Topic: What did you do to your bike today ?

[Wobbly]

77 Honda CB 750K7: Rebuild cylinder head/valve train down to the last bolt with all new Honda parts. Split engine case, ordered the one and only Piston Set ( + 0.25mm) I could find on this planet (13102-392-020). Ordered some small but apparently extremely precious parts from CMS, thereby ruining my finances, and finally located piston rings (Set OEM Ref. # 13021-392-000/004) to match the new pistons at vintagecb750.com. Since I am at military address, and they only ship FedEx which cannot deliver to my address (only USPS can), I wrote them a mail, begging them to make an exception. If they don't, I am probably screwed.
Anyway: Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[Tintop]

77 Honda CB 750K7: Rebuild cylinder head/valve train down to the last bolt with all new Honda parts. Split engine case, ordered the one and only Piston Set ( + 0.25mm) I could find on this planet (13102-392-020). Ordered some small but apparently extremely precious parts from CMS, thereby ruining my finances, and finally located piston rings (Set OEM Ref. # 13021-392-000/004) to match the new pistons at vintagecb750.com. Since I am at military address, and they only ship FedEx which cannot deliver to my address (only USPS can), I wrote them a mail, begging them to make an exception. If they don't, I am probably screwed.
Anyway: Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Don't you have an 'off base' friend that it could be shipped too.  When I buy stuff in the USA from people who won't ship to Canada, I have it shipped to a friend in the US, then he sends it on to me.

[Wobbly]

Nope. Only unreliable family. "Let's collect his stuff for several months and send it all in one package." I guess, I could offer a German address. Pricey, but an alternative as a last resort. You see, even though my geographical address is in Germany, it is treated as a domestic U.S, address, with postage being the same as to NJ or NY. In fact, when I select U.S., their drop-down menu shows "AE" (Armed Forces Europe) as a U.S. State. But I cannot finish the order because FedEx does not recognize the address as being serviceable.
I am corresponding vintagecb750 as we "speak." I think, they might be nice enough to take this one to the post office for me. After all, we take care of the Canadians here as well (actually, I only listen to CFN--Canadian Forces Network--over here. They rock).

I don't see though why anyone in the U.S. would not ship to Canada? What's up with that?

[bjbuchanan]

Nope. Only unreliable family. "Let's collect his stuff for several months and send it all in one package." I guess, I could offer a German address. Pricey, but an alternative as a last resort. You see, even though my geographical address is in Germany, it is treated as a domestic U.S, address, with postage being the same as to NJ or NY. In fact, when I select U.S., their drop-down menu shows "AE" (Armed Forces Europe) as a U.S. State. But I cannot finish the order because FedEx does not recognize the address as being serviceable.
I am corresponding vintagecb750 as we "speak." I think, they might be nice enough to take this one to the post office for me. After all, we take care of the Canadians here as well (actually, I only listen to CFN--Canadian Forces Network--over here. They rock).

I don't see though why anyone in the U.S. would not ship to Canada? What's up with that?

The only thing I can see with the canadian shipping is that people balk at the price maybe? Also some vendors have "deals" I guess you could say for shipping, like they only use UPS because...I always wondered myself though

I hope that vintagecb750 hooks you up, It would be nice to see an exception for Armed Forces. Freedom sure is nice to enjoy

[Tintop]

.....I don't see though why anyone in the U.S. would not ship to Canada? What's up with that?

Next time your looking for a part on Ebay check how many listings says 'US shipping only'.   I also deal with a situation where there is a Canadian distributor, which never has any stock.  Stuff is always available from the main US site, but they won't sell to a Canadian address (because of the Cdn distributor).  So I have my friend buy it (PA), and then send it on.

[Wobbly]

It would be nice to see an exception for Armed Forces. Freedom sure is nice to enjoy

Thank you. I appreciate that. And let me tell you this: looking at percentages of troops deployed vs. casualties (rather than total numbers), the Canadian soldiers have paid heavy for this privilege in recent years. It's an honor for me to serve side by side with Canadian soldiers.
Sorry for being off-topic. 

[Vicman]

I got the major part of the crud out of my 71 gas tank. Dawn detergent, several handfuls of carbide inserts from work, and a whole lota shakin goin on.
Sadly it did clear out at least two pin holes...more like the head of a pin hole.
Any great ideas how to patch?

[edwardmorris]

Got the rear shock apart for cleaning and lowering, made my own tool using the idea from the honda twins forum, worked like a charm. Ignore the zip-ties, horribly failed experiment.

[MarshallCS]

Today was a beautiful day in the 40's. I got my new Renthal ultra-low handlebars in so I figured out how to switch everything over. I was also able to fix my headlight switch (i now have low and high again) and figured out that my turn switch seems to be going further to each side than it is supposed to, thus only giving me solid turn signal lights at the full extension. When it is up to 90% slid, they blink correctly. That motogadget M-unit and buttons sure are looking better and better.


Those handlebars make such a HUGE difference. I feel like I have so much more control now. I also installed a Ram mounts cell phone holder, which I highly recommend.


Here is a pic to show that it did happen

[Vicman]

Those bars look great!

[MarshallCS]

Those bars look great!

Thanks Vicman - and they are also half the weight of the stock bars if that matters to you. 50 dollars on amazon prime!

[flybox1]

Cuttin the fat after turkey day.
PITA by myself, but I got it out.

[Retro Rocket]

Bought a 2008 CB1000 front end....

[Carver]

Did some cleaning, gunna prep the 750 engine to be popped out tomorrow and pop out the 450 since I can do that myself. I feel the the 750 is too big to do the old "tip the bike over and lift it up" trick.

How clean realistically Can I expect to get my exhaust?

[Jerilee]

Cleaner than you'd expect, not as clean as you might hope... I polished up my first 750 exhaust with some steel wool and a lot of elbow grease, the same for my 82 GL1100, they were remarkably cleaner and brighter for it, but they weren't perfect by any metric. Still, I found it worth the time. : )


-In my own news, nothing yet on the bike, but finally listed the El Camino on eBay so I can afford to do things to the CB! Very bittersweet, I loved that car, it was my first and I loved it, but I have a great deal more passion for riding and wrenching motorcycles than cars it turns out, and even more so, only have time for one project at any given time... So I chose the bike.

[brandEn]

Bought a 2008 CB1000 front end....

Nice, just don't use the wheels! UGLY....

[bjbuchanan]

Today was a beautiful day in the 40's. I got my new Renthal ultra-low handlebars in so I figured out how to switch everything over. I was also able to fix my headlight switch (i now have low and high again) and figured out that my turn switch seems to be going further to each side than it is supposed to, thus only giving me solid turn signal lights at the full extension. When it is up to 90% slid, they blink correctly. That motogadget M-unit and buttons sure are looking better and better.


Those handlebars make such a HUGE difference. I feel like I have so much more control now. I also installed a Ram mounts cell phone holder, which I highly recommend.


Here is a pic to show that it did happen

Bike looks great, I think I am going to pick up those bars myself, give them a shot. Are they pre-drilled?

Your TS switch isn't going past where it belongs it is dirty. That "sweet spot" you find is a hallmark of a dirty TS slider. Clean it up with a light abrasive, very light as you don't want to remove material at all. Grease super light with dielectric, practically none really. The switch will work like new

Careful pulling it apart, you have a spring with a ball there but it isn't too complicated, definitely much trickier switches out there

[Terry in Australia]

Well I have to reassemble the bottom end in Mike's newly painted CB750 cases tomorrow, but today I did some more work on my 17 inch wheel conversion for my Yamaha FJ1200. I'm using 2009/10 FZ6R wheels, the rear will go on with some minor engineering, but the front has a 17mm axle, and my old FJ has a 15mm front axle.

After discovering that there's no such thing as a bearing with a 15mm inner and a 40mm outer, I settled for a bearing with a 15mm inner and a 35mm outer. (on the left) I thought about a few different options, but eventually a trip to another bearing shop in the country provided the answers I needed. I bought a bronze bush with a 40mm outer and a 30mm inner.




I could have bought one with a 40mm outer and a 35mm inner (in fact, I did) but I realised that I needed a flange for the bearing to sit against, or otherwise the bearing would just pull into the hub and the wheel could move laterally, which would be rather disturbing at speed. Boring the bush to around 34.8mm was a little too exact for my liking, but after only muffing one, I was able to make two nice bushes that I needed to first freeze the bearings, then tap them in to fit.





The new bearings were also 1mm narrower than the OEM bearings, so I was able to have a 1mm thick flange without any problems reusing the dust seals. The only problem was that the tubular spacer that goes between the bearings was now 2mm too short. After several minutes of quiet reflection, I machined two stainless steel washers to fit neatly between the flange and the bearing on either side, and was then able to use the spacer.





I used a piece of 320 grit dry sandpaper to remove any machining lips etc, and tapped the bearings into place. It was a very tight fit, but in this case, too tight is much better than not tight. It's all together now, I've put a 15mm axle in it and spun the wheel and everything feels right. Tomorrow I'll drop out the OEM front wheel and see what needs to be done to adapt the speedo drive, and I'll also have to look at brake calipers. Overall, it's slow going, but I'm happy that I've solved one major problem on my journey to 17inch happiness.

[Retro Rocket]

Bought a 2008 CB1000 front end....

Nice, just don't use the wheels! UGLY....

Spokes my man....

[MarshallCS]

Today was a beautiful day in the 40's. I got my new Renthal ultra-low handlebars in so I figured out how to switch everything over. I was also able to fix my headlight switch (i now have low and high again) and figured out that my turn switch seems to be going further to each side than it is supposed to, thus only giving me solid turn signal lights at the full extension. When it is up to 90% slid, they blink correctly. That motogadget M-unit and buttons sure are looking better and better.


Those handlebars make such a HUGE difference. I feel like I have so much more control now. I also installed a Ram mounts cell phone holder, which I highly recommend.


Here is a pic to show that it did happen

Bike looks great, I think I am going to pick up those bars myself, give them a shot. Are they pre-drilled?

Your TS switch isn't going past where it belongs it is dirty. That "sweet spot" you find is a hallmark of a dirty TS slider. Clean it up with a light abrasive, very light as you don't want to remove material at all. Grease super light with dielectric, practically none really. The switch will work like new

Careful pulling it apart, you have a spring with a ball there but it isn't too complicated, definitely much trickier switches out there

I will have another go at it this afternoon really taking it apart and cleaning it. A little bit of acetone should help clean it up as well as a nylon grunge brush. I also want to change the spark plugs, but I had to pick up a long skinny 18mm socket.


I think I'm also going to go to goodwill / salvation army to look at some leather jackets that I can remake into a seat cover.


As for the Renthals, They are constructed differently than most bars I have seen. The inner diameter is quite a bit smaller than most, and it isn't hollow all the way through. there is some sort of blockage somewhere inside the bars. It could be near the ends, or structurally all the way through. They aren't pre-drilled; I personally want to eventually run all the wire through the bars, but right now getting to ride it is more important. I'll do some aesthetics stuff (like the seat, and painting the airbox and if I'm a really good, maybe getting the comstars powder coated.) when we are completely frozen out

[Sgt.Pinback]

Had valves adjusted, chain tensioner checked, ignition adjusted and carbs synchronized.

Old lady runs great again!

[Terry in Australia]

Looking good SGT P, and I love those Honda vacuum gauges!

[bjbuchanan]

Fired up my rebuilt engine (again) finally. The weather has really been against me lately, out there trying to put together a top end on a windy 16 degree day, then days of bad rain. The thought of one day having a garage keeps me going

It doesn't seem to be leaking, is smoking in seemingly all the right ways and isn't making scary noises. I'm gonna make a run tonight to try to break it in a little

[Carver]

Fired up my rebuilt engine (again) finally. The weather has really been against me lately, out there trying to put together a top end on a windy 16 degree day, then days of bad rain. The thought of one day having a garage keeps me going

It doesn't seem to be leaking, is smoking in seemingly all the right ways and isn't making scary noises. I'm gonna make a run tonight to try to break it in a little

Nice to hear about another "shade tree" mechanic. I'm trying to fit a 450 and a 750 engine in the same parking space as their respective frames as I have no where else to work on them in my apartment complex.

[Sgt.Pinback]

Fired up my rebuilt engine (again) finally. The weather has really been against me lately, out there trying to put together a top end on a windy 16 degree day, then days of bad rain. The thought of one day having a garage keeps me going

It doesn't seem to be leaking, is smoking in seemingly all the right ways and isn't making scary noises. I'm gonna make a run tonight to try to break it in a little

Congrats!

Terry,
Thats why I posted that pic. As old as the bike.