Topic: The Runcible Racer - maduncle's CB450 project

[DustyRags]

Oh man, just found this thread- fantastic read! I'm definitely following this now!

Makes me hungry for another vintage project- clearly I need to find somebody who'll let me into their garage...

[maduncle]

A solid days work.



Test mounted the painted parts, now to find the easy way to fit the knee rubbers on the chrome side plates.



Mounted the electrics on the pan under the seat, complete with itsy bitsy lithium ion battery.



Tidy looking tail.



Not happy with the cafe racer headlamp mounts, too high and proud. I will get some original ears methinks.



Head fitted, cam chain ready to be synched and linked.

[maduncle]

Red letter day today - got the engine in.

A few friends came over to help me to carefully juggle it into position, then we bolted up all the mounting brackets, and suddenly the bike has an engine.



We then fitted the left hand rear sets and gear change linkages, I can move it down into first and up into second and third, but fourth won't come - so I need to do some adjusting.

I then went out and bought engine oil (10W-40) and a couple of clamps to hold the carbs onto the boots.

Fitted the carbs and the throttle cable, hung the wiring loom in position and then proceeded to slowly add the engine oil...

... and watched it pour out the other side.

I had not fitted the stator cover!

So after losing about a litre of new oil on the concrete, I got the stator cover on, it still leaks with a very slow drip so I will re fit it tomorrow.

Now to go shopping for coils and plugs.

[Retro Rocket]

Loking good Cliff....

[old76cr]

Looks great!  Can`t wait to see it complete.

[maduncle]

Today my other front fender arrived from America (gee Fed-Ex takes ages!) and the bracket is the right one for my forks, so I set to work doing a fender bracket swap.



The two fenders to be used.



Drilled out the rivets on the donor fender and test fitted the bracket - all good.



Masked up the painted fender and pilot drilled the rivets before using a bigger drill bit.



Disaster struck on the last rivet. The drill bit broke and skipped across the fender, gouged through the masking tape and scratched the paint...

... twice!!!



I tapped the rivet holes in the fender bracket out to 6mm, and screwed the fender on using stainless Phillips head machine screws. Everything fits well.

So, I will now take my scratched fender and bracket over to my painter and get them both painted silver, whilst the bracket cleaned up okay, I think it will look better if it matched the fender. And I will use stainless hex insert screws to fit the fender to the bracket (a bit neater than Phillips head screws).

I also fitted the brake switch mount to the frame, but had to drop the rear wheel to do so - but that's another story.

[ivanhoew]

rivetting story ,thank you for sticking with the thread .

[maduncle]

rivetting story ,thank you for sticking with the thread .

 

[DustyRags]

Definitely riveting. Too bad the paint got screwed up a bit and you have to do the old sand-and-respray drill. I hope you're not as broke as I am after Christmas, that could put a serious ding in the plans. Good luck scratching together the funds and fending off more issues!

_{OK, I'll shut up now.}

[maduncle]

Now the pun police have arrested those responsible for the last two posts - we can move on.

Well - today wasn't so stinkin' hot that you could not go outside for more than 30 seconds - so I got to play with some pipes.

First up, test fit the cool 1970's NOS headers I scored off eBay.





Hmm, they foul the rear sets on both sides and there is no way around that, plus they do look a little 'bendy' and don't follow the lines of the bike.

So, maybe I will use part of them... (mock up time).





This is better, I like the semi-scramble upswept look, but those mufflers are massive.

Perhaps some shorter mufflers? I have just bought a pair of 13" long 1970's NOS mufflers off eBay (from the same guy who had the pipes) so I made a cardboard 'shadow' to see how they would look and fit.



This is more like it. The actual shorties are real schmick, and they have a turn out at the bell end too.

So I am happy with my pipes, only embuggerance of the day was when I test fitted the pipes and found out my freshly re-chromed flanges are not quite the same...



Maybe I should have had a proper look at the 'pair' that came off the bike before I paid to get them chromed?

No biggie - I can use them with a bit of pipe clamp modifying.

(Oh - and I did inflate the tyres to the correct pressure after the photos were taken).

[ivanhoew]

Now the pun police have arrested those responsible for the last two posts - we can move on.













 have a turn out at the bell end too.

 think this may be true of more than just the bike after the heat of those high pipes takes effect ?

[maduncle]

Yeah, I was thinking some heat shielding may be necessary, otherwise my boots might weld themselves to the mufflers.

Once I get the full exhaust in place, I will see how close my legs are to the muffler, I think my shins will be over the muffler as it will sit right above the rear sets.

I am sure I can make some cool custom heat shield panels to fit if required.

[Terry in Australia]

It'll be fine Cliff, just wear asbestos pants and you'll be good to go!  

[CBJoe]

Beautiful build! The overall lines of the bike are absolutely gorgeous.

Cheers, Joe

[maduncle]

Beautiful build! The overall lines of the bike are absolutely gorgeous.

Cheers, Joe

Thanks Joe.

I spent a bit of time on the tank and seat pan relationship to the frame, I managed to get the sloping back of the seat pan to line up with the frame down tubes, which may not seem like much but does make a difference when you look at it.

I always think pipes can make or break a bike, so I am being careful with the final design of these too.

[CBJoe]

I agree with you on how the lines run with the frame... it lends itself to an overall flow that makes or breaks the complete picture.

Curious to see how the exhaust works out for you.  Looks very cool, but seems a bit hot on the legs!  Heat shields are a must it seems.

Cheers, Joe

[70CB750]

Subscribed.

[maduncle]

Subscribed.

Thanks.

I am in a 'forced hiatus' period on the build (most long term builds go through this I suppose) as I need to dedicate the next two weeks to fitting out my wife's new shop and moving her business into it.

The upshot is - that once Tanya is in the new shop, I get the old one for the duration of the lease (until April) to use as my very own CB450 workshop. 50m2 of space with power, water and a loo!.

So I wil be devoting pretty much all of the time I can find on weekends and weeknights over February and March to finish the Runcible.

[maduncle]

Update time.

Well - after moving my wife into her new retail store across the road from our old store (and residence) I get the old store for seven weeks as a workshop before we move.

So I moved my bike, parts and tools in yesterday and got to do some work on the bike today.

I installed the headlamp ears, a real pain as they are CL450 ears on CL450 forks in CB450 trees and they rattled as I have no original end bushes for them. So with a rummage through the parts boxes I was able to use parts from original head stem ball bearing races as the spacers, and it all works and looks good.



I then cut down the NOS after market pipes I bought and fitted the mufflers. I then fitted the EMGO pod filters to complete the look.



I am pretty happy with the end result.

Tomorrow's tasks include bending up two muffler mount brackets that will bolt up to the rear engine mount bracket and hold the mufflers the correct distance off the frame. Then I am on to the coil mounting challenge.

[Terry in Australia]

That looks, er, "interesting" Cliff, how are you gonna get it thru a roadworthy with those shorty pipes? Have you got another set that you can fit to get it past that hurdle? Cheers, Terry.

[maduncle]

Funny you should mention that Terry - i just happen to have a stock set of pipes standing by.

[Terry in Australia]

No worries Cliff, I think you'll need them mate, you'll tire of that setup pretty quickly when you realise that you'll be breathing your own exhaust fumes every time you stop at the lights and sit up. Cheers, Terry. 

[maduncle]

No worries Cliff, I think you'll need them mate, you'll tire of that setup pretty quickly when you realise that you'll be breathing your own exhaust fumes every time you stop at the lights and sit up. Cheers, Terry. 

Stop at lights?

I don't understand.

[Terry in Australia]

No worries Cliff, I think you'll need them mate, you'll tire of that setup pretty quickly when you realise that you'll be breathing your own exhaust fumes every time you stop at the lights and sit up. Cheers, Terry. 

Stop at lights?

I don't understand.

Ha ha, that's true, it has to start before it can stop! (Is that what you meant?)

[maduncle]

Well - I have officially hit the 'I no longer have the skills or confidence to do this bit' wall.

Electrics!

I have installed my harness, wired up the easy stuff and now I am staring blankly at the battery, starter, coils, starter solenoid, reg rec, etc, etc and wondering how the hell it all gets connected.

I know there are coloured wires for a reason, and I do have a wiring diagram (well - I have three and they are all different).

Time to find a travelling bikie sparkie who can help me finish the job.