Topic: another black 836 cafe...assembled!

[stever]

Hi all. After a year and a half this silly thing is finally close enough to reveal. As I am having a hip replacement on Friday I will get this thread started and pick it up more next week. Hope it's a little more than another black cafe. Enjoy.


I am 6' 8" tall and have to massage these 750's to fit my freakishly large body.  I wont bore you with disassembly pictures, but I cut the frame in 4 places and welded in 2 1/4" slugs to lengthen and raise the frame. Not only does it raise the height, it allows top end assembly and removal without dropping the engine. Bonus!


Now, a swingarm. Because the frame is lengthened I will need a longer swingarm. Hmmm, a CBR 600 F2 might do it.


Now, forks. Ive used GW forks before and they are bigger and longer than CB forks. I used GW1000 forks here.


I had a CB900C triple tree hanging around and I liked the looks of the top clamp better than the GW clamp. Polished top clamp, painted lower, and used trick smooth stainless fork tube caps from a Hondachopper.com member. Looks great I think and cheap at the price of $38.00 shipped. Drilled holes for LED indicator lights to come.

[stever]

Used the dual disc GW stuff. I removed the fins from the calipers, polished, and rebuilt. Will use DOT5 to try to keep brake fluid from boiling. Yes, I know its upside down. Changed in final assembly.


 I also had the discs drilled by Scott aka Formulasuper, and polished the discs and centers. Yes, I know they will scratch up as used, but they sure look nice now


Polished the front hub, lower fork legs, had Buchanan's assemble with stainless polished stainless spokes, and mounted Metzler ME 880 110/90-19 tire.


I also had an oil cooler from the same CB900, polished it up.


OK. Mounted the swingarm. had to drill out the swingarm bolt holes to 14mm to accommodate CBR bolt, and add 2" to bolt length. Also had to make new rear lower shock mounts. Used new Progressive rear shocks with extra heavy springs for fat guys.

[Really?]

Very interesting!  Looking forward to seeing this all together and with you on it.

[RC51rydr]

Cool stuff...cant wait to see how it turns out.

[stever]

OK, used a '76F rear hub with the longer 77 carrier. Polished and added drilled and polished '76 rotor with de-finned and polished '77 calipers. Also Buchanan assembled rim, polished stainless spokes, and Metzler ME880 150/90-17 rear tire.



Also used a torque arm from an '85 CR250 polished


OK oil tank. I've always liked the look of CR750 tanks but could bring myself to pay $500 for an alloy one.  I made a stylized CR tank from 14 gauge sheet steel and added in cap and bungs from The Bung King.




Now for a tail section. I used the back half of a '77 tank with the small ridge on it and added in another 3" of steel. I wanted a smooth look so I used a 3" flush mount tail light kit from  LED Specialities. I cut a hole in the tail section, mounted in the lens with panel glue, then sanded it flush with the tail. Also welded in 1" tubing and cut flush to french the turn signals. Used 1" amber LED from LED Specialities.



Used a little bit of black lens color to try to hide the red lens. It still shows very very
bright with the LED 3" cluster


Since the seat is shown in last picture I'll address it. Made a pan of 12 gauge aluminum, covered with a layer of heavy duty closed cell foam, then a layer of softer CC foam. Covered with some lizard skin I had from a car project.

[stever]

Used a speedo/tach gauge from a '67 Suzuki Hustler. Rebuilt, lubricated, and added gauge face made by member Count Chocula. Only 8500 RPM I know, but I can brag I had the tach pegged.


Used these headlight brackets, shortened them by about 1" so as to tuck the headlight in close. Used a chrome head light shell  from www.caferace.com.


Rearsets now.  CBR600 F2's are cheap on Ebay. Cut off the guards and polished. Polished rear master too




I put the front brake "splitter" in under the tank. Also mounted in the CycleX rec/reg unit under tank.

[stever]

Just a few misc pics.  Added webbing in corners, drilled go-fast holes in some, and molded it all.



OK pipes. I dig the 4-4 look but this bike has been stretched and modified so it's going to have to be custom pipes.  I got some 16 gauge cones from www.coneengineering.com and began. Lots of cutting welding and fitting here. I cut off a set of stock mounting brackets and welded them on the cones so I could use the stock mounting points.


I made up some baffles with instructions here http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=79622.0.  I wrapped them with stainless steel wool and had them ceramic coated flat black.

[SKTP]

Looks great...can I see a pic of your brake-side rear-set....did you have to modify much with the CBR600 F2s?

*edit...weird didn't show up for me earlier...thanks for posting it or...

Ah disc rear brakes...those seem to make modern rear-set conversion easier...

[SF]

nice build...sorry to hear about the hip, both my folks had one side done (they tell me its easier to throw a leg over the bikes than ever before now!). I think I've seen you before...are you green and did veg commercials in the 80's?

[stever]

Thanks SF, this is my second one. I feel more like this :
Hyperalloy combat chassis..Very tough..


than this

[greenjeans]

Hardly a yawner....that thing is going to be mean.   Black is alwasy, always good.
I'll be following this one.   Nice work indeed.

[brandEn]

Wow nice build!

[yellowbirdrs]

Nicely done!
keep posting

[coma13]

Fascinating! I'm not quite your height (6'4") but my obsession with thin seats has put me in a bit of a bind and I'd love to see more on your frame mods, if you don't mind.

[stever]

Motor time.  Midway through the frame work I picked up a '77 f2 for cheap and decided to use the F2 motor. Not so many pictures here so I'll describe as best I can. In the interests of time I sent the lower end to Kenny at CycleX for a complete rebuild and quickly fell into the "as long as" pit. Undercut gears, friction coated dogs and shifter parts were done "as long as" the thing was apart.  I sent off the head to Mike Rieck for a complete head re-do. I got stainless super flow valves from CycleX and all associated whiz-bang retainers, guides, and heavy springs. Mike ported,deshrouded, cc'ed chambers, and assembled them into a thing of beauty. Thanks Mike!


Also sourced from CycleX was a  Webcam 41A cam.  Kenny also lightened the rocker arms and friction coated them and the rocker shafts.   "As long as" I was having to rebore might as well go 836.  CycleX supplied pistons that were friction coated on sides and ceramic coated on tops.


Also used one of Kenny's new layered metal head gaskets based on Mike Rieck's recommendation.

[stever]

Added lots of shiny go-fast chrome covers, guaranteed good for 2 more HP. Had a set of modified '77 carbs around from previous project, why not?


I know these run better with stock air boxes but I surely don't care for their looks. Can a reasonable compromise be reached? Maybe. Made up an airbox here
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=78094.msg871112#msg871112
It uses the stock air horns, and the filter is mostly out of the wind. Maybe it will be a decent compromise.

[d1000rr]

Wow. Great work man. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

[stever]

Just a few more odds and ends and assembly is almost done. Used a CB900 front fender and a Super Brace to keep the forks rigid.

Also added Euro bars,polished stock controls and master cylinder, and grips from Randakks. These things are great, I recommend them highly.http://www.randakks.com/Grips.htm

Side view without tank.


A gas tank now. I saw a chopper with a chrome sided tank with small black Honda badges in it and thought it was cool.  I tried to stay in the old road race theme with a Foxxy Boxxy tank from Benjies Cafe Racers.  I used CL77 badges and had him recess an area for the badges. This is what I got back from him. I dig it!



Lets mock it up and see what we have


Now, what about the chrome sides? I initially started with a product explained here:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=84779.msg954712#msg954712
 Not at all happy with the finished result. It looked like somewhat polished aluminum instead of a straight chrome, although I could see some uses for it.   In casting around I stumbled on this guy: http://coatofchrome.com/.  The finish is described as follows:

"This finish is not a spray paint or vacuum metalizing. This finish is the combination of special catalyzed base coatings; a silver metal deposition (similar to the material used in mirrors) and a protective acrylic urethane top coat (similar to the industrial clear coat on your car). The combined layers result in a durable non peeling coating that will not flake or yellow. Yes, the finished surface will accept conventional paints to enable striping, accenting with graphics or airbrushing." 
Plus, I liked the fact he chromed a pair of Victoria Secret panties. Off goes the tank. This is what I got back


Looks good! Great product! Really has a wonderful chrome shine. I applied a black center, and cleared whole thing.  Lets get it on the bike:



And shots of the assembled, but not running yet, bike.








OK thats all for now. Time for a new hip. Hope you all enjoyed, I sure did. I will next get back to my other project:

[andy750]

Simply outstanding! Love the chrome-like tank...looking forward to the ride report! 

A pic of you on the bike would be interesting to see how 6`8 fits on this. I am 6`4 and fit ok on my K2 road racer. Kind of mold into it.

Great detailing,
Good luck
Andy

[greenjeans]

Awesome.   That tank really sets things off.    Love the tank badges & the indent.   

[lucky]

Your bike is not just good, it is unbelievable.
At least those 1977 carbs have a decent return spring unlike the 1978 carbs.

[Really?]

We have the Gordon Frame Kit and we may now start the to see the Stever Lift & Stretch kit. 

Ok, so cost of the chromed tank please!

[jaguar]

Very nice

[cwheelin]

Frickin sweet

[78CB750CAFE]

That is a bad @$$ looking bike!
Nice work!