Topic: Vieona the 75 F.

[FT20BAS]

evening. thought rather than clogging the intro section i'd start a project thread.

this is the bike currently under the probationary name Vieona (she's still yet to be run and only certified keepers get names)




kays seem low enough. the big girl is pretty well complete. only some fun hurdles to jump before she's officially worthwhile. have got the head at an engine rebuilder mates to see if they can get the remnants of number two's spark plug out of the thread its siezed in.


the pistons had grown in the bores and i had little faith in them coming free on their own, and with the amount of violence required to drive them out i think i was right.

this was the scene after three days:

[Freaky1]

Hey, someone lost a shoe!

Looks like a nice project, what are your plans? Custom or Classic?

[FT20BAS]

air filter and casing, full of cockroach crap:




making soup. detegent and boiling water with a pair of pistons in it to try to get the stuck rings free of their grooves. proved partly successful with a gap opening to pry from but ultimately resulted in only three useable compression rings and i have 4 new sets coming.


and this is where we sit now:




all internals were given a look over, water pressurecleaner blasted, degreased, spraylubed with wd40 and are now locked in the front passenger seat of my nissan patrol as its the least dusty area i can think of till i get my head back and screw the bottom end together. my god the sump was full of #$%* for only forty thousand kays. am glad i stripped her though as the hinge for the cam chain tensioner was locked solid and may have been for a while. may treat it to the odd new bearing too though it all feels pretty good so far.

really hoping the head is salvageable as this is fast becoming an entertaining project. thanks for your time, glen.

"Freaky1:
Hey, someone lost a shoe!

Looks like a nice project, what are your plans? Custom or Classic?"

theres a joke over here: i saw a (insert whatever racial slur befits your country) walking down the street the other day with one shoe on. i asked "did you lose a shoe?"

the response was: nah mate, i found one.

plan is to use as much of what is there as possible without getting too in debt with what isn't. its going back to blue but will by no means be a resto.the exhaust is likely to be the most expensive thing i buy for it and then just a basic tidy up and get her safe and useable. the appearance always comes second to me i'm afraid. luckily theres very little to paint on this one compared to full on "yoghurt tubs" like my 83 RG250W or even all the bodywork on my 81GSX1100EX.

[IainC]

Looks like a fun project. Good luck with the work, seems you have a good idea what you've got yourself into. Keep taking lots of pictures. I look forward to the end results.

[Doctor_D]

Welcome to the '75 750F club.  Wishing you all the best.

[FT20BAS]

thanks matey, but she's a bit shorter on cubes than you've given credit for. she's got 51mm bores and an extra (6th) cog. can i still be a junior affiliate member? 

[FT20BAS]

i'm feeling stupid.

this is not unusual in itself but as a strange new twist on the theme, i can identify this time just why i feel stupid.

after my normal pattern of only acquiring that which i can viably justify getting hold of to be fixed at a reasonable price and or reasonably complete before committing any cash to it, something has gone sideways. still waiting to see if the head is salvageable and have committed the cardinal sin of acquiring parts relevant only to one vehicle with no clear proof of utilisability of said vehicle. if this all goes tit's up theres gonna be some bargains goin up on EBAY.

perhaps i'm dramatising somewhat, but the premise is accurate. was ordering spark plugs and a chain from one of our suppliers today for tinkerbell the GSX1100 and issabelleh the DT200. while looking through their catalogue i spotted a few items of interest and enquired re availability. end result: in around 4 -5 days i'll be the unwitting owner of a 100 and 110/90 x18 road bike tyre, a 530 chain, 4 nippondenso DR8ESL equivalent plugs, and a 400/4 size and shape battery. this doesn't take account of the set of rings and gasket kit i have coming from ebay. worst case scenario i can slip the plugs into the 750 K1 (next resurrection if this one proves futile) in the future as they should work there as K7's list them as oem plugs. the 12n12a4a could be pressed into service in same spot as well or jammed into one of my other fleet. the 530 chain will also fit it, or my old oildripping english schrottkiste. but what the hell to do with a pair of narrow tyres? the DT200 will look bloody ridiculous with a 110/90 in place of the 4.60x18 thats on there now if the thing is even wide enough for the rim and the 750 would benefit from the extra rubber on the ground it'll be getting due to dealing with another 30 ps than the 400. it may go near the RG250 gamma but is 110 not the 100 it came with. and the K1, GSX, and GS1100G use 19" fronts while the DT200 and the english schrottkiste roll on 21". the MZ takes a 3.25 x 16 so it's fully out of the equation.

where the hell am i going with all this? i've decided to trust fate not to shovel sand in my face and that the head will live to fight another day. which brings me to tonights effort:






as a sign of good faith in the big girl i put the bottom end together tonight twice. first as a dry run to verify nothing was going to go awry, and the second with a tube of threebond and a little slower and cautiously. had stripped down and cleaned out the clutch, oil pump and remaining covers today at work so they were all prepped for reinsertion anyway and the whole plot slipped together smooth as silk which is always a nice feeling.

have run it through all the gears and made sure all the bells will bell and the whistles will whistle. barrels are purely acting as a holder for the pistons and a covering sealer for the crankcases at the moment but the slugs run up and down sans problems or sticky spots so thats a bonus. will get a pair of cornflakes boxes or the like and make a one use only base gasket and reuse the headgasket for it's maiden startup till the new rings and gasket kit turn up just to prove she is a runner. it's not like theres any greatly difficult task to repluck the head and barrels in a week or so anyway. this is one of the more "large uncoordinated hands friendly" bikes i've worked on. have priced a new exhaust for it an  didn't drop dead out of fright but will hold off on ordering one till i've heard it bark on its own steam through what remains of the originals.

of course, all this is still an oddyssey in the futile if the head is dead. or else in desperation i'll possibly keep an eye out for a cheap skeleton head and just hoard away the new parts in the meantime.

[FT20BAS]

new chain, tyres, tubes, battery, and plugs are all here. going to see if the heads been done again tomorrow. rings and gaskets are still in transit. a mate says he's on to a genuine used 4 into 1 system in pretty good nick from a wreckers down south. hoping to locate the ignition key this weekend too.

[FT20BAS]

we have head. head has helicoils.

my mate has sorted the snapped plug out and we've made some progress. head is back on temporarily and shes ready to go back in the frame for starting and test running purposes. gasket kit arrived and i used the new base gasket as a template for a pair of throwaways( mmmmmmmm. kelloggs crunchy nut cornflake goodness.) of which one is in place now. retorqued the head with the old gasket and it's seeming to hold compression pressure so thats good. dunno where the hell the rings are. supposedly they were sent before the gasket kit. have put some oil in and around the cambearings and on the rocker gear to deal with kicking it through with the plugs out till she has oil pressure to the topend. she spins over quite sweetly for now so should all be apples once shes got fuel and eletrics back on.

[FT20BAS]

crap audio but i don't mind. pretty happy. (click on the following picture)

with only the fuel in the line/bowls she ran quite well if even in spite of no lower compression rings and no.3 being run with a cracked two-piece ring. was pleased to see the justification of the money i spent on the other new parts for it. when the new rings turn up, i'll pull the top end back off and also regrind the valves.

and what it achieved:

whats left of the three-into-one-and-supplementary header system had plenty of loose rust flakes to jettison once she was running.

have begun to replace the rear tyre and have started to lightly clean the rim while its off. although the rust pits are all the way through the chrome a quick hit with a scourer and some detergent on the brake side have yielded a mild improvement. no sense throwing away or rechroming what is to my mind, a still very useable part. the contrast of one side to the other with minimal effort is quite good.




feels good to be making progress even if only in small strides. new chain and front tyre will go on either tomorrow or monday night depending on what time i get back from sorting the suzukis charging system and the vincents clutch cabling setup.

[FT20BAS]

nothing major achieved with today. the GSX is back in action with her new stator and regulator rectifier. this was important as i don't want it giving any dramas when i drag it 1800 kilometres from home in three weeks.

on veiona i disassembled as far as possible the horn and got it functioning again. sitting for that long had let some form or another of resistance increasing medium (rust or corrosion) stop the contacts from carrying power. a few shoves on the plunger with the adjusting screw removed brought a direct circuit back up on my ohmmeter then the electromagnet was able to do its thing again. readjusted with power from a battery charger and shes now working fine.

was having trouble with the left hand switch gear so disassembled it to to investigate. the passing light (pushing right on the horn button) wasn't returning to its off position and was causing high beam to stay on unless jiggled.
a rusted away remnant proved to be all that was left of the return spring so a replacement was fashioned from the spring of a click pen. cut to length and refound three times after it "sproingedddddd" out and across the room, it is doing its job fine. the high/low beam dipswitch was siezed in the up position and rather than use force and break it, i plucked the cirlip, and brought it down to base components. the detent ball had a layer of surface rust that was resisting the slight rolling motion needed to allow it to break out of the detent holes. a quick hit with some wet and dry sand paper and a drop or two of oil and it's back to a nice clunky but light action and is working fine.

the rear brake light switch is working fine too, though the tallight filament is blown. dashlights work as do the instrument lights and right side indicators which is pleasing.

i figure if i can attack even the odd little job each night it will add up and she'll be rideable in the next few weeks to test everything out before she get's stripped down for paint and tidying up. must say the thing running is a major stumbling block out of the way so from here on should be pretty smooth sailing.

[FT20BAS]

new back tyre is on. have reinstalled the old chain to let it clear off some of the accumulated rust on the sprockets before the new item goes on.  new rings arrived in todays post so that might be tomorrows mission. probably wouldn't have minded if theyd shown up before i got the motor back in the frame but at least this way the old rings will have cleaned up the bores a bit making their lives a little easier early on. need to see a colleague about borrowing a ball hone over the next few days to let the rings break in but there are still plenty of other fiddly little tasks to keep me amused short of ripping the top end off again.

out of interest, whats the general concensus as to engine oil to run. was considering putting it on castrol rx super 15w40 diesel oil as theres no muck in the engine that the detergents in the oil will break loose and i don't think theres a lot of friction modifiers in it that'll be giving the clutch a hard time. theres some left over valvoline 20w50 in there now and thats goin to be coming out soon as i'll also be replacing the old oil filter i cleaned out the othe week with the cases. the other likelihood might be castrol activ 4t as thats what i run in the gsx. is there an oil that one of you might suggest that could take care of the 750k1 when shes up and going as well? i prefer to buy in bulk and if its getting used at least it doesn't just sit around for too long.

cheers, glen.

[FT20BAS]

todays little stash. a bloke i know has a hoard of parts and we had time to go through it today. out of his scrap alloy bin i've assembled a hollow (no pistons, gearshafts, clutch or clutch cover) 400 F motor that has a reasonable looking crank and rods, good primary and starter clutch, head has no fin or thread damage, an oil pump, and other bits and bobs. the stator cover has the honda badge that i'm missing and the cam and rockers look like they'll clean up ok for spares.

also in amongst the following pics is a spare set of clocks, carbs, idiot lights, headlight housing and ring, switchblocks, airbox, indicators, fuel tap, a perfect kickstarter (mine had once cracked out and been welded leaving it very sloppy, and a finned stator cover that i really don't want but it was there and wouldn't be if he scraps the rest of what he isn't keeping. a small strange piece of period go faster gear that will look cool if cleaned up even if not on a bike.

a brand new pair of bars worth 45 bucks retail, a set of spare carbs for my GSX1100 and a set of 36mm mikunis from a black case 1135cc GSX EFE for if i ever go to town on the motor in search of more grunt. a bare 750 head that will clean up fine, a kikstart lever, a lower 750 crankcase half that has never had a spat final drive chain go through it, a spare GSX1100 bare head on which i may practice porting, and a pair of GS1100G headlight buckets, one with a good light.









after i picked and gathered all the above we discussed price. the GSX carbs are worth 200 or so alone and the assorted odds and sods and spares for the hondas probably run into about a grand i'd guess if you were to get them all from a wrecker. "how much would you like to give me for the lot?" says errol. being no negotiator myself i said to give me a figure and i'd work out which parts i'd best leave with him. "hang on" he says, "think i've got a manual or two here i don't need either" so out came a clymer 750 k series book, a clymer GS850-1100G shaft drive shop manual and a haynes GSX manual too. "150 bucks sound ok to you?" he says which dropped my jaw and said "no, thats way too little. are you sure?" cash changed hands and he said that was tonnes and was happy that the bits were going to someone who'd have some use for them, and i'm tickled pink that she's that little bit closer to being a goer again. some days it's worth getting out of bed.