Hello everyone,
I'm a new member here, and excited to have found what seems to be a great community!
A little background on the bike I ended up buying. This is my first motorcycle. I test rode a bunch of newer bikes, but after riding a friend's '72 CB450 I knew I wanted a classic Honda. It just felt like real motorcycling by comparison. I found some ads on Craigslist and made a list of CB's I wanted to look at. Armed with a basic understanding of what to look for, I brought a friend along with me to test ride the bike since I only have my permit. The bike seemed fairly clean and ran okay, so we hopped on and headed out to the main road. Would you believe we dumped the thing on the first turn! We were horrified! The bike lay in a pool of gasoline and oil, and as you can imagine, with heads hung low, we strode the walk of shame all the way back to the owner's house and where I bought the bike. You break it, you buy it. To make a long story short, he had admitted to over-filling the oil reservoir earlier (which I know NOW would cause the engine to pump oil out of the overflow which happens to be located by the rear tire). So when we accelerated through first gear into second, the rear tire was sprayed with oil causing us to lose traction and whip a donut right there in the street. It was a horrifying experience for both of us and a lesson well-learned. So anyway, I knew I wanted a CB750, I just didn't think I'd end up buying the second one I tested after dumping it. An embarrassing day to say the least, but now I need to make the best of it.
I have to admit that I'm not a mechanic, but I'm handy and willing to learn. I've been reading everything here in the FAQs and have the shop manual, Clymer guide, original owners manual. I'm trying to get up to speed, but am lacking experience. This is all new to me.
The bike had been stored indoors for 6 years under the previous owner. He said he only put 300 or so miles on the bike during that time. I realize that storage like this is hard on bikes. Here are the issues that I know of so far:
- Rear right turn signal cracked (from when we dumped it - replacement part on it's way)
- Right driver's foot peg bent and scraped from when we dumped it, drivable, but I'm going to replace it
- Front brake light switch doesn't work
- Rust in gas tank, found some particles in petcock base and filter, new filter on order
- Cold starter, but runs okay after it's been warmed up
- From about half throttle and open, bike bogs down and loses power. This seems like a carb jet issue from what I've read here
- Discoloration on exhaust pipes, from what I can piece together (correct me if I'm wrong) this means I'm running hot on those cylinders, probably lean, which could also play into the bog from half throttle on. Could also be timing that's off and carbs out of sync.
- Jumpy tach and speedo needles (you can see this in the video)
-Throttle is a little tight and sometimes hangs onto revs (again, this might be fixed by a complete tune up and carb sync?)
-Strange scraping/whirring sound from rear wheel. Don't know if it's chain adjustment or bad wheel bearing. Chain looks straight and I've adjusted it to factory spec.
I'm posting a video below to show you what I mean. It's a little blurry, but I've moved the camera around to get the mic close to all of the weird little noises it's making. I'm not sure what these are supposed to sound like, but mine seems a little rattly in the high end, especially from the valve cover area. Also noted a puttering on the right side exhaust, sort of like a misfire or backfire. This might be a baffle or something rattling inside?
From what I've read here, the valves probably need adjustment. Could all of these symptoms be remedied with a good tune up, or do I have bigger problems? I don't want to continue to ride the bike if I could risk damage. My goal is for this to be a commuter and cruiser in the summer, and I'll slowly work to restore it over the long winters year after year. In the short term, unless you all deem it unnecessary, I plan to use this site and my books to do a thorough tune up. I've ordered a manometer and am going to get a strobe/tach for timing. I don't have a plug wrench, but am getting one this weekend so will be able to provide some reads from them as well.
Thanks for reading. I'm very grateful to anyone who might wish to help.
Someone said in an earlier post, that folks around here like pictures. Here goes:
Side view
Other side
Discoloration on exhaust headers
Broken signal from our foolish oil skating experience
Rear sprocket and exhaust tips, there's a strange whirring sound at the rear tire when coasting with the engine off that may be the chain, or the wheel bearing, I don't know how to tell. Maybe I'll post a video of it spinning on the center stand.
rear chain, I'll measure and clean and soak when I get to taking everything apart. For now, loosened some rust with penetrating lube, but teeth and chain look okay to me
swing arm corrosion and rust
carb and choke lever
gauge cluster - bouncy needles on both, but speedo is worse. why does the speedo needle move when bike is in neutral while revving the engine?
Front wheel and brake-the front brake is squeeky, is this just the way they are, or can this be fixed? pads look okay and brake lever is a bit wooden.
plug wires and valve cover
VIN on frame indicates this is a 1972K2, previous owner had is listed as a '73
exhaust part number
engine block
rust in gas tank, probably some in float bowl as well, but haven't taken it apart yet. Petcock fuel filter was damaged, I have a new one on order
