Topic: Just bought my new old ride

[mwar]

Hello all,

She's a '74 CB750. Bought her from a friend who had her sittting around for a year and the price was right. I just dumped some rotten gas from the tank tonight and tapped the sticky floats loose in her carbs and she kicked right over. I took her for a quick night ride in the neighborhood. Man, it's getting colder than a witches tit out there! I know have some work cut out for me, but I think it's going to be a labor of love getting her in good shape. I haven't been on a bike of my own in 30 years! I've always admired the CB's, a friend of mine had a '75 I used to lust over back in the day. Now I finally have one of my own, guess my life is now complete. 

 I've been lurking this site for a while and now it looks like I might be hanging out here a while longer. You guys know your bikes, and it will be a pleasure to continue reading your sage advice.

peace

[Bob Wessner]

Congratulations on your acquisition and welcome to the forum. The bike must be in pretty good condition considering how little it took to get it started. Post a pic. Good luck with the future work.

[chrometank]

Gday mate,sounds like you found a bargain ! This site's going to be your new best freind.
cheers

[6pkrunner]

Congrats! nice to hear she flashed up so easily for you. Got any pictures of the fine old lady?

[Terry in Australia]

Gday mate,sounds like you found a bargain ! This site's going to be your new best freind.
cheers

Hey Chromey, how about a bigger copy of yer avatar pic, Ay Karumba! He he, Cheers, Terry.

[mwar]

As soon as I get around to it I'll post some pix. She has some "unique" gas can art done by someone in Florida back in '79. Maybe the dude that owned her got a tattoo that he still regrets while on the same road trip. It's that kind of tank art. Both rider and bike must have been doing some serious drinking at the time I'd guess.

[dusterdude]

dont repaint it.its a time warp.keep it and buy another tank

[mwar]

dont repaint it.its a time warp.keep it and buy another tank

It's funny that you mentioned that. The guy I bought the bike from told me he hated the artwork at first and was tempted to take a rattle can to it. But he said it grew on him after a while and he ended up sparing it. I need to live with it for a while before I decide what to do-- the paint isn't in the best shape but the tank is clean. I do like the second tank idea. Thanks

[dusterdude]

you are welcome.that tank reminds me of the 70`s.what part of em i can remember that is.

[Jonesy]

dont repaint it.its a time warp.keep it and buy another tank

Aww, man! Mine had a psychedelic paisley swirl pattern on it. First order of business was to repaint!!!

They seem to show up on eBay quite a bit...

[turnenwheels]

Welcome to the forum,  It will be great to see some pic's.
I've got a '74.  The seller was going to chop it, thank goodness I got my hands on it for $$.

[mwar]

Here's a couple of my '74 pictures taken by the previous owner.
[img width= height=]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/mwar/74honda750a.jpg[/img][img width= height=]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/mwar/74honda750b.jpg[/img]

[ElCheapo]

I have a 75 CB750 and well now....... several others..

Awsome score! It is always nice when they start up without too much fight. Right now I seem to be fairly lucky in the department. 10 for 12 on the start up after setting.

[ProTeal55]

Congrats on the new purchase.....

[74cb750]

Welcome to the forum,
Hey, doesn't look too bad, from the bad pictures.
I have a 1974 and a 1975, both very easy to work on. My 1975 had a seat like yours, now it's in the trash can.

You will have fun keeping this on the road.
godd luck,
michel

[mwar]

Welcome to the forum,
Hey, doesn't look too bad, from the bad pictures.
I have a 1974 and a 1975, both very easy to work on. My 1975 had a seat like yours, now it's in the trash can.

You will have fun keeping this on the road.
godd luck,
michel

Thanks michel, looks like I'm going to need luck --and cash...

And yeah, the pictures don't show all the nasty little details that I'm finding. But the price was right and the moon was full. I've done dumber things in my life and waken up with uglier ones!

That seat was put on (rigged) by the previous owner. He easily weighes twice what I do and I'm sure it worked out well for his generous keyster. Fortunately, he gave me another K/Q style seat that looks a bit better but also a bad 70's flashback, I'll give it a try. More than likely, they'll both end up in the trash before I'm through.   As far as the rest of the bike goes, I'm still figuring things out. I'm pretty certain she's going to be needing sprockets and a chain really soon. She makes a "cruncha-cruncha" sound when you ride. I put her up on the back stand fired her up, put her in 1st gear and watched the chain and back wheel. I see a definite chain vibration in time with the noise I hear and the rear wheel looks a bit out of true. I saw that the chain had about an inch and a half of slop in it when I first got the bike I tightened it up and lubed the hell out of it before I ran around on it. I don't know how long the guy rode around like that but it's a wonder that he never threw the chain. It's a good bet that the sprockets are trashed because of that alone.

The engine seems pretty strong but has some performance issues right now. I need to sandblast the plugs, ride around for a while and pull them back out and see what I have. I think it's running rich, but I won't know for sure until I do. I haven't opened the airbox yet. It was run for a while on stale gas. I've already replaced the gas hoses, they were brittle and leaking. According to the P.O. the carbs were rebuilt and synched about a year ago. I'm not sure about the quality of work that was done on the carbs. Among other problems, it also looks like there's an oil leak where the tach cable attaches to the valve cover. Anybody know a quick fix for that? It looks like someone already tried to loosen the retaining screw and messed up the head although I still might have a shot at getting it off if I'm careful.

Anybody know where I can get point sets and condensers for these bikes? Does Honda still carry them, or am I better off looking for aftermarket stuff?

[Terry in Australia]

Watch that chain thing mate, the chain should have about an inch of play, so one and a half isn't bad. What is bad is tightening it up too much, because when the shocks are compressed, the rear sprocket is actually farther away from the front, and if the chain's too tight, you'll seriously damage your output shaft bearings, a common fault with inexperienced owners with spanners and no workshop manual.

Also, it's best to replace the spark plugs with new ones, saves you inadvertantly pouring blasting grit into the cylinders, but if you do blast them, re-gap them afterwards. Points ignitions are weak, so if you can afford it, spring for an electronic ignition, the Dyna S is good. You've probably already changed the oil and filter, but if you haven't, you should right away, these engines are not "bullet proof" and are susceptible to bad oil destroying main and big end bearings, which will cost you about 3 times what you paid for the bike. Buy an oil pressure gauge too, they're cheap insurance. Have fun! Cheers, Terry.

[mwar]

Watch that chain thing mate, the chain should have about an inch of play, so one and a half isn't bad. What is bad is tightening it up too much, because when the shocks are compressed, the rear sprocket is actually farther away from the front, and if the chain's too tight, you'll seriously damage your output shaft bearings, a common fault with inexperienced owners with spanners and no workshop manual.

Ahh. good point. I didn't think I make it too tight from where it was, the 1 1/2" I said before was probably a conservative estimate. Your point about shock loading vs. chain slack is well taken, but It probably wasn't that much of a problem with the big dude previous owner riding her.    The old shop manual I have called for .6" - .8" and that's pretty much where it is now. The chain and sprockets are going to get replaced anyway, I don't have any evidence that they aren't originals and they don't seem to be very smooth rolling.
 

Also, it's best to replace the spark plugs with new ones, saves you inadvertantly pouring blasting grit into the cylinders, but if you do blast them, re-gap them afterwards. Points ignitions are weak, so if you can afford it, spring for an electronic ignition, the Dyna S is good.

Again, good advice. I do plan on getting new plugs. I've seen some electronic ignition setups retailing for about $150 US from a UK site. I'll look up the Dyna S.

You've probably already changed the oil and filter, but if you haven't, you should right away, these engines are not "bullet proof" and are susceptible to bad oil destroying main and big end bearings, which will cost you about 3 times what you paid for the bike. Buy an oil pressure gauge too, they're cheap insurance. Have fun! Cheers, Terry.

Oh yeah, the oil and filter are on the way out in the next couple of days. I've only put on about ten miles in test rides and don't expect to be putting on too much more before the weather turns foul for the winter. This old lady and I are just getting acquainted, we're not ready to go out dancing yet!

Thanks for the advice, Terry.

[mwar]

As I’m getting acquainted with this old lady I’m finding things here and there that can be remedied in fairly short order, thanks in no small part, to reading stuff on this site. When I got the bike, it hadn’t been run regularly in over a year. Even though she started up, I very quickly found out she was running on only two cylinders. I found the problem to be a dirty connection to one set of points. I’ve replaced the plugs, dumped the oil and filter and sniffed around the cam chain tensioner a bit listening for expensive noises, but I think I’ll be okay. I’ve also cleaned off layers of grease and oil everywhere and replaced the seat with an old but decent Corbin K/Q the PO gave me but didn’t use. I reinstalled the original grab bar while I was at it. Nice to see some chrome. My #3 carb was pissing gas all over the floor from the overfill tube and my #3 plug was rich wet-fouled. Without dismantling the carbs from my bike, I was able to very carefully remove the float assembly and the needle to help diagnose the problem. When I first drained and removed the bowl I gently lifted up on the floats and immediately noticed a clicking detent right in the middle of the arm travel. So I slid out the pin and caught the floats and needle and set the needle aside on a clean paper towel after checking for damage or signs of varnish. I spotted a small but visible dimple on the "tang" where the spring end of the needle makes contact. I used a small piece of 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to polish the surface of the tang until the dimple was gone, being careful not to bend it. I washed everything with a bit of clean gas and reassembled the float back in to the carb body. I manually checked the travel and opened the petcock to check leaks around the seat. Everything worked, no more pissing gas and my engine starts up decently and runs strong now.