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1969 CL450 US Barn Find Restoration
royhall:
Do you have a photo of the original clocks. I may have a set in a box somewhere. Now that's going to be a search and a half, but at least if I have a picture of what i'm looking for it will help. Cheers.
MrDavo:
Hi Roy, don't worry about it for now, I have an alloy and glass tacho on the way from Canada to match the speedo, which is VGC, I reckon the original plastic speedo may have got broken and replaced when Bubba dropped it. I prefer the quality of the later ones, which match whats on my CB750K1. If I was going to show the bike I might think differently, but then I'd be after a K2 tank as well.
You can also see the broken headlamp shell, apparently people dont realise you have to turn the rim to free it once the screws are out.
Anyway, I've owned this thing a whole week now, and the curiosity to find out what's inside was too much to bear.....
I got the head and barrels off last night, whatever mileage its really done, it's can't be a lot, and I'm fairly confident I'm the first in there, which means the internals last saw the light of day in Japan, when I was going to school on the bus, in shorts and a cap (which I was always getting in trouble for not wearing).
I was worrying I'd be in a world of stuck on gaskets and scraping and prising again, but it came apart very easily, maybe the CB750 was assembled using glue.
The first challenge was to remove the cover over the alternator rotor, so I could get a socket on the end of the crank to turn the engine over, Bubba had completely butchered the screws.
Luckily his lack of adequate tools meant that the screws weren't that tight in the first place, a couple of carefull taps with a small chisel losened them enough to get them out with a small flat screwdriver! If anyone knows where I can get an ungouged early type cover (I think CB450 is the same) let me know.
The next obstacle was grinding the pins off the soft link on the cam chain, I removed the tensioner and used lockwire attched to the kickstart to hold it clear, to give me some room without the use of fingers. I also bunged all the orices up with paper to catch any swarf.
No room to safely use the angle grinder, just as well I think, I found a small grindstone that fitted in my cordless drill instead. That nearly did the trick, I had to finish with a file when the stone broke - as it didn't hit me in the face or bounce off the 911 bonnet there was no health and safety issue at all. ::) Luckily the drill wasn't going very fast when it happened.
A tap on the pin end with a small punch and the link came apart, then just undo the nuts on the head studs. Inside the head, all looks well:
I took the inlet cam out, hardly any sign of wear:
It must have been stored a long time with a valve open on the right hand side, that air filter was AWOL too, what I thought was piston damage when I shone a torch down the plug hole turned out to be the carbon going a bit mouldy. There was some rust on the rings in there too but not loads, whipping the barrels off showed the middle ring was stuck, I've just sprayed it all with easing oil and left it to penetrate for now.
The left pot must've had both valves shut, it was pretty pristine.
No lip at all in the bores, I reckon they'll clean up fine. A bit of a watermark where the rings rusted though.
Finally the pistons themselves, very little wear to the skirts at the front:
But nasty scuffs at the back, whether caused by poor oil maintainance, abuse from cold (my guess) or just turning it over with crud in the bores rather than oil I don't know. However I reckon I can reuse them, its the ring seal and bore that really counts.
I can't feel any play in the small or big ends, which is a blessing. After the dramas I had with the barrel studs in the 750, despite being told to leave them alone, this time I'll leave these in if I can.
K2-K6:
Doesn't looks like it's done many miles at all by the markings within their engine.
Technically it's a very interesting engine and will worth watching to see how you get on with it.
Out of interest, what spark plugs are in it?
MrDavo:
--- Quote ---Out of interest, what spark plugs are in it?
--- End quote ---
NGK B8E S plugs, marked as 'Assembled in USA from Japanese Parts' - at first I thought they were newer because the plating hasn't gone dull at all, but after looking in the float bowls I am sure noone has tried to get it running in recent years.
I was tempted to chuck a battery and fresh fuel in, and have a go, but decided I could do more harm than good. Besides until I get a pair of fresh air cleaners (ordered), the carburation would have been up the swanee.
K2-K6:
It doesn't look like you've much to sort out engine wise, probably a good call not to start it with that corrosion on rings and bore one side.
Like that I think the components are recoverable with care as they don't appear to be damaged, If the bores will clean up without leaving any real marks it probably wouldn't give any issues.
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