Author Topic: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!  (Read 11944 times)

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Offline Laminar

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I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« on: August 20, 2009, 10:03:49 pm »
I responded to a Craigslist ad for a "Vintage Honda motorcycle" with an electrical problem and a title. The guy was moving and couldn't figure out the problem, so he was practically giving it away. I bought and paid for it sight unseen, and was blown away when I did see it.

Straight off of the pickup:










The gas tank is flawless:


Cleaned up a little:


I was told the bike ran great until this year, when all of a sudden "no power was getting from the battery to the engine" or something like that. I pulled out the battery, it was showing 5V. I threw it on the charger and went to work. Plugs were a little sooty but gapped correctly. Cold, I got ~150psi on all four cylinders.

I set the point gap, adjusted valve clearance, and changed the oil. I hit the head and valve cover with some degreaser and went to town with Simple Green on the rest of the bike. I pulled all of the electrical connectors, cleaned them out, and packed them all with dielectric grease.

I pulled off the gas tank and made sure the petcock flowed well. I drained all four carbs. I dumped 1/3 of a can of a Seafoam into the gas tank, and let a little run through the carbs. I pulled each of the fuses and checked resistances across each of them - all of them tested good, but the main fuse seemed a bit dodgy - I'd lose connection if I moved the multimeter leads.

I put all the fuses back and hooked up a spare car battery to the bike's battery leads, since the bike's battery hadn't charged yet. I turned the key and...nothing. I pulled out the multimeter again and found 12.65V between ground and the left side of the main fuse. I found 0V between ground and the right side of the main fuse. I pulled the battery off, replaced the fuse with a known good (but too long) one, and tried again. Suddenly my Neutral and Oil lights popped on, as did my running lights. Fantastic.

After about ten to fifteen seconds of cranking and a couple little pops, it started up, and it ran and idled okay, but chugged a little when I gave it throttle. Afterwards, I checked each pipe temperature by hand to see how hot it was. Four, three, and two were even, but for some reason number one was cold. Oh look, #1's plug wire is hanging loose. Plugged that back in, started it up, and voilĂ .


I have a modern fuse box that I bought for my CB550 cafe project that I might throw on this to make sure that part of it is reliable. My initial plan was to flip this for a tidy profit and buy myself a nice TV, but I kind of really want to keep it now. The forks look good, the chrome is perfect, the only rust is on the passenger pegs, the tires are both in great shape, I'm a fan of the 4-2 exhaust. It just needs a slimmer seat and some superbike bars and it would be perfect. Maybe I'll sell my Nighthawk...I guess we'll see.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2010, 08:12:44 am by Laminar »

Offline Ecosse

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2009, 10:51:34 pm »
an internet high five!! and i normally don't do high fives.
man that tank's clean on the inside. sounds like a good plan superbike bars and a seat and enjoy your stroke of sohc luck!



i so jealous.  :'(
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Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2009, 10:58:42 pm »
And I didn't even tell you how much I paid for it.  ;)

Offline Ecosse

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2009, 11:17:30 pm »
And I didn't even tell you how much I paid for it.  ;)

and if our friendship means anything to you, you'll not.



 ;D
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Offline Beans

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2009, 11:19:04 pm »
its always good to find deals like that.  I got my bike for free and $200 bucks later I was riding it. lol
Keep it shinny side up.

Offline Ecosse

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2009, 11:50:28 pm »
do you guys like pulling the legs off of spiders too?
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Offline honda750k

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2009, 05:15:25 am »
Thats a sweet deal right there.  I'm lovin it.   

btw I have a set of those same bars I think. are they a factory piece or some aftermarket addon?
These bikes dont die, they hibernate until the right person wakes them up again.

Offline Alan F.

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2009, 06:24:05 am »
Thats a sweet deal right there.  I'm lovin it.    

btw I have a set of those same bars I think. are they a factory piece or some aftermarket addon?

I'm wondering the same thing, my K3 came with them from the PO with the wires through the bars even, it was a tight fit.


Great score Laminar! And good troubleshooting too. Enjoy it well.

Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2009, 06:36:55 am »
do you guys like pulling the legs off of spiders too?

And the wings off flies.

daredevilsadvocate

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2009, 06:37:39 am »
What kind of bars are those?..or what are the measurements (center width? rise? pullback? total width?)? I am looking for that style for my bobber project...Let me know the measurements and if you are interested in selling them.

Cheers,

~dd

jn895

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2009, 06:46:06 am »
Nice grab.  Great how little rust there is on it.

Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2009, 07:41:32 am »
What kind of bars are those?..or what are the measurements (center width? rise? pullback? total width?)? I am looking for that style for my bobber project...Let me know the measurements and if you are interested in selling them.

Cheers,

~dd

I'll try and get those measurements over lunch break, they're definitely for sale.

Offline doobiebro

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2009, 07:57:11 am »
I had those handle bars on my '77 750K when I bought it.  I believe they were a stock item.  I say that because when I switched over to superbike bars, the wiring harness was about 8 inches too long.  So until I replace the harness, I have an absurd kink in the harness by the steering stem.

You have a very good find!  The '77 model was one of the best 750s made.

Offline Ecosse

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2009, 10:04:29 am »
What kind of bars are those?..or what are the measurements (center width? rise? pullback? total width?)? I am looking for that style for my bobber project...Let me know the measurements and if you are interested in selling them.

Cheers,

~dd

oh sure... laminar's deal get's sweeter by the minute... find that 1k under the seat yet?

 :D


seriously, kudos and keep coming with the updates.
1974 CB550K     
                 
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daredevilsadvocate

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #14 on: August 21, 2009, 10:19:23 am »
Rock on..look forward to seeing your response....Here's a link to my project thread so you can see what direction i am going with...

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=56277.0



Cheers,

~dd
« Last Edit: August 21, 2009, 10:22:54 am by daredevilsadvocate »

Offline JS550

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #15 on: August 21, 2009, 10:38:42 am »
Very cool! Nice bike. Thought I had a gem. House across from my friend was being sold, owner had an old bike out back, said it was free. Friend thought it was an old honda 450 but turned out to be an old Suzuki. Damnit. Might grab it anyway though.
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daredevilsadvocate

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #16 on: August 21, 2009, 10:40:10 am »
Free bike is a free bike...if you don't want it...let me know!!...lol

Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #17 on: August 21, 2009, 10:52:16 am »
Well the seat cover looks brand new. I don't know if anyone would be interested it trading with me for a  stock seat, but I don't plan on keeping this seat.

Offline 754

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #18 on: August 21, 2009, 11:15:04 am »
Best way to get out of the Nighthawk that I know of..
 IOWAnt a deal like that too...
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Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #19 on: August 21, 2009, 03:30:11 pm »
What kind of bars are those?..or what are the measurements (center width? rise? pullback? total width?)? I am looking for that style for my bobber project...Let me know the measurements and if you are interested in selling them.

Cheers,

~dd

Hopefully this works:





A=13"
B=30"
C=12"
D=10"
E=7"
« Last Edit: February 04, 2010, 08:15:05 am by Laminar »

Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #20 on: August 22, 2009, 01:28:48 pm »
I went ahead and stole the fuse box I was going to use on my CB550 Cafe and rigged it up on this bike:



In hindsight, those 90 degree female knife connectors I originally bought but returned would have been perfect, but this solution works great, I don't have to worry about stupid glass fuses, and everything's protected.

I took it for a ride last night and again this afternoon. It likes to stumble a bit at low RPMs but using the choke a little bit helps - the only problem is that turning the choke on brings the idle revs to around 3000rpm, so in first gear the bike doesn't want to stop.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2010, 08:15:23 am by Laminar »

Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #21 on: February 09, 2010, 03:11:41 pm »
I just realized I hadn't updated this thread.

Here's what I've done with the bike:

- Battery
- Oil/filter
- Fork seals
- Chain/sprockets (530 chain conversion with
- Points/condensers
- Valve clearances set
- New fuse box
- New air filter
- Carbs cleaned
- Carbs bench and dynamically synced
- 120 main jets
- Stock CB550 handle bars
- Clutch cable
- Set cam chain tension
- Idle screws set to 1 1/2 turns out

I've done about 2000 miles on it, including a trip across Iowa and a 400 mile trip to Kansas City.








Offline RickRR

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #22 on: February 09, 2010, 04:23:29 pm »
Nice job !
can't wait to ride mine. :)
My heroes had the heart to live their lives out on a limb
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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #23 on: April 04, 2010, 08:52:07 am »
You have done exactly what you should have with this bike, IMHO.

If I find one, I will do the same.  Would love to have a stock 750 to go in my collection....one that is nice, but not too nice to actually ride and enjoy.

Very cool, Sir!

~Joe

Offline Laminar

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Re: I swear they keep following me home -or- My new CB750!
« Reply #24 on: April 05, 2010, 06:18:50 am »
It spent the winter in the in-law's cozy garage so I could keep the other three in mine with both cars.

I'll be pulling it out as soon as I get home from Venezuela later this week, then it's decision time. I have three running, rideable bikes, one that needs restoration, and a hankering for a V65, so two or three have to go, and with the weather getting nice in Iowa, resale values are going up.