Topic: New guy with new (to me) bike -- big pics warning death to dial-up!

[poboy]

Just wanted to drop in and say hi! I just got a '75 CB750F and hauled it home. It has been sitting outside under a tarp for a while but it seems to be pretty complete and the price was right; FREE! After cleaning up some electrical connectors, charging the battery and evicting some black widows I was able to get it to fire and run (somewhat). Today I drained all the gas and used "the works" to de-rust the tank (it wasn't too bad) and finally got the airbox apart; I had to cut around one of the bolts on the bottom to get a socket on it. To my surprise I found a web covered K&N 

Can anyone tell me if it is still wearing the factory color and if so what the color was called?

The VIN tag shows a build date of 2/75 but it was registered as a '76 for some reason. The odometer shows 23K and change.

Thanks in advance for all the help and answers to the questions I'm going to ask!

[david 750f]

Congratulations on the new bike. That is a later 77 or 78 (not sure which) tank and tail piece. A 1975 CB750F should be Orange or Blue.

[Frostyboy]

You got it for free & it's not even Christmas yet? What a find. Any chance you can send me 6 random numbers between 1 & 45? I'll put a lotto entry in, maybe your luck will rub off on me.   Great find, I'm still new here too, but there's lotsa blokes here who will help you enormously I'm sure. Good luck.

[Steve F]

Lucky you! and welcome to the forums!  I think that it has been repainted, or you have a tank from a '77 or later.  (if it was a '77, the bike would have Comstar wheels as stock, and the rear master cyl. mount would be different, among other things).  Like said before the stock colors for '75 750F's were Orange and Blue, the '76 750F's were Yellow or Candy red.

[poboy]

Thanks for the info and the welcome. Are the '77/78 tanks dimensionally the same? Is it just a paint and decal difference?

[GammaFlat]

As you probably know, the K&N filter is cleanable/re-usable.  You may need to re-oil it after cleaning. 

[Steve F]

Thanks for the info and the welcome. Are the '77/78 tanks dimensionally the same? Is it just a paint and decal difference?

Yes, I think that's true, but can't say for certain.  I think the tail piece on the later F's had some sort of emblem mounted on them, and the colors available were black and a dark maroon kinda color? (as you can probably tell, I'm not a big fan of the F's with the Comstars, and don't know much about them except their ability to chew through valve guides).

[750Caferider]

Hey hey let's be nice!   The tank/seat are a dead ringer for my 78...  I think your seat has been recovered and yes you have a 75 single disc brake up front and out back.  Don't worry I don't think that you will be having any valve issues but just to be on the safe side adjust them .003 int./ .004 ex.  I did and mine runs great except for this damn oil leak.

[Don R]

I have 2 75F's, they are both dark red. One is original for sure. You can get the spinning air filter box bolt out by heating a socket with a hot air gun and melting it into the plastic a little until the socket grips the head.  Nice find by the way, the one I got free was wrecked and had no engine.

[MacM2010]

The 77 and 78 F tanks will fit without any problems on a 75 or 76, but the petcock is different (which means you probably have a later tank and petcock on an earlier frame and engine).

You can check your engine and frame numbers here to be sure:
http://www.hondachopper.com/engine/engine_timeline/timeline.html

And welcome to the forum.  Good to have another F on here.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Welcome to our insanity.

Colorado plates, huh? Where are you located? Lot of hardwood trees behind the house and a different plate on the Subaru.

Mfr date 2/75 is definitely a '75. What's both the serial numbers? 75's went to frame
CB750F-1015054. My bike is CB750F-1001606. It is currently (and was new) Candy Sapphire Blue. The only other color for 75 was Flake Sunrise Orange. 75's were only produced for the 1st 3 months of 75 I believe so I'd bet your serial number is in the 5,000 to 10,000 range. 76's were Sulfur Yellow and Candy Antares Red. Their serial numbers started with CB750F-2xxxxx . 77/78 were black and a burgundy/maroon (?) color.  If you ever want to see that orange color just let me know. I have that body set also. You have what appears to be (due to color and emblems) a 77/78 750F tank. Same shape as 75/76. Hard to find a half way decent replacement tank! Another discontinued item. Nothing wrong with that but it does have a different petcock that is hard to find and no longer made. You also have a Mac aftermarket muffler/tail piece. Yes, that seat has been recovered. You have K model shocks. The horn has been relocated as it originally was to the right of the electrical junction box on the down tubes. Best place to get aftermarket replacement side covers(discontinued by Honda) is  LPMReplicaParts.com. Very reasonable. In England but that's not a problem considering you can't get them here.  

Good clean find and definitely can't beat the price. Hell, I'd given the guy $100 and I'm probably closer too.  

We're here to help. All the knowledge you'll need, not to mention more BS than you might need.

Jerry

[KB02]

And we can see you have your Crack, Ace mechanic working on it with you, too. 

[poboy]

Thanks for the info guys. I am in North AL, the bike had been transplanted a while back, tags are from '98. Both the frame and engine are '75 (I don't have them handy at the moment) so it seems the tank/seat/tail fairing has been replaced at some time; along with the rear shocks. How often do the '75 seats/tail fairings show up for sale?

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

You can buy a whole repro seat on EBay minus the tail piece and side trim. Occasionally an old seat will show up. I'd suggest watching EBay daily but I gotta warn you I always bid in the last 5 seconds and bid high if I want something badly   The seat trim pieces, if very good, would fit that description. Your tail piece is original provided it does not have the 2 holes in the rear to hold the emblem found only on the 77/78. That's the only difference. Your tail piece doesn't have the trim piece that covers the back edge and your seat doesn't have the side trim pieces. Those are not so easy to find unless you do pick up an old seat. The side trim pieces match the body color and those are probably MORE difficult to find. I have been looking for both the blue and orange trim pieces without luck. I'd like to find a shop that can print the colors on adhesive backed vinyl which is basically what that is.

Just scanned EBay for Honda 750 seat. 170 listings. NO 750F seats! A 77/78 would work also but the vinyl pattern is slightly different. There is a cover listed with his "universal" picture he used for all his listings. No telling what you'd end up with as the picture is not correct. Oh yeah, if you bid on just the seat, you're safe from me. I have a NOS 77/78 seat to use on my restore but my 75 seat is fine.

[Really?]

I hate you free bike gettin' people, arrgggg.  Just kidding.  Great find and welcome!