assembly complete (for the most part)

Still have a few gremlins to sort out. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear it fire up today. Won't have another shop day until next weekend. But progress has been made.

glimpse of things to come....

Just a quick mock-up with the tank and seat. Still have plenty of wiring to finish up, put the coils on and then we should be able to do some test runs. =]

Funky is starting to get giddy!

progress...

quick pics

We installed the engine last weekend. The top bars are in and the new wiring is 90% complete. Tonight we're going to button up the front end and I'll try to get some pics up.

real updates coming soon....

Been busy around here lately. We've made some progress on the Land Speed bike, I'll try to get pics up. My 750 is on the back burner, too many things to work on right now. The 77 CB750 is a few steps closer to being ready to sell. I even worked on my truck yesterday. Busy busy...

record setting adventure rider Shinji Kazama

Today Shinji Kazama arrived in Indianapolis as a starting point for his ride from Louisville, KY and into Canada. If I understand correctly, it's on a prototype Yamaha bicycle.

Here's a thread with some of his records, such as first person to ride to the North Pole on a motorcycle (TW200) and highest altitude reached on Mt Everest via motorcycle (6000m).



I'll update the post with details and maybe photos when I get a chance.

Pretty cool.

that's a wrap (huh huh huh)

It took two attempts at wrapping the harness. First time around, I included the coil wires and left out the oil pressure wire. Ooops. Thankfully the wrap works great, re-used all of it. Plus, I found another broken wire. The harness is installed and everything (except the coils and horn) tested ok.

Tomorrow, I'll be boiling the air intake boots in a mix of wintergreen oil and water. We used this for carb boots a few years ago and it worked great. Hopefully this will get the 77's airbox installed and sealed up. I'm trying to sink as little money as possible into this project. I want to get it running and make some cash.

The big question is, do I pull the 4 into 1 from the 77 and install it on my bike or do I use the stock pipes that we have lying around? I'm leaning towards the stock pipes, they have a great sound. But the Kerker is freaking sweet too.


What do you think?

colored spaghetti

After battling with my wiring harness for almost 2 hours, I finally decoded the mess. Now, my bike has fully functioning signals, headlight, brake/taillight, gauge lights and warning lights.

My color wire diagram isn't completely correct but using that and the b/w diagram from the manual, I finally figured it out.

When I initially started checking into the harness, I found bare and broken wires, connections to nothing, wires spliced and very lazy tape jobs. I finally had to unwrap the whole harness and separate all the runs. Now, I need to find some dry vinyl tape and re-wrap the harness. I borrowed a label maker and every connection is going to get a letter code so this mess never happens again.

One step closer.

it's alive!

The project bike is alive! The air box needs new rubber tubes for the carbs, they're out of shape and rock hard in areas. The engine ran great, no crazy noises and no oil leaks. Now we need to finish the air box, dial in the mixture, new chain, new front caliper and she'll be good to go.



Got the valves pulled on my 750. Used my handy new Craftsman valve tool, worked great! Tomorrow will be the rematch, me VS the wiring.










I'm enjoying a gluten-free beer as I make this post. Tasty, wish it was ice cold.

10 feet high and rising....

Hmmm.... Looks like ye old homestead might be heading for a flood. About 6 more feet and it could start creeping into our 'hood. Things might get a bit wet in the shop.

Maybe I should be building a hovercraft?

**edit**

All the important engine bits and other stuff is at least 12" off the floor. Everything else will have to tough it out. Probably a good thing I never redid all the drywall in the garage!

shop day!

We picked up Funky's frame from the welding shop Sat morning. The splice kit turned out amazing, probably the cleanest weld job I have ever seen. After some running around for misc supplies and tools, we finally got down to business. Funky began painting his frame, while I put the gauge cluster and controls back on my bike.



As I began to route the wiring harness, I found a few issues that I had overlooked. So, I pulled the loom wrap off and found two broken wires and lots of spots with grey electrical tape. I pulled the tape and found very factory looking solder joints. I re-wrapped the harness and pulled the wires that dead end. It took some test fitting to find the best route for the harness but we finally got it squared away. I still hold my grudge with Honda over stuffing all the wiring in the headlight bucket from when I did my CL450. The CB750 is the exact same, so I'll save the fun of connect the colors for another day. I installed my new heavy duty fuse block in the tool tray, so it's a bit more accessible.



Another friend with a 77 CB750 showed up and we checked out some carb issues he's been having. The emulsion tube on carb 1 is stripped out but a quick cleaning made some improvement. We tinkered with the black 77 project bike and got it to turn over but the carbs are too gummed up to flow good gas. So, it goes back to the bottom of the list. At least we got all the bad gas out of the tank.






Once Funky's frame was dry, we began reassembly. Installed the swing arm with bronze bushings and the new tapered stem bearings. There is still a bit of wiring to finish on his bike, so we got it to a rolling frame and called it a night.

Counting all the running around, we put in a roughly 16 hour day in the shop. A great way to spend a Saturday.






Holy crap, I'm a terrible photographer.

Me: 0 Frustration: 1 *update*

Some nights in the shop don't go well, no matter how hard you try. We had a hell of a time getting the swing arm back on. After fighting it for about 45 minutes, we finally won. Then the rear wheel was causing us some grief, my temper started to rise so we switched to the front wheel. Going back to the rear wheel after a break didn't make a damn difference. I give up for tonight.

*update*
I let hunger and frustration get the best of me. I looked at the rear wheel assembly again. Like a moron, I forgot the freaking chain adjusters!!! Hmmm.. maybe that's were the gap came from.

ugh....at least I figured it out. Now it's time for steak!

teaser....now with pics!

Went on an adventure last night, through crazy wind, lightening and sheets of rain. Picked up a 33 year old bike that looks like it's been garage kept it's whole life.

Pics later today if the sun decides to come out.

**edit**

Here you go:

1977 CB750K











Needs new tires, oil change, flush and clean the whole fuel system and a chain. We're going to get it back to stock and then it will go up for sale. The 4 into 1 will get removed and we'll put the beautiful stock pipes back on.

Anyone looking for a beautiful CB750?

Motivation

In response to Gymi's comment about my progess, I thought I'd give a little info on why things are really rocking in the shop with the two CB750s.

I really want to get some riding in this summer on my own bike. My last two projects were sold before I ever had them plated or really got to ride them. I sold my CL450 to pay for wedding rings and sold the CB350 because I was tired of fighting it. I used to be much much worse working in the garage. I would jump from job to job and never really get anything finished. I just didn't have the concentration to get things done.

Turns out, I was battling some health issues that were making a fair amount of my life very very shitty. My thyroid crapped out and now it's getting under control. Found out I have a gluten allergy and drastically changed my diet. Plus, I decided to get into better shape. It's all got me closer to where I used to be in my life. So now, I can actually get things done in the shop. I might also finally take the online motorcycle mechanics course again and finish it! I gave up about halfway through and only absorbed about a third of what I studied. Once again, thanks to my thyroid issues.

So, there you go. The toughest part of all this work on my bike is finding the cash for parts. But isn't that how it always is?

cleaned up

Pulled the pistons and put them threw the parts washer. There is some slight pitting but nothing major (I think). We did a quick test on the valves by spraying carb cleaner into the exhaust/intake. The exhaust side had a few leaks. So, we'll be picking up a valve spring tool and pulling them. We have a set of new guides but the valves might be kaput. Anywho, pics from tonight.

The rings weren't too bad either but no better time to replace them than now.

guts

Got the engine last night and after a quick degreasing, decided to tear into it. So far, we haven't found anything terrible. The pistons have a good amount of carbon on them and none of the valves look burnt or cracked. The rings are in good shape too. Everything will get cleaned up, checked and reinstalled. Tomorrow we'll be cracking the crankcase and digging around in there. The cases need to be media blasted (probably use walnut) to get the terrible paint job off. Whoever painted the engine didn't use hi-temp paint, so it's crinkled and flaking off. Thankfully, they didn't prep the surface, so the aluminum is still in good shape. On with the pics.