Topic: Spiider's '73 CB750 - "The Baby Elephant"

[Spiider]

Thanks!

I keep updating it...even though at this point it's not that interesting so I know people won't comment much.
Hopefully it will get more interesting for readers as she starts to come back together.


If anyone needs any closeups of something and I still have the area apart that you are interested in let me know I'll take more pictures.

[rickmoore24]

Nice find Spiider and quick work of getting her stripped down. But next time save your back and knuckles by setting the engine and frame on it side and lifting the frame off the motor, it's waaaaay easier!      Keep posting!

Rick

[rickmoore24]

oh, put the motor in that way too.

[Stev-o]

Or, get the Gordan frame kit.

[Spiider]

I was so afraid to smash up my side covers doing it the lay on the side method, and although I know it is popular I just can't bring myself (and my sawzall) to cut the frame. I'll wiggle it back in with the frame taped up for protection.

Today I used spray on paint stripper and got the swing arm and center stand down to bare metal. That stuff works great! It's just a bit of wire brushing and wiping and the paint is gone. Coated the two pieces with oil until they are ready for paint. I still need to wire wheel the surface crust/rust off a few small areas on the swing arm and grind off the tabs for the chain guard.

For the frame I'll do the same process but in sections as I work each evening. It will give me a good chance to visually inspect the frame once it is clean. In general I can see it is all original and no frame rust anywhere.

[Spiider]

Just a couple updates, trying to save some blasting time (at $100 per hour why not).

I used a chemical stripper gel called "Super Stripper" from the paint section of my local hardware store.
It says it doesn't harm metal and sure enough it was totally safe.

Just brush on and literally the paint is loosening right behind your brush, then wait 15 min or so and blast it off with the hose. It turned out to be a lot more efficient than the spray on stuff and 1/4 the price, same chemical content too.

I've also been using Evaporust on the center stand, pic's to come when it is clean but man o man that stuff works. I just wish it wasn't so expensive or I'd buy a barrel of it.

I got a phone quote today for less than $300 for final cleanup with a blaster and then a nice gloss black powdercoat on the three pieces. I may get some other odds and ends together for paint to do at the same time. Maybe the bottom part of the triple. Then if I decide not to go with the Joker machine triple I can use it after all, if I do decide to go that route I can sell it painted.

I may also do the oil pan(?), it may offer good protection for it under there but I was also thinking about going with a chrome ceramic coat on the oil pan for heat dispersion and long life.  have to pick what I want ceramic coated vs powder painted I guess.

[Spiider]

Just a brief update (no pics) on what's up so far in my project.

Things are actually moving along nicely...

Frame and Swing arm are out for "wet black" powder coat
Ordered lots of misc stuff...
battery strap
key for steering head lock
rear swing arm roller bearing kit
carb rebuild kits x4
stainless bolt kit for the engine covers
headlight bucket/ring
headlight ears
aluminium bullet turn signals x4
repro wiring harness
tappet covers
front brake master rebuild kit
tapered head bearings

That's about it to date for my shopping so far.
I have a long list, my first goal is just to have it back up as a roller...

 

[Spiider]

Another update...very exciting.

The powder coater here in Toronto emailed to say the frame is done and they will do the swing arm today.

First pic of the frame, not great picture quality but he says it looks perfect up close.



A lot of stuff came in....my lighting order from Dime City cycles, new headlight bucket in black gloss powder as well as aluminium headlight ears and aluminium turn signals for the front and rear. 

The ebay key for the steering lock worked perfectly!

All my bearings and bushings are in waiting for the frame and swingarm to return.

Carb kits are here but I've ordered all new stainless hex cap screws for the two sets of pd42 carbs I got with the bike.
One set of carbs is ready for reassembly. Waiting for the screws to put them back together again.

I ordered new Sunstar front and rear sprockets with the 530 chain conversion part numbers. Once they come in (in a couple months) I'll select a chain. I like the Tsubaki non-oring so far...strong and light.

I still have a long list of parts to order, just taking my time and not stressing the build budget (or my wifes patience) too much all at once. Talking to BCR about a metal dolphin tank and a custom seat, let's see what he proposes!

[Spiider]

Update...got the frame back from the powdercoater.

They did a beautiful job, if you ever need powder work done in the Toronto Area these guys are my new best friends!

http://www.brightsidecoatings.com/

Disclaimer: I have no personal/commercial affiliation with them, just super pleased with their work.




I also managed today to get the All Balls kit installed in the steering tube, and a needle bearing kit installed in the swing arm and the swing arm back on the bike. (Held up with wire to prevent marring the paint.)

I am well on my way....next up is painting the triple, I have it primered already just waiting a day for it to set.
I'm close to getting her back into the rolling stock stage...

 

[Retro Rocket]

Looking good mate.....

Mick

[Spiider]

Thanks!

I ordered a NOS front fender the other day among a few gaskets etc. that I need. They should be in this week sometime.
Now I need to get the carbs and engine buttoned up so I can put it in the frame. I'm going to try the lay the engine on its side and lower the frame onto it method to get it back in. Maybe I'll put down a couple tires to keep the engine from being damaged.

I want to get the cam cover and oil pan out for ceramic coatings before I do that though...my "order of operations" is causing me grief.
 

Currently painting the battery box and working on what to do about the triple...I have two complete triples with keys for the steering locks. I was thinking of going keyless with the bike and just having the steering lock and a hidden kill switch.

I may still go with an aftermarket triple, I just haven't seen anything that looks great yet. The Joker one is nice but I don't like the handlebar risers.


 

[Spiider]

Just an update as to where I am with this.

I haven't been sitting on my laurels with this, I've been working hard and shopping hard to get this old girl back on the road in the spring.

I bought a 3/4 hp 8 inch bench grinder, changed out the wheels for buffing wheels and got to work on the cam cover, and the fork lowers.
I can't agree more with whomever said that polishing is an addiction. The more I do and get better at it the more I want to do...

So, the fork lowers are starting to look good. Not a mirror chrome, but a nice shine. I did a test fit of the forks/gators into the front triple and was not happy with the look at all.
So, I tore it all apart again and ordered a Joker triple and a second tapered bearing kit for it. Now I have 3 triple clamps. Two stockers, one repainted with a key and tapered bearings and one original with just the key. I guess I'll eventually sell those since the Joker one will pretty much be the one I'll use.  

The engine is back in the frame. I used the 'lay the engine on its side and place the frame over it' method.
Btw, any newbies out there like me should really listen to the old timers when they tell you to do this.
Lord knows it was 10x easier to get the engine back in than it did to get out with an engine hoist. My son held the front end while I held the rear and it went on like butter.
No marks in the powdercoat, no issues getting stuck.
Tip: I put a 3x3 inch piece of wood under the clutch cover and a 1 inch piece of wood under the engine fins to level it up so it sat nice and vertical before lowering the frame on.

I assembled the rear end as well. I put a 48 tooth Sunstar sprocket (530 chain conv) on the rear but the Sunstar front seems like it isn't easy to order anywhere so I got a JT288 17t for the front on order.

I need to order a boatload of small parts, I don't want to put anything back on that doesn't look nice.
By the time I'm done I'll have more than enough to build a rat bike!
  
Coming back together...




Sunstar rear sprocket



Tarozzi Clipons



Tarozzi Rearsets and Magura front brake master

[Spiider]

Updates:

Got quite a bit done to the rear end of the bike.

Here are some pictures.

New wiring harness pulled into position.
(I'm still waiting for my Joker Machine Triple to get moving on the front end.)



Left side, Tarozzi shifter and Sunstar 17t Sprocket for 530 chain.



Right side, Tarrozi Brake Actuator.
Yes, it interfere's with the kick start...not sure what I want to do there about it. Maybe change to a folding peg...

I still have to figure out the brake switch. It could locate in the stock position but I'd like to hide it a bit better.
I thought it kind of stuck out there in the stock position.



Electrical panel coming back together.  
I have to still do a bit of fab work for my 4 position blade type fusebox to go into the stock location.
That's a new adjustable regulator from Oregon, and a new rectifier from Oregon as well. Nice separate pieces that fit well into the stock panel!



Dime City Cycles rear signal/marker lights. Clear with amber bulbs.
I put them on slightly longer signal stalks, I may try them back to the shorter length once she goes back together more permanently.



Work ongoing....polishing my fork lowers. I only have about 6 hours into them and still not perfect.
I ordered a Tsubaki Alpha chain from Bike Bandit for it as well as a bunch of small stuff like stock bands for the wiring harness, a new brake bleeder and cap. Small hardware items. I also replaced a LOT of bolts for the frame with stainless, including the washers in stainless as well. I need to get the two long bolts done in stainless as they are not stock items from anywhere. The lower front is 325mm M10. I may have to do a piece of stainless rod there and tap the ends for M10 nuts.  

I found them made to order in England as well but the shipping is killer.

That's it for now. As I do more I'll keep updating! Enjoy.



 

[Killer Canary]

Nice stuff! But what holds the rearsets to the frame?

[Spiider]

The rearsets are mounted using cast aluminium frame clamps that fit like a glove around the frame tubes.

You can actually see them very clearly in the pictures but unless you are specifically looking for them you can't see the forest for the tree's there. They are black kind of bulky looking things where the peg intersects the frame in the pictures.

[Spiider]

I test fit the front end, with headlight, clipons and controls this morning.  

Here is a test fitting of all the components.
Note it all has to come apart again to put the forkboots on and the new triple.
I may cancel the joker triple I ordered, they are out of stock for 30 days. I may just go with the CycleX top and the stock bottom so I can use the steering lock.

[MasterChief750]

those joker trees are made on a per order basis. maybe try getting a hold of them and see what the holdup is.

[brandEn]

Nice build, following along.

[Spiider]

those joker trees are made on a per order basis. maybe try getting a hold of them and see what the holdup is.

Maybe that's what Brian at Joker meant by it'll take 30 days. I thought he meant they were out of stock and wouldn't get any for that long. I guess they have to make it. I told him that's fine...I am itching to get it all back together but the snow is still flying here so I have a few months left before spring fever hits.

Thanks to everyone following along for their ideas and kind words.
This has come a long way but still has quite a bit to go so I'll try to keep documenting as things get interesting.

Still to come...fork gators(?) or dust caps. Fork gators seem to be more pain than they are worth.
I have the cyclex ones on the way here but if they don't look good I'm giving up on the idea completely.

I have a tank coming as well, in fairly plain silver. I will likely clean it out and repaint it to a bright silver.
I took this picture in Germany at the Mercedes Museum, and I love the Silver Arrow style/color scheme.

[Spiider]

So, I took the front end all apart today. Installed the new fork boots from CycleX....hated the way they bunch up when the forks are compressed. Pulled it all apart again, ran to the Honda parts dept and bought a set of 78 fork dust seals popped them on and reassembled everything.

While I was putting it back together I thought...why not throw the new fender on there to see how it looks.
Here is the result...also test fitted with the tank I bought.



I have a ton of stuff still coming in from BikeBandit so likely more updates next week as I throw more parts onto the bike!

[Spiider]

Weekly update...

530 Tsubaki Alpha Gold XRing Chain
(I know I haven't fully pressed the rivet link yet, tool is coming.)




A little further along....tank is mounted properly on new rubbers, front brake caliper is on.
I put a new bleeder screw and cap on there from Bike Bandit.
(I ordered the SS one piece line from Slingshot Cycle on Friday.)
 


The hondaclassic31 seat I ordered on eBay, Let's see how that turns out.
Hopefully the quality is good, I think a lot of people are interested in seeing one up close.




Still to come...gas cap, carbs, exhaust, grips....maybe a shorty rear fender. I need ideas there.
Gauges need to be selected and ordered....whew, when is the shopping going to end!


Oh, thanks to a healthy dose of the search engine and previous peoples problems I sorted out 99% of my wiring hanress blues in about 3 evenings. If you buy the Partsnmore harness be prepared for some headaches, small ones but painful. (I'm a high tech mechanic as well dealing with electro/pneumatic/mechanical issues daily.) The best reference was the oldmanhonda interactive site, not the per year reference schematics he has in the archive area of his site. That Partsnmore harness is good quality but it is a definitely a frankenharness crossing several years of bikes.

[mrbreeze]

I saw that tank on Ebay. Looked to be a clean,solid tank. I don't remember for sure but didn't he have side covers also? I know for sure he had a stock seat that looked to be in excellent condition.

[andy750]

Colour scheme is looking very good  - the tank looks very good with rest of the bike. Looking forward to seeing your seat on there. How is the clipon/tank clearance?

good luck!
Andy

[Spiider]

Yep, I got that tank off ebay. Good price really, there is literally no rust on it.
I was worried when I got it home and couldn't open the cap because the thumblatch is broke.
I got a small screwdriver and popped the latch over and there was just a tiny bit of surface rust.

The petcock also works perfectly.

The paint isn't perfect, but no dents and the paint has a vintage look to it.
I may keep it for now and just repaint my side covers. I didn't see that he had any matching ones.
If he does I'd buy them too! Good vendor.

The clipon clearance is good, I may have to shorten the stops a tiny bit to keep them from striking the tank though.
I've tried them in all configurations and the current one is the most workable. I regret not buying the Tarrozi's that don't have a rise to them, but I like the bit of drop there. I may still try them one last time on top of the triple. I love the adustability of those clipons though.

[rickmoore24]

I have a HondaClassics31 seat on my CB. They make an excellent seat. Mine fits fine and the foam and cover are solid! Great looking bike! Nice work.

Rick