of Indy guy before leaving on biz trip. While gone I got to thinking I would want to send at least part of the mainshaft as well to Cryo. So I drug out the old shaft and began disassembly. (The tranny i had undercut came from a low mileage parts bike.)


This clutch was installed in 1980 and hasn't seen the light of day since. 50K+ miles with little sympathy. It is an 8 disc clutch of unremembered origin. Barnett probably. It has one metal disc thicker than all the rest. I seem to remember that was required with an 8 disc clutch.  It was working fine when i parked it and so I expect to use it again. Clutches are easy to change after the fact. The nut is hugely mangled, I spared nothing in those days. I'll get a new one.


The discs show plenty of material left and the material is cut in significant patterns.  Are stock discs material cut like this? I forget.


I'll just blot all the old oil off and reinstall. The clutch hub on the other hand shows significant wear, the plates having cut deep grooves in the ribs of the hub. Old hub on top. Newer hub from parts bike below, oil holes of later model hub are evident as well. I'll use the lower newer hub.


Will send mainshaft and clutch hubs to Cryo.

The primary drive hubs were interesting. The original showed noticeable sloppiness, you could move the sprockets back and forth a tad. The hub from the parts bike showed no such tendencies, so I'll use it.

Moyers Tank Repair confirmed my tank is toast. Or at least it would take $450 for them to fix it, so I said just send it back. I'll cut the bung off of it and have it welded to the left side of the Phaedrus I tank. I've hardly touched that tank in 15 years. Dragging it off the shelf, it is a ripple tank, with the tiniest of dents left front. Has no apparent rust anywhere. Almost seems to be coated inside and across the bottom. Don't know why i never noticed or why i was hung up on getting another tank. man, I can be goofy sometimes. well i know i wanted a left side petcock, and that's what led to everything. is my OCD showing?

Step by step...

[Terry in Australia]

Hey Ron, have you chopped up the Phaedrus tank yet? I've got a K3 or K4 tank hanging up in my garage that doesn't leak, wanna trade me? Cheers, Terry.

[MCRider]

Hey Ron, have you chopped up the Phaedrus tank yet? I've got a K3 or K4 tank hanging up in my garage that doesn't leak, wanna trade me? Cheers, Terry.

Good Morning Terry:
No I won't be making any changes until I get the engine and carburetors in so I get the line up right. I actually don''t have the leaking tank back from Moyers yet, but expect it any day.

I don't understand the benefit to you though. My left side petcock K5+ tank is the one that leaks, but has no dents.

My right side petcock, < K5 tank doesn't leak, but has a small dent, and has the rippled sheet metal (which means nothing to me) that you can see looking thru the cap hole.

The ripple tank has a petcock and cap. The other has neither.

I have some NOS tank trim, (still in Honda bag) that i don't think I'll be using, but I would like some $$ for.  I think it is no longer available.

So, is there something you can use?

[andy750]

Ron,

If Terry dosent want the NOS tank trim Id be interested in it for my K2. I got some a while back from forum member Tower for my K4.

cheers
Andy

[Terry in Australia]

Good Morning Terry:
No I won't be making any changes until I get the engine and carburetors in so I get the line up right. I actually don''t have the leaking tank back from Moyers yet, but expect it any day.

I don't understand the benefit to you though. My left side petcock K5+ tank is the one that leaks, but has no dents.

My right side petcock, < K5 tank doesn't leak, but has a small dent, and has the rippled sheet metal (which means nothing to me) that you can see looking thru the cap hole.

The ripple tank has a petcock and cap. The other has neither.

I have some NOS tank trim, (still in Honda bag) that i don't think I'll be using, but I would like some $$ for.  I think it is no longer available.

So, is there something you can use?

G'Day Ron, thanks mate, and yeah, I only wanted your damaged tank because I love early tank art, and I'd rather give you a good tank for it, than see you have to cut it up. The tank I've got hanging up is a left side petcock job, so I guess that's a post K5? Sorry about that, but you're welcome to it, just the same.

I'd love your "ripple" tank for my K0, and I can trade you a mint (faded OEM paint, but virtually dent free) K1 tank for it? I could have lived with a K1 tank on my original K0, but I'd prefer the correct tank, of course.

I'll take the tank trim for my K2 (sorry Andy) as I'm trying to finish it so I can sell it, and put some more money back in the bank after buying my new Triumph Rocket III. Thanks mate, and BTW, your new bike build is looking awesome! Cheers, Terry.  

[MCRider]

Good Morning Terry:
The purple tank has been sandblasted, all that's left of the paint job is a fleeting memory and some pictures here. Moyers had to blast it before they could give an estimate on the repair.  I'll

The black tank with pinstripes and wolf's head still exists. The gold leaf was repaired sans the engine turnings, so its not quite what it once was. I'll post a picture. It has the ripples in the sheet metal which indicates its an early tank? K0 perhaps? And it has a tiny dent inthe front right where something hit it, the switchgear maybe, when i fell in St Louis. Many never notice it. I would trade it straight across for any tank that is not rusted or otherwise leakprone. Small dents acceptable. Preferably with a left side petcock. If not, I'll cut the one off the now stripped tank and weld it onto the new (to me) tank.

My original tank was the Orange Metalflake K2 color. I was sprint racing the bike with a Tracy 2.2 gallon peanut tank. My buddy and I had this great idea to enter the 4 hour endurance race at Mid-Ohio. So I put the pristine Orange tank on for more fuel, thinking what could happen? Well, my buddy was really hauling (I'm a mediocre racer)and things looked good. Someone crashed in front of him and took him down. the Orange Flake tank was squashed flat and popped off the bike. Completely un savable.  

So I bot the tank which is now the "black tank" probably from Cycle ReCycle II as it was pre-eBay days. I have no history on it, other than what's mentioned.

I can't find the trim at the moment but its out there somewhere. I'll find a median price like between BikeBandit and Motogrid (high and low). I'm going to use some gold auto door edge trim.

BTW I'm hugely jealous of your Triumph, what a radical machine! If there were any bike I'd buy next that would be high on the list.

[MCRider]

Here's the black ripple tank from Phaedrus I:






The eyebrow of light reflection on the lft view, above the wolf's eye, is the dent.

Here's my case paint. My Autozone has replaced Duplicoclr Hi Temp paint with Rustoleum Engine Primer and paint. This is the primer coat. A little darker than I was looking for, though I think I like it. Sort of like magnesium color:





I have it sitting by my 5000 watt heater and under 1000 watt heat lamps. Surface temp is too high to touch. Hope it helps.

Top coat looks to be a little lighter in color. After the primer cures I'll shoot the top coat.

[Terry in Australia]

BTW I'm hugely jealous of your Triumph, what a radical machine! If there were any bike I'd buy next that would be high on the list.

Thanks Ron, the Triumph is an incredible bike, scary fast, but a relaxed riding style, and just massive! That black tank looks great too, if it wasn't an original K0 tank I'd keep it just for the art, but K0 tanks don't grow on tree's, so once it arrives here it'll be back in it's original livery, probably candy gold, which was the original color of my K0 before Andy stripped all the original cosmetic parts off it for a sandcast he sold to another member here, and painted a collection of K1 parts matt black to make it all uniform before selling the bike to me.

I'm working at an Airforce base all week about 200 miles from home, but I'll get my K5 tank with the left hand petcock blasted next week and wash it out with POR15 tank cleaner before I send it to you, did you want me to treat it with the POR15 tank sealer while I'm at it? It doesn't leak (I use it on a stand for when I'm doing the vacuum adjustments etc on my bikes) but I thought you might like that, before you send it off to paint, just for some added security? Cheers, Terry.      

[MCRider]

BTW I'm hugely jealous of your Triumph, what a radical machine! If there were any bike I'd buy next that would be high on the list.

Thanks Ron, the Triumph is an incredible bike, scary fast, but a relaxed riding style, and just massive! That black tank looks great too, if it wasn't an original K0 tank I'd keep it just for the art, but K0 tanks don't grow on tree's, so once it arrives here it'll be back in it's original livery, probably candy gold, which was the original color of my K0 before Andy stripped all the original cosmetic parts off it for a sandcast he sold to another member here, and painted a collection of K1 parts matt black to make it all uniform before selling the bike to me.

I'm working at an Airforce base all week about 200 miles from home, but I'll get my K5 tank with the left hand petcock blasted next week and wash it out with POR15 tank cleaner before I send it to you, did you want me to treat it with the POR15 tank sealer while I'm at it? It doesn't leak (I use it on a stand for when I'm doing the vacuum adjustments etc on my bikes) but I thought you might like that, before you send it off to paint, just for some added security? Cheers, Terry.    

I just sent you a PM about the molding. I found it. In looking for a fair price, it seems that true K0 molding did not have a black stripe? Do you know if this is true. If so, mine has the black stripe FYI. Brand new still sealed in the bags. Part #17522-300-010. But if want the no stripe variety, you may have to buy repro from Yamiya.

Not looking for you to do extra work in the tank exchange.  I'm scared of tank liners personally, heard stories of messes when its not done well. Does the POR15 cleaner neutralize it from flash rusting? If so, lets just go with that.

Other than wiping it down I won't be doing anything to the black tank. I'll keep some pictures for posterity. Other than that, strip away. Do you need the cap and petcock?

And no hurry on this deal. Just proceed as is convenient.

[HondaMan]

The discs show plenty of material left and the material is cut in significant patterns.  Are stock discs material cut like this? I forget.


Newer hub from parts bike below, oil holes of later model hub are evident as well. I'll use the lower newer hub.



The primary drive hubs were interesting. The original showed noticeable sloppiness, you could move the sprockets back and forth a tad. The hub from the parts bike showed no such tendencies, so I'll use it.

Those clutch plates are definitely not Honda's.

Don't forget to augment the oil holes with the little "eyebrows"? It will make a more progressive, firmer gripping clutch. If I can find my post on that, I'll put the link back here...

[Terry in Australia]

I just sent you a PM about the molding. I found it. In looking for a fair price, it seems that true K0 molding did not have a black stripe? Do you know if this is true. If so, mine has the black stripe FYI. Brand new still sealed in the bags. Part #17522-300-010. But if want the no stripe variety, you may have to buy repro from Yamiya.

Not looking for you to do extra work in the tank exchange.  I'm scared of tank liners personally, heard stories of messes when its not done well. Does the POR15 cleaner neutralize it from flash rusting? If so, lets just go with that.

Other than wiping it down I won't be doing anything to the black tank. I'll keep some pictures for posterity. Other than that, strip away. Do you need the cap and petcock?

And no hurry on this deal. Just proceed as is convenient.

No worries Ron, I figured the molding was for a K1-K6, I'd be lucky indeed to find a NOS K0 tank molding to go with your tank, but that's OK, I only want the molding for my K2 resto.

I personally like the POR15 coating and the good thing is that it is silver in color so looks good inside your tank, but if you're not keen, then no worries, I'll give it a wash out with the POR15 tank cleaner only, and mostly so that customs don't smell gas inside it and assume that I'm trying to blow up an aircraft with it, ha ha! Thanks again mate, and I hope I haven't distracted you too much from your Phaedrus build! Cheers, Terry.

[MCRider]

I got my sidecover back today. Very happy:





In the first picture, you can see the weld only because that is where he sanded it. If you closed your eyes and ran your hand over it you can feel nothing.

The back view shows the style is the same as the guy who welded the other crack 10+/- years ago. Except the new repair is white vs black. Both have the 90 degree crosses.

FYI: Owen Ford is his name. $35 + S&H out but not back. I put 2 $20s in the box.

http://expertplasticwelding.com/

I know many of you can handle this repair on DIY basis. But I was burned out and not willing to experiment.

[mystic_1]

From broken to whole again in 17 days.  That's pretty good turn-around in my book.

mystic_1

[MCRider]

From broken to whole again in 17 days.  That's pretty good turn-around in my book.

mystic_1

It was probably much quicker, it was a few days after breaking before i shipped it. I told him to hold off returning it to me as I was gone for 5 days and didn't want it coming back without me here to get it.

More like 7 days actual.

[HondaMan]

Thanks, MC: I've got 6 sidecovers I'm going out to gather up for that guy... 

[mystic_1]

From broken to whole again in 17 days.  That's pretty good turn-around in my book.

mystic_1

It was probably much quicker, it was a few days after breaking before i shipped it. I told him to hold off returning it to me as I was gone for 5 days and didn't want it coming back without me here to get it.

More like 7 days actual.

I figured as much. 

mystic_1

[MCRider]

Here's what's left of my purple tank:





Each of the red spots down the sides represents a hole. You can look through the cap into the tank and see daylight!

Moyers said they would fix it, but the tab came in at $450, so I said I'll pass. They are used to recovering antiques and one of a kinds and if that is what this was, i'd go with them.

They sent it back for free. I told them to charge me something for the inspection and at least for the return freight. I verbally gave them permission to hit my card for $50 to $75. They said no and indeed did not.

So, http://www.gas-tank.com/  gets high marks from me.

Terry from Oz and I are working out a trade of my K0 tank for a left side petcock tank. Either that will work or I'll troll in eBay till I find one.

[MCRider]

So, I've pulled my rear wheel to remove the tire and send the wheel and brake to Race-Tech for "arcing". I have done a caveman's job of this in the past and it really helps the performance of a drum brake. Since I've learned that they are doing it for real, almost a lost art, I haven't been able to sleep.   

http://www.racetech.com/HTML_FILES/BrakeArcing.html

Somehow in mocking up the wheel, I left a spacer out and inserted the sprocket side spacer improperly and have bound up the wheel bearings. Gotta beat on them to relax them, but that means I gotta replace them. Anybody know of a source, I'm asking before searching as i know its on the forum somewhere.

Ecosse or Mystic noticed my rear end looked a little cockeyed. I thought it was simply some loosely aligned body parts, but Noooooooo...

[MCRider]

Making some progress but getting all messed up in the head.

Got a storm window project spread all over the garage area. Not done and weather getting iffy.

Way behind at work and deadlines looming.

Got 4 different phases of Phaedrus going all at once and stuff scattered everywhere, very bad for my OCD. I tend to "lock up" when this happens.

To the point: Couldn't find the mainshaft for the Cryogenics guy. Spent a good 2 hours looking for it. Gave up, went into the Cryo box for the final inventory and ...there it was! Dang!  Box for Cryo near complete.

Painting of cases going nicely. Dark grey Rustoleum engine paint primer. lighter gray for top coat. Thinking now of painting the cylinders and head gloss black and polishing the fin edges.

Got the rear wheel off and dismounted the tire. Going to send wheel and brake out for arcing. That's when I discovered I'd trashed the wheel bearings by installing the spacers wrong. Think I've found what i want for replacement bearings. Lots of good answers here.
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=59826.msg648560#msg648560

Terry of Oz and I have been trying for a deal on a gas tank swap. First two tries failed. Think we hit it on the third. Found a good looking used K4 tank on eBay for the right money. He'll buy it, ship it to me. I'll ship him my K0 tank. Assumking I like what I get and terry likes what he gets, tank problem solved.

I'll dribble in some pictures as the week progresses. I really need to bear down and get right with the work load.