Author Topic: Resurrection of a cb750 K6 (update 9/28/12) (Read 53116 times)

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #75 on:** January 11, 2012, 07:59:47 PM »

We had a high temp today in the 40's but tomorrow it's supposed to snow a bunch. Since it was still warm today I decided to finish tearing down the bike before winter really hits and I don't feel like working in the garage at all. Here's where I started:

I began taking parts off the front end. When I got ready to remove the front wheel I found out the bike was too rear-heavy on the lift and it fell backwards on to the rear wheel

. I frantically put the front wheel back on to restore balance and went to the back to take stuff off there. I went to remove the chain so I could get the rear wheel off and found this:

Good thing I found that before I ever tried riding the thing! I was surprised when johnie found cracks in the chain on his K3 and thought that was a rare thing. I guess bikes that sit a while easily acquire chain issues?

Once I got the rear wheel off (heavy!) I moved back to the front and took the front wheel off for good

Everything else came apart fine and the practice from working on the 350 helped speed things up. Turns out I'm missing one of the rubber cushions from the top of the fork ears. Anyone have a spare?

As long as I was working I took off the rear inner fender, battery box, and foot pegs so I could clean things up better whenever I get to degreasing the frame. The pegs and battery box might get painted if I'm in the mood to do it .

Here's where I ended the day. Now I have a basement full of (more) parts that will keep me busy during winter.

ekpent · « **Reply #76 on:** January 12, 2012, 05:24:55 AM »

I didn't see the cracks in the chain plates per say but it does look like it had a funky,maybe wrong master link clip ??

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #77 on:** January 12, 2012, 03:32:19 PM »

Quote from: ekpent on January 12, 2012, 05:24:55 AM

I didn't see the cracks in the chain plates per say but it does look like it had a funky,maybe wrong master link clip ??

The clip was ready to fall off.

Johnie · « **Reply #78 on:** January 12, 2012, 04:05:53 PM »

Trevor, I think I have one of those top fork rubbers for you.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #79 on:** February 08, 2012, 07:13:19 PM »

So I'm in the garage today about to get in my car to go to class and I look at the 750 covered up by an old blanket. Just for the sake of looking at my bike I lifted up the blanket and immediately heard something fall on the floor. I looked down and what did I see? The missing rubber grommet that goes on top of one of my fork ears! Now I have NO idea where that little bugger was hiding, especially since everything that it touches has been removed and taken to my basement, but I took this as a divine sign from the motorcycle gods that I should do some bike work. Life has been very busy with school and work lately but I managed to snag a couple of hours tonight.

I spent the time cleaning and polishing the fork ears. If I had the money I would replace them. The chrome is in acceptable shape but, as I learned from johnie, these for ears are notorious for rusting out. Mine are no different. You can see the bulge in the fork ear on the right where it has rusted and split open. The one on the left is just starting to bulge but it's barely noticeable.

The surface rust was pretty stubborn but they turned out okay. I got as much rust off of the insides as I could. There's still some left where I couldn't get at but they're a heck of a lot better than when I started. I was too lazy to take a before pic but just imagined them covered in a good layer of dust and thick surface rust.

Tews19 · « **Reply #80 on:** February 08, 2012, 07:45:51 PM »

I may have an extra gormet laying around. If I do, I will send you it.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #81 on:** February 18, 2012, 09:15:57 PM »

The wife and I spent most of the day cleaning the house but I managed to get a couple hours in on the bike. I skipped a few steps ahead in doing this job but I was in the mood for some instant gratification and have been wanting to do this for a while.

I cleaned the rest of the dirt and dust off of the bodywork, including underneath the tank and the backsides of the sidecovers. I was debating taking off the tank trim because it's already cracked and fragile but I'm glad I did because there was a lot of dirt hiding underneath them. It's a shame new ones are so expensive because mine are cracked and yellowed.

I was curious to try a scratch removing compound I had bought. There are plenty of small and large scratches on this bodywork, mostly on the sidecovers. Well, the compound didn't work any magic, but I did follow that up with some wax and everything shined up nice (especially considering the age and how this bike was stored). The top of the tank has a little fade but what do you expect? It's a nice motivator to have shiny bodywork to stare at now and imagine it on the bike come spring.

As I said, I skipped ahead in doing this today. I still need to go back and fix the cracks on the sidecovers. I think I'm going to just superglue the cracks (most of them already have had this done) and then slather some JB weld behind the cracks on the backsides so provide support. I wanted to try my hand as reinforcing them with fiberglass but I'll stick with the JB just because it's what I have. Maybe if I get my homework done early enough I can do the tomorrow.

Johnie · « **Reply #82 on:** February 19, 2012, 05:05:13 AM »

Dang Trevor...those items look B-U-T-FULL compared to when we loaded that beast on the trailer. There are some things you can do to make those missing tank stripes look good too. I will clue you in on those when you get your lazy butt over here to check out my K3.

You can not go wrong with the JB Weld...

dhall57 · « **Reply #83 on:** February 19, 2012, 05:37:35 AM »

Looking good hoo! Your K6 is coming right along. I better go out in the garage and start wiping on my K6 just to stay in the same league as yours

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #84 on:** February 19, 2012, 07:12:16 AM »

Well the bodywork is far from perfect which is why I didn't post the photo I took with the flash

There are plenty of scratches and a dent on the tank but when you consider how far it's come, it's pretty impressive.

I'm curious what your tip for the tank stripes is John. I was considering the viability of buying a new decal set and laying it over the old ones, then maybe spraying some clear over the top. I'm good up until the thought of spraying clear coat. I still find it so strange that whole chunks of the decal just came off like that, especially considering that the bike was obviously cared for before going into storage. I don't know if I've ever seen that on another bike.

Johnie · « **Reply #85 on:** February 19, 2012, 07:43:31 AM »

That last pic sure brings back some memories of that day!!!

I wonder if the can of air trick on this board would take that dent out? I do not recall where the dent was or how bad it was...

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #86 on:** February 19, 2012, 11:06:19 AM »

The dent isn't too bad. Luckily it isn't in a very noticeable place. I'm not going to worry about pushing it out. Just another little bit of character to add to the bike. You can see it through the distortion in the reflection in the pic.

Quote from: Johnie on February 19, 2012, 07:43:31 AM

That last pic sure brings back some memories of that day!!!

I was just thinking that once I get the bike going I'll have to take a picture of it in front of that building.

Johnie · « **Reply #87 on:** February 19, 2012, 11:12:54 AM »

Yah, that is not so bad. I bet the Dent Doctor could get it out if you ever really wanted too.

dhall57 · « **Reply #88 on:** February 19, 2012, 11:55:17 AM »

I feel your pain hoo, must be something about red K6 gas tanks.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #89 on:** February 19, 2012, 06:40:53 PM »

Instead of washing cars today I worked on the bike again. First up was polishing the gas cap, installing the new cap seal, and putting on the petcock. I also put the clean-but-crusty tank trim on.

Next up was sidecovers. I first superglued the cracks back together (at least the ones I could). most of these cracks had been superglued by some PO so the aesthetic damage has already been done. I used masking tape to hold things together and once it dried I marked the cracks with a sharpie.

Then I smothered JB weld over the problem areas since I had some in my toolbox. I'm most worried about the bottom mount on the left side cover since that part was completely broken off. Hopefully the JB weld is strong enough to keep that from happening again. Notice how some PO used superglue and bits of a blue sidecover to, I guess, to hold the "750" badges on. Not sure what the deal is there...

My headlight and bucket has been taking up space on my workbench for too long so it got disassembled, cleaned and polished. I'm missing one of the bushings for the screws that hold the headlight in the bucket. My spares got scavenged for my last K6.

I forgot to post this pic yesterday. I discovered quite a run in the clearcoat on one of the sidecovers. Not your typical honda quality. Think I can exchange it for a new one?

wedoo2 · « **Reply #90 on:** February 20, 2012, 03:20:37 AM »

I have never seen a factory screw-up like that. That's is actually kind of fun to have if it is really a factory deal. Maybe someone has done that later in its long life.

You could take it to the dealer and demand a new one. Act indignant about it.

dhall57 · « **Reply #91 on:** February 20, 2012, 03:43:10 AM »

Yeah way back in 1976 that side cover must of slipped by the quality control person in Japan

K5owner · « **Reply #92 on:** February 20, 2012, 04:32:54 AM »

Not 100% sure, but I don't think Honda clear coated back then. I believe the paint of choice was either laquer or acrylic-enamel. Maybe a PO cleared it?

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #93 on:** February 20, 2012, 05:37:30 AM »

Quote from: K5owner on February 20, 2012, 04:32:54 AM

Not 100% sure, but I don't think Honda clear coated back then. I believe the paint of choice was either laquer or acrylic-enamel. Maybe a PO cleared it?

I'm no expert so maybe it is the paint that ran. I have heard stories of replacement parts being of lesser quality, when you could still get them. So maybe this was a factory replacement from later in the bike's life? I doubt that becuase it seems to have faded equally with the other cover.

Stev-o · « **Reply #94 on:** February 26, 2012, 08:01:14 PM »

Is it the pic or is the back of the sidecovers a differant shade?
If differant, bet the one with the run was a bad repair job at some point.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #95 on:** February 27, 2012, 03:26:49 AM »

I guess they're different shades on the inside but the one with the run is the left sidecover which only had the bottom broken off. The only evidence of previous repair on it was having that bottom super-glued back on. They both look like original oem sidecovers to me.

dagersh · « **Reply #96 on:** February 27, 2012, 01:07:33 PM »

Hoo-

Awesome work!

I may have missed it, but can you give us a quick tutorial on your chrome polishing?

Gersh

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #97 on:** February 27, 2012, 06:31:20 PM »

Quote from: dagersh on February 27, 2012, 01:07:33 PM

Hoo-

Awesome work!

I may have missed it, but can you give us a quick tutorial on your chrome polishing?

Gersh

Thanks for the compliments

Nothing special about my chrome polishing. I clean the parts with some soapy water and remove any surface rust with 0000 steel wool. Then I just rub on the polish with a soft cloth and buff it out with another clean soft cloth (as per the directions on the polish). I use maas because johnie had good results with it but with chrome as....mediocre as this I'm sure something more available like mother's would work just as well.

dagersh · « **Reply #98 on:** February 28, 2012, 10:47:24 AM »

Thanks man!

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #99 on:** March 07, 2012, 07:13:41 PM »

With high temps in the mid 50's today and all signs pointing to winter being done for good I've got to get my butt in gear and get this bike done!

I cleaned up the other side of the exhaust. Same story as before; the chrome isn't great but things shined up okay. All the headpipes are really dull/yellowed but I might be able to replace them with a better set from my dad's k2 since we just bought a new exhaust for it. Not only would it make the bike look better but the #4 pipe was cut too short by some PO and barely fit into the mufflers. There was a lot of carbon at the joint where it was leaking.

I finished the night out by finishing cleaning out the brake caliper and prepping for paint. I had everything ready to shoot them with primer only to discover my can of primer was no good anymore.

In other news I've spent a lot of time researching what items I need to buy yet. I've decided to go with the Avon Am26 roadrider for tires. Got them on the 350 and I really like them. As far as modern tires go I think they look good too. I plan on mounting and balancing them myself to save a little money.

I will also be ordering a yuasa sealed battery. Still need to order a master cylinder rebuild kit, tapered steering bearings, wheel bearings, and some other stuff I'm forgetting. Weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so I'll try and get more done.

News:

Author Topic: Resurrection of a cb750 K6 (update 9/28/12) (Read 53116 times)