Topic: Good gosh almighty I got me a 70 KO !!

[dhall57]

If I'm dreaming don't wake me up, yeah a 1970 CB750 KO. I just wanted to let everyone know since we are one big family, the SOHC/4 family that is. Here's a quick run down and a few pics. More info and pictures later

mfg. date 4/70
eng. vin. 750E-1031528
miles - 20449

It needs plenty of TLC, but it's a start. I've got me a project.

[greenjeans]

Wow - looks like it's a pretty solid bike.  Lucky ba$!@rd.

[Prospect]

Looks to be in great shape!  Looks very original at firs glance. You said it's going to be a project  -so what work does it need done?

[ekpent]

Wake up wake up its only a dream    GREAT score,looks very unmolested. Must not have been to far down the line from the original owner.    Details man 

[mrjack55]

Wow, awesome score!
Like everyone said, from the pics it looks pretty solid and unmolested.  RESTORE IT PLEASE! 
Congratulations! Have fun and keep the build pics coming.

[bikebitzofvt]

That looks to be an excellent restoration candidate!  Congrats on the find & good luck with the bike!!

Keep the shiny side up!

[Gordon]

 

All matching body work, correct seat, HM300 pipes!  That's a rare find!



Too bad about that rear rim, though.

[dhall57]

Im at work so this can't be long. Thanks everybody. Gorden, the 16" harley wheel and the missing airbox were the two things I noticed first. my 750 K6 has a Harley wheel also. I like the meatier tire look but I know it's not factory. I guess that was standard issue in the 70's to do that Does anyone have a spare KO airbox just laying around? HA Ha !!

[Gordon]

Im at work so this can't be long. Thanks everybody. Gorden, the 16" harley wheel and the missing airbox were the two things I noticed first. my 750 K6 has a Harley wheel also. I like the meatier tire look but I know it's not factory. I guess that was standard issue in the 70's to do that

I was just nit-picking.  I had to find something wrong with it to make me feel a tiny bit better about the fact that it's not mine!

[Johnie]

Hall...this is a great find for you!!! Beautiful... Appears there was a fuel leak under the carbs, no biggy. It has the K1 mirrors on there and you can get the acorn nut mirrors which are period correct for the KO. I can not figure out why the master banjo bolt is so close to the tach. Looks like he must have moved the master down the bars for some reason? Be sure to check that brake line by the tach as he has quite a bend in it. Very nice find for you. I really like that color. When you get a chance let us know your plans and give us some history on the bike.

[Hannibal Smith]

Please not another boring restoration..............a 70's style chopper would look awesome IMO.

[Gordon]

Please not another boring restoration..............a 70's style chopper would look awesome IMO.

Nah!  Cafe that beast!!!

[754]

Slammed streetracer 900cc or bigger, keep the ducktail seat on it.!!

[Johnie]

Nah...send that duckbill seat to me. It is worthless... 

[xsmooth69x]

is this taboo on this site but if you dont mind me asking how much did you pay for it?

[fire113]

Does anyone have a spare KO airbox just laying around? HA Ha !!

...Yes HA HA  and a original wheel too

You can order it by LPM, has good quality and with fresh candy blue green paint it will look great.

Good luck with Your K0...Georg

[KingCustomCycles.com]

I will shamelessly hardtail chop every SOHC 750 I ever own.  That is where the money is. Oops, all except one, my current 69 KO project.  Honestly, if the market doesn't support restorations, why would anyone do them? If you want to throw money away, PM me and I'll give you my address.........

[Gordon]

I will shamelessly hardtail chop every SOHC 750 I ever own.  That is where the money is. Oops, all except one, my current 69 KO project.  Honestly, if the market doesn't support restorations, why would anyone do them? If you want to throw money away, PM me and I'll give you my address.........

If I were in it for "the market" I wouldn't have gotten into sohc4's in the first place.  Some people do things simply because it makes them happy, and not for monetary gain.

[Old Scrambler]

Great Score!..............keep another K0 on the road.  Nice original clocks.............looks to me the PO did a few maintenance items but kept it close to original.

[Markcb750]

Great score!

Hope to see it on a ride in the mountains.

Mark

[Don R]

Very nice and mostly all there. Mine was heavily updated but is being retro fitted nearly original.

[Nikkisixx]

Very nice, congrats!      
It is a great candidate to restore, keep us posted.
I'd rather see the '76 twins in the mountains Mark.

[dhall57]

Once again everybody thanks for your input. Since getting this bike last Saturday 5/14/11 Ive been spending a lot of time just giving it a good cleaning so I can see what I have to work with. My first priority is to start checking things out so I can slowly start getting it in road worthy shape. PO had current tags and inspection and he said now and than he would it take down the road  in frt of his house even though he would have to jump start it. I wouldn't consider the bike reliable or safe any further than that. But to be a 42 year old bike the more I clean on it and look it over amazingly it's in good condition. This is not going to be a restoration tear down and rebuild project for me, maybe someday but not anytime in the near future. My goal is simple, get in running as good as I can and make it safe and reliable for the road and continue scrubbing on it to get years of dirt and crud off of it and spend no more $$$ than I have to. Nothing to it right. When this is all done just ride the crap out of it and enjoy it. My goal is to have 1 more 750 of a different year so me and my 2 sons all can ride SOHC4's. With everyones help here and I know I'll need a lot of it,I know I can do it, so please don't get tired of all my questions. I'am not a complete newbie by any means I've learned a lot from my K6 and I wouldn't hesitate to ride it anywhere. Here's some more pics. There some more of those punches beside the eng. vin. I know this has been talked about before, but does any of the honda experts here know really what they mean? How about it Hondaman and others. My guess is some type modification or recall done by a dealer years ago and  this was the away they kept records on it. Vin plate on frame has same 3 punches.

[dhall57]

Here it is on the trailer bringing it home

What do you think or is it just me, but does it look like its running down the road at 100 mph even though its strapped down on a trailer. This is the same thought I had 40 years ago when I first saw these machine sitting brand new in the dealers showroom. 

Today- New battery
            change oil
            New plugs
            More Cleaning

[Prospect]

What do you think or is it just me, but does it look like its running down the road at 100 mph even though its strapped down on a trailer. This is the same thought I had 40 years ago when I first saw these machine sitting brand new in the dealers showroom. 

It sure does.  I think that was the intent when Hitoshi Ikeda designed it.

[dhall57]

No surprises when I changed the oil. Other than needing fresh clean oil everything look fine. Had to spray some penetrating oil down spark plug holes and let soak a little bit. Plugs were stubborn didn't want to come out. I was afraid I might strip something or break a plug off in the head and if that had happened that would of made for a bad day for sure I was lucky and it didn't, just was very carefull and easy and got them all out. Installed a new freshly charged battery and until now I wasn't 100% sure that all electrical worked but they do!! Damn this 42 year old fellow is good condition nothing is molested or rigged or destroyed by a stupid PO. Its almost like this bike has been sitting in a time capsule for all these years. One of the lst things that stuck  out like a sore thumb was the missing air box and replaced sometime through the years with pods. I didn't want to continue to run these, but what else could I do. Well I must be doing something right in this life because I found out that the PO still has the KO air box. Can you believe it!!!!!! Hopefully this kind of luck will keep happening with this bike. I will post a pic but the bars have me a little confused. They aren't KO stk bars, Johnie had made a statement from a early pic about the m/c banjo bolt being so close to the tach. Well the reason for that is not because the m/c is mounted down the bar some Johnie, it's because these bars are shorter. The m/c is mtn right up against the throttle control. These bars measure 29" and have very little rise of only about 1 1/2 to 2" My K6 bars have about a 5' rise and are 2" longer. I actually like the bars but being that short it puts the m/c and brake line in a cramped position. The HM300 pipes are the original ones I would say and great  condition for the year. The top left pipe has about a 3" narrow hole right along the seam on top and bottom. Since this isn't very bad can it repaired with something?  Here's a few pics of that and also pipe baffles are missing. More later.

 

[Markcb750]

My K6 had similar holes when I got it, JB weld will hold for quite a while. 

The upper pipes can have this where they are close to the lower pipes in the swing arm area, I think you would need to remove the pipe to apply the JB weld in those areas.

My experience eventually they will rot around the foot pegs...then they are scrap.

Mark

[Nikkisixx]

JB Weld or stitch it up with a mig if that's an option. 

[Gordon]

Unfortunately, once the pipes are showing rust holes on the outside the damage is already far worse on the inside.  The chrome layer is the last to rust through, so the metal is getting very thin in a much larger area than just the size of the holes.  As has been stated, you can prolong their life somewhat with some JB weld or muffler-mender paste.

[754]

Told you to ask about the aircleaner.. usually they cant find it or just threw it out 3 years ago... cuz it had a small crack!!

.. sounds like you got a 300.00 bonus this week..

 The pipes, will not last fourever, enjoy them as long as you can, they did last a lot of years, and are good everyday runners. I think cold-wather use when they dont warm up is the worst on them..

 As four eveything still working, its not unusual, they were  built to last, thats why I still ride one..

[dhall57]

I got a good laugh out of this. I thought I heard a potato- potato sound, but couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Now I know. Adds a some class to the old CB doesn't it.

[Don R]

I've been told the K0 bars are lower. Yours may be even lower, maybe euro's or superbike bars.

[Johnie]

Maybe he has the old bars? You can still get the KO bars from Honda. At least I could 3 years ago. They are around. Super you got the air box. That would have cost a lot of money if he did not have it anymore. How is the front brakes. My KO had so much crud in the calipers a fresh bath, seal and master rebuild things were stopping great. Gosh hall....what a find there!!!

[dhall57]

same here Johnie. Frt brake is grabbing real bad. I've got to take caliper apart and rebuild and clean. I had to do the same on my K6. Looked inside m/c and the fluid looks like crude oil. Its not pretty. Hope m/c is still good.

Your KO is super nice. I doubt mine will ever be on that level. My goal right now is just to make it safe a dependable and ride it and ride it and than ride it some more
Whats some background on your 70 KO? To tell you the truth I still can't believe a KO is in my possession. Never would of thunk it possible. Like I said from the lst thread That I posted If Im dreaming don't wake me up.

[Stev-o]

Nice find.  Time to order tires!

[dhall57]

yeah Im making out my parts list right now. Winning the lottery would  sure help.

[Johnie]

Hall...my KO sat for 19 years when I found it under a tarp in a garage. Did the basics and she fired right up. Drove it a couple months to ensure it was good to go and the next winter which I believe was early 2007 I did the work on it. I did not dig into the motor as that is super good. Did the carb rebuild and it has been a good marriage since. I did a caliper and m/c rebuild last night and take a look at the before and after pics below. Not only will yours look like that, but the bottom of your fork tubes will look the same. Good spots for sediment to settle. I still have the OEM ball bearings in the steering head as there was no notches in mine. I just took the old bearings out and cleaned and repacked. They are good to go. I imagine someday I will put the tapered in like the K1 & K4, but for now I am fine with it. For sure have fun and ride it. Not many guys get lucky enough to find one of these. And keep sharing those pics...

[dhall57]

It's been almost a month 5/14/11 since my son Justin found and trailered home ( again he found this bike by just carrying on a conversation with his boss. The owner did not have it listed for sell. Again I can't say this enough, anybody on this forum newby or oldie looking for your first SOHC/4 or just looking to add to your collection. Talk to people, ask questions because if it wasn't for that it wouldn't be park in my garage right now.
Put the tank and carbs back on it today. Rebuilt the petcock hope that stops the leak. Still waiting to get the stock KO air box the PO says he has. Right now it has Uni-Filter pods on it. Don't like them, but that's what the PO had put on. Put the new baffles in the original 300 pipes. I couldn't wait any longer I hadn't heard it run in a month. Would it start? Turn fuel on, ignition switch, starter button, said a little prayer, and contact and music to my ears first try BAM it started. This KO sounds BAD TO THE BONE the 300 pipes are great. It makes my 750K6 with it's 4 to 1 Mac pipe sound whimpie. Still got more things to do to it so I didn't ride it much , but did do a few laps around the yard slowly. Got to do some clutch adjusting its not quite right. And than I smelled gas and noticed something wrong with the left fork. I stopped and turned off the gas as fast has I could. Best I could tell it was coming from either #3 or 4 carb. As for the fork in my excitement in hearing it start up and run I had forgot all about the day before taking the fork snap rings loose getting ready to start taking things apart for the new fork seals coming in this Monday. Well I don't have to struggle with getting that fork seal out it's 2 to 3" up the fork. Well that put a end to my tour around the yard, but I did let it run some on the center stand with a fan blowing to keep her cool. It would run for a little bit and not leak a bit than all of a sudden it would start again. It did this 5 or 6 times but than I tapped on 3 and 4 carb with handle end of my screwdiver. Let it idle for awhile and so far hasn't started leaking again. Hope just a stuck float because of all the handle and turning of the carbs when they were off the bike. Interesting Saturday and I love it. Hope to have it out on the Hwy next weekend here's a pic of the fork I was taking about.

[Johnie]

A lot of those petcocks leak from bad gaskets which are around the 2 Phillips screws that hold the petcock to the tank. Did you happen to replace those? As far as the carbs it sure sounds like the floats are sticking. The good thing is you can remedy this with the carbs on the bike. Take the float bowl off and remove the float. I used some metal polish to lightly polish the float pin in case it was sticking there. Then remove the needle seat. I used some metal polish to lightly clean the float needle and the needle seat. There was some old gas stains there that built up. Put it all back together and has been good. Let us know how you come out. Looking good there Hall...