From boxes to back roads

[doom]

Quick summary of my situation then the rest of the story. Ok ill try and make this quick. Wife and I are deep in debt, wife lost job, found out was prego soon after, credit cards bills took a back seat. UP until now I had no bike. Told the wife getting a cheap cycle would pay for itself if used as a commuter so she agreed but I had a very tight budget to work with.

This brings my current state. Tomorrow I pick up a 1978 cb750, in a box. I found it on clist for $300. Talked to the guy, he bought it for a cafe build but after dissasembling it he lost interest. So considering I already owned at one time the exact same bike, down to year and color I felt safe getting this.

Motor is bored to what he said was 900cc but im thinking its actually 8 something. Comes complete minus center stand and seat. Big freaking whoop. I told him how buying a basket case is a high risk, so he knocked $50 off.

So this will be the beginning of the first stage of my build. Like I said money is tight so it will be along the lines of simple and quick so I can get it on the rode. Might go brat stylish seeing a hardtail would stretch the build much longer then wanted right now and a cafe build is also a possibility but I worry getting a cafe seat or making one will cost to damn much.

Im thinking now some short shocks or struts, custom seatpan and seat, some cool bars, and a few rattle cans of your favorite matte finish paint and Ill be on the road. Would like to get an idea of what you all did on the cheap or ideas on what I could do? Ill add progress picks as I go

[doom]

Finally dipped into the cb a touch. So far things I have come to notice are;

1. fork seals are shot and wipers are missing.
2. Possible head gasket leak
3. One motor mount hole on case is broke
4. missing key and ignition barrel

Saturday I had a friend come over to help work on the bike. All we managed to do was get the motor out of my truck and onto my bench (photo 1) and two get half drunk and manage to make a sick ass seat out of a chunk of 1/2 drywall. hahaha badass I know! ( photo 2 )

Sunday morning I headed to the garage and had a small panic attack, kinda overwhelming for a first time build. Then after lunch headed to the store for some paint. Cleaned up the swingarm, front and rear hubs, and what ever the fuck that bar piece on the swingarm is and got that shit primered the fuck up. (photo 3) Gonna paint all that crap black. I was going to start painting the tank but Im not real sure what color. Probably a dark red metal flake or a root beer brown metal flake with a bit o white striping or some shit. Im having a hard time finding a good metal flake in a rattle can that dont look like shitty rainbow glitter.

Since im hard up for a ride this build will probably follow the lines of getting it painted and together, then running, then Ill probably go into messing with the stance. shorter shocks, and lower the forks. ditch the fenders and get a cleaner license plate and tail light/turn signal setup.

[crawler65]

Simple flat bar struts, trackers/MX bars/drag bars, and some OD green and you could have a bad ass ride right there man.

[doom]

Short update. not much work done yet. Talked things over with my dad who knows cbs and is a machinist. We are stretching the swingarm to drop the rear and lowering the forks.

Check the motor, found out the headgasket wasnt an issue. fucker before me snapped a bolt off on the valve cover and instead of fixing it he let it go so between that lose bolt and a fuckered up valve cover gasket the thing was leaking pretty good. Now I have a snotted up inline four to clean. great.
The clutch arm is snapped so that needs bought. Tappet covers had notches wore from the valves and tappets smacking them. Something tells me the same fuck who snapped the bolt also tried adjusting the tappets with now clue wtf he was doing.

Decided to cut off the center stand mounts, no reason to leave them. I wont use a centerstand so the mounts can fuck off.

Previous owner lost the ignition and key so Ill need one of those. Going to find a way to replace the lock on the tank. Probably have my dad maching a little lever to attach an old brass wingnut to that when you turn releases the tank. I was going to just raw the tank and clearcoat it but there is a dent up top so on goes the duraglass. Probably go black with raw details somehow.

Tomorrow starts frame paint and motor cleanup then possibly spray bombing the motor with some high temp.

[TheJoe]

If money's tight, forget about the ignition switch; just run a toggle. If time is tight, forget about the paint; it looks fine the way it is. If you really want to save some time and headache, scrounge up some wheels that are already laced. If you've never done it before it can be a real pain in the ass without some ass-istance. You'll have to build a stand to true 'em up too, and that shit can take forever. Then you have to balance 'em and by the time you're done you'll be loopy from all the blood you lost from your knuckles from punching the wall out of frustration.

When it comes to cheap, you're right - put a bike together. When it comes to quick, you may have strayed a bit from the path. No need to stretch swingarms or paint gas tanks or, in general, make it look cool. If cool is the goal, simply going down the road is always cooler than looking cool in the garage, especially if it's a CB.

I'm feelin' you on the baby vs. bike thing. I'd say just get that shit done 'fore the baby shows up 'cause garage time might be slim come soon...

[doom]

I never thought of a toggle switch. not much of a theft deterrent but I could always just pull the starter making it a kick only. most people are to lazy to kick a bike.

As far as the customizing vs just putting the thing together. IM really battling myself with the desicion. I have toned it way back to fit a tighter time frame. The swinger will take no time thanks to my dad and cost me nothing but at the same time thats more fiddle fuck time with the chain and other shit so I might do away with it. other then that the rest was just paint which I love to paint bikes. I used to rebuild old vintage bicycle and it was my favorite part of the build. Im not gonna get a show winning paint job with my skills but it will look cool and since im at a standstill for a week with no cash for replacement parts I might as well paint!

The wheels wont be hard, as my dad has a truing stand and the skills to do this. My spokes are ugly and pitted but there is still strength there. If it came down to having to buy new spokes I would just buy some takeoff wheels.

[Vinny]

Yeah dont do too much get the wheels together motor in frame paint the tins if you really want to and get that thing runnin. Judging by your progress the first day you had your buddy over you will be spending a year getting that thing together the way you really want it all the while still spending money on gas for your car and parts to make the thing look sweet.

As for theft deterant, just put the thing in gear every time turn off the petcock, turn off the switch, and hide the starter button. If someone really wants to steel your bike they will just pick it up and put it in a truck. no need to start it.

[doom]

If someone can pick up a cb750 i wont stand in there way from taking it. lol. I have made some more progress just not photo worthy, lol. Its more just piddle fucking with it till I get paid friday to get some needed things. Need fork seals and stem bearings. I also need to get this motor squared away.

[TheJoe]

I've only ever laced and trued one pair of wheels and I remember it being a pain. Then again, I can make even the simplest things look difficult.

I put my toggle under the seat and put the rectifier on a toggle as well rather than wiring it for constant hot. Even if it starts I don't think it'll make it too far down the road without the rectifier working, especially if the yuk-yuk that jacks it can find the headlight switch too.

[doom]

yea I hate lacing wheels. hate hate hate that shit. I got the triples painted and a bunch of engine covers off for my dad to polish this week.. Now prepping frame for paint and cleaning the engine and gonna paint that black.

Yesterday my dad adjusted the tappets, most were way to tight which Im hoping is why the last owner couldnt get it to run. Timing is on so that shouldnt be an issue. When taking covers off we found a screw and a flathead bit from a 6-1 tool just hanging out. Glad I found those pieces before they found a new and more destructive place to hide. All of this leads me to believe that the motor has been torn down somewhat, and it was done by a complete incompetent asshat. So hopefully the tappets are the only thing out of whack.

Two hours of my garage time was spent yesterday putting together a new dresser for the babys room. I would have been way happier to be working on my shit but with mothers day the next day and the wife being somewhat understanding of me living in the garage as much as possible id say she deserved to have my tools put to use on something she wanted.

Ill post pics tonight of my weekend progress. I gotta try and get a ton done before mothers day festivities eat up my day. Id like to be further ahead by tonight then it looks like Ill be but thats expected. I guess id get more done out there then in here so im peacing the fuck outta here.

[doom]

well I have done alot of cleaning and quite a bit of painting. Still not much to show for it though since everything is in boxes. After painting the frame I decided to go ahead and bob the rear and get rid of the passenger peg mounts. figured since the old ladys all prego and shit she wont be on the bike for a long time so fuckem. Looks better with out them. Bike should start coming together fast once parts come in.

[BillySlicks]

hope you made sure that those pesky passenger peg mounts didn't also hold the much needed rear muffler mounts as well...

[doom]

Muffler? That sounds like a non nessesity to me.

[GCLE]

Wow dude, that is definitely cleaner than my build already! I am afraid I am going to have to sand blast the frame on mine.

I have heard of CBs that have run over 100K with good maintenance, but with the weather we are having, are you going to get to use it???

I can tell you from having a kid who is now 6, chop chop on getting this thing together my man, once your kid comes time comes in short supplies! I am just now getting to the point where I can get into the garage, and most of that is still later at night before he goes to bed, sometimes I pull all nighters.

[ibuiltmine]

did you get a title with it for the 300 bucks? just curios.