- Honda 750 SOHC Stories, Project Ideas, History? -

[Seldom Seen Slim]

That small case to chain clearance statement is correct, but i like to think of it as part of my journey to a well-oiled chain.  Once upon a time the chain on my 750 broke and wadded itself into a ball and hit the case where it began to go 'round the drive sprocket.  It hit just hard enough to crack the case a bit.  That, in turn, made just enough of a crack to let oil ooze out and onto the chain.  Never had chain lube deficiencies after that. . .  I wasn't well-versed in stuff like JB Weld back then, dang it.

[Warp12]

That small case to chain clearance statement is correct, but i like to think of it as part of my journey to a well-oiled chain.  Once upon a time the chain on my 750 broke and wadded itself into a ball and hit the case where it began to go 'round the drive sprocket.  It hit just hard enough to crack the case a bit.  That, in turn, made just enough of a crack to let oil ooze out and onto the chain.  Never had chain lube deficiencies after that. . .  I wasn't well-versed in stuff like JB Weld back then, dang it.

That's classic right there, Jon! I wonder what my case investigation will yield...any bets??

[Warp12]

Hmm, I guess it's not possible to embed YouTube vids here? Some great looking/sounding bikes on YouTube...

[Peter Jack]

Just post the url.

Pete

[dw230]

Isn't the CB750 the bike that Keth Turk and some buddies took a road trip to Mexico on a couple of years ago? There is a story/blog on here somewhere. Maybe a magazine article too.

DW

[55chevr]

Turk collects 500cc 4 cylinder Hondas ... he has 4 or 5 of them ...

[55chevr]

One thing I remember about CB750-s is that they didnt "mile an hour" as drag bikes. You could build them light and they would ET but they didnt run big upstairs.   Big reason I switched to Z-1's

[Warp12]

One thing I remember about CB750-s is that they didnt "mile an hour" as drag bikes. You could build them light and they would ET but they didnt run big upstairs.   Big reason I switched to Z-1's

Yeah, I was looking at the bike last night and there is a lot of weight that would just drop off of it. My ZX's are way, way lighter as it stands. 

[Warp12]

Just post the url.

Pete

Here's a nice one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0v-N7_BcbI


This one too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIrSpMTv6KI&feature=related


Not LSR or Drag, but still nice little bikes!


Shane

[Crosley]

Yoshimura - 4 into 1 -  beautiful music ...

You guys are going to make me buy an exhaust for this thing!

The other Honda I have been secretly lusting after is a '79 CBX. But I simply can't afford one with the current market! I have heard some great exhaust sounds from them too. My '85 1000R Honda V4 also sounds pretty good at full wail.

For being a "Kawasaki Guy", I sure like some of these older Honda's.  

Shane

yes... buy an exhaust, 4 into 1 sounds so sweet.  I had 4 - 1 pipes on both my 750-4 bikes. Smashed the snot out of one set on the 1974 bike.  There may have been alcohol and an off road riding attempt involved.  My memory is fuzzy.  LOL

[grumm441]

I had one about 20 years ago
I purchased it for $90
The shop told me it was seized. they couldn't kick it over even with the plugs out
So I'm sitting on it in the driveway at home, waiting fro my brother to open the gate.
It starts rolling backwards , so I kick it into gear and it makes an odd kinda clunk?
So I press the starter button, and it starts straight up. Never missed a beat after that

A bike like yours which looks in good condition with the original pipes would fetch 10k here

There's a guy in Aus who builds 750 4 race bikes
G
http://www.ozebook.com/cr750_files/trex.htm

[JimL]

Yours is newer and should have the case protector in place.  I did a lot of the recall work on the early bikes (sand cast cases), which included the tach drive gear retaining screw falling out (had to pull the engine, pull the cam cover, and Loctite the screw), and replacing parts in the original oil pump system.  We had problems with the early plug wires leaking during rainy weather, and the tank was so long that short guys couldn't get away from the back....and the tank was mounted on rubber looking for a ground....and your jeans get wet in the rain....and the sparks go through the tank to your "tenders" and then through the clutch lever (during a shift).

In the early drag racing days, we used to hacksaw out the 2 lower tubes (under the upper frame tube), and then sleeve the upper half of the main tube.  Bike was a little more wobbly when you chopped the throttle in the traps, but you could get the head and cylinders off without pulling the engine.  My father built the frame for the Robert B. Roberts drag bike (the B. stood for "Bob").  It was single top tube, hard tail, with the engine hung like a Super Hawk.  He laid the frame out across a leveled table saw, trued it with plumb-bobs and carpenter levels, and welded it up with a stick.  We had a Yamaha 80 front end and wheel....when you chopped the throttle at the end of your run, the bike laid down on the pipes and slid along in a shower of sparks....crowd loved it. 

Bob won Motorcycle Eliminator at the 1970 NHRA Hi-Altitude Championships (Continental Divide Raceway...south of Denver).  We tried to go faster with me on it (I only weighed 138 lbs after the war), but the bike bit real hard on the launch and crushed me so hard I lost the throttle and wobbled into the other lane.  I never rode it again!!  I'll post pics some day, when I get the photos unpacked.  750 SOHC stories never end, 'cause we all loved those things.   I gave Kent Riches my last big bore kit and cam, and what was left of my mechanical injection system....just last year.  Thanks for sparking the great memories.

JimL

[Warp12]

All of these great stories forced me to ride the bike today! The guy who gave me the bike told it me it ran, but the battery was dead so we just loaded it into the truck. I've known him for about 10 years, so I knew the bike would run with a decent battery. Well, I ended up throwing one of my $200 A123 cells in there so I could ride it!  

First I took some outside pics:










Then across to the gas station:





And finally, yes, I had to launch it up and down the driveway:





It's safe to say that it wouldn't blow your hat off in a windstorm right now. A little different feeling than the ZX's I run at the local dragstrip.  

I am curious though as to how it would run with just bolt-on parts, in a good state of tune. I'm still grinning ear to ear from the test ride.... 


Shane

[Warp12]

Based on some input from other forum members, I've found quite a few nice looking exhausts.

This one on Ebay really jumps out at me:








Japanese made pipe based on the original Yosh. Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a build thread, but that sure is a pretty exhaust and pricey...maybe this winter. It looks like a Christmas present to me.  


Shane

[generatorshovel]

"We had problems with the early plug wires leaking during rainy weather, and the tank was so long that short guys couldn't get away from the back....and the tank was mounted on rubber looking for a ground....and your jeans get wet in the rain....and the sparks go through the tank to your "tenders" and then through the clutch lever (during a shift).  "

Oh yeah,,I remember that problem, it'd run on 2 whilst your nuts were getting toasted .
I owned a '69 CB 750 for a while, untill it was shortened by a taxi that got in my way, I managed to leave my knuckle imprints across the hood of the taxi, while pushing the front end of the  car 3 foot across the road, the front bike wheel came back and smashed the oil filter off too.
That engine ended up in a speedway outfit.
With fond memories of the CB, I bought another '74 model,,,bad idea, the de-tuning guru's had wrecked a beautiful engine.
After deciding on a yoshi yr12 cam (the yoshi cattle dog stated the other datona cam they made bent the stock conrods after 15 seconds on a dyno)
The yr12 cam, once dialled in correctly enabled the 750 to eat the "flavour of the year" kawa 900's , but the tacho needle hit the stopper before the real power started, and my ear tach figured it loved 12,000 rpm