Hello All,
After reading as many threads as I could over the past year, or more, I'm finally ready to tackle a motor rebuild. If that goes well, next year I may do the frame, wheels, etc. I'm not interested in a full restoration yet, I want it to be a rider first and then I'll go from there. I am open to all suggestions, comments, criticism, etc.
I have two 750's, a 1971 and a 1974. I had the 71 first, but I think I didn't adjust the camchain correctly and it wore a hole in the side of the cylinders. I was getting ready to rebuild that one, when I happened across a very clean 74, so I bought it. About 5 years ago the drivechain broke on the 74 and cracked the case. I put some JB weld over it and it seemed to hold, but I didn't feel comfortable taking it very far from home. My goal is to use the lower cases from the 71 and the cylinders and head from the 74. Both bikes have around 20K miles on them.
I'm fairly mechanically inclined, I have a 1977 400/4 and a BMW 1200 GS and do all the routine maintenance and some advanced. The 400 sat with gas in it for 8 years or so, so I took the carbs completely apart, cleaned them and put them back together. I never knew there were so many little parts in those things. I've got Hondamans book on the 750, which is awesome with all the pics in it. I've also got the Honda, Clymer and Haines manuals.
During this I plan to do the following:
-beadblast and paint cases, cylinders and head and repair fin damage
-polish all parts that can be polished
-Full Gasket set
-new cylinder studs
-Set of Piston Rings (maybe pistons?)
-Cylinder Hone
-Heavy Duty Tsubaki Cam Chain
-OEM cam chain tensioner, wheel, and guide
-New OEM Primary Chains
-Hondaman ignition
Until I inspect all the parts such as the head and valves, I'm not sure if I'm going to lap in the current ones or get new. Same thing with honing cylinders, not sure if I'll need to go bigger or not. This area is where my knowledge is not very good. Should I get new pistons? Should I send the head to a shop to get cleaned and the valves cut in? I still have plenty to learn.
Here's the 1974, the saddlebags are from the 1971
Here's the only pic I have of the 1971, it's in much rougher condition
JB weld patch
I had a hard time trying to get the motor into the harbor freight stand with just myself and my wife, here's how we finally got it
Of course trying to get it into the stand it fell off once, causing this fin damage. I was so mad when this happened I just had to step away for the night.
my attempt to keep things organized
Here are a few of the beginning of the teardown
I've hit my first roadblock, I need to remove the staked screw in the below pic and am unsure of the best way. Any suggestions??
