Topic: 1982 Nighthawk 750...Complete Restoration {All comments & Suggestions Welcome}

[Maustarman]

Hello everyone,
I just got my first Nighthawk ever!
After hearing a lot of good things about these bikes I found what it seemed to me a great deal.
I paid $45 for a 1982 Nighthawk 750 !!!....... Well no so fast about celebrating

I found the bike in a marina in Berkeley CA... The bike had been seating there for the last 3 years under a cover that wasn't covering much at this point... As expected there is lots of rust and corrosion going on here and more concerning there is a ticking noise in the engine and the second gear is not engaging.
But for $45 what do you expect? 
My plan is to completely take the bike apart and Restore, Fix, Replace etc etc anything that needs to be done in order to make it functional and look nice.
That sounds like a good plan! Except for the fact that I know nothing about mechanics.... The most I ever done is changing the oil in my previous bikes ( I'm not even sure I did it correctly)

Here is a video of what the bike looks like now:  1982 Nighthawk 750SC **Awesome Project


Any comments, advice, suggestions etc are welcome.. If you think I'm crazy please feel free to say so as well.

[popssss]

I paid almost nothing for my 1983 nighthawk SC550, and I've spent maybe $1500 on powder coating, paint, and plating, then I had the carbs rebuilt, new handlebar and all new controls and switches, brake and clutch lines, tires, headlight, tail and turn signals, and seat.

I'ts been a project to say the least but I've enjoyed it, and thank goodness I'm almost done, so I can san start on my other one a KZ650.

good luck, and plan it out.

[Maustarman]

Wow.. this sounds like a great project is in front of me bu I want to see how far I can go...
Ive beeing playing with an airbrush and watching Youtube videos and I am going to do the paint job my self.... will see what happens
Here is pic of the bike after I washed it ... it definitively looks better in the pic that in the real life...

[jordanp]

sweet, I had an 82 650 looked just like it! I turned it into a rat/ cafe tracker thingy.

[cb650]

There is a decent nitehawk site also.       Same format as here so its easy to navigate.


http://nighthawk-forums.com


I posted this in the 700 nitehawk thread also.     

[Maustarman]

Thanks CB650 I will check it out..

I spent the day wrenching in like a mad person and took lots of things apart ... I loved it  can wait to go back to it..
Here is what I have so far: 1982 Nighthawk 750SC **Awesome Project--Part 2
Also some pics of the stuff I cleaned up and polished.
Let me know what do you think.