1974 Yamaha TX750

Collapse

Desktop Ad Forum Top

Collapse

Mobile ad top forum

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • RAG36
    Junior Member
    • Feb 2015
    • 5

    1974 Yamaha TX750

    Hello everyone, I've been a member on here for a few years but I haven't stayed active, not too great at keeping up on forums. I will do my best with this one. I was recently selected to be part of the Greasy Dozen and it reminded me to be more active here....

    So, the project is a 1974 TX750 that I received for free from a friend. It was partially disassembled when I got it and was pretty roached in a few areas. My original plan was a flat track bike but then gained some inspiration from Kenny Robert's YZR500 race bike. So I started by designing my own monoshock suspension in a similar arrangement to the Yamaha racebike of the day(tz750, tz350, yzr etc..), using a shock from an r6. It's fully adjustable for ride height, shock angle, preload and such... here are a few photos from the beginning
    20180227-172348
    20180903-165501
    20180903-165513

    I decided when I started the project that I was going to try my hand at metal shaping all the bodywork from aluminum..here was the first try at the tank
    20180906-160820
    I hated it, so I started over again.
    src="https://i.ibb.co/p4gSSvx/20181006-134304.jpg" alt="20181006-134304" border="0">"]20181006-134304
    src="https://i.ibb.co/HG3rTqG/20181006-180531.jpg" alt="20181006-180531" border="0">"]20181006-180531
    20181201-154732


    Happy with the result I moved on to the tail
    20181210-140132
    20181217-191729
    20181217-191735
    20190111-174108
    Last edited by RAG36; 12-24-2019, 1:54 PM.
  • Luky
    Senior Member
    • May 2018
    • 901

    #2
    Great work so far! I always thought one of these Yamaha 750s would be a great bike.
    The exhausts are up high and i would worry about a fire if the carbs leak at all. That is why I like exhausts down low.
    I know the current trend is for exhausts to be in a following riders face. But forget all that and do what makes sense.
    Also you will no access to the clutch case screws because the exhaust is in the way.

    Good Tig work too.
    Last edited by Luky; 12-24-2019, 2:03 PM.

    Comment

    • RAG36
      Junior Member
      • Feb 2015
      • 5

      #3
      Originally posted by Luky
      Great work so far! I always thought one of these Yamaha 750s would be a great bike.
      The exhausts are up high and i would worry about a fire if the carbs leak at all. That is why I like exhausts down low.
      I know the current trend is for exhausts to be in a following riders face. But forget all that and do what makes sense.
      Also you will no access to the clutch case screws because the exhaust is in the way.

      Good Tig work too.
      Thanks, its alot further along now, I still need to get more pics up. I had problems getting them posted earlier. The exhaust is different now but even closer in now, I get your concern but I'm not too worried about it. I appreciate the constructive criticism though!

      Comment

      • RAG36
        Junior Member
        • Feb 2015
        • 5

        #4
        I then made some changes to the exhaust, I also added a heat shield to the side of the tail, very similar to the YZR500..
        20190120-165313
        20190120-165416

        I also made my own 2 stroke style silencer out of stainless and aluminum, still have to make a duplicate for the other side.
        20190601-230554-1
        20190602-140027
        20190602-140207-1
        Moved on from there and started shaping the fairing..
        20190211-175727
        20190219-173913
        20190324-192432
        DSC01592
        IMG-20191120-201826-425
        20191110-133941

        Got most of the bodywork polished up, still needs more of a final finish though
        IMG-20191126-223014-745
        20190913-220016-1
        20190930-183119-1
        20191206-164951
        I needed a little break from the bodywork so I started on making the left side foot control lever and machined some pegs for it.
        20191213-132522
        20191213-141653
        20191213-203951
        20191213-204019

        That's pretty much where I stopped last week. There is alot of time I skipped over of course but that's the bulk of it. I'll try to keep this updated as best as possible as I work towards the final push!

        Comment

        • squarefour2
          Junior Member
          • May 2020
          • 8

          #5
          Updates, puhleaze.

          Comment

          • flatman
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2017
            • 550

            #6
            Wow, just Wow. Got some pretty rad skills there.

            Comment

            • TriNortchopz
              Senior Member
              • Dec 2017
              • 3246

              #7
              Excellent fabrication.

              but those TX750 engines...I bought one of those bikes for $50, guy said it was rebuilt by his son, who left for college. took it to my shop checked it over, made the adjustments, compression was strong...ready to start, up on the kick, push, oh ya, good compression, once more up on the kicker, all out...and it totally slips, slams to the bottom of the arc, knee goes backwards, i laying on floor cursin' now I kick it, damn, got a yamaknee...sold it for $50.

              Remember SIE selling those 'chopper' motors in their mid-70s ads:

              Click image for larger version

Name:	sie tx750.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	313.6 KB
ID:	1318614

              " was never much for choppers but the Yamaha TX750 "chopper motor" in the lower right corner caught my eye. The ad is from the Feb. 1976 Motorcycle World magazine, the TX750 was introduced with great fanfare in 1973 only to be immediately panned for problems related to the "Omniphase" balancer system. There was also a exhaust balancing manifold in the front of the head which couldn't have helped engine matters by blocking airflow to the head. Anyways, a couple of years later the bare engines are available as chopper fodder. I wonder if these were a bunch of unsold engines from Yamaha or from unsellable bikes that had been already broken up. "


              "If I remember the entire deal correctly they were Yamaha 750 motors. The TX750 was a marketing nightmare for Yamaha and had significant tranmission and crank problems. When Yamaha discontinued the TX750 model they sent all the remaining spare motors to scrap and some how Iorio got them. Most of them had the head & cylinder fins on one side knocked off by Yamaha before they went to scrap. The side you never see in pictures. SIE offered a "kit" bike for that motor. In later ads, SIE mentioned that some had fin "damage". I remember reading somewhere that Yamaha tried to get the motors back from SIE but in the end they could only go after the scrap dealer."

              If buildin' old school choppers was easy, anyone could do it... ain't nobody said it's gonna be easy...

              Comment

              • Hatchet54
                Senior Member
                • Sep 2012
                • 721

                #8
                Your sheet metal work is outta this world. Glad I stumbled on this thread. One of the most inspired things I've seen on here lately.

                Got a KZ400 under a tarp at my parents' house awaiting some sort of treatment, I think this thread just gave me some ideas...

                Comment

                300 mobile ad bottom forum

                Collapse
                Working...
                ;