November 3, 2013

Honda CB750 Cafe Resurrection Continues

Woody Uncategorized 1972 Honda CB750, 750Four, cafe racer, CB750, CB750 cafe racer, Custom, honda, Honda CB750, Looks fine to me, Motorcycle, Project, Project Report, seen on the street, SOHC 2 Comments

Nearly a year and a 1/2 ago I posted this inventory of my garage/projects, Well I’m finally starting to see the end of the tunnel on 2 of them. The Honda MT125 Elsinore is within spitting distance of being “done” and the CB750 cafe racer is nearly a whole bike again.

Back in August it looked like this

Stripped naked with naught but a fresh coat of Rustoleum on the frame to protect it.

I ground about, no lie, 1/8″ of old paint off the tank surface, and cleaned the rust out of the innards with 5 gallons of white vinegar and time.

I wish I could get away with no Bondo, but its not going to happen.

The tank is starting to look real smooth. You know if the lines look straight in flat black they are going to be awesome with a bright metal flake on them.

I think I still need to spray and sand about 2 more coats of primer, but not to the underside. So I decides to shoot some color on the bottom to see what its going to look like.

Its not particularly smooth, and there is some lint, so sue me. No one will ever see 90% of the underside of the tank, and the edges you may see are all nicely finished.

Still tons of work to be done here. The combination of neglect, deferred maintenance, Venice beach and age have taken their toll on this poor bike.

I need a different master cylinder. I needed a new one anyway, but no way I can run drag bars, clubmans, or clip-ons with this monstrosity.

I discovered a 2002 Yamaha R6 K & N air filter is about the same size & shape as the bottom half of the Honda CB750 airbox. I have a set of spun aluminum velocity stacks, but I don’t want to run them all the time, so I am mating the R6 filter to the Honda box.

SOMETHING must be done about the goonie bird look of that way too high headlight on the stock 1982 Honda CB900F fork and ears. I may fab up a frame mounted headlight now, just to get it in the right spot, before I find a 1/2 fairing to hang on it. Anything is better than this.

And here’s some old pictures of how the bike has looked at various stages between 1972 (when new), 1994 (when I bought it) and now.

When its done, and it will be before the end of the year, I believe it will be the first official bike from Piledriverz Customs.