Found as an Abandoned Chopper

When I found this bike, almost nothing was correct! The engine cases and a few other parts were there, but just about everything else (even the frame) was wrong or damage beyond repair. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to rescue this classic though. It took two years to find all of the correct parts to bring this classic back to showroom condition.

The Sandcast Engine

Upon disassembly of the engine, I knew I had a lot of work to do. The head was from a later model and the cylinders were out of spec amongst other issues. After sourcing the correct head and restoring each part carefully, the engine went back together nicely.

Finding the Missing Parts

Though there are many parts that would work on this bike, very few of them would be correct for such an early sandcast CB750. Perhaps the most difficult item to find was a correct frame. Honda did not issue the CB750 with matching engine and frame numbers, but they were within ~300 of each other. Knowing that the engine was #1629, I knew it would take time to find a correct frame. Nine months after finding the engine, I found frame #1378. It needed some repairs, but it was correct! Other difficult-to-find parts like the wrinkle tank, rolled rear rim, two-hole rear hub, recessed ignition and more were all slowly collected.

Candy Ruby Red Paint

Candy paints are difficult. Finding the correct candy paint is even more difficult. After several tries, I eventually procured a perfect match (using a second original tank as a guide). Don’t go with the so-called professional Honda Paint kits sold by several venders out there. Nothing substitutes for a pair of experienced eyes and an original sample! The paint came out beautiful!

Video and Photos