Tag: Motorcycle

CB750F: Day 25: Rolling Along

At class, it is really sitting in good company. Usually I buy dinner and eat there, by myself, though it is not lonely.
The new chain and sprockets came in so I started by removing the rear wheel. It was so simple, but I couldn’t imagine it until I had seen it: loosen the right and left alignment, there are notches that show the “setting” on each side, that is important to restore. The rear axle has a bolt with a cotter pin that I removed. Then I removed the brake link, and the caliper itself, then turned up the alignment adjusters and pushed the wheel forward and removed the chain and pulled the wheel out. The large zip ties were really helpful to hang out the brake link and caliper.
Before starting I didn’t know to find the master link in the chain and remove it first, I will do that next time instead.
The front sprocket encasement is full of centimeters of filth, that will take a while to clean it out. A non-abrasive plastic “drill bit” would nice to pull that stuff out, of course it would have to be disposable.
Tonight I did use an impact wrench for the first time, brilliant. The small one got the front sprocket bolt out and the big one got the rear sprocket bolts off, the latter were on there super-tight and the impact wrench just took them right off.
Speaking of cleaning, the front sprocket had an empty cocoon on it, and I cleaned up the rear wheel as best I could without compromising the lubrication with cleaner. Before wrenching on the bolts I tried to clean them up first to keep the tools clean.
Pat said that the rear wheel plastic pads internal to the wheel look fine, so I won’t replace them.
Today did go pretty well especially after I found out that class will continue next semester, so it is not a race to finish the bike. That said, it would be fine to make some progress, also. The headlight awaits, brake pads maybe, continued cleanup, and maybe upgraded suspension.
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Antique Gas Engine BBS, Smokstak

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CB750F: Day 24: That Changes Everything

Tonight I really wanted to see if I could make progress like the article did on polishing your aluminum engine case so I bought some Dremel attachments. The results were generally nice, but didn’t get it all the way there. Since I had borrowed the Dremel, I removed some of the crudified paint from the right horn and grip assembly for future painting. At the end of the night I felt good, that it looked pretty decent, even though it is not a perfect mirror finish.
At the end of class Pat told us that this might be the last semester, ever. As such, I’m going to shelf the polishing, and spend spring break acquiring the necessary gear to complete the most important service tasks, eg: brake fluid change, new sprockets and chain, front fork fluid, and more.
At the end of my work, I sprayed down the engine with a very diluted Simple Green mixture to get the carb spray off and ended with using compressed air to get all of that included; I didn’t want anything that the plastic wouldn’t like on there.
Continue reading “CB750F: Day 24: That Changes Everything”

CB750F: Day 23: Engine Polishing Continues

On the way to the shop I stopped at Harbor Freight and bought a 7-pack of 500 grit wet/dry sandpaper, and boy it finishes fast. The “you are going to need patience” advice kicked in tonight. It was so strange, after hand-sanding and also trying out the tiny little brash brush with the Dremel, I thought that it was getting close to the metal but Pat showed me how there was still clear-coat on there. What?!
You can’t see it, and it is very shiny, but you can feel it. It feels like the fine grain of a leather jacket, and it has kind of a different finish than the edges where you can feel that all of the clear-coat is gone. Numerous breaks were necessary, and the dish-washing gloves helped. The Dremel was pretty helpful for digging crud out of some of the tight spots, and I’ll need to buy some new tips.
Pat brought in his recommended choke and throttle lube, Remington Wonder Lube.
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CB750F: Day 22: Engine Polishing Begins

Tonight I came prepared with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and quickly realized two things: sandpaper doesn’t last very long and I had more work to do with the wheel brushes. It was very iterative work, the more work I did and thought that I was finished the more I noticed that more needed to be addressed. It helped to take breaks and jump around to different areas to work on, because, well you do need to be quite patient.
Without pulling the engine I still could reach plenty. I decided to do just the sides and top and tonight I think that I got close to everything I want finished with the brass brushes leaving the sandpaper for next time.
Took some pics at the end, the engine, though rough and needing to be sanded down, does look a little more refreshed than before.
Continue reading “CB750F: Day 22: Engine Polishing Begins”