Topic: Honda CB750K8 CAFE project (near completion!)

[AnthonyMichael]

Been reading the forum for a bit while starting my cafe project. It began over six months ago when my Australian friend helped me rip the bike apart. Progress stalled, he went back home and I was stuck with a powder coated frame and a floor covered in parts. I put out an APB on the forums for someone with any knowledge who'd be into helping a rookie to get in touch and much to my surprise I met Nortstudio who lives not only in NYC but a block behind me. Close enough where if I throw a stone I could be paying for his new front window. He knows much more than I (who knows practically nothing) but admittedly hasn't done a project of this level yet. So the two of us have been throwing ideas back and forth and figuring out problems as they come. We're further along than just starting so I decided to get this thread going and give picture updates to catch up to speed.

The bike is a CB750K8. I've rode it for 2 years and absolutely love the bike. I also have a 76 550 but this one is my baby. I've been in an accident with it and rode it every day till dismantling it (bike was fixed before tear down). My first bikes I were introduced to were actually cafes by a rocker buddy of mine almost 7 years ago. It's cool to see the style take off and almost teeter on the verge trend but I don't care as things of the 50s/60s era are and always will be appealing to me trend or no trend.

Anyhow, I want to replace pretty much every part that doesn't go with my overall picture. Basically the frame, engine and forks will remain intact and everything else is going to be changed to suit my vision.
I wanted a boxy shape to the tank, using a Manx as a starting point.

Here's the bike before teardown:



Post tear down:



More to come...

[AnthonyMichael]

Here's some photos a friend of mine who is a great photographer took. I actually didn't ask her to but she found the parts fascinating and took them in my studio one day. Posting to show how dirty some of the bike was and also the bike art genre is pretty minimal, so enjoy. HERE's the photographer's site

[AnthonyMichael]

Here's the engine pre scrubbing/polishing, really really nasty. Took days to clean. Photos of that tomorrow. Just how clean do you think? Pics to reveal tomorrow...

[AnthonyMichael]

Post Cleaning/Pre Covers:

[AnthonyMichael]

Polished Covers, Stainless Bolts and Gaskets replaced:

[AnthonyMichael]

I have a Kerker 4/1 exhaust I want to put on so we made sure everything fit before we had the frame sandblasted and powdercoated. Unfortunately Kerker provides you with a hideous mounting bracket that is supposed to go from the tab of the muffler to the same bolt where the right shock is connected. Basically covering the appearance of the shock which is something I don't want. Solution? Remove the rear footpeg triangle which we don't need since we're using a Raask rear set and weld on a new bar to connect the frame to the muffler without being obtrusive to the eye. This task wasn't so easy. Fortunately Brent, the Austrailian, has common sense and mounted the engine in the frame, attached the muffler and using a piece of cardboard made a mock up so when we brought the frame to our welder friend we'd know exactly what needed to be done without having the engine or the muffler there.





Cardboard measurements to bring to the welder:


Welding the new bracket on:


Back from sandblasting:

[Toxic]

Nice transformation.

What steps did you use on the engine?

You started with a real nice looking donor bike.

This should be a great build to follow along.  Keep it updated.

Best of luck on your build

[AnthonyMichael]

Thanks.

For the engine we basically degreased and scrubbed the crap out of the thing. I propped up my bench on an angle so all the run off would drip into a bucket. I spent days upon days scrubbing this thing, getting into every nook and cranny. Then while Brent was gone, I got impatient/excited and decided to paint the fins black. Looked great. Then I wanted to sand off the edges to expose the metal and leave the inside black. Once I did this I realized it was flaking off very easily. I told Brent what happened and he was like "You're an idiot. You didn't prep it?" So we had to hunt down some Prep-Sol, a few other things, and had to remove all of the black which was just as much work as cleaning it before. It was horrible. Lesson learned. Surface was cleaned properly, removed all the grease/wax etc. Then used some of Carpy's High Temp Engine paint which is actually a really nice paint. It's the same stock color but has these little flakes in the paint that make it sparkle. I was really surprised and pleased. I'm guessing Carpy has a go to paint, removes the label and puts his own label on it. But I have no idea. Doesn't seem like he's at the level to actually produce his own paint, but I don't care, his recommendation is what I bought.

Yeah the bike was in great condition to begin with. I love the way it performed and knew this was the one I wanted to do the conversion on. I rode it immensely and look forward to giving it a whole new life and appreciation.

[climbingaz]

Got me interested (eating popcorn).  

[AnthonyMichael]

Heres a picture of the frame with the new bar we welded on after powder coating:





I'm sure some of you will notice the rear bar has been cut off in favor of a round bar and battery relocation box for under the seat. I have Benjie cafe racer make me a tank/seat combo to my specs. More pics to follow...

[MCRider]

Heres a picture of the frame with the new bar we welded on after powder coating:





I'm sure some of you will notice the rear bar has been cut off in favor of a round bar and battery relocation box for under the seat. I have Benjie cafe racer make me a tank/seat combo to my specs. More pics to follow...

I've got several mods to my frame like that. Really makes it personal. Good job.

[AnthonyMichael]

Frame with the rear seat on before we placed the engine in:



Frame with the engine finally in:



photos by Nortstudio

[AnthonyMichael]

Also wanted to mention that the seat I have from Benjie's isn't the seat I'm going to be using. I initially ordered the seat/tank combo from them, but after thinking about the overall design of the bike I realized a few things: Most cafes have one flaw that annoys the crap out of me. Someone can design a bike as nice as they see fit but when it comes to the license plate 9 times out of 10 they compromise by bending the crap out of it or putting it low by the foot rests. Now, between the two, I prefer the latter but from a design standpoint and being slightly neurotic, I think of the plate as the cherry on top. The final touch and reward to all your hard work. Don't sacrifice on something so small in my opinion. So while thinking about that I realized that between a brake light and plate I might be cramped on room myself.

I decided to order a new fiberglass seat from Benjie with the tail light built in, freeing up a bit more space for the plate. He's also making me a rear fender which is perfect for me to house the plate. I went with a new seat also because I think painting the back portion of the seat to match the tank gives the bike a look that appeals to what I like about cafes. I also noticed a lot of cafes don't have rear fenders but that doesn't bother me. I was looking at old BSA's and they look nice with theirs on, so as long as it doesn't compromise the overall appearance I'm down. The old Benjie seat is available for sale if anyone is interested.

[SKTP]

Looking amazing...I have a similar project going

[AnthonyMichael]

Nicer photo of the engine in the frame:



Also Nortstudio helping to dremel off the hoses from the brackets:

[tango911]

Looking good so far im right behind you on the engine cleaning,  mines in the same shape yours was, only ill prob not dress mine up as much.   and Nortstudio is a great guy, we've been wrenching long distance together picking eachothers brains, so you have  great helper there.


good luck,
steve

[AnthonyMichael]

Looking good so far im right behind you on the engine cleaning,  mines in the same shape yours was, only ill prob not dress mine up as much.   and Nortstudio is a great guy, we've been wrenching long distance together picking eachothers brains, so you have  great helper there.


good luck,
steve

Ahhh Steve. Yes. Essentially you are to Nortstudio as Brent is to me. Always mentioned but not there in the physical. Cheers to the third party help!

[AnthonyMichael]

All photos are now up to date:

[AnthonyMichael]

THE MESS:

[AnthonyMichael]

A PM I just received. Figured I'd post it in the thread just in case anyone else had a similar question:

"do you think the muffler hanger can support the muffler without a triangle in it? Give it a try I guess, there's not a lot of weight on the one hand, but then...

Looking good. What swingarm is that?"

The muffler theoretically can be supported without the hanger, we tested it. The only reason it needs to be supported so far back is because the muffler has a removable baffle on it and it would simply fall off or be stolen without the need for tools. Also not supporting it would probably give way to a bend if moved or hit in any way.

The swingarm is a Dresda box swing arm replica made by Carpy.

[miwialex]

looking good man. Cant wait to see the finished product

[Nortstudio]

Looking good so far im right behind you on the engine cleaning,  mines in the same shape yours was, only ill prob not dress mine up as much.   and Nortstudio is a great guy, we've been wrenching long distance together picking eachothers brains, so you have  great helper there.


good luck,
steve

Awww shucks....  Hopefully I make up in good energy what I lack in skills

[knowsnothing]

Hey guys, awesome work you 2 are doing.  I can't wait to see the final product!!

He knows much more than I (who knows practically nothing) but admittedly hasn't done a project of this level yet.

ps - no name stealing!!  

[AnthonyMichael]

Focusing my work on the wheel hubs, I have new spokes and rims coming. Need to order tires. My plan is to polish up the parts I have to make it look as nice as possible

Dirty


I totally freaked out when my socket wouldn't fit right on this and started stripping the bolt a bit. Then after 20 minutes I looked closer and realized there were metal tabs folded up so the bolts don't come loose when riding. Complete new jack mistake!





Cutting the hub free as the rest of the tire was trash. (it's New York I don't have the time or space to bother)



The rear sprocket once I cleaned it from all the gunk. Still not where I want it to be...



Tried buffing, it didn't work, so I used a orbital sander at 120 to get the major pits out:



Realized that circular isn't the way to go and to keep the sanding uniform in one direction so I resanded and worked up to a 600 grit then hit the buffing wheel on one half just to compare and contrast:



It definitely looks better. Actually it could be acceptable but I'm going to try my hand one more time with higher grade sandpaper. I'll take it each step from 120-3000 grit. (I have a polishing/sanding question posted HERE

[Huh??]

Hey... I didn't notice it mentioned... What kind of rearsets are you using? They look pretty sporty.