CB750 K0/K1 Hybrid

[digger]

That looks beautiful, I think you made a wise choice getting the whole package. Can’t wait to see it on the bike and all together.

[ritalz]

Like the color. Are the fork ears normally painted on the 750's?

[Lucien Harpress]

They were up to '71. In '72 they switched to the chrome ears w/ black headlight bucket.

[Lucien Harpress]

In a stunning turn of events, I actually made engine progress today! My head gasket showed up, and decided to finally install the head.



Because I was a bit paranoid about leaks (and how difficult it would be to fix them), I applied the tiniest film of Three-Bond around the oil return holes (the 8 studs in between the paired cylinders). In '73 I think Honda actually milled out these passages to install rubber gaskets and sleeves to help combat leaks, and as a result had to open up these holes in the head gasket. I did my best to find an early type gasket, but that proved surprisingly difficult, as even the (very expensive) OEM defaults to the later one. I finally settled for a late gasket, but installed a series of (smaller) seals that were actually called out for in a service bulletin back in the 70s. Probably overkill, but again- fixing leaks requires pulling the engine, and the EASIEST way to reinstall the engine involves stripping the frame down all the way.



The head isn't torqued down all the way yet. Per cfairweather's advice, I'm going to attempt to get a heat cycle in the block via a forced air propane heater before my final torque-down. Because most of the stud nuts are under the valve cover, and you can't removed said cover without, you guessed it, removing the engine.

Still, once that's done I can look at getting the cam sorted, then I'd like to find a way to rig up system that lets me test the oil system on the bench. That way I can make sure the top end is getting oil before I stuff everything in the frame.

[Shadowjack]

I've seen Allen Millyard start a Kaw Z1 engine while it's sitting bare on the tailgate of his pickup to see what it sounded like. No pipes, just carbs and a lashed-together ignition.

[wingrider]

I would say it wouldn’t be to hard to make that engine run outside of the frame…..

[Lucien Harpress]

Been a busy man lately. It started with going out into the garage one night just to drop something off, getting distracted, and accidentally getting the cam in.





A day or two later I was on a roll, so I got a spare valve cover polished up and installed (the old one leaked pretty badly at the tach drive seal).





Moving on to other items, an unseasonably warm day let me get at least one can of epoxy primer on to my '71 frame.



And finally, one of my last trim pieces showed up- (K0-specific) tank badges!