Old Bread and Butter

[Britman]

After two XS650's in a row I drove all day to pick up my next project, another Honda CB750. Been sitting for 25 years under a pole barn and shows everything Mother Nature can do under those circumstances. It is a 1973 year and the good part, it does run, how I don't know with the condition of the carbs and copper electrical wire used as hot wire for the solenoid and battery ground. It is fairly complete and I have never seen this short aftermarket megaphone exhaust set up. The bad, tank is rusty but easily brought back with Caswell, the seat has been a Sunday buffet for mice for years, and worst of all no title, but the sale price reflected all that. I have already started the first step in the Abandoned Vehicle Process in Virginia and other than the extended time it takes to obtain a title, it is relatively simple and not all that expensive. It is going to be while before I get to it, since I still have a front end of a XS 650 scattered all over the garage and that has to go to replenish funds and for the needed room. I will update my tetanus shot and jump in eventually, I believe this will be my 5th or 6th CB750K, like the XS tough as nails and a blast to ride.......

 

[Adamc]

After two XS650's in a row I drove all day to pick up my next project, another Honda CB750. Been sitting for 25 years under a pole barn and shows everything Mother Nature can do under those circumstances. It is a 1973 year and the good part, it does run, how I don't know with the condition of the carbs and copper electrical wire used as hot wire for the solenoid and battery ground. It is fairly complete and I have never seen this short aftermarket megaphone exhaust set up. The bad, tank is rusty but easily brought back with Caswell, the seat has been a Sunday buffet for mice for years, and worst of all no title, but the sale price reflected all that. I have already started the first step in the Abandoned Vehicle Process in Virginia and other than the extended time it takes to obtain a title, it is relatively simple and not all that expensive. It is going to be while before I get to it, since I still have a front end of a XS 650 scattered all over the garage and that has to go to replenish funds and for the needed room. I will update my tetanus shot and jump in eventually, I believe this will be my 5th or 6th CB750K, like the XS tough as nails and a blast to ride.......

Nice catch. If that was in the UK in all weathers it would be a pile of rusting dust by now.

 

[Paul Sutton]

Why use Caswell for a rusty tank? The paint on the tank is good which suggests the tank is in good condition except for maybe surface rust inside. I would go for electrolysis to remove all internal rust first. You may find the tank is perfect after electrolysis. Electrolysis requires 24 hours of actual electrolysis time with cleaning of the iron electrode every 2 hours. Following electrolysis you may see some black spots but these and residual brown rust are easily removed by filling the tank with water and citric acid and leave to soak for a couple of hours followed by rinsing with water. Final drying of the tank can be achieved by rinsing with isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) followed by petrol then blasting fumes out with compressed air. Then spray some WD40 inside to prevent flash rusting. If the tank leaks then consider a liner.

The condition of your CB750 is very good, stuff this old in the UK is usually rusted to bits from the damp.

 

[jetmechmarty]

Why use Caswell for a rusty tank? The paint on the tank is good which suggests the tank is in good condition except for maybe surface rust inside. I would go for electrolysis to remove all internal rust first. You may find the tank is perfect after electrolysis.

I've tried various rust removal methods for the tank that include Metal Rescue, electrolysis, and various acids. For me, if the tank has a few little spots I'll use metal rescue and call it a day. If it's rusty, my go-to is phosphoric acid solution. I've documented on this board at least a couple of times. It works best and is the easiest method. I have a Caswell lined tank in used right now. If it fails, y'all will be the first to know. @willis reported the only failure I know of. Hopefully, he solved that issue.

https://www.xs650.com/threads/caswell-liner-failure.60863/
https://xs650temp.proboards.com/thread/17274/failed-tank-liner

 

[willis]

Nope, no updates on my end. But i will probably just knock out the loose pieces and fill it with fuel and run it. Mine does not have any rust issues though, so i'll just run an inline filter as a precaution. The only other realistic option for me would be to attempt a second patch job of Caswell over the failed portion. I don't want to risk ruining a perfect paint job with the nasty chemicals required to remove a Caswell epoxy liner.

 

[Britman]

Compression check shows 150PSI across the board, damn happy with that. I spent hours cleaning Mud Dauber nests out of the cylinder fins, must have a huge population in North Carolina. Carbs rebuilt, some elbow grease on the motor, and parts have been ordered. I should have a clear title after June 5th using the Abandoned Vehicle Process in Virginia. Still a lot of rust and dirt to wade through but getting closer.....

 

[jpdevol]

Compression check shows 150PSI across the board, damn happy with that. I spent hours cleaning Mud Dauber nests out of the cylinder fins, must have a huge population in North Carolina. Carbs rebuilt, some elbow grease on the motor, and parts have been ordered. I should have a clear title after June 5th using the Abandoned Vehicle Process in Virginia. Still a lot of rust and dirt to wade through but getting closer.....

Cases look great! What paint did ya use please?

 

[Britman]

Motor base and cylinders are Dupli-Color Ceramic Engine Paint with their primer base. Aluminum valve cover and sides, good old Mothers and fine steel wool, but they still need a lot of work......

 

[Britman]

Funny how working on vintage motorcycles can change the entire concept of time. I found a set of vintage 4 into 4 pipes with baffles on FB at a good price. When they arrived I discovered there were no rear mounting brackets and I could find nothing off the shelf that would work, so lets just whip out a homemade set using a couple of old three piece 1/1/2 inch clamps found in my cache. What I thought would be a couple hour job turned into to full day ordeal with several trips to the hardware store for screws, replace missing taps, new drill bits, so forth (I was really sorry they didn't sell beer.) Regardless after putting away half of my tools and sweeping a pound of aluminum shavings off the floor, I have brackets and clamps. If you count my time, gas, new tools, and hardware, the homemade clamps probably come out to about 20 bucks each, but problem solved and you what, I enjoyed every minute of it.....

 

[Britman]

I received a fresh Virginia Title this morning for the bike from my local DMV. The State has an Abandoned Vehicle Process that is quite inexpensive, not a great deal of paperwork, but takes about six weeks to run through the whole process. I have used it a couple times on bikes with no titles. I have heard the Vermont loop hole is starting to draw some negative feed back here, so when it comes to legal documents, nothing like the real McCoy.....

 

[Britman]

Paint laid today...Close to "Planet Blue" and will eventually have a gold stripe after curing and a re-clear. It is a 72 paint scheme but I like the color. A lot of good old Virginia gnats decided to visit after the clear came out so wet sanding will be a good thing. Attaching a shot of my $55 buck shocks from Scrambler Cycle, good quality, great price, and a great company to deal with.....

 

[Kevin Werner]

Do the shocks come in various sizes?

 

[Britman]

Do the shocks come in various sizes?

I know he has them for several Honda models, check the site to make sure.....

 

[Britman]

Stripe-----

 

[Britman]

Off the lift and onward to the front....

 

[Britman]

Well for all intensive purposes, "DONE". A little touch up here and there, find some mirrors, put the kicker back, so on so forth. I love bringing them back but selling one is real PITA. Will post it in the next week or so....

 

[Adamc]

Well for all intents and purposes, "DONE". A little touch up here and there, find some mirrors, put the kicker back, so on so forth. I love bringing them back but selling one is real PITA. Will post it in the next week or so....

Nice job. Love the CB bikes with single cam.
they draw big money now in the UK.

 

[bosco659]

Well for all intents and purposes, "DONE". A little touch up here and there, find some mirrors, put the kicker back, so on so forth. I love bringing them back but selling one is real PITA. Will post it in the next week or so....

Nice work! Glad you posted the ”before pictures”.

 

[Britman]

I helped load it in the new owner's trailer yesterday. Staying in Virginia not to far away. In the mean time this followed me home, another Honda CB750K, 74 model this time. It is rough as a cob, has every "Redneck" chrome do dad that could be put on a bike back then, extended front forks very poorly done, and just pure arse ugly with no title in site. However, it has great compression and when you push the starter button it fires immediately and runs decent. There is an after market wiring harness that is hung on the bike like a spider web so this one is really going to take awhile, but it was dirt cheap so hopefully it will come back to somewhat stock form and live again. I certainly won't bore you XS guys with another Honda thread and I really did look for another Yamaha for this time around, but I can't seem to get away from CB's.......

 

[Kevin Werner]

You won't bore us and what evil has been perpetrated on a CB could also be an evil perpetrated on an XS ÷2.