Project CB750

[.RJ]

So... I brought home this basketcase of a 1971 CB750

It was cheap, and with the parts I sold out off of the bike that I wasnt going to use, I made my money back easily. This is how I picked it up - the front end wasnt really attached to the bike, I just slid the steering stem in the headstock to get it standing up. The rest came in the pile of boxes...





It came with some pretty nice stuff - new gasket kit, a nice 4-1 header/exhaust, a stainless steel bolt kit for the engine covers (to replace all the philips head fasteners) but most everything was junk. The engine had already been taken out of the bike, and it was junk so I left everything except the cylinders and head. The camshaft was scored up and seized, so i decided it wasnt worth tearing into.

I'm sure you're thinking... wow, what a mess. What have I done now? Well read on

Within a few days I had it down to the frame and I knocked off all the brackets (passenger pegs, centerstand, etc) that I wont be using and ground down the welds with an angle grinder



35 year old carbamaphones - brass floats!



CB750 cylinders make good beer holders



Sandblasting the frame



Sand on my grill



Sandblasted frame. Swingarm is longer/wider than stock, from a later model CB750.



Powdercoated bits (Thanks Dan!)



Getting there





Custom engine cart, from Home Depot Racing. Picked up this engine from a salvage yard in Baltimore - that was an interesting trip. Its in the ghetto (seriously) and cash only - nice guy that runs the shop though. I called ahead of time and the engine he had pulled out for me was missing some things and we both agreed I wasnt buying that one. He had a complete bike "in the back" so he wanted to pull the motor - I'm thinking this is going to take forever... but he said he didnt have a title for it so the frame was junk, and he just took a sawzall, made 4 cuts in the frame and out she goes - 10 minutes.



Engine painted and installed (you can see the big ugly 750 tank here)



Gas tank modifications - its a CB500 tank - much smaller than the 750 tank, and not so slab sided. Still have some more work to do on the tank.





Wheels - front wheel is stock, rear wheel is a 16" harley rim laced to the stock hub. Tire is a 150/80/18. Both sprockets are offset to clear the tire.





Rebuilding the carbs, setting float height





RC51 Rearsets, VFR shifter



Old school seat (they were sold as a honda accessory in the 70's), CL350 front fender, clip ons, exhaust, gauges, steering damper, brake master cylinder, engine covers and cables installed - current pics:

(very little is original to the bike - probably just the frame, triple trees, front wheel and rear wheel hub)











So whats left? Got a list... getting shorter every week.

- Paint (gas tank, oil tank, headlight bucket). Tank is going to be white with red stripes, like the Ducati Monster S4RS



- Brakes. I need a front brake hose, and figure out a way to 'pull' the rear brake (its a cable pull drum). I know how I'm doing it, just a matter of getting the parts and machine work done.
- Wiring. Build a battery box (under the seat) and build a wiring harness. This is going to be fun, wiring up stock ignition switch, modern voltage regulator, RC51 kill switch... The goal here is to do it better than the factory had done it in 1971.
- Build a Rear license plate/brake light bracket
- Ignition. I'm tossing the stock points and going with electronic ignition.

Thats about it for the big items.

Should be on the road in time to ride in the spring Going to be a long winter, better stock up on :beer:

MAD PROPS to Pete, Dan, Ginger, Phil, Kaan, Bike Bandit, Sam Adams, Magic Hat and ebay (and anyone else I left out thats helped me with this thing!) :lol:

[Apoc]

bling on blinger!

[Maengelito]

WTF is wrong with you?

looks good even though i dont know shit about bikes let alone old bikes, but seriously. WTF is wrong with you?

[.RJ]

WTF is wrong with you?

You should know better :lol:

[Ginger]

WTF did you do to the seat?! Take all the painted shit off there! I swear to god, if you don't do it, I will!

(looks good, btw)

[Apoc]

new seat > old seat

[.RJ]

Old seat - I paid too much $$ for it really, and its good but I like the new one much better. I got a smokin deal on it compared to what I've seen them sell for... I doubt any 35 year old motorcycle seat is really a good deal :lol:

[Apoc]

It's the stitching and more edgy curves of the new one that makes it mo betta.

[PDenbigh]

That is looking great! I'm impressed!

+1 vote for the stitched seat.

[Evan]

needs more UG

[ScottyB]

once again i know nothing of bikes but that thing is cool :thumbup:

[HAULN-SS]

Uhh - so I'm confused. which seat is staying? The older looking one looks better

[.RJ]

The one in the first post is staying (with the honda decals on it)

[Kaan]

two things... is your tank finished? i'd like to start cutting and welding on it. i'm going to make you weld your own steering stabilizer mount... i think... if you want to.

oh and i think you need to paint the front fender.

[.RJ]

Tank isnt finished... I'm slacking. Little things keep eating up a lot of time - I probably spent 2 hrs dicking with the new throttle tube and routing the cables. There's too many ffing cables on the bike (clutch, throttle x 2, speedo, tach...)

[Feersty]

I know it pains me to say this about someone so critical of me, but that is absolutley immaculate. Having the skill to build a bike from the ground up is definitely something to be truly grateful for.

[Chris]

wow thats pretty cool! I'll have to talk to you sometime about the sandblaster you used. I want to rent one eventually to sandblast a trailer.

[Dave]

sweet build thread RJ!

[.RJ]

Kaan made the steering damper mount last night :thumbup: Pics after I paint it today

[Kaan]

Kaan made the steering damper mount last night :thumbup: Pics after I paint it today

yeah and we hacked up the gas tank... which now has to go to piper to get welded hahaha... he's going to have to lay filler rod in the gap and run a bead... at some point i need to just buy a welder so i can stay in practice. oh and RJ tried to run his first bead last night!